Follow-up report. Here were our major stops on a quick weekend to Cajun country. Maybe one or two of these will inspire a future trip for you:

1) Adopted Dog Brewing Company, Lafayette. Nice chill atmosphere, great outdoor options. Delicious beer (Doberman Dark) and an Old Fashioned for my wife.

2) Bayou Teche Brewery, Arnaudville (northeast of Lafayette about 25 minutes). I want to enjoy this place but service was lacking and the beer paled in comparison to Adopted Dog. Nice outdoor space. Can't recommend.

3) Little Big Cup restaurant, Arnaudville. Really delightful place. Friday night was a surf/turf buffet which was really good and filling. But we agreed afterwards we probably would have enjoyed more ordering individual entrees off the menu for that level of quality vs. the mass-produced buffet dishes. But good food if travel takes you that direction. Corn chowder and chicken sausage gumbo were our faves on the buffet.

4) Church Alley Bistro, New Iberia. Very nice breakfast. Neville, Courtney and team are good people.

5) Tabasco plant tour, Avery Island. We checked out the grounds and spent some time in the gift shop. Kind of fun at their tasting bar checking out eight or ten flavors of Tabasco. Who knew? Decided not to take the tour because we had more ground we wanted to cover.

6) Cypremont Point State Park, a little sliver of land along Vermilion Bay, about 35 minutes south of New Iberia. Not a lot to do there, especially on a cold, blustery day. But we wanted to see it. Enjoyed the boardwalk out into the tidewater marsh. Spotted one small gator tucked up against a bank. You might not think the hour's drive is worth it.

7) Driving tour of the walking tour of historic homes in Thibodaux (we drove it because it was cold and the sun was sinking). Brochure and advise available at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center (NPS) downtown.

8) Fremin's restaurant, Thibodaux. Highlight of the trip! Definitely worth the drive. Thanks for the endorsement, Tommy Gun. Pecan Flounder Dijon was AMAZING! Would like to spend more time in that town.

9) Ran out of time to try the Parish Brewing Company in Broussard. And timing didn't work out for us to try some of the other suggestions y'all provided. But we are keeping a list and we will go back.

Side note: to keep things interesting on the way back to Texas, we traveled a southern route out of New Iberia, Highway 82 over the intercoastal channel and along the southern coast. Amazing number of duck hunters and hunting camps. Several points of access to beach as you get closer to Port Arthur and the Texas line, if that is of interest. Just different than sticking to the interstate.