Cajun Country Guide [Paperback]

Macon Fry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1999

There's just nowhere else but South Louisiana to find real knee-slapping, crowd-hooting Zydeco music. Even the big-city chefs can't cook up a Cajun meal the way they do at the roadside restaurants deep in the bayous of Acadiana. Likewise, no other guide matches the amount of in-depth information presented in Cajun Country Guide. It's a study of Cajuns that tells visitors how to find the sights, sounds, and flavors of one of America's most culturally unique regions. Take a vacation to a part of our own country that, in some places, didn't even speak English until nearly fifty years ago. While modern technology is weeding out some of the one-of-a-kind qualities of this subculture, not all of them are gone, or even hard to find, if you know how to hunt for them. And there are no better hunters than authors Macon Fry and Julie Posner. With the handy maps, reviews, and recommendations packed into the Cajun Country Guide, a trip to the bayous won't leave one feeling like a visitor, but more like a native who has come back home. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Macon Fry is an educator and was a regular contributor to Wavelength magazine, in which his "Bayou Beat" column regularly offered observations on the sights and attractions of Cajun Country. Julie Posner also lives in New Orleans and is a former travel magazine editor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing; 2 edition (February 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565543378
• ISBN-13: 978-1565543379
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #660,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the 5 guidebooks we used, July 7, 2000

By 

Al B. (Rome, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cajun Country Guide (Paperback)

We used several guidebooks to plan a long weekend in southern Louisiana in connection with a family wedding in Lafayette. This was the most useful of the books.

The author gives a star to especially noteworthy attractions, hotels, and restaurants. We went by these stars to plan our trip and had a great time. Even our new Cajun cousins-in-law were impressed with the selections we made.

A close second as a guidebook was "Louisiana Dayride - 52 Short Trips from New Orleans" by Shelley Holl.

Two final notes: Neither guidebook covers the city of New Orleans itself; and every guidebook we read had the wrong area codes for many telephone numbers (Louisiana has 2 brand-new area codes -- 225 and 337)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a bible for travelling thru cajun country, January 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cajun Country Guide (Paperback)

I bought this book while in New Orleans for Jazz Fest. Having never really ventured out of the crescent city, this book was a god send. The next year, after reading the book from cover to cover, I travelled thru-out South West LA, before heading to Jazz Fest. I got to see and experience things I think I would have definitely missed with out this book (i.e. great restaurants, where to get the best boudin, great places for live zydeco, swamp tours, cheap cabin lodgings---just to name a few things). We even ventured down to Grand Isle. The book is great for its thorough research on the entire area. You can plan a great trip for cheap or travel in style. If you love the area as much as I do, it is necessary to own a copy of Cajun Country Guide. My '92 edition is so dog eared I am in need of the 2nd edition SOON!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, quirky, and useful, March 27, 2001

By 

"pdberger" (Moscow, ID United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cajun Country Guide (Paperback)

This well-written book was invaluable for our family's week in Bayou country. It has a dry humor ("on the Bayou, land is a recent occurrence..."). It covers geography, history, culture, and then gets into where to stay, where to eat, where to dance, what to see, and what to do. It's pretty up front (about one town -- "don't get hungry here...").

Everything we tried that was recommended in the book was great fun. One of the eateries was not so much wonderful as wonderfully different, but we were glad we went just as well.

Some of the details are a little out of date, but I think that's due to their specificity. If you say that a tiny bakery makes sweet potato pies between 11-3 on Thursdays, but the one owner-baker decides to change to Wednesdays, there's not much to be done about that. Even so, that only happened once in the entire week.

We had this book and the Delorme LA map, and that was a perfect set of resources for us. We had a great time, and I'm confident it was due to this book in particular.

Highly recommended.