I recently spent time in Southern Louisiana, dividing my time between New Orleans and the Lafayette and Opelousas area. In both cases I went to hear some great music, eat some wonderful food and be with some very welcoming people. The area is home to two important music traditions, cajun and zydeco. I have always enjoyed them and wanted to go to their site of their origins.
The St. Landry Parish Visitor Information Center provided a great introduction to the Lafayette Opelousas area. It is located off exit 23 on I-49, just north of Opelousas and should be one of your first stops. I will be writing more about this useful resource on my Portals and KM blog, as well as the great music and food the area offers. In this post I want to simply share images from the beautiful farm country and the some of the towns within it such as Eunice, Church Point, and Crowley. You can click on an image to enlarge it.
I followed a guide provided by the St. Landry Parish Visitor Center that showed the scenic byways. The last three images are zydeco greats from a mural in Opelousas. I was fortunate enough to see Clifton Chernier and Boozoo Chavis live before they passed. I have a number of music videos with Buckwheat Zydeco and hope to see him live some day.
I like the landscape shots, Bill ... and yes, I love the Cajun music, too.
Posted by: Mick Mather | December 26, 2011 at 12:59 PM
Thanks Mick, It was a wonderful trip.
Posted by: bill Ives | December 26, 2011 at 01:05 PM