We woke again this morning to the beautiful sunshine. What a blessing . . . it was flooded but beautiful. Can’t believe it can rain that hard a few hours ago and then be so beautiful the next morning. Unfortunately Shelley woke this morning not feeling well with her stomach. She thought that it was something that she ate so she was dragging!! I had to take on the task of motivating all the kids to get up and get ready, and unhook & pack up to get the RV ready to go. Not an easy task, but I did it.
We’re off to the Mississippi River Boat Cruise. We drove back to the same parking lot as yesterday and with 20 minutes to get to the boat we walked / ran briskly. Huffing and puffing we arrived at the gate with just minutes to spare and the captain was there to greet us. We boarded the large paddle boat which looked like a giant version of the river boat cruise at Disneyland that cruises around Tom Sawyer Island. Sitting on the port side, we saw all that the factories, plantations, levee’s, cargo ships, and ferries that the captain talked about as we paddled along. We also saw some of the hurricane Katrina damage to many of the buildings. One of the factories was Domino Sugar which is the second largest factory in the world – the largest is in Brazil. We also saw General / President Andrew Jacksons Plantation which has been vacant since hurricane Katrina. The captain also informed us that there are no bridges over the Mississippi River and there are ferries to take cars and people across – cars are $1 and people are free. Also the River runs 100 miles down south to the Gulf of Mexico.
After listening to the captain and traveling down the river for about 45 minutes, we went to look at the steam room, which was fascinating to see how the paddles are powered by the steam. There are many men working tirelessly to make sure that the paddles are powered continually.
Then we were instructed to go to lunch on the dining deck. Poor Shelley couldn’t stand the smell of food because of her stomach, so we left her on the deck, and she laid down on the bench seat. We walked in the dining room and there was a good old fashioned Dixie land band playing music. We walked through the line to gather our lunch which was fried catfish, jambalaya, rice and red beans, coleslaw, sweet tea, and bread pudding for dessert. The kids were a little unsure about the food but I made them try everything. It was unanimous that the catfish was their favorite. They thought the jambalaya was interesting & a little spicy, and the rest was “Ok”!! They were hilarious watching them try each type of food, even the bread pudding they weren’t too sure about. But after trying the bread pudding they loved it. That was my favorite. It tasted like soft, warm, cinnamon/vanilla French toast. Yummy. . . . I had seconds!!
After eating, we went back up to the top deck to watch as we sailed past Market Street in the French Quarters. The boat turned around and we docked at about 1:30. Then we walked to the main square, called Jackson Square named after Andrew Jackson, in the French Quarters which was actually the beautiful part – this is where we should have come last night. We watched the artists paint, saw the horse & carriage tour rides, listened the street musicians, and saw the prettiest buildings of the town.
We saw the statue of Andrew Jackson in the middle of the square, and then we walked to the first Catholic Church in Louisiana which was beautiful inside. We sat in the pews for a few minutes and explained to the kids what the Catholics do for confession, prayer, saying the rosaries, lighting the candles, and baptism.
We walked back to Café Du Monde and bought “Beignets” which are kind of like doughnuts, but the French way of making them. We watched the cook prepare them through the window as he rolled the dough through a machine that cut them into squares, and then he actually gathered up the squares and literally threw them over his shoulder behind him into the oil. It was hysterical because sometimes he wouldn’t even look. Then he placed them in a container where a line of waiters/waitresses would grab 3, dip them into powered sugar, put them in a bag and bring them up to the window for the take out orders. The line was about ½ a block long so that should tell you how yummy and popular they are!! Yum . . . Yum!!!
Next on our agenda for the day was take the swamp boat tour that was canceled yesterday. So we piled back into the RV and drove to Jean Laffette National Reserve to the Swamp boat area. This was definitely the bayou area. As we drove in to park, one of the tour guides directed us to park in a very small area, and he asked us if we were the Griswalds as he looked at all of our bikes on the back. I laughed and said “yep”, but also told him that we was going to have to get me out of this parking area so I didn’t back into anything and he laughed.
We boarded the airboat and was greeted by our driver. He instructed us on safety and then gave us headphones because he said it gets very loud. He told us that we would travel at high speeds in the airboat then slow down and stop for sightings of “Gators”. The airboats had stadium seating, so that the person in front of you does not obstruct your view. He told us that the gators might be a little sluggish after the big storm because the mixture of salt water in the fresh water after a storm kind of drugs them. But he promised we would see them and that they can get close, real close. So close that you will be able to look into those reptilian eyes.
We traveled at high speeds for about 10 minutes and then he slowed down and sure enough, there were 2 gators. Then, shockingly, our driver started throwing marshmallows at them so that they would come closer. Sure enough, that drew them to our boat and we were looking straight into their eyes. It was amazing.
We went to three other areas of the swamp and saw several more. Then we traveled over to the breeding ground and he explained how they breed and how they hunt them. Interestingly after the females lay their eggs, scientist come and collect them to raise them in a special area so that the survival rate is higher. Also, did you know that gators can live as long as 200-400 years? The way that you know how old they are is by counting the rings on the rib bones, kind of like counting the rings on a tree. Also, the only way to tell if they are male or female is by sticking your finger in a hole at the end of their tail . . . yuck!! And another bit of gator information is that they are able to eat everything, including the bones of their prey, which is deer, coyote, birds, other gators, and even humans. No wonder I don’t really like them!!
It was a fabulous day learning and exploring beautiful Louisiana.
No comments:
Post a Comment