Just a word about Vivian's dogs before moving on. She has three. One little one who follows her around the house and two large ones that often also have the run of the house but during our visit were kept in their own room which was built especially for them and is just behind the kitchen. She obviously cared a lot about the dogs and they were good company for her living alone in this big house.
I think dog owners, however, are sometimes like smokers used to be. They assume that everyone will love their dog(s) as much as they do and don't hesitate to expose guests to dogs they would prefer not to be exposed to. This was not the case with Vivian and we appreciated it, especially since Elise has had a fear and dislike of dogs ever since she got bitten once long ago, and I have dog-related allergies. The small dog was extremely well-behaved and unobtrusive. From what we saw of Vivian with the large dogs, they were also well-behaved and well trained. It added to the pleasure of our visit that we could stay with Vivian and not be concerned about the dogs.
Beaumont, Texas wasn't on our list of places to visit, but it was in our path and turned out to be a good place to stop for a tasty lunch of chicken fricassee. We also found out that there was a museum there honoring Thomas Edison which seemed interesting from the write-up we read, so we added it to our list of places to see. (This is why our trip keeps getting extended.) I remembered that Edison had done most of his work in New Jersey, so I was surprised to find a museum honoring Edison in Texas. Evidently, however, the power company that funded this museum thought it was a good idea.
The museum wasn't very large but it was quite interesting. The number of inventions that Edison developed, patented, and marketed, including the light bulb, the movie projector, and the phonograph, was quite amazing and really transformed the world we live in.
Our final stop for the day was Lafayette, Louisiana. Lafayette is famous for being in the heart of Cajun/Zydeco country. Once we settled into our motel, we made a couple phone calls and found out where there would be Cajun/Zydeco dancing on a Wednesday night and off we went.
When we arrived, we both remembered that Randole's was the same bar/restaurant/dance hall that we had gone to during our last visit to Lafayette at least 20 years ago. Now as then, there were about 40 people, mostly in their sixties but a few older or younger, all white, and mostly but not all local people, all dancing to music by a live Zydeco band. We joined them and had a really good time dancing.
I didn't hear anyone with a French accent, but I did have a brief conversation with a man with a Dutch accent, who was like us, just passing through, and had stopped off to dance. To paraphrase an old subway poster, "You don't have to be Cajun to enjoy Cajun dancing."
Sign in the Beaumont restaurant: "Beware of pickpockets and loose women. N.O. PD" (New Orleans Police Dept.)
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