Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): Let it Rayne rayne rayne

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Let it Rayne rayne rayne

The Rayne of it would be Rayne, LA, which claims (and I have no clue why and can't seem to find the answer in any of my online research why) to be the "frog capital of the world" or some such thing. Anyway, as you enter the town there is Jacques on the right hand side off the interstate just welcoming one and all

who visit his fair town - be it with two or four paws, he is a welcoming site for sure.

The town's other claim to fame is that they are the "Louisiana City of Murals" not to mention something about a place in Ripley's Believe It or Not about a cemetery going north to south rather than east to west (who the heck knew cemeteries should, or are normally planned, with that in mind!!!). So who am I to negate any of it?

So who was the frog in the Beatrix Potter books? I am sure that the frog in the mural second above is one from the B. Potter books. Come on Joshua (not that HE reads the blog, but he had all the Beatrix Potter books on this neat little white plastic bookcase. The collection was started the day he was born by my dear friend Candy L.)

Check out the beautiful snapdragons surrounding the frog statue ~ spring had certainly spring in Rayne!

We left Rayne umm, a week ago (I think) and went to a gorgeous Elks property in MS for three nights then headed on to AL where we are now, but leaving in the morning as we have routine chassis maintenance scheduled for next week in SC.

Stay tuned.

2 comments:

where's weaver said...: Hey girlfriend...here is your answer...
Rayne have a relatively long history that dates back to the 1880s, when a gourmet chef named Donat Pucheu started selling juicy, delectable bullfrogs to New Orleans restaurants. Word of Rayne's frog delicacies spread like wildfire, and soon attracted the Weill Brothers from France, who started a lucrative business exporting frogs to restaurants.
Check out this link
http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/rayne/index.html

I love these type of towns. We are going to write this down and try to hit this place this summer.

Good blog!; March 21, 2011 at 5:33 AM
Betty said...: Here's your other answer...Mr. Jeremy Fischer is the
frog in Beatrix Potter books...enjoyed your posts!; March 29, 2011 at 6:42 AM

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

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