I lucked (bon-chanced?) into Mamou using a way of trip planning that combines the old and the new. The old part: studying a map. The new part: it was Google Maps with Street View. My goals were to favor the older highways, find old hotels, and look for little towns with a small grid (or better yet, circle) of streets. Mamou had a sweet looking little grid and as I street-viewed the main drag I saw this: Hotel Cazan (which is for sale, btw) I gave the hotel a call and inquired about rooms, and the owner, Valerie Cahill, was like, "you must come, oh the memories you will make!" After we hung up, she texted me an article about Hotel Cazan from The Acadiana Advocate, detailing its rich history. It was in this article that I learned Anthony Bourdain stayed there over Mardi Gras filming his "Southern Louisiana" episode, and yes, his room was available for December 5th. Better still, I learned that Fred's Lounge, across the street, is the Cajun music capital of the wo...
Those of you who know me personally (aka everyone reading this) probably know I have been struggling with mental illness for the last 18 months or so. If we are being real, though, it has been a lifelong struggle that reached a breaking point in May of 2024 and total meltdown in July 2025. Several of my healthcare providers have suggested journaling, which - ironically - I was doing a lot more of in twenty years ago than I am now. Why not hike back into Pooks Canyon? I can overshare in deep, text-rich, posts in a way not seen since Facebook ate everyone's blog. So, what has happened in the Canyon since I last updated? Leah is an agri-tech data whiz bringing the sweetest berries to a produce section near you, Jon and I are traveling about, successfully avoiding sleeping in arachnid-infested outhouses, and Axel is a part-time farmer of cannabis in Nevada County, staying with Grandma Baker. If Jon and I take up gardening, the whole family will be engaged in the plant industry. ...