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By Lena Katz

I am a city girl, and proud of it. Yet February this year found me in the backwoods. Specifically, I was 90 minutes outside of Lake Charles , Louisiana , dancing a funky, spunky waltz with a 70-year-old man in a purple and green checkered shirt. The venue was tiny, the people as friendly as family. The locals spoke a peculiar dialect--equal parts French, English and Southern drawl, and completely unintelligible to the outsider. Fiddle and washboard music swirled in the smoky air, and at my table, a bag of fresh-cooked pork cracklin's waited by an icy can of $2 Budweiser.

And if you're wondering what could induce a born-and-bred, city-slicker Californian to down $2 Bud out of a can and LIKE it ... well, I was in Cajun country, and that's just how it's done.

"Laissez les bons temps rouler " (LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!) is the longstanding motto of the Cajuns. It evinces itself in the many festivals and street parties, the mouthwatering regional cuisine, the nightlife, the music, and especially, the warmth and generosity of the people. Ask a Cajun to recommend a good nearby restaurant, and they might just invite you home for dinner.

Cajun country is in the south of Louisiana , and mainly is concentrated in eight parishes. Don't confuse it with Creole country, which is around New Orleans . The Cajuns descend from Acadians--French colonists who were persecuted in their home country for being Catholic and fled to eastern Canada (and a bit of Maine ) in the 18 th century. When the English took control of these Canadian provinces, the Acadians were expelled because they didn't want to take allegiance to England . They wound up in Louisiana , where they established a French-speaking, largely Catholic, avidly nonconformist community. And they remain there today.

Exploring Cajun country isn't a quick day trip--for one thing, the terrain is tricky. In the southwest, it's mostly prairie and backwoods; in the east, it's wetlands and bayous. Lafayette and Lake Charles (which is just outside the eight parishes) are the only "cities"--every other spot on the map is a tiny township. But what they lack in size they make up for in spirit.

Any Cajun cultural venture has to stop by Mamou, the self-anointed but undisputed epicenter of Cajun music. Fred's Lounge, right in the center of town, bills itself as the Cajun Music Capital of the world. Every Saturday morning, Fred's broadcasts its fabled radio show, featuring live music, lots of dancing, and amusingly old-school technology. The doors of this down-home red brick landmark are open Saturdays till early afternoon; but the rest of the week, you've got to do your drinking in the other main-drag dives, like tiny but soulful Diana's Brass Rail. This is no hardship, as the drinks are cheap, the people are friendly, and the music--whether it's crunk hip-hop or live Cajun fiddle and accordion--is always good. Stop by the Savoy Music Center, owned by celebrated local musicians Marc and Ann Savoy, and see whether they can recommend any good live shows to hit while you're in town. If you're lucky, you might even stumble into one of their weekly jam sessions.

In neighboring Eunice is the Liberty Theater, a restored movie theater that now puts on live music concerts and its own radio show (on Saturday evenings). Nick's on 2 nd in Eunice has a New Orleans vibe, a Cajun-meets-gastropub menu, and a late-night dance hall on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.

So many little shacks serve up sublime Cajun food, you can pretty much throw a crawfish and hit one. Frenchie's in Mamou, Bubba's in Mowater, Guidry's in Church Point ... Have gumbo at all of 'em, and see whether you can choose a favorite. It's tough.

Just outside the Cajun heartland is Lake Charles --a thriving metropolis in comparison with its surroundings. Lake Charles ' most impressive attraction is probably L'Auberge du Lac, a lodge-themed, surprisingly upscale resort casino with five restaurants, including its own Jack Daniel's Bar & Grill. The company that owns L'Auberge is currently building another massive resort-casino, themed Sugarcane Bay , in the site where Hurricane Katrina struck down a pre-existing Harrah's property.

After wasting all of your spare change on the slots, clear your mind on the Creole Nature Trail. This 180-mile trail obviously traverses many more areas than just Lake Charles , but it is the area's premiere eco-attraction. This is prime bird-watching territory; 300+ different species make their home somewhere in Nature Trail territory.

Follow the Nature Trail or the highway east, and you'll hit the wet lands, also known as the swamps or the bayou. There are five major bayous spread throughout the wetlands, which border the Gulf of Mexico .

The tiny township of Houma is known as "the heart of America 's wetlands." It deserves the distinction not just because of geography, but because of its annual Voice of the Wetlands festival, spearheaded by Grammy-nominated local-boy blues musician Tab Benoit.

Even the most jaded explorers admit themselves bowled over by Alligator Annie's Sons Swamp Tours. This is not for the faint-hearted swamp explorer, mind you. (WARNING: TOUR SPOILER AHEAD.) Out on the bayous, your tour guide holds up a piece of bait just over the water, and *SHA-ZAM* a snapping alligator launches itself upward to claim its dinner.

If you prefer your cultural experiences to be less blood-curdling, check out the magnificent restored plantations in the area. One of them, Madewood Plantation, has been turned into a luxurious country inn that counts Bob Dylan among its guests. It's located in the parish of Bayou Lafourche, and is open daily for tours.

To dine, locals recommend Abear's Café, a family-owned restaurant in a converted residence across the street from the bayou. The Catfish Abear is a signature, and the chicken and sausage gumbo a delight ... but you have to try the homemade desserts. It's practically a rule. Eat yourself into a slumberous stupor on peanut butter cheesecake, bread pudding with rum sauce, blackberry cobbler ... You'll be fuller than full, but you'll never stop smiling.

Can I get a " Laissez les bons temps rouler? "