Not the worst 9 hours I've ever spent

Cajun Fest was great. I had an awesome time, the food was amazing, the music was excellent, and the weather was perfect. I just kind of wish I wasn't there for 9 hours.

You see, the plan was that I would go earlier in the day with my dad, who was carpooling up with a few of his friends. Then my brother was going to go up later (so he could sleep in past noon) and then we'd hang out for a while, then I'd get a ride home with him. My brother decided not to go. In all fairness, though, I don't think I told him my plan, and I probably could have called him at any time and gotten him to drive and pick me up. But I didn't feel like making him go 20 miles out of town and back, I was enjoying myself and the food was on Dad, so I couldn't complain. It would have been awesome if there was anyone else there that I knew so I could've talked with some people, or if my dad weren't so much more socially active than I am. He seriously knew everyone. I think most people would have been embarrassed to be shown up by their father, but I accepted that my dad is a lot cooler than me a long time ago. I just roll with it now.

Anyways, I did really enjoy myself. I ate some etouffee (pretty good, not as spicy as I was hoping, and a really small serving for the money), jambalaya (amazing, the best food I ate the whole day, and probably the best jambalaya I've ever had, especially when I added some hot sauce that I somehow missed with the etouffee), red beans and rice (tasty!), some beignets (they were ok. I've had better, but these were still tasty), a slice of pecan pie (simply amazing), and of course some crawfish (delicious!). If you've never been to a crawfish boil or any sort of Cajun-inspired celebration, you may not know about the whole ordeal of eating these little buggers. First off, you get a bowl or tray full of these things that look like tiny lobsters, sometimes served on a picnic table covered with newspapers, if you're doing it the "real way." You take one of these guys, and seperate the head and torso from the tail, then pull the meat out of the tail, and eat. Then, the "famous" part of eating the crawfish, you grab the head/torso, and suck out the juices, mainly just the spices and water used to boil them. It may sound gross, but it's delicious. This is where the phrase "sucking head" comes from, in relation to crawfish, that's the part that everyone seems to know. If you ever get the chance, try it out! Get a friend to join you if you're not sure about it, it's a fun time, and hey, you may like it!

good stuff!

The food was only part of the fun, the music was really the main attraction. We got there in time to see Hunter Hayes, a very impressive 15-year-old musician. He played almost every instrument that was on stage, and had a heckuva voice. He's got a myspace page you can check out, if you're interested. Then there was Sarah Jayde Williams, a very cute girl who played a mean fiddle and had a beautiful voice. (I say cute in the way that she was a cute teenager, not that I'm some creepy dude checking out girls 10 years younger.) Some of the other bands that I really enjoyed were JJ Callier & The Zydeco Knockouts, and Chubby Carrier. Every band that was there put on a good show, full of energy and just got the crowd dancin'. (Except for me, I don't really dance, especially if I don't have anyone with whom to dance.)

One of the highlights of the day had to be this older gentleman, looking to be in his 80's, wearing an all-orange outfit with a sideways-tilted baseball cap and some gold chains really cutting a rug. I mean this guy was getting down, literally, sometimes dancing on the floor. He was looking awfully spry for his age, pulling out moves that I wouldn't be able to do at my age with my knees, but he was making it look easy. I was jealous. Another interesting sight were the "old country" couples from the Amana colonies (a German community); the men wore white shirts, fedora-like hats, black suspenders and black pants, the women white tops with long, black dresses, maybe some sort of sun bonnet.

It was a great time. Aside from my extreme tiredness from a recent lack of sleep and basically haning out on my own the whole time, I had a really, really fun day. I'd write more about it, but I'm going to actually try to get some amount of sleep tonight. I'll be back tomorrow!