Lafayette, LA

[Sbbruin 21829]

Ok so looks like I need to quickly book a trip for a wedding in Lafayette over Thanksgiving.  Long story, but this was thrown together at the last minute.  BIL so I have to go. Quick search of flights gives me nothing direct out of LA,, or even to Baton Rouge.  Wtf?  Everything is a 5-7 hr connecting flight.  What am I missing here?

[EE2B 1565]

Depending on timing, you may be better off flying into Houston and driving. I believe it’s only a three hour drive, but it could save you some airport time. It also looks like you can get into Baton Rouge from Dallas, Houston or Atlanta, so I would think you could find something with a shorter connection time.

[deadshank 24652]

Fly to Houston. Eat at Buck's. Drive to Lafayette. 

Reverse skate. 

[Sbbruin 21829]

Yeah, every flight connects through Houston.  Seems like a long haul though from there.

[smuggs 9353]

I’d fly into BR and drive. I-10 construction  between Baytown and Lake Charles has traffic all kinds of fucked up right now. They are also setting up for a major renovation of the I-10 bridge in Lake Charles this spring - it can be hit or miss there too.

 

Wife and I drove from Lake Charles to Houston last Saturday. We left at 1:30, got to Houston at 7:30pm. It’s normally a ~2 hour drive...

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

Fly direct to New Orleans.  Eat and drink well.  Drive to Lafayette.

[phdhorn 6224]

3 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Fly direct to New Orleans.  Eat and drink well.  Drive to Lafayette.

This.  There are LAX-MSY nonstops on SWA.  However the airport is west of N.O. so you'd have to go the other way for 25 mins. into New Orleans, but no big deal this time of year to park (I think). 

N.O to Lafayette is about 1:45 from the airport.  

There are nonstops from LAX to Hobby (not IAH) on SWA, about same price, but it's an hour longer drive and at that time of year it's a little risky on I-10 with traffic.  God help you if you get stuck on the Atchafalaya Basin bridge (basically about a 20 mile long stretch of trestle over the swamp).  I did one time and it took 7 hours to get off of it. 

I think LAX→MSY is the way to go.  A little over 3 hours nonstop.

[HornOnTheBayou 8913]

Yep, flying to New Orleans is the way to go. Don't go to Houston, because you really don't want to be driving through Lake Charles right now. Flying in to Baton Rouge will only cut off about an hour of drive time versus flying to New Orleans.

[Brisketexan 105068]

Fly to NOLA.  Drive to Lafayette.  Eat well.

[South Austin 52454]

1 hour ago, phdhorn said:

 God help you if you get stuck on the Atchafalaya Basin bridge (basically about a 20 mile long stretch of trestle over the swamp).  I did one time and it took 7 hours to get off of it. 

I-10 on either side of Lafayette is always a dicey proposition.  In June we were stopped on I-10 just west of Lafayette for almost two hours due to a fatality wreck.  Thankfully I've never been stopped over the Basin, and if traffic cooperates, I always think it's a pretty fantastic drive over the swamp. 

[phdhorn 6224]

I was with my (at the time) 9 year old.  We got out (traffic had stopped for 2 hours), played catch and dribbled the basketball, and just pissed off the side of the bridge and we wanted to. Nobody cared.

Sucked if you were a woman.

Edited October 31, 2018 by phdhorn

[Sbbruin 21829]

Sounds like NOLA is the call.  Thanks.

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

2 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Sounds like NOLA is the call.  Thanks.

This thread may come in handy.

[mushroomface 62]

Get boudin at the Best Stop in Scott.

[TornACL 7698]

Check the bridge situation in Baton Rouge if you're coming from New Orleans.

Eat at Olde Tyme Grocery in Lafayette. Shrimp poboy. God damn that shit was delicious.

[tx 3 putt 76870]

Parrain's Seafood Restaurant in Baton Rouge, sit at the bar if you can. You can thank me later 

[Sbbruin 21829]

Well, caved and we are connecting through Houston and flying into Lafayette.  Whatever.  I need to do NOLA on its own dedicated trip anyway.

[orange dream 1246]

Spent a couple of days in Lafayette in the early 90's.  My lasting memory is that they had an all-you-can-eat Taco Bell. Didn't try it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider the possibilities.

