Hello faithful readers, and greetings from cold and icy Louisiana. Yes, I did say "cold and icy". The weather here has been horrid and we have virtually been stuck in one spot for three days. There have also been internet connectivity issues, hence the delay in the latest blog post. Today we have internet, so here we go!
As previously mentioned, we have been struggling with nasty weather. On the day we arrived in Galveston, it was awful. The sea was churning and the wind was a-blowin'.
I had strangely always wanted to go to Galveston... ever since that old Glen Campbell song -- "Galveston oh Galveston... I still hear your sea winds blowing...." Anyway, because of the weather, it was a disappointment. It was cold and windy and at times pouring rain. For two days we pretty much stayed indoors and tried to stay warm. At one point, Jinx demanded we go outside. In his memory were the lovely days we'd just had at the Texas state park, but oh what shock those four paws got when he stepped out in Galveston. Kind of a weird photo, but here we are, out for the briefest time ever, before JTC decided life was MUCH better inside.
The wind was blowing so hard at times, especially during the night, that the motorhome literally shook. I felt like we were in a mini-hurricane, although I'm sure it wasn't even close. At one point the rain stopped and it was actually snowing. Quite the shock not only to us, but to the natives as well.
This won't come as a surprise, but the houses here are built WAAAAY up high on stilts.
After two frigid nights, we decided to say bye-bye to "Galveston-oh-Galveston"... and of course we woke to bright sunshine. Here's a snap taken of the "Pleasure Pier". Kinda takes on a different look and feel in the sun, doesn't it? The Ferris wheel and the other whirligig thing were working and even though the weather was brisk, people were enjoying the Pleasure Pier.
Next stop: the Bolivar Ferry to get off Galveston Island. It's a free ferry run by the Texas DOT and cuts the driving time to places east of Galveston and Houston. Funny thing - our GPS - whom we fondly refer to as "Maggie Magellan" kept insisting that we were NOT take the ferry, and after we did, she kept telling us to turn around, go back over the ferry, and take a different route to Louisiana. We chose to ignore her. Over the ferry we went...
It was a very short ride (5 min or so) and quit uneventful. Dear readers, if you really want to go on fun, lovely, and scenic ferry rides, we recommend the Washington State Ferries or the equally fine British Columbia Ferries. Since those are the types of ferry rides we are accustomed to, this was pretty ho-hum. At any rate, we headed along the gulf coast for a few more miles before turning northward to meet up with I-10 again. Here's a photo of the nice shoreline. I think the cement wall is to discourage leaving the highway and driving onto the beach.
Just a few miles down the road, after reconnecting to the I-10, we crossed the state line into Louisiana - another previously uncharted area for all three of us (of course Jinx is included in that tally).
We spent two nights near Lake Charles at the A+ Motel and RV park, which was really very nice. One of the days there was finally sunny, so we went out sight seeing in the Bayou! We drove along part of the "Creole Nature Trail".
We took a walk partway down the path, looking for wildlife of course. The White Knight wanted a view of the bayou too.
Here's the hubs, on the bayou pathway.....
Here's a photo of the Louisiana state bird, the brown Pelican. There were oodles of them around and about.
After seeing all we thought we could see, we continued on down the country highway. Some of the bridges in Louisiana are of an unusual design (IMHO). I realize they are built high so that boats can get under without the use of a drawbridge...
Here is a view from the the top of the previously shown bridge. It's the intercoastal waterway.
Next stop was the "Pintail Wildlife Drive". We sure enjoyed this three-mile drive essentially into a bayou. This is a Great Egret (we think).
Interesting sign... not that there was really any chance we would either feed or DISTURB an alligator!!!!
Another bird of interest... we think it's a Great Blue Heron.
The last photo of this blog post... the "crowning glory"! After we were sure we wouldn't see an alligator that we could feed and/or disturb, John spotted this fellow lounging in the shallow water. This dispels any doubt that there are alligators in the Louisiana bayou!
We also saw lots of other different types of birds and even a turtle! We thoroughly enjoyed the Creole Nature Trail and would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in creatures in their own habitats.
Our next stop is Lafayette Louisiana, the heart of Cajun Country. More on that next time!
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