ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA & JECKLYE ISLAND, GEORGIA

This morning we finally took the time to put our big sticker of the United States on the camper next to the Great Race sticker.  As you travel to each state you place that state’s sticker on showing which states you have been too.  The kids were extremely excited to put it on and place all the stickers of the states that we have been to so far.  We plan on going through 35 states so that sticker should be nicely covered by the time we get home.

Today we are off to the oldest continually occupied city in the United States.  Do you know where it is and its name?  St. Augustine, Florida.  

 It was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States.    St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as "The First Coast", which extends from Amelia Island in the north to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Palm Coast in the south. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 12,975.    St. Augustine is the headquarters for the Florida National Guard.   It was first explored by Pounce De Leon in 1513 who was a Spanish explorer, and claimed it as their territory.   Beginning in 1562 the French came in and took over the land claiming it for their own and the French and Spanish fought for it continually for 3 years.  The Spanish finally won it back and settled there, building the fort the still remains there to this day.     

We drove through the beautiful beach town that reminded me of Carmel, California.   We came to the fort and unfortunately there was really no place to park the RV.  They allowed us to park in the bus zone for a few minutes while we took some pictures.  It was an incredible fort and I’m sure worth the tour, which probably wasn’t long. 

We all gathered back into the RV for another 2 hour drive to Jeckyll Island, Georgia.  As we drove through north Florida heading towards Jacksonville,  we came upon some wooded areas and I felt a sudden déjà vu!!     I had to think for a moment why and then I realized when I went on the Great Race with my dad in 2004 we started in Jacksonville and we had a practice run through these back roads of Jacksonville.   It brought back great memories and as we drove for the next 30 minutes I explained to Shelley the whole details of the race.   

As drove over the bridge to the Island we stopped at the entrance booth asking where the Sea Turtle Rescue Center was and she said to follow the turtles.  Ha . . . so adorable!

Why is a Sea Turtle Center Needed in Georgia you may be wondering like I was.  Well, Stranded sea turtles are often found along Atlantic coast beaches. While most are dead, a small but increasing number are still alive. Before, there were no facilities in Georgia to treat the turtles, and they had to be transported long distances to centers in Florida and South Carolina.   In February 2006, the  Georgia Sea Turtle Center was built which is  a marine turtle rehabilitation, research, and education facility on Jekyll Island.   It provides emergency care to sick and injured sea turtles, with opportunities for scientific research and long-term treatment.  We explored exhibits on sea turtle conservation, rehabilitation, and their amazing journey from egg to adulthood.   

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When we went into the back rehab area we were fortunate to hook on a school group where the docent was talking all about their injured turtles.    Several turtles were there because they were sick, one was hit by a boat, a baby turtle was blind, and one had been there for 2 years and just refused to go back to the sea . . . they had tried 3 times to put her back but she just kept coming back to shore.   This one turtle just could sink so they did surgery on it and was rehabilitating it with weights

 It was a fascinating facility and we thoroughly enjoyed learning about these adorable creatures.

On our way off the island we drove around looking at all the beautiful buildings and resorts.  We saw a tour tram, of mostly older people of course, which looked like a great way to see the island.  It reminded us of the Great Gatsby era atmosphere.  We had to get on our way to Hilton Head Island, but we were thankful for the short visit. 

Two hours later we arrived at our lovely Disney’s Hilton Head Resort on Hilton Head Island.  We are so looking forward to some relaxation on the beach.    We had to drop off all the kids and check in quickly and then go park our RV over at the local storage facility.   When we all got into the room, it was heavenly with two full bedrooms and two full bathrooms.  I told the kids to enjoy it while we have it because this is the only hotel that we have!  Too bad we don’t have one like this at the very end!!

FLORIDA: Shopping and Kennedy Space Center

We were sooooo extremely tired from last night that I got up at 8:45 and everyone else got up at almost 10. “Uncle Bill” wanted to see all of us again today but we were supposed to leave to go the Kennedy Space Center.     He wanted to take us to the Backlot Disney Shopping Center where we could shop for extremely discounted Disney products.  We asked the kids what they wanted to do and it was unanimous that they wanted to shop.  So shopping it is  . . . and wow was that a great idea. 

Uncle Bill came to the camp ground and we unhooked and packed up.  Since he is a bus driver for Disney, he wanted to drive the RV and I immediately said “Yes”!!    I was his co-passenger and as we drove along, he gave me the run down and great tips on driving a big rig . . . gotta love that!  It was fun watching him drive with his expertise. 

