Sunset on the way to Lafayette
Rest area upon entrance to Louisiana. We missed out on the Louisiana smiles because the building was closed. :(
Alligator warning at the rest area
At the rest area
It was windy and Andi was saying we just got into "L"ouisiana
A giant rope at the restaurant that was said to be open but was actually closed.
Entering our hotel
Our awesome 2 room hotel room. Big screen TV in each room (3), 2 bathrooms. We could have cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner here!
hotel bedroom
Hotel room
Ken enjoying the TV
At Copeland's, we had Thanksgiving lunch here.
Deep fried turkey for Thanksgiving dinner (for lunch)
Gumbo Ya Ya soup
Cheesecake Napolean
Our hotel lobby
The restaurant we were going to go to Thanksgiving night ended up being closed. Thankfully, our hotel had a little Thanksgiving meal and free alcohol!
Aki spends every spare minute practicing martial arts, even in elevators
Prejeans restaurant. This was our appetizer - a fried sampler including frogs legs, alligator, crawfish, shrimp, boudin, and mushrooms
Crab cakes
soft shell crab imperial
Au gratin
crawfish etoufee
After leaving Aki's parents we sort of stubbled upon Acadian Village, which we would have gone to the day before if it hadn't been cold and rainy. It was closed. :(
Rest area upon entering Texas
Alligator snapping turtle
View from the back of the rest area
Rest area had a long walkway with information about Blue Elbow Swamp
We stumbled upon Shangri La Gardens. It was beautiful (even in November) and better than we expected. We'll be making another trip here next year!
This black leaf looking plant was at the entrance
Look at that tongue
Black bamboo! Aki and I want this in our yard if possible.
Beautyberry
The gardens had a taste/hear/smell/touch section. :)
It was the last day for the Scarecrow Festival
Mini pineapple - about 3 inches long
4 areas that you could walk across to see how the water got cleaner from one to the next.
Flying pigs
Pumpkin King
We followed a sign saying there were birds up ahead. We figured in November there wouldn't be any, but as we peeked through basically a wooden box there were what seemed like hundreds!
Lots of nests
We liked how there were no hand rails
Branch through wall
Little pumpkin tree!
Somebody took a long time tying these
Money tree
Branching Room
Circle Room
Stripe Room
