We had a super early start this morning. There were two ways off this island; one by bridge the other by ferry. We took the ferry. Great choice too. While crossing the opening to Galveston Bay we were treated with dolphin swimming around the shrimp boats. I was fortunate to catch this picture of a dolphin. Love the pelican hanging out on top of the boat too.
This part of Texas feels so much like Louisiana with the bayous and occasional fruit stand. This gives you an idea of what Bolivar Peninsula and Goat Island are like.
We were headed to Beaumont Texas. Not the “off the beaten path” route we were hoping for, but they did have a car part we needed. Yesterday we realized that our auxiliary battery wasn’t charging. This isn’t vital to running our car, but keeps the lights, water pump and fridge cold when driving down the road. Everything works when we plug it in directly to the electricity or run just the propane so we could have got by without it, but it does make it more convenient. We had a brand new battery so we knew that was good therefore we needed to diagnose the problem. Yeah for google and you tube. We found the part we needed and headed for Beaumont. The best part of this story is Ned calling the local RV parts guy. Ned: “Do you have a solenoid, part #97226-Wr?” Part Guy: “Is that the one with two big posts on the top and one small post in the middle?” Ned: “Yep.” Part Guy: “I got 3 in stock, come and get ‘er.” 2 hours and $31 dollars later it was ours. Here’s Ned in the parking lot getting ‘er done. And we’re off.
At this point we decided to head over to Lafayette (heart of Cajun Country) and make our main meal today local fare. So many great Cajun’ restaurants, so hard to choose! We settled on T-Coons Zydeco Restaurant. As we stepped out of the car, I took a picture of the restaurant. A few seconds later a VERY gregarious fellow (the owner David Billeaud, pronounced B.O. - I know cuz he made me practice it) comes bounding out, puts his arms around me and says with a lilting Cajun accent, “You take a picture of my restaurant, you got to take a picture of me with you!” When he asked us where we were from he said make sure you get “The Stuff” before you leave...(whatever that was.). Ned got the crawfish etoufee and I got the catfish court bouillon. It did not disappoint. Before we left David stopped by our table and gave us a free can of “The Stuff”. The secret seasoning he uses on everything. We’ll be definitely using this on upcoming cookouts.
Close by was the Acadia Culture Center National Park. The museum was okay, the park rangers were a blast, and the movie was - so depressing! It told the story about the 10,000 Acadian people being forced out of Nova Scotia area by the English and Americans. The story was very dramatic and just made me want to cry. I was ready for a little levity so we decided to visit the Acadian living history village. If you’ve been following our blog for awhile you know we love visiting these living re-enactment villages.
We had so much fun spending the afternoon strolling around the village. It was a replica of a town from 1765 thru 1890. There were people in period costumes in every building and doing activities such as blacksmith, woodcarving, farming, etc.
Note the manpower Mr. Ned is using to work the moving dock across the bayou.
There were several French speaking visitors at the park. We noticed all the staff spoke both French and English.
My favorite part was listening to this gentlemen play the accordion and tell stories with his sweet Cajun accent.
Click here to listen:
Cajun Accordion Player
Tonight we are camped at Palmetto Island State Park and 🎼“son of a gun we’re having fun on the bayou.”🎼
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