Me and You and a Man named Boo, Donaldsonville, Louisiana

Even though I'd love to spend more time in New Orleans, the city is not the reason I came to Louisiana.

Instead, I came to Louisiana to go on a road trip through Cajun country. The journey started early this morning with a stop at Starbucks to ensure we were properly hopped up on caffeine before we hit the road. We had about two hours of asphalt ahead of us before we'd pull into the town of Donaldsonville.

At first glance, Donaldsonville doesn't look like much. The streets are lined with rickety shotgun houses. The old Main Street drag seems a little down on its luck.

But stick around, scratch the surface, and suddenly, Donaldsonville turns into a sort of small town cultural mecca.

While many of the area homes looked as if they could do with a little (okay, a lot) of refurbishing, a massive catholic church loomed on the outskirts of downtown.

The Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church looks like a building that should be in a big city. It seemed completely out of place in this scrappy-looking town. But that's kinda the point. It's symbolic of its people's faith. A member, a man who was introduced to us as Mr. Boo, gave us a tour of the cathedral.

We also stopped by Rossie's Frame Shop to check out the work of a local artist, Alvin Batiste. Turned out that Alvin was there, as he is every day because the frame shop is actually his studio.

He left his painting behind to talk with us, take us around and tell us about his work. He pointed out his favorite pieces and then played a little ditty for us on his guitar.

We also hit up The River Road African American Museum. The museum is small but mighty ... probably because its founder, Kathe Hambrick, is mighty herself.

A former corporate gal, she left the suit world behind to start a museum that would showcase the contributions of African Americans in Louisiana's Mississippi River valley and teach children about the hardships of slavery and the realities of the Underground Railroad.

It's evident the museum and its mission is her passion. She was there when we came in, as she is most day since she lacks a full staff, and showed us about her collections.

Our meager Starbucks breakfast had long worn off and we were ready for lunch before we wrapped up our Donaldsonville tour and headed on our way.

We got a table at the Grapevine Cafe and just as we started contemplating the menu, dark clouds rolled into town.

When the owner and chef herself made an appearance at our side, we gladly gave up our plan of a quick bite to eat and decided to let her select our meal. She stuffed us full and entertained us with tales as an afternoon rain fell and fell and fell outside.