[UTPhil2006 3805]

24 minutes ago, orange dream said:

Spent a couple of days in Lafayette in the early 90's.  My lasting memory is that they had an all-you-can-eat Taco Bell. Didn't try it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider the possibilities.

I think I would die at something like that.  Don't they have an all you can eat Popeyes?  

[Surly Bevo 24908]

I think I would die at something like that.  Don't they have an all you can eat Popeyes?  

 

I know I dined at one in NO at the 95 Sugar Bowl.

 

College student nirvana.

 

Also we just going to let OP slide on the reason for this trip.

 

Telll your BIL to wrap it next time....those 10 seconds were not worth it

[tx 3 putt 76870]

late 90's Lafayette also had an all you can eat Popeye's. it was glorious and made for a great lunch

and that town is full of very attractive women, lived there for 2 years after college 

[Underdog 28580]

Stayed at a Shoney’s Inn on our trip back to Texas late 90s, woke up in the middle of the night and room was covered in crickets, wife even slept in our van to escape them. 

[Kennythetiger 9376]

Pat Green says it rains there.

[Paco 1934]

Paul Simon once stood on a corner there.

[Redneck Mutha 7954]

We drove past that Lafayette Popeyes with the buffet two years ago.



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[elfenix 34223]

stop at meche's donut king

[Sbbruin 21829]

Ok switching gears from how to get there to what to do there.  Although we probably won’t have a ton of free time.

[kevwun 15764]

11 hours ago, South Austin said:

I-10 on either side of Lafayette is always a dicey proposition.  In June we were stopped on I-10 just west of Lafayette for almost two hours due to a fatality wreck.  Thankfully I've never been stopped over the Basin, and if traffic cooperates, I always think it's a pretty fantastic drive over the swamp. 

Yeah and traffic is Baton Rouge is also fucked if you hit it during rush hour even if there are no wrecks.

[Heisenberg 162]

Good eats in Lafayette: Poorboys Riverside Inn.

[Kyrie Eleison 9312]

Glenda’s Creole Kitchen in Breaux Bridge (aka Pont Breaux).

trust me...

[Redneck Mutha 7954]

Little Big Cup in Arnaudville has a great weekend brunch.  The French Press for breakfast /lunch.  They have a damn good gumbo.  As mentioned, Olde Tyme Grocery for poboys.  

[Pescado_Rojo 19415]

Lafayette airport has two gates...seriously. The only reason they have an airport at all is the oil bidness. Prejean's for traditional cajun. Olde Tyme Grocery is good for traditional po-boys, and there's a place out in Broussard called hook & boil that I like. I also like Blue Dog Cafe. They've got a little bit of everything though it's predominately cajun. 

[Your Mom 4805]

Glenda’s is great. Blue Dog Cafe also has good semi-upscale cajun-ish food. 

[WBT 20561]

20 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Sounds like NOLA is the call.  Thanks.

Agreed that is the best call.  The Baton Rouge airport is small and expensive to fly into.  I think 90% of flights are United connecting through IAH or Delta connecting through Atlanta.

17 hours ago, mushroomface said:

Get boudin at the Best Stop in Scott.

Specifically a bag of three boudin balls as the perfect road trip snack.

16 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Parrain's Seafood Restaurant in Baton Rouge, sit at the bar if you can. You can thank me later 

Palabra.  Be sure to get the chargrilled oysters.

17 hours ago, TornACL said:

Check the bridge situation in Baton Rouge if you're coming from New Orleans.

Between 5am and 8am and 3pm and 7pm getting over the bridge is god awful.  Outside of those times you have a chance.  Also, coming from Lafayette back to New Orleans, the left lane must exit right after you get off the bridge and the right lane must exit right after that.  Effectively I10 chokes down to 1 through lane.

Edited November 1, 2018 by WBT

[DaysOff 7947]

18 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Glenda’s is great. Blue Dog Cafe also has good semi-upscale cajun-ish food. 

2nd for Blue Dog.

[Reagan1k 3024]

14 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Glenda’s is great. Blue Dog Cafe also has good semi-upscale cajun-ish food. 

Assuming they still serve it, the Crab and Corn Bisque at Blue Dog Cafe used to be awesome!

It's been a couple of years since I stopped in there.

