Over Memorial Day we went to visit my Mom and Dad in Welsh. My lifelong friend, Lisa had invited us to visit their camp in Cameron and go crabbing. When I was a kid my grandmother, Gammy and her husband, Dadoe, would take us crabbing and I remember such fun and wonderful times spent pulling in big ones. We called them Grandaddy’s. I was thrilled to have my kids experience this awesome adventure. So we headed down south of Lake Charles to Cameron Parish. It was a beautiful day. The marshes were vibrant.

We made it to Lisa and Scott’s camp and Mose enjoyed a little relaxing swing under the oak tree.

I found a nice, and appropriate, place to rest myself as well.

Mathilda met the new Henry family pup and fell hard.

We  rode over to the crabbing spot via golf cart, and Mose and Mathilda took turns driving. There are no pictures, because I was scared for my life, and the life of the cart. The crabbing started out slow, but just as Scott predicted they started coming and coming fast. I’m ready!

 

We were doing line crabbing. No crab nets here. Just throw in a string tied to the side of the bridge with some chicken melt (don’t ask) on it, and boom, CRAB ON!!! MJ picked her spot and stayed.

The Grandaddy.

Mose was the official net man and he was quite busy, at one point he was running, literally, from water to ice chest, as everyone with a line was screaming CRAB ON!

Now the term, CRAB ON, was new to me. We never did scream that when I was a kid. But it sure was fun screaming it on this day. The ice chest got so full, that when we opened it to add another, other crabs would escape! Josh grabs one (carefully) before it makes it back to the safety of the marsh. Lisa has even made CRAB ON t-shirts.

Here is the haul.

After about an hour and 1/2 we started snacking and thinking about heading back. Mose taking a break from the net.

Gammy and Dadoe would also take us to Rutherford beach for summer vacations. They would rent a very bad camp, I remember once having to use a broom handle to open the refrigerator door or be electrocuted. However, they were all good memories. When you are a kid, beach time is beach time.  I wanted to go see the beach, how it looked since Rita, (which devastated this area) and show the fam where I spent summer days. It really was nice, actually, except for the trash. There was some good shelling and lots of shoes. OMG, so many shoes!

Mathilda and Trinity, Lisa and Scott’s daughter, got in the water and splashed around.

And a mom and kids rode by in a 4 wheeler, with the ‘merican flag flying and the oil rig pumping in the background. Now that’s the “real” redneck riviera 🙂

After beach combing, we headed over to the Henry’s house in Lake Charles to do the deed of boiling the crabs. Scott has been doing this a long time. They were so good, I took 2 dozen home and ate them day after day for three days. And did not share, I am ashamed to say. Perfection in a pot. Thank you.

 

 

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