A Road Less Traveled To Donaldsonville

The hardest thing for me when it comes to New Orleans is leaving. It’s not like Las Vegas where I can’t wait to leave…  I actually truly love this city.  In particular the French Quarter, Garden District and Algiers Point, which is just over the river.  But it was time, and I will be back!

Because the next stop on my journey is Houston TX, I looked on Google maps to see exactly how far Houston is from New Orleans.  It’s actually not that far.  A little over five hours to be exact, so instead of flying, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little sidetripping through the bayou!  As I examined the route, I just happened to notice that there is a town called Donaldsonville almost halfway in between New Orleans and Houston!  Not joking!  This is a must stop!

I rented a car on Canal Street, which was just a few blocks away from my hotel. It was an easy walk, so I brought my good camera to take some pictures of the French Quarter along the way.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is hurricane season in New Orleans. And of course about halfway to pick up my rental car a torrential downpour decided to make my trip that much more fun! And when I say fun, I am not being sarcastic. Growing up in Los Angeles, rain is a novelty, so a torrential downpour in the French Quarter for me is like riding Grizzly River at Disneyland…!

With a little shucking and jiving underneath the balconies and awnings above the sidewalks that are common throughout the French Quarter, I made my way through the downpour, stopping quickly to grab a trash bag from a kind security guard in order to protect my camera. Thank you kind security guard!

I picked up my car, a bag of beignets from Cafe du Monde, and headed east on the 10 (Interstate 10)! I think it’s pretty awesome that this is the same freeway that ends about 2 miles from my house in Santa Monica California!  It’s the fourth longest interstate in the United States.

Even though it was slightly off course, I have always wanted to drive over Lake Pontchartrain.  Yes, I have driven over similar causeways while visiting some very special folk in Florida, but this long, low bridge is the longest in the U.S.!   Sidenote: A chunk of this causeway was taken out by hurricane Katrina so it was closed for repairs for about five months.

OK, I didn’t honk my horn for fun as I do for the kids when we drive through a tunnel, but I do admit that it was pretty cool driving over this 24 mile stretch of engineering awesomeness!

As I continued on my journey, bursts of rain would continue throughout the day.  And we’re talking about massive rain storms, where traffic would slow to about 15 miles per hour on the highway. And then, just like that, it would stop and get hot again.  As a SoCal boy, I’m definitely not used to this!

Since my only experiences in Louisiana have been in New Orleans, I thought I would take some time off the beaten path and discover an actual bayou.  The Conway Bayou is lush with vegetation and meanders through the countryside, connecting to other waterways. There are houses and docks on stilts, some higher than others.  I presume this precautionary measure is based on how high the water levels can rise. There are shanties, as well as amazing estates along these Louisiana waterways.  I even found a cute little three-bedroom house along the bayou for

$275,000. As I sat in my air-conditioned car looking at this cute place, I had a momentary thought of a vacation getaway that would be fun for the whole family. That was until I opened the door of my car and got a read on the actual temperature outside…

I arrived in Donaldsonville around 4:30 PM. As you drive down Main Street, it’s not hard to see that this was once the center of this small town. But, it was apparent that times have changed and now many of the shops have closed. I’m not sure why, but based on the corporate eateries and chain stores that are along the highway as you come into town, my guess is that, just like many other small towns in America, the mom and pop shops on Main Streets around the country, have fallen victim to these more modern corporate giants.  

Some shops look as if they have closed in the last year or so, possibly due to Covid. But some of these places look like they have been closed for some time. I was hoping to find a souvenir shop or a place where I could get a Donaldsonville T-shirt, but this place was a ghost town. But wait.  As I drove slowly down the main drag, I spotted what I was looking for!  One lonely T-shirt hanging in the window of a clothing store. A Donaldsonville T-shirt! I had to have it.  But the shop is closed. As I walked up to the door to inspect it further, I saw the light turn out. There was actually someone in the shop! I caught the owner as she was trying to leave for the day. I introduced myself as Eric Donaldson and said, "I know you are already closed, but what are the chances of me buying a Donaldsonville T-shirt?" She said, "I’m

not sure we have a Donaldsonville T-shirt." I explained that I had seen one in the window, and she said, "I didn’t even know we had that!  We must have made it up for a special event."  She then led me through the shop to the window where I saw the T-shirt. She pulled it out of the window and said, "this is definitely the only one we have.  I hope this size will work," as she looked me up and down…  It was a medium.  I said it will be perfect for one of my kids! I will take it!

