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!