When Kyle called and we told him we were 30 miles South of New Orleans, he said, "You're in the ocean?" No, we are in Grand Isle State Park. We took an absolutely lovely drive through the lowlands, passed simple, peaceful fishing villages with shrimp and fishing boats parallel parked in the estuaries. We stopped at a Cajun Pecan Sweet Shop, and picked up about one of everything on display. All fresh, real ingredients, like Grandma would make. As we waited in line, we watched local after local pick up a King Cake and keep moving on their way. The King Cake is a is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with Mardi Gras and Carnival. The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, sometimes said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for the next celebration). We're picking ours up on the way back North.
Grand Isles is listed as one of the top ten best fishing places in the entire country. Just before we entered the the park, we stopped and picked up a few pounds (4) of fresh caught gulf shrimp from a wholesaler. We parked up at a great spot behind the levee, plugged in, and walked over the levee to see the beach. It was a strange beach. The sand looked freshly laid, packed very flat, with lots of tire tracks running up and down the beach. We didn't quite know what to make of it, until we talked to the locals on the pier. The beach was badly hit by the oil spill. You can see dozens of oil rigs highlighted in the setting sun on the ocean's horizon. But, the locals said, "Those boys are really doing a fine job of cleaning it up." Every few days they dredge the entire beach, turning over the sand, and filtering any tar balls that are still washing up. But what this does, also, is churn up all the shells and bones and fossils that were washed up and buried during the storm. We found two skulls, tons of fossilized creatures, and a full giant fish skeleton, that was intact, still lying in the position it had died.
The weather was so beautiful, for the first time, we got to open up all our doors, air out our blankets in the sunshine, and eat our meals on the picnic table. Our neighbor, Dennis, down on a fishing trip from Wisconsin built us a bonfire to sit outside and drink our martinis and enjoy the full moon. In the morning, our other neighbors, Jackie and Dean, lounging in their swimsuits, invited us over for a chat. They are organizers for the Joshua Tree Music Festival, which is high on our list of places to visit when we get out West. Good weather makes everyone friendly!
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