With t-shirt in hand, I decided to take a little self-guided driving tour of the rest of Donaldsonville.  I drove past the fire station, middle school and high school.  I then had a wonderful dinner (I know, I know. I did said wonderful...) at a great locals restaurant called the Grapevine Cafe. I had also seen a cool, old 1950s style drive up, where I’m sure food was once served by waitresses on roller skates, but tonight the little, quirky Cajun cafe was calling me!  I had their house special, crawfish cornbread.  This was the very best cornbread I have

ever had.  It was absolutely delicious!  Next up was the pecan encrusted redfish.  Friends, this dinner was a win, win, so if you are ever in Donaldsonville, make sure to stop in for dinner!  You can even tell them that a Donaldson sent you! Oh, and as I was on my way out, I asked the host if they had any Grapevine Cafe t-shirts that say Donaldsonville on them? She said, "no, but if you head back out to the interstate, you can get a Donaldsonville T-shirt at Walmart or CVS." So much for "Shop Local," and as I suspected, bye bye Main Street Anywhere USA...

My goal was to stay in Baton Rouge, and see the city at night. But, because I got in so late, and to save a few bucks, I decided to stay in a small motel just across the Mississippi River, rather than stay in downtown. I figured I would be fine since it was just me… So, you know the saying, you get what you pay for, right? I should have known that this was not the place for me when the attendant at the front desk asked if I wanted a smoking room or a non-smoking room… "Uh, non-smoking, please."

The nice young woman looked at her computer screen, and then explained to me that she did not have any non-smoking rooms left, as the last two non-smoking rooms had door locks that were not operational.  She said, in other words, I would not be able to leave and come back without getting assistance from the front desk.  I said, no problem, I’m in for the night!  As I made my way up the stairs to my motel room, I noticed that there were two other rooms along the way where cowboy boots were sitting just outside the doors. I have no idea what that means, so I can only guess that the boots, unlike the cowboy who wore them, we’re not allowed to enter the motel room…

In the morning, I closed the door to my highway side motel room and looked down at the green pool below. Yikes!  Luckily I got out of there unscathed, so figured I would do a little sightseeing of Baton Rouge!

I did a driving tour of Louisiana State University, and a little walk along, wait for it… Yes, the Mississippi River!  You really get to see how high the levees are along the river in Baton Rouge. It’s crazy to think that the during a storm the water level could actually breach these levees. Don't mess with Mother Nature!

Before I left town, I wanted to stop by the Magnolia Mound Plantation which was a tobacco, indigo,

cotton, and sugarcane plantation first built in 1791.  They say it is one of the best renovated and preserved plantations in this region. The buildings truly are in great condition after much care has been put into saving this plantation. I enjoyed walking the grounds until I came upon the outbuilding where slaves had lived.  As I looked in the open doors of this shanti, I felt great sadness.  And as I write this now, the one word in the information pamphlet that stood out to me more than anything is "ownership."

Ownership of humans.  This should not be.  Not now, or in 1791.  But it still exists. As a white male in my 50s, even though I have no relatives who owned slaves, I feel ashamed.  As an American, I take "ownership" in this horrible part of our history. I left the plantation feeling great sadness for what my human brothers and sisters had to endure at this place.

I jumped back on the 10, and now had my sights set on Houston Texas. I am not joking when I say that

without seeing a sign that says "Welcome To Texas," you know you have arrived in Texas because the trucks begin to get much bigger. This is 100% confirmed true. 

I checked into my hotel and was very happy to see that the pool was not green, the the door was operational and no one had their cowboy boots sitting outside their front door.   

As I opened the plastic bag which had my running shoes and shirt that got soaked in the New Orleans downpour, I gagged, laughed at myself and thought, if only I was at that motel in Baton Rouge, I'd leave these stinky shoes outside my door too! Heck, I bet those cowboys would have given me an understanding nod the next morning as we all made our way to Starbucks...