A Ferry, A Beer, and Petting a Calf

 Baton Rouge, LA

Donna enjoying the nice day at Istrouma Brewing

Road Trip!

Today we decided to do a loop through 2 new parishes (what counties are called in Louisiana) including a ferry ride and a stop at a brewery.  It's our kind of day!

Here is our recorded rout.  We ended up traveling all of LA 991. 

First we headed west on I-10 across The Mighty Mississippi and into West Baton Rouge Parish.  We headed south on LA 1 and saw sugarcane fields as well as trucks hauling said sugarcanes.  The ferry from Plaquemine to Sunshine departs the Plaquemine side on the hour and on the half hour and is free going in this direction.  

The 10ish car line 12 minutes before our voyage.  We were parked right on the top of the levy

Donna caught all of the action as we boarded.  

It felt like we were packed onto the ferry all willy nilly but it was a smooth process so it must have been a working system that was hard to see from the outside.

The crossing took about 10 minutes.  It was very smooth and it felt really weird traveling sideways in the car.  I use this site to help us find ferries to ride.  It's old and out of date but it's useful.  At this point ferries usually stop running, I don't think there are a lot of new ferries across rivers showing up so you can use the list and just check to see if the ferry you are looking at is still operating.  Out of the 4 ferries near us, one on the list is still operating.

We wanted to take LA 991 so when we got to the top of the levy we made a left

Turns out the signage was a bit out of date so we waited for all of the cars to exit the ferry and then backed up.  

Istrouma Brewing

Istrouma Brewing is prominently featured in the Louisiana Tour Magazine we picked up at the visitor's center.  It's pretty much the main attraction for Iberville Parish.  It's a farmhouse brewery.  We have been to at least 1 other farmhouse brewery in Oregon and it was really great so we were excited to see what Istrouma had to offer.  It exceeded all expectations!

Gotta take a shot of the windmill and its shadow!

Our table was an old car

We had to get a side biscuit with jam

I got a great breakfast burrito

Donna got a pickled Okra, pork cracklin, and Boudin Pizza

After eating we walked around and checked out the place.  It was really big and had something for everyone.

Sheep!

Soon we were staring down a baby cow, or calf as some people call it.  The lady waved us over.  She said the kids for the party that was booked hadn't arrived yet so we could pet the baby cow for free with no kids around!

Donna went all in on petting the cow.  The cow was reluctant.  It was only 2 months old and had been rejected by its mother.  It was being raised by hand to be a pet cow.  It will be a good life for the little gal but she doesn't know it yet.

We timed our visit so we could listen to Cajun Roots, a Zydeco band.  They were good!

Since we took the long way around, it was surprising to see that we were only about 15 minutes from home when we decided to head home.  It was a really fun day of checklist items and discoveries.  

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.