Tuesday, 8 January 2019: Oil Rig Tour, Avery Island: Tabasco Sauce Tour and Garden Drive/Walk

Got a tour of the yard before we left:

They have chickens, quail, and rabbits, 6 quail eggs = 1 chicken eggs, but they start laying much, much sooner.  

STOP 1: Beach/ Birding Walk: Lake End Park, Morgan City

STOP 2: Oil Rig Tour: Mr Charlie in Morgan City--one of the most interesting tours we've ever done led by someone who worked in the field most of his life.

The rig has been docked for decades but originally was the first offshore rig

View from the rig

Used for dropping pipes into the water

Device for getting onto the rig from a boat in the water

Looking down, down, down, down

The refinery

STOP 3: Avery Island: Tabasco Sauce Tour

STOP 4: Jungle Gardens on Avery Island:

Monday, 7 January 2019: Greenwood Gator Farm, LUMCON, and boating in the swamp

In the morning we took a tour at a Gator Farm where we learned how the gators are raised and harvested, and we were able to hold baby alligators.

We also fed the ducks pellets, petted the goats, and fed the alligators marshmallows.

Then we went back and visited with Lisa, Louise's sister. Both Lisa and Louis, their oldest brother, had come for breakfast.

After that we drove to LUMCON, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, where we watched various marine creatures in tanks, the most interesting of which was a hermit crab changing shells, climbed to a look out tower where we could see 5 miles of bayous and swamps on all sides, and walked on a boardwalk where we saw a roseate spoonbill flying overhead.

In the late afternoon Rod and Louise took us on a swamp tour in their boat. We got a quick glimpse of an alligator, but mostly we saw lots of birds and even more swamp.

Saturday, 6 January 2019: Tunica Falls (Mississippi)

We drove about 3 hours north just over the Mississippi border to Clark Creek. We were supposed to go to Louisiana's only waterfall called Tunica Falls, but Google maps routed us to the extension of the park in Mississippi.  We walked along the riverbed, climbed over rocks, and up and down ravines, sliding in mud and wading through the water, unquestionably one of the most fun hikes in my life--ranking with wading a slot canyon in Zion Park in Utah and climbing over an avalanche in Northern Italy.

On the way home we stopped at Cajun Corners and did a little shopping.

Friday, 5 January 2019: Grand Isle, Wildlife Gardens, and Mandalay Nature Walk

In the morning we drove to Grand Isle, a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, where we climbed a look out tower, walked along a long boardwalk and then along the beach. Lots of people were fishing, the most interesting of which was a man who was using a drone to get his fishing line out far enough. We also saw several shrimp boats.  The drive was super interesting because we drove "down the bayou" with swamps and marshes on either side and lots of  pelicans, kingfishers, and egrets.

In the afternoon we drove to the Wildlife Gardens in Gibson. It was about third of a mile self-guided tour through the swamp, past a trapper's cabin and alligators.

Then we went down the road to the Mandalay Nature Walk where we walked to a boardwalk and then over a swampy lake, seeing a turtle and an eagle.

While we were in Louisian, we did a lot of driving, crossing a lot of bridges, many of which were drawbridges. Only once were we stopped when a bridge was going up.

This bridge lifts straight up!