Tuesday, 17 April 2018: Broussard

We spent the next few days with Cousin Terry in Broussard. 

Wine bottles as the barrier between the gardens and the lawn.
Do I want to copy this?

Before we left Baton Rouge, we visited the LSU Arboretum. It was small but allowed us a nice walk through spring gardens.  We also walked around the grounds at Magnolia Mound Plantation where we learned that the blues festival in Baton Rouge was taking place right now.  We headed downtown for that.  We were taking advantage of flexibility and not having much of a schedule.  We left Gemma in the car, just as we did for the Festival in NOLA.  She gets to weird in crowds and we are afraid she'll get stepped on. 

We visited the fabulous old capital building.  Built like a castle, the staircase was to have been for Maximilian.  But, since he got executed, and had little need ...

Not surprisingly, there was a large exhibit on Huey Long, the controversial governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932. 

Justin chillin' on the banks of the Mississippi.
The USS Kidd is in the background.  It was closed to tourists --
watch for a new WWII movie with Tom Hanks!

We drove into Broussard and after a nice visit with Cousin Terry, we got situated at the ranch house.  Craig had made the bed and turned on the heat so it was nice and toasty when we arrived. 

On Monday, after a nice  visit with Craig, we had breakfast at Mel’s diner.  Justin and I worked in the yard -- ok, Justin worked in the yard and I was his cheerleader. 

Terry made crawfish etouffe for dinner.  His grandson Darrin and wife Renee joined us. Delicious!

On Tuesday, we bought plants.  Justin worked in the yard while I went back to the ranch house to pack.  Craig had left the Polaris for us to tool around on the ranch but we didn’t get the chance to roam.  He also brought a pint of honey that had been made on the ranch.  Now that will be yummy!  I chatted with Barbara. She’s been with Terry for 31 years.  

Terry had a headache which was disconcerting.  I made both he and Barbara promise they’d keep me posted on  Betty’s condition.

We hit the road a bit before 4pm and pulled into Marion Arkansas, just on the north side of Memphis just after midnight.  We'd talked to Cousins Georgeane and Mike to let them know we are on our way to St. Louis.  We really wanted to see the puppies tomorrow at the Poodle National Specialty.