We arrived at the Backlot Disney and everything was discounted between 50% and 75%.  We all went wild in there shopping for about 2 hours.  The sweatshirts that were originally $50-$60 were about  $15, and Brookes was even $8.  The t-shirts that were originally $30 were about $8.  We had a great old time gathering Disney memorabilia like we have never been able to before!

When we finished everyone was hungry so we went across the street to good old Taco Bell.  But this Taco Bell was special because “Aunt Vicky” (Shelley’s sister-in-law) is the new manager of this beautiful new one right across the street from Downtown Disney.  It had all kinds of Disney pictures in it to make it apart of the Disney area.    



It was time to say goodbye to Uncle Bill and his family because we needed to get on the road to Kennady Space Center.  We are so thankful for their generosity and kindness . . . for blessing us with many treasures. . . a day at Disney, driving us around, letting us use their car, helping us break into our camper, letting us shop at the Backlot, and giving all of us wonderful gifts.  The last treasure that they gave me as we were leaving was an adorable camera strap that I was going to buy last night, but Vicky said “I have that, don’t buy it” and then brought it for me today.  I was so excited and it will be a great memory of our time with them, along with my walking stick, hat, and photo album.  It was such a blessing to get to know them.

Uncle Bill also insisted that we take his GPS unit to help us with directions.  He showed us how to use it and set it all up for driving to Cape Canaveral.  It was fabulous to have around all the turnpikes and tollbooths along the 95 Florida “Expressway”.  They are not call freeways here because they are not free. . . you have to pay several times along the way.  As the GPS was taking to me telling me where to turn, all of a sudden toll booth signs were everywhere.    And they were very confusing because it would have a sign saying “Tollbooth” but the freeway would keep going, and the tollbooth would be to the right.  It looked like you were getting off the freeway when you entered the tollbooths, so we just kept going.  It would say tollbooth $.50 at one point, we would keep driving and it would say tollbooth $.75, and we would keep driving and then it would say $1.00.  Finally we entered the tollbooth that was straight ahead and it was literally just a booth machine . . . no person like California.  And you had to have the exact change.  So we quickly grabbed our laundry money, opened the window, and actually had to throw the change into the booth, as it said in big letters: “Stay in vehicle”!!! 

I don’t know if we went around in a circle following the GPS, but it sure felt like it because we went through 3 of these tollbooths.   After the first one, Shelley started handing me all her pennies because it was exact change and I kept throwing them in.  At the third stop, she only handed me 3 pennies at first, I threw them, and I missed.  What do you do if you miss when it says “Stay in vehicle”???  Well, I didn’t exactly read that sign until after I decided to get out and pick up my pennies.  And as I was picking up my pennies I found all kinds of other change on the ground . . . score!  Laughing about finding the “golden change” I threw it in the booth and quickly got back in the car.   I know this is not the last of the tollbooth’s that we will be going through up the east coast.  Hopefully now we are a little more experienced.

Driving out along the expressway to Kennedy Space Center we were told you might see alligators.  We told the kids to look out the windows and all of a sudden Maddie yells, “I see one.”  They all immediately looked out the window and were yelling excitedly, “I see it”!! 

We arrived at Kennedy Space Center right as it closed . . . bummer!  But we weren’t really excited about paying $45 a person to enter the exhibits.   I know it’s an awesome experience but considering the price and not sure how much the kids would appreciate it, we were fine with just looking at the rockets and space shuttle from the outside.  We read to the kids all about the space shuttle and launching of the missiles and I think they got a lot out of just seeing the real life ones. 

One of the rockets that we saw was the Mercury/Redstone which was the first “maned” space vehicle by Alan Sheppard and Virgil Grissom in 1961.  Wow . . . that’s awesome. 

We then drove to our KOA in Mims and set up for the evening.  Brooke, Christian, and Grace were again my enthusiastic helpers to hook up and then they were incredibly excited about going to do the laundry with Shelley.  We put Brittany and Madison in charge of cleaning up the camper and getting dinner started.

Another great day of adventure!