[TornACL 7698]

As I recall it's a little off the beaten path but I also have had the crawfish etoufee pot pie at Bon Temps Grill in Lafayette. Delicious. I need to go out there in February for the UT-ULaLa baseball series.

[MAROON 445]

For Po-Boys you go to Pop's or Olde Tyme Grocery... suggest you do both and compare.

 

The French Press is awesome for breakfast

 

Johnson's Boucaniere for the Parrain Special (grilled cheese stuffed with Boudin)

 

 

[sidis 9823]

cafe vermillionville in lafayette is a good dinner.

[Sbbruin 21829]

1 hour ago, TornACL said:

As I recall it's a little off the beaten path but I also have had the crawfish etoufee pot pie at Bon Temps Grill in Lafayette. Delicious. I need to go out there in February for the UT-ULaLa baseball series.

That's right up my alley. And it looks like that isn't far fro where we are staying.

[Redneck Mutha 7954]

1 hour ago, TornACL said:

As I recall it's a little off the beaten path but I also have had the crawfish etoufee pot pie at Bon Temps Grill in Lafayette. Delicious. I need to go out there in February for the UT-ULaLa baseball series.

Agreed, Bon Temps Grill is damn good.  Similar food as Blue Dog, but more casual. 

[tigol 2395]

I second The French Press.

[TornACL 7698]

32 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

That's right up my alley. And it looks like that isn't far fro where we are staying.

It was funny, when I stopped there for lunch, the place was full of people who were traveling through on I10 and who found it via Google search, even though it isn't right off the freeway. The bartender mentioned that they get tons of 'drive-through' traffic. I guess their Trip Advisor / SEO game is really strong. 

I was nervous when I overheard that, but the food lived up to the expectations, so that's good.

[elfenix 34223]

1 hour ago, Sbbruin said:

That's right up my alley. And it looks like that isn't far fro where we are staying.

it's lafayette - nothing is far from where you're staying.  there's 7 exits on i-10 for it.

[Etexhorn13 3045]

Bookmarking so I can come back later and give you a good write up. My wife is from Lafayette and I have been going there semi regularly for the past 12 years. One thing i would mention first, though, is to look at taking HWY 90 to Lafayette instead of I-10. Google will tell you its longer but I (as well as my friends I’ve told about this who didn’t take my advice) have never NOT had some kind of dumbass traffic between NO/Baton Rouge or Baton Rouge/Lafayette. Just a thought. 

Edited November 1, 2018 by Etexhorn13

[Redneck Mutha 7954]

1 hour ago, Etexhorn13 said:

Bookmarking so I can come back later and give you a good write up. My wife is from Lafayette and I have been going there semi regularly for the past 12 years. One thing i would mention first, though, is to look at taking HWY 90 to Lafayette instead of I-10. Google will tell you its longer but I (as well as my friends I’ve told about this who didn’t take my advice) have never NOT had some kind of dumbass traffic between NO/Baton Rouge or Baton Rouge/Lafayette. Just a thought. 

Better listen to him, Flounder.  He's pre-med.

Coming home from New Orleans earlier this year, we were watching the Googletrons maps for bullshit on I-10 wbound and saw 3 major clusterfucks between lake chuck and Baytown.

Took a bunch of backroads between sulphur and Brenham.  It took 9+ to get home, but i guarantee we saved at least an hour and a half and a shitload of sanity. 

[kevwun 15764]

It took us 2 hours to go 20 miles once because of the bridge in Baton Rouge.  I would have rather been driving down back roads than sitting in that mess.

[Greg Davis Apologist 213]

10 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Lafayette airport has two gates...seriously. The only reason they have an airport at all is the oil bidness. Prejean's for traditional cajun. Olde Tyme Grocery is good for traditional po-boys, and there's a place out in Broussard called hook & boil that I like. I also like Blue Dog Cafe. They've got a little bit of everything though it's predominately cajun. 

Second for Prejean's. Just happened to look good so we stopped there about 15 years ago when driving to Florida. I'll definitely revisit that place if I'm ever close again.

[Mac8111 2106]

Eat at Prejeans while you are there. Then familiarize yourself with boudin while in Lafayette.

[WBT 20561]

6 hours ago, kevwun said:

It took us 2 hours to go 20 miles once because of the bridge in Baton Rouge.  I would have rather been driving down back roads than sitting in that mess.

There aren't too many back roads that cross the Mississippi