Alligator in Louisiana

De Ridder, Louisiana. A work install for Applied Materials.

The install in De Ridder was straightforward enough. The memorable part was dinner at Catfish Junction, where I tried alligator.

Alligator is chewy. I’m not sure what I expected — I think I expected it to taste like chicken, which is what people say about unusual meats when they want to make them sound approachable. It tastes like alligator. It’s chewy.

I ended up with fried shrimp instead, which was excellent. The crawfish were too much work and too messy. I joked about Cajun cuisine with the women there, which went over approximately as well as jokes about local food always go over — politely, with a slight adjustment to the smile.

De Ridder is in a dry parish, which I didn’t know until I tried to find a beer. “Two down, one to go,” someone said, which was a WWII reference I didn’t catch until later.

I had tickets for the whole weekend in San Francisco before the Louisiana trip. I regretted going.

I wanted to photograph a hovercraft near Houston on the drive back. It got dark too fast.