What we miss from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana

We don’t see much of Alabama and Mississippi. We drive the route on Highway 10 and it really only goes straight ahead. Sometimes as an eternally long bridge over a huge wetland. But Louisiana is something special again.

What we miss from Louisiana

New Orleans is a highlight – if you like this quirky style and are not afraid of the curious. 🙂 There is voodoo on almost every corner and James Bond’s ghost from the movie “Live and let Die” is still haunting here forever. However, New Orleans is also noisy. Similar to Nashville, Tennessee, music is played on every corner here. Here it is rather close to my idea of how the city of music should be. It really plays almost on every corner some instrument and in every larger bar with stage then again mighty loud. The eardrum goes out of joint again. It’s great music, though. Somewhere you hear bluegrass, at the next corner it’s more blues, then again something like country-pop and so on.

Microbrewery and weird family in Louisiana

As we drive away from New Orleans again, we head for a Harvest Host night spot. This time a micro brewery. Harvest Host is an ingenious concept where you as a member can go to selected beautiful places via an app and stay at these hosts. Many do not charge money to stay overnight however they expect you to consume at their place. At a brewery or a wine grower the palate is really spoiled. The buildings are also mostly beautifully located and either trendy or lavishly built. The concept of these hosts, which have small stores or are breweries or wine houses, also exists in Europe and even in Switzerland.

Bayou Teche Brewing, Arnaudville, Louisiana

This brewery is far away from the main traffic route. So a quiet night is guaranteed. The brewery turns out to be a real treasure for good beers and also for by far the best pizza we have eaten so far. The Bayou Teche Brewery is located near road 31 and the logo of the brewery is the Louisiana state line with the number 31. Simple and the owners are very proud of it as they confess to us. And there is always something going on here. Check it out on Instagram.

A weird family

And here, in this brewery, we have an impressive and unforgettable experience. The weirdest family ever, true to the Southern stereotype. Here’s the story.

Claudia and I are standing at the bar of the Bayou Teche Brewery. We are not sure which beers to choose for a flight. A Flight is a selection of different beers in small 5 ounce glasses. That’s about 1.5 deciliters of jars. Usually a flight consists of 4 or 5 beers. So just right for two people. So there we are at the counter, reading and discussing the flavor descriptions for the 15 or so beers. Microbrewery with a selection of so many varieties is not quite right for me. Anyway… 😉

The mother – friendly recommendation

Suddenly we are approached by a young woman – roughly in her mid-twenties – because she heard us speaking Swiss German with each other and because we are discussing the types of beer. She gives us professional advice, asks about our preferences and suggests a few varieties based on our taste inclination. Ok, great, thank you very much for the friendly advice and immediately order a flight with the suggestions of the beer connoisseur.

We both think she must work here or she owns the place – cool. So we’re waiting for our order and suddenly she’s standing with us again, handing us a four-pack of glasses from the brewery and saying, “This is a gift.” Wow, completely surprised we accept the gift. That’s how we met the Americans. Spontaneous, friendly and generous.

Pizza and beers

So we take the flight, usually served on a wooden board that has holes in the number of glasses. Outside on the veranda we order another pizza and sit down at a long bench. The pizza comes and it is so delicious. We don’t have photos of them but all I can say is if there was a pizza heaven, these pizzas are the harp on which you would play music. Heavenly. OK, the beers meet our taste as well and are mighty tasty – but this pizza (harp music, angel singing… Siiiinnnng…).

The father – square head, upper arms like Schwarzenegger

While eating pizza I see the nice woman again standing by a fireplace next to a man and a child. The girl, maybe 12 years old, plays. The man, obviously quite muscular, upper arms that come close to Schwarzenegger’s biceps. Hairstyle – square, practical, good. I say to Claudia that I’ll go over to them for a moment and thank them again for the glasses. No sooner said than done.

I thank them both and immediately introduce myself and extend my hand to him. He laughs, takes my hand and almost makes mashed potatoes out of it. Fuck me he has a handshake. There is a short smalltalk and I combine from the words of the two that the lady is his girlfriend and the daughter belongs to him. So the lady is the stepmother.

And then it starts

He, a former soldier, now a policeman, asks me where we are going. I say we want to go to Texas to Big Bend National Park. And here we go. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaas??? To Texas??? Are you guys crazy? The Texans should all be shot and the Nigerians over there anyway.” he roars off. Me: “OK??????” How do you react in such an unexpected moment with such a statement?

I try to calm the bubbling of a volcano about to erupt by choosing words carefully. Fortunately, right now the daughter comes running to us. Then the lady, that is stepmother, introduces her stepdaughter: “And this is our little asshole”. Me: “OK??” How does one react in such a, for the second time, unexpected moment at such a statement? Can you imagine my face? Derailment of facial features is putting it mildly.

I think to myself, let two or three friendly words fall from my lips in the direction of my daughter, and then withdraw, rather astonished. As I tell Claudia this, she can hardly believe my words. Yes, me neither what I have just heard and experienced. Is that the southern states or Louisiana or just coincidence?

Conclusion Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana

In retrospect, I would have liked to dive deeper into Alabama and Mississippi. I would have liked to see more of their lifestyle and the nature of these two states. We just drove way too fast through these 3 states. Of course, such blatant families as this patchwork family are rather rare. But they do exist, and that is a frightening reality. Louisiana is a bustling big city. The French Quarter has charm. And it is very noisy and touristy.