Part 2 -- South Louisiana jaunt

On Tuesday Richard and I drove south to a couple of small towns. The plan was to see a bit of the landscape, perhaps a little culture, and the Vatican exhibit at St. Joseph's in Rayne. 

In Crowley, home of the rice festival, we saw this fabrication shop where swamp boats are made. We had to pull over and get a few pictures. How my husband knows about this sort of thing always amazes me, but he was able to answer all of my silly questions. 

So the way these things work is that the boat sits on top of the rice field, or crawfish pond or marsh, wherever. The big paddle wheel on the back "floats" on the bottom and pushes the boat. The hydraulic arm is long so that it can sink deeply or just roll along on top of the swampy ground, and the driver can adjust the depth as needed.

Farmers and fishermen can purchase boats in different widths, lengths, and paddle wheels, depending on their individual needs. Interesting, no? Notice the tarp on the top? That's because it's hot in Louisiana. The tarps provide some shade for the human and for the product on board. That question I did not need to ask.

As we drove through Crowley, I took a few pictures of the downtown area. We saw some beautiful old homes, but the rain and time didn't allow for pictures. Have you noticed the rain splattered windshield?

Isn't this a fabulous picture? Yes, those specks are
raindrops, but I still like it. The cross makes it perfect.

And on the way home we were enjoying the beautiful sunset when Richard realized that I was taking pictures of the sun setting from the town of Sunset. Cute, no? 

Mermantau, Crowley, and Rayne...a South Louisiana jaunt

I got a text from Meggan telling me about the special exhibit this week at St. Joseph's in Rayne. It looked interesting, so our  first open day (Tuesday), Richard and I jumped in the truck. About the same time, Rory called to say there's a little place we might want to check out. He hadn't been, but still...

So off we went in hopes of an adventure. What we got was a downpour. The interesting little place was a dud, but we saw lots of rice fields, several rice mills, and a couple of towns that we would visit again. 

Mermentau River

Not much larger than Evergreen, Mermentau is a little town on the Mermentau River. The river looks wide here, and it is, but it spills into Lake Arthur where it becomes much bigger as it travels into Grand Lake and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. 

One of many rice fields between Mermentau and Crowley

The area between Mermentau and Crowley is part of the Grand Chenier prairie, rich soil perfect for growing rice, crawfish, and sugar cane. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes, "The Chenier Plain is a popular destination for nature watchers, anglers and hunters, who come from around the world....With its location at the terminus of the Central and Mississippi Flyways, coastal wetlands in this focal area are extremely important for waterfowl and...up to 5.8 million ducks. The area also has productive estuaries, nearby forests and grasslands, and expansive tidal wetland systems. The coastal waters...contribute substantially to the nation’s commercial fishery landings, particularly for shrimp, blue crab, oysters and Gulf menhaden operations."

Top: Riviana rice mill; Bottom: Supreme Rice
Mill in operation (note the train cars waiting to be loaded)

From Crowley we moseyed east to Rayne along Hwy. 90 for the original reason of the trip: The Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibit.  It was set up to explain each miracle independently. Placards give an overview, details, and photos of monstrances and tabernacles, artwork,  churches and saints. 

And that rounds up our little jaunt. There were other interesting finds along the way, but this post is plenty long already. 
Thanks for stopping by.