Big Changes in the 9th Ward.

We went back and toured the decimated 9th ward of St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans.  Things are looking up in some areas, but some are also very much neglected.  According to all reports they have built 73 brand new homes for dislocated New Orleans residents. 

They are all supposed to be built green.  (energy efficient, and environmentally friendly materials)  It's hard to tell by looking at them, but most of them are ultra modern.  They certainly don't look like the rest of the 9th ward that is still standing. 

They look totally out of place when you see all the rest of the little shotgun houses that used to be the only style here. 

 Some of them are Beautiful, some are Quite  Striking  some are just plain Ugly. 

As you can see by the street signs they certainly need some infrastructure fixed up as well. 

 

Then you still have some of the homes that are uninhabitable, but no one has the money to tear them down and rebuild.  There are thousands of homes that need to be refurbished, repaired and replaced, but it seems that everything is moving very very slowly for some and very quickly for others.  And everything seems very haphazard and unorganized. 

 

Lake Charles to New Orleans

"Okay the trailers all hooked up where are we going now?"

We set off this morning for a short trip to Fausse Point State Park, but it was such a good day for traveling, warm sunshine, and no wind, we got to the turn off and decided to continue right on through to New Orleans. 

 

Over many bridges over many canals, rivers and bayous.  

This city and surrounding area is all Canals, Rivers and Bayous. 

So as we went over that last bridge, I never imagined that "Gladys" (our GPS) was taking us straight for a very small ferry that would not accommodate our trailer.  It seems I forgot to change the settings back  to "Avoid Ferries" after our ferry ride off of Galveston Island.  So we veered off just before the ferry and I reset "Gladys"and she re-routed us to our campground, avoiding all the ferries, which of course added 28 miles to our journey and sent us right through down town New Orleans, with trailer in tow. 







It gave me a chance to snap some good shots of the New Orleans Skyline. 

But as usual good old "Gladys"got us there in the end despite our errors. 


I love this campground it's very roomy and lovely and clean. 

We are booked in here for this whole weekend and maybe beyond.  We'll see how it goes. 

Interesting Lake Charles State Park

 We arrived yesterday in the rain, so we didn't see much of the park.  Today we took  our time and took a tour around the park. 

This park is full of Bayou and swamp land and many types of wild life.   I even saw a bright Red Cardinal flitting past me, but much to quick to get a picture. 

As we stepped out of the trailer this morning with Sea-enna there were these deer, they just looked up at us, then went on with what they were doing, completely un-fazed and oblivious to us. 

At the boat launch we found these slightly un-nerving signs. 

This is wild life I don't want to run into. 

Also this sign on a tree in the Bayou. 

And on the river we found this boat and just had to have a look.  She's about the size of the Thunderbird, but very narrow and just a bare empty boat.  

There are lots of hiking trails, and when I saw this bridge over the Bayou I wondered how high gator could jump up out of the water. 

It's a really nice campground and well maintained. 








 



I certainly wouldn't want my children playing on this play structure after seeing the alligator warning for that river right behind it. 

They have cabins for rent as well and this nice nature center.  So that is what we saw today.  It's been a nice stop and we are having a good time. 

Tomorrow we are moving on to Fousse Pointe State Park, and will do a critique of that park as well.   

Our Ferry Ride

 We awoke in the morning to more howling wind and pounding surf.  I have always wanted to have a campsite right on the beach, but now that I have done it, I won't be doing it again.  The wind was incessant, and last night it reached a peak, buffeting the trailer all night.  On top of everything else it started raining.  At least it waited until we got the trailer all packed up and on the road.  There was no line up at the ferry and it was an interesting crossing.  


                                                                                   

With the surf pounding, like it was, when we left our campsite.  We wondered if we would notice it on the ferry crossing.  We did.  It was like the feeling of a van being buffeted by a cross wind on the highway.  You could only just barely feel it.  We have all been on boats in way worse conditions. 

 The crossing only took 13 minutes on top of the loading and unloading. 

                                                            The rain finally stopped as we drove off

of the ferry and we drove the rest of the way in overcast but dry weather. 

 That is until we got to our new campsite.  As soon as we were driving in, the skies opened up.  And it started to pour.  I got drenched walking Sea-enna and Dan got drenched setting up the trailer. 

But here we are settled in at Lake Charles State Park.  A very wild and pretty natural setting.  We had a couple of deer right next to our trailer this evening, no camera ready though.  Above all it is peaceful and quiet, all we hear is the pidder, padder of the rain on the roof. 

A Sight Seeing Day on Galveston Island

 Today we decided to do some sight seeing.  which of course means I took a lot of pictures. 















This is the Gulf Coast near our campsite. 

We went down to see the ferry that we have to take the trailer onto tomorrow.

After seeing a couple of semis and a large motor home come off the incoming ferry we were satisfied that we could do this.  It will save us about 100 miles off the trip to our next destination. 

It should prove to be an interesting experience, we have never been on a ferry with the trailer, but that's what we're here for "Adventure". 










As we drove down Seawall Drive, with the Gulf on one side, across the street are many beautiful water front hotels, and condos all available for rent, to the tourist trade. 

Then further down the road we see the mansions that have been built along the water front.  These are on stilts just as the others are, but the stilts are all hidden in facades.  The lower parts are usually garages etc. and all the living quarters are above.

We found the RV parks to be unique around here, as well.  They don't build Texas rooms, like in the Rio Grande Valley,  they build a staircase to a terrace that they build over their trailers. 

Then of course we have the unique Texan that turns up everywhere in Texas that has to build himself "something completely different".  As you can see in the backgound he has built it right in the middle of a fashionable neighbourhood. 

So, that is it for Galveston Island, we leave tomorrow morning for Lake Charles Louisiana. 

Galveston Island State Park

 As we get onto Galveston Island, we start to see the usual Summer places on stilts, that are seen all along the coast here.  They are on stilts to protect them from the surges that accompany summer storms along the coast. 

We are in a campsite facing the beach.  There were winds from the North yesterday and today we are getting them coming in from the South East off of the Gulf. 

The wind makes it feel rather desolate.  It would be wonderful on a hot sunny day, but It looks like we are not going to get that before we leave. 

 I got up at 6:00 am this morning to get some shots of the sunrise over the Gulf.  It was very pretty. 

We tried to get Sea-enna to go for a walk on the beach but one look at the surf and the roar of the waves was enough for her.  She turned and high tailed it back to the trailer. 

Galveston Island State Park