9. Lake Fausse Pointe State Park
While you hum along with zydeco and Cajun songs on the radio, continue to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, site of one of the region’s oldest bald cypress groves. To reach the park, take Rtes. 96 and 679 east, Rte. 3083 south, and turn off onto the Atchafalaya Levee Road.
This 6,000-acre recreation area sits on land that once periodically disappeared beneath Atchafalayan floodwaters; levees on the park’s eastern border now protect it from such flooding. Acting like a giant sponge, the 15-mile-wide by 70-mile-long Atchafalaya Basin absorbs much of the soil and water runoff of the Mississippi’s drainage system. Consequently, this habitat nurtures many creatures — bass, crappies, frogs, snakes, alligators, black bears, eagles, herons, and ibises, to name just a few.
10. Henderson
Swamp tours of the Atchafalaya Basin shove off from McGee’s Landing and Whiskey River Landing in Henderson. At first they journey into a bald cypress graveyard, where severed stumps are all that remain from a stand of 100-foot-tall trees that were logged in the 1930s. The tombstone stumps give this part of the swamp a lakelike appearance, but deeper in the basin, the waters are punctuated by willow, sweetgum, and bald cypress trees. Most tours float beneath the twin spans of I-10, which was built to link this watery realm with the rest of civilization.
11. Breaux Bridge
According to Cajun legend, when the Acadians left Nova Scotia, the local lobsters grew lonesome and swam after them, becoming so exhausted by the long journey that they shrank to the size of shrimp. But there’s nothing modest about the size of the crawfish in Breaux Bridge, located west of Henderson at the end of Rte. 347.
The town calls itself the Crawfish Capital of the World, and a festival held every May underscores the point. Cajun music, carnival rides, and a parade of floats play second fiddle to crawfish races and, of course, crawfish-eating contests. (The record stands at 33 pounds consumed in one hour.) As the drive nears its end, it heads north out of town on Rte. 31, then leads west on I-10 and south on Rte. 90 to Lafayette.
12. Lafayette
Located in the heart of Cajun country, Lafayette offers a dance card full of activities, ranging from the foot-shuffling that closes various downtown streets to traffic on Friday evenings during spring and fall to the Cajun-style two-stepping that is featured at dance halls every night.
In spring blossoming azaleas lure drivers along the 20-mile Azalea Trail, a well-marked tour that skirts lush private gardens and such landmarks as the Lafayette Museum (once the home of the city’s founder). Among the most notable attractions here are murals near Lafayette Centre portraying scenes from Cajun history, and a man-made swamp — complete with alligators — found on the campus of the University of Southwestern Louisiana. At Vermilionville and the Acadian Village — two historical theme parks that are located at different ends of town — the daily life experiences of early Acadian settlers is brought vividly to life by costumed interpreters.
