THE BETTY WEB!

     Since we were heading into Louisiana after Texas, we could not resist the opportunity to stop at Betty's, our favorite RV park.  Betty's is in Abbeville, LA and is in the heart of Cajun Country.  We were last here in November 2014 (see my post dated 12/23/2014) and had a fantastic time.  This time was even better as we stayed a full week.  This gave us the opportunity to more deeply explore the area as well as to get to know the other resident of this highly social RV park.

"Let the good times roll!"
Betty's RV Park, Abbeville, LA

     Betty's has less than 20 sites and many are filled by seasonal residents, but the social life is focused around a 4:30 daily "happy hour."  Betty presides over all happy hours and, sorry "Unusual Supects" (a group of our RV friends), trumps all other happy hours I've attended since being on-the-road.  These mini-parties never end before 8:30 and many keep going until 10 (when quite hours start). Twice Nancy and I went out to dinner in the middle of happy hour and returned to find happy hour still at full-blast.

Some unusual local plants.

     So it doesn't get stale, Betty makes sure to mix things up.  One night she invited 3 local professional musicians to a jam session and pot-luck dinner.  I have previously seen these musicians perform as part of a cajun band and thought they were fantastic.  However, at Betty's we saw them up-close-and-personal and got to know them as they joined the party until quite hours shut us down. Betty seems to attract talent to her park so several campers who were accomplished musicians joined in the jam session. One camper turned out to be a professional musician from the Nashville bar circuit and, WOW, what a voice.

A cajun jam session at Betty's.
Kristy Touchet on the drums, Joe Vick in the back/center and
Dave, the guitarist with the while shirt are all local professional musicians.
Richard the guitarist on the right, Dan at the microphone and Cal
on the keyboard are three talented seasonal campers at Betty's.

And the jamming kept on going well into the night.
The guitarist at the microphone is Kenny, a former
professional musician on the Nashville bar circuit.

     For Easter we had a pot-luck dinner with Betty supplying the main course.  She followed our dinner with a geezer Easter Egg Hunt.

Jungle Garden, Avery Island, LA

Jungle Garden, Avery Island, LA

Avery Island became a refuge for Egrets in Louisiana.
The birds almost became extinct here due to the demand for their plumage.

     There is so much to do in the area that every day was full of exploration, then capped with a fun happy hour.  So after 1 week we were exhausted.  We visited the Jungle Gardens at Avery Island as well as toured the tabasco factory.  This is the factory that manufactures the tabasco which is in your refrigerator right now.

All the bottles of Tabasco coming off the factory line.
How about that for exciting stuff!?

Great Blue Heron

     We toured Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island.  The gardens are named Rip Van Winkle as Joe Jefferson (1829-1905) was the original actor who played the role of Rip Van Winkle.  He was the most famous actor of his time and built a fantastic garden on his property which has been well preserved.

The peacocks are the stars of Rip Van Winkle Gardens.
These photos almost look surreal and they are not
even edited.

     I arranged for 9 residents of Betty's to take a "swamp tour" on St. Martin Lake & Swamp, in Breaux Bridge, LA.  I love the Louisiana swamps.  We saw alligators, anhingas, herons, and egrets while cruising in a dense swamp where the water was so heavily choked with floating duckweed that it almost looked as if you could walk across the swamp.  I was a little concerned as our tour boat kept hitting submerged stumps and cypress knees.  Also, the weeds were so thick that the boat's propeller kept getting clogged and the engine kept on stalling.  Nobody wanted to try to walk out of this environment.

An alligator hides in the duckweed
on our swamp tour.

The swamp on St. Martin Lake.

St. Martin Lake.
There were several people swimming in this lake
claiming that alligators don't bother people.

     One of our favorite days was on a Saturday and it went like this:  At 7:50 am we arrived at Buck & Johnny's in Breaux Bridge, LA only to find a line waiting for the place to open.  Buck & Johnny's has a Saturday cajun breakfast with Zydeco music and dancing starting around 8:00 am and ending around noon.  The place and the dance floor were packed and bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas flowed.  After leaving Buck & Johnny's we walked up the street to an amateur cajun jam session at a nearby cafe.  After lunch we headed to Popatop Lounge for a cajun jam session with local professional musicians.  On our drive back from Popatop's I rolled down my car window at a stoplight.  The guy in the passenger seat of the car next to me said hi and asked where I was heading. I told him that I didn't know where I was heading but that we just came from Buck & Johnny's.  At the mention of Buck & Johnny's everybody in their car broke into loud cheers.  He then invited us to a local pub for the evening and even offered to buy us drinks.  Then the light changed and off we went.  The people in cajun country are super friendly!  Finally, we then made it back to Betty's to join in the happy hour.

I am making a really bad attempt to figure out cajun dancing
and Nancy is trying to patiently show me how its done.
Yeah...Right...Like thats going to happen!

     A video of Buck & Johnny's Cajun Breakfast at 8:30 in the morning:

     I guess we have been caught in "Betty's Web" as we are already trying to figure out when to return. For those who want to visit this unique RV park be warned--You must stay 3 or 4 days to truly experience this place.  I recommend at least a week, but many of the campers stay a month or more. Unless you just bury yourself inside your rig, you will not regret a lengthy stay at Betty's RV Park.

Rip Van Winkle Gardens

Our lunch spot under Spanish Moss laden
Live Oak Trees.

Joe Jefferson's house at
Rip Van Winkle Gardens.

     CHEERS!