Oops, the other birthday phone photos!

[HobieSport]

Foots, I'm 52 and have never been to the South. I know...how pitiful is that?

Among many things (rather stereotypically, I suppose) that attract me about Southern Culture are:

Cajun Music, Catfishing and "noodling", swamp crayfishing, and the "shotgun" house style of architecture from New Orleans.

The closest thing I've gotten to any of this is I have a fiberglass electric pirogue fishing boat that I had shipped from Louisiana:

http://www.bobcatboats.com/

And we have a small local lake here were Louisiana Red Crayfish thrive and are there for the easy pickin's.  Oh boy do I love to eat crayfish (crawdads). We also have native Californian "Signal" crayfish here in our rivers that are big and tasty.

And I suppose my trailer is kind of close to a "shotgun" house; at least being long and narrow and with good ventilation...

[foots]

I've never been farther west than San Antonio, TX. I do want to go to  California one of these days to see those redwood trees and many of other wonderful sights. 
Those are some nice pirogues, I've seen a few of them. I was friends with a guy that used to build the old style cypress pirogues. You had to have good balance not tip one over but he could move around in it, stand up in it and haul a dead deer in it with no problems.
Its really nice to hear that people from so far away like to listen to Cajun music, as it really helps to keep the culture alive.
I too am a fan of shotgun houses, and there are several scattered all over the place.
There's nothing like a good crawfish boil for friends and family to get together, listen to some good music, and share some good laughs.

[HobieSport]

Well Foots, we're in the middle of the big redwood trees here, so y'all come over for a visit sometime, eh? We don't have catfish but we've got the big California Crawdads. And you're welcome to "harvest" as many of the deer in our yard that you want.

We  had the great good fortune of having Clifton Chenier and his band perform his Zydeco Blues here just a few years before he passed away. Some of the best dance music I've ever heard.