Louisiana road trip

Since it’s the weekend, and no work will be done on the rig, I decided a road trip was in order for Emma and me.  Once the sun melted the frost on the windshield (I no long own a scraper:)), we headed out for Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge that is located between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, LA.  I stopped at two different Visitor’s Centers along the way, and I must say that Louisiana visitor’s centers are exceptional.  They have movies, displays, and many knowledgeable folks manning the desks to answer questions.  I was really impressed.  At my second VC, I got the directions to find the refuge. 

 

Perhaps many of you have driven I-10 between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, but this was my first experience of the, I think, 18 mile long bridge through the swamps.  Wow!  I wish I could have stopped to admire the views, but there aren’t any pull offs.  Anyway, I then took LA 975 for 17 miles down a gravel road.  On my left was a levy, and on my right was woods.  I never saw a sign for the refuge, and being winter there really wasn’t anything worth photographing.  I guess this is one of those refuges that few people other than hunters visit.  Bummer.

As we headed back towards the rig, I made a detour through Breaux Bridge and decided to visit Lake Martin.  One of the folks at the second visitor’s center said you could drive completely around the lake and see some swamp area close up.  Turns out you can’t drive all the way around Lake Martin, but I did come upon a Nature Conservancy preserve.

There was an inviting boardwalk through the cypress swamp, so off we went.

The sun was behind us, so it provided some nice reflections in the bright, sunny, but chilly afternoon.

In the spring and summer, Cypress Island Preserve has many alligators that can be observed from this boardwalk. 

We didn’t see any, but Emma was certainly trying to find something interesting.  I’m going to have to look at the weather forecast because I’m thinking I’d like to take a swamp tour, maybe on Monday.  I’m fascinated by these cypress swamps.  I imagine they will just be teaming with life in a couple of months.

 

Tomorrow, I suppose I should do the Tabasco factory tour since I’m in the area.  I also plan to do some grocery shopping to plump up the empty shelves in the new fridge.  :)  Emma will have to stay home and hold down the fort!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy