Sunday Drive to Louisiana Southernmost Point

When you were a kid, did your parents take you for a Sunday drive? My parents took me regularly. And I still love it! So last weekend we went for a “Sunday Drive” to Louisiana Southernmost Point.

Right up until Steve and I got engaged, there were two things that were constants: Sunday Family Dinners and Sunday Drives. When I was little, I can remember what a thrill it was to explore new areas on our Sunday drives. If the weather was good my mom, dad and I would hop in our Chevy and go for a long drive. Back then our car didn’t have a radio so we sang lots of songs together. It was always fun and we laughed a lot! My dad was pretty much tone deaf, so Mommy and I always begged him to sing “SILENTLY”. That only made him sing the word silently louder and louder. Which, naturally, induced lots of giggles.

Sunday drives must have been a long standing family tradition. When my grandparents still owned The Cambridge Villa, our summer home at the Jersey shore, relatives from Philadelphia  would show up on Sundays with suitcases in hand. And they’d tell Bubie and Zeyda that they were taking a drive and look where they ended up! It took a while, but my Bubie (grandmother) finally caught on and started feeling like an innkeeper. I was about 12 1/2 when they sold the house and Bubie could finally relax and enjoy her time at the shore while staying in a guest house or nice motel.

So when we awakened to a glorious day last weekend, Steve said “Let’s take a drive to the southernmost tip of Louisiana!” And I was immediately transported to my childhood and our Sunday Drives.

Our plan was to stop for lunch somewhere along our route. Online we saw a hole in the wall place that looked like it had fresh food. It was called Dad’s Bar and Grill. But as we drove through Gretna and beautiful Belle Chase, we realized that restaurants were becoming few and far between.

The highway pretty much ran parallel to the Mississippi River and only about one block in. Occasionally we caught a glimpse of a freighter on the river and in each small lagoon there were lots of commercial fishing boats.

We drove and drove, enjoying the beautiful and serene scenery as we went. The one thing we did not see, was Dad’s Bar and Grill. So we continued on, and modified our plan to eat after reaching the tip of Louisiana.

We were told there was a sign saying that you had reached the southernmost tip. But we saw no sign. We did see the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico and the end of the road. If we had driven any further we’d have been IN the Gulf. So we just turned around for our drive home.

Since we were starving, we stopped at another dive to eat. Something about the place just made Steve feel uneasy. So we decided to continue on, in hopes of finding Dad’s. And about 25 miles later – there it was. Still a dive, but at least one with good reviews on Trip Adviser.

Dad’s looked like your typical seafood shack, complete with taxidermied fish and the gorgeous head of a deer. The family owned place was quite welcoming and our server was delightful and filled us in on everything going on in the area.

Steve ordered a hearty club sandwich with awesome fries and I had a fully dressed fried oyster po’ boy bun with amazing onion rings. Everything was definitely very fresh and plentiful. So if you’re wondering what “fully dressed” means, it’s Louisiana for loaded or with everything. And being true to our beloved New Orleans, we always order our food fully dressed where it applies!

We drove away from Dad’s, in Buras LA, feeling quite full. We knew that we’d be having a VERY light dinner. We also knew that we had thoroughly enjoyed our Sunday Drive to Louisiana Southernmost Point!!!