FLORIDA: Aquatica Water Park



It’s hot in Florida, even in the spring!  It’s been in the mid to high 80’s and then you add the humidity and that  equals HOT!  And to top it off, since I was clumsy last night with my foot, the swelling is even worse.  Thankfully I only have a little limp and today we are going to one of the famous Florida water parks, so I could relax and keep it cool.  We had a hard time deciding which one . . . Disney’s Typoon Lagoon . . . Disney’s Blizzard Beach . . . Sea World’s Aquatica . . . they are all amazingly creative with their themes and have awesome water slides.   We decided on Aquatica because one of the slides went through a pool of dolphins and it was slightly cheaper.  J

It had an “Australia Down Under tropical” theme beautifully landscaped with all kinds of tropical plants.  I was impressed of the size of the park and how much fun the water slides were.  The kids had a blast running around from slide to slide and the best part was that the lines were short because it was a Monday.  Shelley and I relaxed on a lounge chair for a while when we first arrived.  After getting incredibly hot, we floated in the lazy river for a long while.  Everyone was running around bare foot so I felt a little “dorky” wearing my water shoes, but it protected my foot.   After lazily floating for 45 minutes, we decided to go on the waterslide that was right next to us . . . it was like a big funnel and it was awesome. 

We relaxed in the sun for another hour and then the kids came running over to excitedly tell us about the best slide they’ve been on, the four man slide.   I told them that I wanted to go on the Dolphin slide with them and they were excited to show me.   It was the only slide that you don’t use an inner tube with and when you get to the starting point they tell you to go feet  first with them crossed and cross your arms on your chest.  They lady looked at me and said, “You need to take your shoes off because they will slow me down.”   I told her my situation and asked if I could just try it.  Well, they didn’t slow me down one bit.  In fact, I went so fast through the dolphin tube that I didn’t see much of anything. 

Next, the kids took me to each of the other slides and my favorite was the double ride with Brittany and the 4 man ride with Christian, Brooke and Grace.  We screamed and laughed the whole way down.    We were almost the last people out of the park because the kids didn’t want to leave.

When we went out to the parking lot Shelley’s brother and family were waiting for us and they came with all  kinds of Disney gifts.  Yesterday at Animal Kingdom I found a walking stick in the shape of a giraffe and I was looking to buy at hat, but I didn’t buy either.  Guess what “Uncle Bill” found at the Backlot Disney Store (a discounted store only for Disney employees) for me today??  The giraffe stick and a fun “Indiana Jones” type hat.  He also came with all kinds of African music instruments for all of the kids that they sell at Animal Kingdom, and a Disney photo album for me.  He is amazing!  What a special treat for us all, and he wouldn’t let us pay them for any of it. 

We all piled into the cars and went to Cici’s Pizzeria which was a pizza buffet where you pay $5 a person for all you can eat salad, any kind of pizza you want, and dessert.  Wow . . . Florida buffets are awesome!!

Then we proceeded to Downtown Disney for the rest of the evening of shopping.  It is an enormous shopping area with every kind of Disney store you could ever want . . . Disney Christmas, Disney art, Disney Store, Disney Pins . . . as well as restaurants, Legos, and street entertainment.   Again we closed the shopping center down!!

We got into the cars to drive back to the camp ground at midnight and I was looking for my keys.   Oops . . . I left them in the camper.  Uggggg. . . I made sure that I had them the first time I locked the RV but then I went back in to grab some magazines to read at the water park, and in my hurry, I left them on the kitchen counter.    Well, because we figured it out before we got there we called AAA on the way back to the camper so they would arrive at about the same time.   Well, wishful thinking, we still waited for about 40 minutes.  Then the AAA man arrived and in his heavy “New Jersey” accent he says “I can’t do RV’s”.  Uncle Bill assured him that he could because the cab of the RV is just like a truck.  He moaned and groaned and tried and tried with his slim jim but really couldn’t do it.  He called AAA to see if someone else could try it but told us they would have the same equipment . . . if we just had a coat hanger Uncle Bill could have done it.  The “Jersey” AAA man left us and Uncle Bill went to work trying to figure something else out.  First he took his adorable Disney umbrella from the back of his car and pulled it apart to try and make a coat hanger.  He tried to shove it through the window to reach the window knob but to no avail he couldn’t do it.  Then he started checking out the windows.  As all of this was going on, the kids were in the car laughing and having a great old time at 1:30am in the morning, paying no attention to the fact that we were really stuck.  But then all of a sudden Brittany came out of nowhere and tried sliding the back window open remembering that the latch doesn’t completely close.  Yahoo!!  Now how do we get through the screen???  Uncle Bill pushed and pried the screen as I called Dave to see if there was a way to get the screen off, of which he had no idea.  Uncle Bill looked at me with the eyes of remorse he said “I’m sorry I have to cut the screen” and I promptly said “Do it!”  He cut the bottom of the screen very carefully and we slipped “little” Gracie through feet first!   Phew, what a relief!! 

