Swamp Tour, Breaux Bridges, LA

Today we went to Breaux Bridges (a town East of Lafayette) and did a swamp tour. The tour was on Lake Martin, a small lake with a lot of wild life.

Just in case we did not see an alligator today, the tour guide, Bryan, brought along a small one- year old gator that each of us got to hold.

The swamp is beautiful, with hanging moss and cypress trees.

We got lucky today and saw 4 alligators. They look like logs in the water. Most did not move, but when Bryan got too close to one it moved very fast into the water.

This little animal is like a beaver but it is called a nutria, or Lousianna swamp rat. It does a lot of damage to the trees.

This is Bryan, our guide, and the participants of the tour. We were going back across Lake Martin to the dock.

Kaplan, LA. Madri Gras parade

On Fat Tuesday, we spent Mardi Gras going to lunch and then a local parade at Kaplan, LA. with a few people from Betty’s RV Park. Lunch was at Suire’s Grocery and Restaurant.

Dean had the alligator po’boy (sandwich) and I had the shrimp and crawfish gumbo (soup) and a crawfish pistolette (a deep fried bun filled with cheese and crawfish).

After lunch we went to the parade at Kaplan about 10 miles West of Abbeville. The parade was about an hour in length.

There were wagons with people throwing beads, candy, and stuffed animals, political candidates throwing beads, and beauty queens throwing beads. And there was a marching band. It was neat small town parade.

The floats were decorated wagons pulled by trucks.

Lots and lots of beads, again!!!

Church Point, LA: Chicken run and Madri Gras Parade

We arrived at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, LA. on Saturday. Our last stop, Clute Elks Lodge, was uneventful except for a day trip to Galveston. We had lunch and walked the Strand in downtown. Now we are glad to be at Betty’s where there are many Boomers and Escapees. More about Betty’s in the next blog.

Yesterday, Sunday March 6, most of Betty’s residents went to Church Point. Betty is well connected in this area and we got to set up our chairs at Mr. John Sanford’s farm where all the action was. It was a cold and windy day so he put us between two barns to stay out of the wind. One of the Escapee’s brought out the grill and soon he was grilling up chops, sausage, ribs, and shrimp, quite a feast. Check out the Sanford pig roaster shown in the one of the pictures below.

This is the 50^th annual parade and chicken run at Church Point. The parade is out in the country and I think that half of Louisiana was there. When the parade got to the Sandford farm the revelers (mainly college age guys in costume and with beer in hand) arrived first and danced with the audience. A tractor pulled wagon with a live Cajun band (complete with generator for the amplifiers) accompanied the revelers. Then the Grand Marshall on horseback came into the center of the revelers with a chicken. He tossed the chicken on the ground and the revelers jumped on the chicken. I don’t think that the chickens were hurt today, but in the old times they caught the chickens for their gumbo that night. After the chicken race the parade passed in front of us. The floats were filled with people in dressed in costume, drinking beer or other alcoholic beverages, dancing, and throwing beads. Each float was well stocked with liquor, porta-john, and generator for the amplified music. If you were really lucky they threw you a cold beer or Jell-O shot. We really got into the beads and ended up with about a 30 lb sack. Now everyone back home knows what he or she is getting for souvenirs. The parade was about 2 hours long and lots of fun.

Boomers getting ready for the party.

The Sanford Pig Roast

Boomers getting ready for the revelers

The cajun band

Revelers in costume

The Grand Marshall and chicken

When the chicken is tossed it is a mad scramble

One of the floats

The revelers and their wagon

Joyce Space gets a ride with a local in parade.

Bobbi and Jim Chapman with their beads

Dean and Judy with only a small part of their beads.

Magnolia Beach

Sunday we left Padre Island and drove North to Port Aransas where we had to cross the water on a free ferry. It is a very short ferry and they have lots of ferry boats so there was no line. The ferries can accomodate any size RV.

We drove to Magnolia Beach which is a free camping spot listed in Day's End. There are only a few RV's here, but we are told that it can get pretty crowded. Most of the people that are here are fishing, but they are not catching like the fishermen at Padre Island.

When we got here there was nobody next to us. Then on Monday two RV's pulled in on each side of us. We are the second RV in this picture.

The highlight of the stay here (again food?) was going to Bubba's in the little town of Seadrift. We ordered their special - crab, shrimp, sausage, and potatoes. We had three meals on this order and it was all good!!

Today is our last day here. I have been working on the computer and watching this small fishing boat out the front window all morning. It is dwarfed by this large tanker. The main catch is oysters and we did buy some from a local plant on Monday. Across the bay is a large aluminum plant so there are big tankers coming through everyday.

Tomorrow we are going to Clute, Texas and try to see Galveston from that location.

Padre Island National Seashore

North Padre Island National Seashore is a protected stretch of 70 miles of beach. There is one paved developed campground and places where you can drive on the sand and camp. We, of course, opted for the developed campground, Malaquite, because we didn’t want to dig this big rig out of sand. We are staying here a week and loving it. We have done walks on the beach each day, biked to the campground on the bay side (which is not as nice, sorry Guy Gibson), and today we are going into Port Aransas and Mustang Island.

The campers here are pretty much winter residents. They stay for 14 days then the rules say you have to leave for 48 hours. They go out for the 2 days and return for another 14 days and do that all winter until they have used up their 56 day limit/year. There are campers that have been coming here for 20 years.

This is also a big shore fishing area. We have watched fishermen set up their long poles and fish off the shore of the campground. One guy with Dean’s help caught a 35 lb stingray yesterday only to loose it when the anchor it was tied to came loose in the sand. They say stingray is like eating scallops.