LOUISIANA PLANTATION TRAIL EXPEDITION!

For decades, I have seen  photos of this "tunnel" of  oak trees in magazines, and dreamed that one day I would be able to see it in person.  And, by the Grace of God, this past July, I was able to actually stroll what is called "Oak Alley" in south Louisiana.  The photo above was taken by Brian Jewell, editor of Group Travel Leader Magazine ( www.grouptravelleader.com ) , who (along with other members of his staff) worked with the River Parishes Tourist Commission ( www.neworleansplantationcountry.com ) to co-ordinate our group's site visits to seven different plantations.

During my tour of Oak Alley Plantation ( www.oakalleyplantation.org ), I was able to understand that this famous scene was the "street" or passageway that led from the banks of the Mississippi River to the "big house", where the planter/owner lived with their family. It is one fourth mile in length, and made up of 300 year old live oak trees.   The photo below shows a closer view of the familiar Louisiana plantation-style home that usually comes to mind, when you think about this part of the country.

A view one would get as they left the main plantation home would be the passageway to the Mississippi River. Perhaps at one time, the visitor could see steamboats on the river, but now the huge grass-covered levee renders the actual waters of the river out of sight, since they are on the other side of the levee.  The photo below is looking towards the levee, and the "blue sky" above the levee indicates that is the space above the river. 

Another very popular historic home to tour in the area is The Houmas House ( www.houmashouse.com ).  What I find amazing about this home, is that the owner actually lives there still, yet he lets visitors enter his "inner sanctom", to get a glimpse of how the property is being used now.  In addition to it providing a domicile for the owner, he has added to the property so that it has large spaces for special events, a restaurant, gift shop, and rental cottages for overnight visitors.   

I mentioned that seeing "Oak Alley" was a long-time dream; likewise, a swamp boat tour has also been an activity that has interested me.  On this trip, we were able to take our first trip into the swamp on an air boat ( www.SwampAdventuresNOLA.com ), equipped with "ear muffs" to protect our ears from the extremely loud fan motor that propels the boat over the shallow waters.  Once we had journeyed deep into the swamp, the driver stopped the boat, we took off our ear protection, and listened/watched as he pointed out the fascinating flora and fauna that surrounded us:

We also took a different swamp tour, at a different location, and this time, it was on a pontoon-style boat, and at a much slower pace ( www.cajunprideswamp.com ).  Needless to say, we saw plenty of alligators on both trips into the Louisiana swamp.  On the pontoon boat ride, the captain's young son passed around a small, live alligator that guests could choose to hold, if desired, and have their picture made with the alligator.  After much hesitation, I decided to hold it, because I wanted to get a photo of me holding an alligator.  However, after seeing the (scary--- in my mind only) alligator that showed in the photograph with me, it looked no bigger than a large lizard I commonly see around my home.  Hence, I am too embarrassed to put the photo in this blog!  Yet, at the time I was contemplating holding it, it seemed huge!   While educating myself on New Orleans area attractions, I came across an article that offered suggestions for Grandparent/Grandchild outings that mentioned "swamp visits".  I would recommend one of these swamp boat tours as an excellent opportunity to spend time with a grandchild in the outdoors! ( I want to give a "shout out" to the website that provided the article, because it has started a "spin-off" called Boomers. The  Executive Editor of the new Boomers magazine is a Kappa Alpha Theta sorority sister of mine, from our days at the University of Arkansas.  Her name is Laura Claverie, and you can read more great articles for folks of my generation, by clicking on www.nolafamily.com/nola-boomers/ )

All of the plantations we visited included recreated slave quarters, in order to commemorate the people who did the actual physical labor to make these properties possible.  The re-created slave quarters shown below were at the San Francisco Plantation. 

The San Francisco Plantation main house ( www.sanfranciscoplantation.org ) is shown in photo below, and is on property owned by Marathon Oil.

The first time I saw a photo of the San Francisco Plantation, I was immediately curious about the cylindrical tower pictured adjacent to the big house.  During my tour of the property, I learned that this was their water storage and supply system.  If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that there is a pipe leading from the tower, into the upper story of the home.

At the Destrehan Plantation ( www.destrehanplantation.org ) we were able to see their water supply tower system (shown below), which was not quite as ornate as the one at the San Francisco property.

There are various educational exhibits/demonstrations available for visitors at the Drestehan Plantation.  I was delighted that the one our group was able to witness, involved the use of the indigo plant, which was one of the crops grown on plantations, hundreds of years ago:

The Ormond Plantation is not only historic, but also available for special events, and our group was treated to a delicious evening meal there, in the formal dining room.  In addition, their website ( www.plantation.com ) indicates they also function as a Bed and Breakfast, to provide overnight lodging. 

The elegant cuisine we enjoyed at the Ormond Plantation was just one  of the many opportunities to sample local flavors.  We enjoyed a seafood lunch, along with several nearby refinery workers, at a restaurant adjacent to the levee. The display case at the counter where you placed your order left no question as to what their specialty was:   ( you can see below it is GULF SEAFOOD!)

Another important crop, in addition to the indigo plant,  during the height of the plantation era was sugar cane.  One of the ways that sugar cane was used was to make rum.  In recognition of that tradition, a local family has recently opened a small distillery, which we were able to tour.  They proudly label their product as "Made in the USA"!

We also went to a restaurant where alligator was not only on the menu (which I was able to sample), but also there was a live alligator just inches from the shoreline, that caught the attention of the man shown in this photo, who is pointing to it.