She opened the door and we all thanked Bill profusely, while I was feeling so “blond” as he would say!  Thank the Lord we had Uncle Bill to take care of us.  Now, we will never do that again either . . . and we promptly put the spare keys in our camera bags which is what I was gently reminded by Dave to do in the first place.  I’m so thankful that my husband didn’t get mad at me . . . he was so patient and understanding . . . and now he has a screen to fix.  Sorry honey!!! 

(Don't I look extremely tired but happy at the same time??)

It really was a fabulous day of water, sun, food, Disney, and excitement (mixed with a little of panic)!!

FLORIDA: Disney World

Yahoo . . . . We’re going to Disney World today.  Shelley’s brother works at Disney World and was able to get us free passes for the day!  We’re so excited but it’s hard to see everything in one day so we had to make a plan.  Bill, Shelley’s brother, & family was at our campground promptly at 7:30am to pick us up.  They were incredible with their kindness of driving us around for the day.  We went to an awesome breakfast buffet so Shelley could visit with her dad and family, and then we were off to Animal Kingdom.    Auntie Vic, Shelley’s sister in law, and her Niece Jenna & nephew John all came with us to the parks and we drove two cars.   How do you see all 4 parks in one day? . . . .  You drive from park to park with a free parking pass and the privilege of parking in employee parking up front!  That was awesome!

Our first park was Animal Kingdom where we went on the Safari ride, Expedition Everest, the Rapids ride and then over to the watch the Lion King show.  Those were the “best of”  Animal Kingdom and we were done in 3 hours, ready to move to the next park. 

Next we went to Hollywood Studios.  We parked as close as we could, took the tram, and as we arrived at the entrance I realized that I left my phone in the car.  So I rode back around on the tram to get my phone, but oops,  I forgot to ask what kind of car it was!  I walked around in the general area where I thought we parked for about 10 minutes thinking all the cars look the same.  Thank goodness for automatic locks that beep when pushed because finally I heard a “beep” and there was the car.  I rode back on the tram to the entrance and made my way to the Tower of Terror, which is what everyone went on except Brittany, Shelley, and I . . . that ride is awesome but we can’t handle the drop.  We went over to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster to get fast passes but unfortunately they were for 4 hours from that point.  Well, we got them anyways just in case, and went over to Toy Story, which was also a 90 minute wait.  Bummer!  We decided to try the Indian Jones show but that wasn’t for another hour, so we just browsed the main street and left the park.

Next we drove over to Epcot and parked right in front.  It was pretty crowded to and the ride Test Track was also a 90 minute wait.  So we went to the Agriculture Pavilion to go on the Living with the Land ride which was awesome.  It ‘s a boat ride that takes you through the process of growing food in many different ways.  Next we walked over to the countries and went to the O’ Canada circle vision theater, which was about the country of Canada.  Martin Short narrates it so of course it’s funny, but the scenery was beautiful.   Then we decided that we were all hungry and went over to Mexico to eat at their outside pavilion.  The food was excellent but pricey.

After dinner we left Epcot to go back to Hollywood Studios to use our fast pass to ride the Rockin’ Roller Coaster.    We walked right on and so glad we came back for it because the kids loved it. 

Then as we were walking from the Rockin’ Roller Coaster as stopped at a sticker station where a nice gentleman from Minnesota was handing out paper records with stickers, and the young kids wanted to do it.  We stood there for about 10 minutes chatting with him, and at one point we told him we were only here for a day because we are traveling around the US.  We told him we were park hopping trying to see everything we could in one day and the Toy Story ride was too long of a wait.   He was fascinated and kept saying “wow”, and then asked how many we have in our party.  We told him 10 and he reached in his pocket and pulled out two fast passes, each accommodating 5 people, for the Toy Story ride and he said, “Have a magical day”.  We thanked him profusely and kept saying “Wow that was sooooo nice”.   We were so excited and we ran over to the ride and walked right on!!  That was awesome!

Next we drove over to a parking lot by Magic Kingdom and boarded the Monorail over to the park. 

We were right in time for the fireworks but it was crowded.    We crammed ourselves through the crowd  and as we were walking through the crowd I was stepping around a stroller not knowing it was off the curb.  Unfortunately I stepped off the curb wrong and twisted my right foot right where I broke it.  OUCH,  that hurt!!!  My foot was throbbing and I couldn’t even enjoy the fireworks.  All I could think of was getting out of there and getting some ice.  Thankfully I could walk on it, but I thought I pulled a muscle or something. 

Sweet Vicky went to get me a wheel chair (because she gets them for free), which I told her wasn’t necessary, but she did it anyway!  So now it’s my turn in the wheel chair – many members of my family have been in a wheel chair at Disneyland.  I didn’t like it but I was thankful I didn’t have to walk.  I had no problem walking to the car after taking Advil, but "Oh boy" is it sore!!

We were one of the last one’s to leave the park and again we got home very late!!   But it was a fantastic day. 

LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA & FLORIDA

Today I have to start this blog post with “what’s up with the no toilet seat covers in the bathrooms and the no nozzle holders at the gas pumps in the South??”   It’s those little things that are making our gas and bathroom stops take FOREVER!!  I think that is why our driving days are taking so long.  Either that or it’s the out of order woman’s bathrooms or the no credit cards at the gas pumps because the weather has shut down the systems.  Uggg!!!  It’s the little inconviences  that can just put you over the edge when you are tired of driving!!

Despite those little nagging issues, the drive to Orlando has been great!  The alarm went off at 5:30 and we  got up promptly at 6:00 (hee hee).  But Yay for us . . . we unhooked, packed up, got dressed and left right at 6:35.   YAHOO,           WE’RE GOIN’ TO DISNEY WORLD!!   But first we have to drive 10 hours and 35 minutes to Orlando, with a couple of stops in Mississippi and Alabama.  

We made our way back to interstate 10 (getting lost once again on the business district loop of the 10 in Louisiana and having to turn around)  which will take us all the way Lake City, Florida, then turning south to Orlando.    It’s hard to believe that we will have traveled the interstate 10 from one end of the country to the other end.   Getting on the right path we traveled about an hour and a half when we reached the border of Mississippi.  Unfortunately, the fog was so thick that we couldn’t even see the sign.  Next thing we knew we were in Mississippi.  The fog all of a sudden cleared and 20 minutes later we took the exit to Biloxi, Mississippi, which is right on the Gulf of Mexico.    Before we drove down to the beach area we stopped for gas, and had to check the oil again.  This time we knew what we were doing, but a nice Mississippi gentleman noticed that a little bit of radiator fluid was dripping on the ground and he asked, “Is your engine running hot?”  I told him no and he went on his way.  As Shelley and I went to put oil in the funnel we couldn’t get the cap off, so we asked him if he would mind helping us get it off.    He said, “Sure!!!”, showed us how to do it and poured the oil in for us.  I thanked him and then asked if he minded helping us check our tire pressure.  He said, “Sure!!!” again and proceeded to check all the tires inside and out.  Thanks heavens for nice “Southern Gentlemen” because I don’t really want to learn all this stuff about cars!!

We drove about 5 more minutes to get to the coast line of the Gulf of Mexico and the beautiful little coast side town of Biloxi.  The sand was incredibly white just like the Bahamas’s.   We pulled over to take pictures of the beach and collect sand (which is a tradition in my family) as we watched the people set up the umbrellas and the fitness class exercise.  I want to go to an exercise class on a beautiful beach like that!  J 

We got back on the 10 to drive another hour to the border of Alabama.  This time we didn’t miss the sign, and we were able to take a picture of the Mississippi Welcome sign from on the other side of the freeway.   Mississippi was still incredibly swampy on the freeways while now Alabama is all green with beautiful trees, naming it “The Beautiful State”. 

We drove into the town of Mobile, Alabama just to see what was there, and stopped at a gas station.   We saw a poor homeless man sitting out front of the store and I told Brooke, Christian, and Grace to take him some fruit to eat.  They were a little scared to hand him the fruit, but as they did they said “God bless you” andthy came running back to the camper all excited about doing that.   I went into the store to ask if there was anything special to see and the lady said “Oh, you have to go down to battleship expressway where they have all the battleships.    That was very exciting especially for Christian.   As we approached the battleship area it said USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park., and it was huge with many Navy jets, Army tanks, guns, a submarine, and the USS Alabama battleship.  If we had time we could have bought  a ticket and  toured the ship, but we still had 6 more hours to drive, so we just explored the various displays around the parking lot, which was quite a display. 

We got back into the RV and in about 45 minutes we were at the border of Florida and the little town of Pensacola.   The freeways, or what they actually call them here in the south are expressways, are beautiful in Florida.  They are extremely wide and green compared to California.    

The rest of the drive to Orlando was uneventful except for the lightning again about an hour before we arrived.  But now we are used to the lightning, and weathered it well.  We arrived at our KOA, hooked up and went to bed, thankful to have arrived and not to have to drive for a few days!!

LOUISIANA: Mississippi River & Swamp Boat

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.