No trip to the Gulf of Mexico area is complete without the traditional "Shrimp Boil Plate", so I thoroughly enjoyed the one I was served at the Frenier Landing Restaurant ( www.frenierlanding.com )

Another plantation we visited that has an architecture less associated with an "antebellum" time period, was the Laura Plantation (www.lauraplantation.com ).  It is said to have a "Creole" design, and our tour guide did an outstanding job of describing the lifestyles of the various creole characters who have lived there:

So far, I have mentioned five of the plantations we visited .  The sixth one was called Evergreen Plantation ( www.evergreenplantation.org ), and for me, it was the most memorable because of the animated stories provided by our tour guide.  Before we retreated to the air-conditioned interior spaces to tour, we went around to the front of the house which faces the Mississippi River and levee, to get a photograph of its impressive entryway way and porch:

One of the plantations whose modern-day owner was deeply touched by learning of the history and hardships of the slaves who had formerly lived at his plantation, decided to take a completely different viewpoint, as he prepared the plantation for public visitation.  Simply called "The Whitney" ( www.whitneyplantation.com ) it is focused almost entirely on the enslaved people who were born there and died there, or otherwise wound up at this location.  He built a wall, inspired by the Viet Nam War Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., that is engraved with

the names of all those slaves who were, at one time, simply listed as "pieces of property", by the slavemaster who owned them. 



Our group visited a historic church (Riverlands Christian Center) in Reserve, Louisiana that gives a glimpse at what segregation in the churches looked like in the pre-civil rights era.  Since it was a Sunday, we were able to participate in their weekly worship services, as well as hear a presentation called "Soul River---A Musical Journey through African American History".  Visitors are always welcome at the worship services of the Riverlands Christian Center, and to schedule a presentation of their "Soul River" program, call 985-210-6621.

The Riverlands Christian Center  is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and serves as the visual aid for one of my First Place 4 Health ( www.firstplace4health.com ) memory verses that says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Corinthians 4:17 .  I am very thankful for the strong faith of persecuted Christians, that enables them to endure their hardships, because of their faith in God's promises.   This church is a reminder of a time when the ONLY hope an enslaved person had, was that of eternal glory, after they died.

 This trip along Louisiana's Plantation Trail gave me "MILES OF SMILES"! (Or, as they say in the swamp, "See ya later, alligator!")

Labyrinths and Lanes Expedition

The theme for the Grandparent/Grandchild Day that we did yesterday was all about "keeping it between the lines". As is our tradition, (and not just because our theme was "keeping it between the lines"), when we first got into the automobile, we gripped our steering wheels (real or imaginary) with both hands, and voiced this prayer: "Lord, please STEER us in YOUR path (based on Psalm 25:4), and put a HEDGE of protection around us (based on Job 1:10). Then we headed for Terra Studio, http://www.terrastudios.com/, which was a few miles east of Fayetteville. It was there that we found the bark-covered trail, through an enchanted forest, that led us to our first labyrinth. I explained in the earlier blog called "Mt. Shasta Lavender Farm", how a labyrinth is different from a maze. The labyrinth at Terra uses upright flagstones, firmly planted into the ground, to mark the curving lines of their labyrinth. We were fortunate to have a Channel 5 TV news reporter, and a Terra Studios associate, come by while we were walking through the labyrinth. With their help, I have the photos shown in this collage.
The next labyrinth is shown in the second photo collage, and it is located in the Fellowship Hall area of St. Paul's Episcopal Church (http://www.stpaulsfay.com/). The lady who oversees the use of the labyrinth there is Mary Miller and she was kind enough to take the lower left photo of all three of us, before we started . We learned from Mary that there is no right or wrong way to get through a labyrinth, and she gave us a print out on how to make the most effective use of a labyrinth for prayer and meditation purposes. She also told us about the prayer labyrinth at Washington Regional Medical Center. I was glad she did because the WRMC labyrinth had not been listed in the national register for such devices, http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/ The outdoor labyrinth at Washington Regional Medical Center (http://www.wregional.com/.) is located in a beautiful area of their campus near the bike path, pond, and footbridge. This third photo collage shows us in one of their numerous park benches surrounding the area, as well as photos of Jacob and Kaitlyn walking the outside edges of the labyrinth, plus a shot of them in the center, after they had completed the many "crooks and turns" surrounding the center.

The fourth photo collage of this post shows our last stop on the tour, and it was at Fast Lane in Lowell, Arkansas (http://www.fastlanebowl.com/). We had a great time bowling, and Kaitlyn even landed a strike! I was glad Kaitlyn noticed that some of the bowling lines had little "guard rails" on either side of the wooden lane that the ball rolls on. After she checked with the employee there, she found out that children under age 10 could request that the "guard rails" be raised when it was their turn to bowl. This was done, so that anytime it was Jacob's turn to bowl, the guard rails would automatically come up. His score definitely went up after the addition of the guard rails. It was a good visual aid for me about the importance of guard rails or "boundaries" for youngsters, to keep them on the right path, while they are acquiring the wisdom and experience to continue on with their life. In this collage, both Kaitlyn and Jacob are shown as they make their bowling balls hurl toward the pins, and the photo of "grandma" bowling is intentionally blurred, as the side being photographed during bowling is not a pretty sight in my case! Although it is not pictured here, being with the grandkids at Fast Lane, enabled me to participate in my first-ever game of lazer tag. That was great fun, as was trying to stay in the proper lane, and at the proper speed, when we rode around on the indoor go-cart track. All in all, it was a most enjoyable day of trying to "stay between the lines" with two totally awesome grandkids, named Kaitlyn and Jacob, who are definitely headed down the right path in their young life. Miles of smiles! Tricia          EDITOR'S NOTE:  Since I published this article, I read more about labyrinths in a publication called Christian Retreats, where this verse from Psalm 16:11 in The Message paraphrase was quoted, which says, "Now you've got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face.  Ever since you took my hand, I'm on the right way."  The article also listed another website with the address of www.labyrinthlocator.com that gives additional resources for persons interested in labyrinths.