I Hate Driving Through Houston.

If there was some way around Houston without it taking an extra day, I certainly would take it.

I hate the stacks of highways going every which way, it's a nightmare, to be endured. 

But I did catch a shot of this delightful looking Seafood Restaurant, which might be worth coming back for.

We drove through Houston, to Goliad State Park.
There is an old mission and fortress here, that we will tour tomorrow. 

The campsites are very strange here, with the RVs and vehicles all lined up like in a parking lot, with your picnic shelter, picnic table, fire pit etc. all behind your parking spots.  It was a pleasant evening.  Dan cooked us some Steaks.

After dinner I was looking at my wine glass and I thought it looked askew.  Sure enough the darn thing must have melted in the hot dish water or something.  You just can't get good quality plastic anymore.   I think Dan gave this one to me to make me think I'd had enough wine. 

So we will tour this park tomorrow, then it's on to McAllen.

Back To Texas

We left our campsite this morning.  Over the Mississippi.  And on to Village Creek State Park, just outside Beaumont, Texas. 

Of course upon arrival, Sea-enna  is always the first to check out the her new '"Yard". 

Very nice campground.  But we are on the move again tomorrow. 

Our Last Day in Louisiana

We didn't do much sight seeing today as another place I wanted to see was also closed for renovations.   So we just took Sea-enna for a nice long walk. 

After seeing this picture and notice about the snakes in Louisiana, we certainly kept Sea-enna on a short leash.

We started our walk on the Fishing Boardwalk.

Then we decided to take the Swamp Trail.  Because it was also a Boardwalk I wasn't too concerned about the snakes. 

This trail went on and on. 

And on and on.

And on and on. 

Most of the Vegetation that is posted on the signs is dormant so it wasn't very interesting.

I guess later in the year when all the Vegetation is lush and full, it would be much more interesting. 

And so on we went.  On and on. 

And on and on. 

As you can see some of the vegetation is starting to green up. 

( It's amazing what you will find interesting after a long and boring walk.)

This long walk finally came out by the boat launch and the parks small marina. 

Then later we had a nice campfire and a beautiful sunset on the swamp.

A Short Trip Across The Lake To A Nice Park

We have been having some really nice weather the last few days and I think spring has come to Louisiana as some of the trees that were looking dead have started to leaf out.  So off we go to the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. 

As we drove through town on our way to the Causeway, I managed to snap a picture of one of those "Shotgun Houses", that used to dominate the 9th ward.  They are narrow little houses that are very long reaching all the way back to the lane.  The front and back doors are aligned, so they could get a breeze through the house in the hot Louisiana summers.  They called them shotgun houses because they used to say you could shoot in the front door and out the back and not hit anything. 

As we got onto the Causeway New Orleans is fading into the background. 

And you can't even see the other side. 

They have markers every mile as you cross and seven turnarounds. 

Finally the other side comes into view. 

At the 24 mile marker we finally approach the end of the Causeway.  

This side of the Lake seems much more jungle like.  Very different. 

We have a very nice campsite. 

 And we even had a campfire tonight.  We will go out and do some sight seeing tomorrow. 

We Didn't See Much of Anything Today.

This morning I looked up the information for Fort Pike National Historic Site.  It was about 35 miles away, but we decided to go and tour the place. 

You can always tell you are about to go over a waterway that takes sea going vessels, because the bridges are so high; 

We arrived to find the place totally enclosed with frost fencing and "Closed"signs all over the place. 

It turns out it was repaired after Katrina and re-opened but was closed again after damage from Huricane Gustav.  It has been closed for over 2 years since it was last damaged and no one bothered to update their internet sites.

With Dan in the truck as lookout, I managed to sneek through an open gate and snap this picture but couldn't get any closer.  Needless to say I was very angry, so when we got back to the trailer I sent a couple of very strongly worded emails to two US government departments. 
Unfortunately it wasn't very satisfying. 

Anyway I took some pictures of the development
out on that penninsula.  It's just like what we saw on Galveston Island. 

Lots more homes on stilts. 

Notice the bridge?  It looks like it is sideways.  Well it is, it's a swing bridge.  So far since arriving on Friday, we have been held up in traffic, from a car accident on the freeway  (that took forever), two ferries, a lift bridge letting three boats through and now a swing bridge letting one boat through. 
The traffic in this city is a nightmare, because it's full of so many waterways. 

And these gorgeous homes are all built on private canals so they can park the huge boats right behind their houses.  Even if I could afford those houses and those boats I still wouldn't live in this city.   It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. 

Destrehan Plantation

I picked out two plantations to see today, but due to time constraints we only got to see one, but it was great.  In it's heyday it was a huge operation sugar plantation with over 1000 slaves.  Attached are just a few samples of the many, many pictures I took today.

This gentleman in the Union Army uniform was our guide for our tour.  He's wearing that uniform because this plantation was a stronghold for the Union Army administration once the Civil War ended. 

This is what was called the pre-kitchen.  All of the cooking was actually done in the cook house which was another building far from the main house.  Then the food was brought in here to be assembled and prepared for the table.

This was called the China Kitchen where an indoor slave plated up the meals, from the pre-kitchen, onto the good china and took it to the dining room.  She was also responsible for feeding the masters children here and teaching them manners. 

This was the overseers office.

This bedroom belonged to the lady of the house across from her children's rooms.

This is the master's sitting room.

And this is the master's bedroom.

All of these sitting rooms and bedroom had doors that opened onto this upper veranda that surrounded the house and also onto the hall that faced the large entrance staircase, to take advantage of the breeze from the Mississippi River. 

One of the many bedrooms was later made into a billiard room.

The slave quarters that are close by on the grounds now, were actually moved from over a 1/4 of a mile away.  They never would have allowed the slaves to live that close to the main house. 

The back two corners of the main house had huge tanks to collect rainwater.  One still does, but the other has been outfitted with an elevator, to make the plantation totally accessible.

What looks like a giant wash basin is one of the pots that the sugar cane was boiled and rendered in. 

This is one of the slave quarters.  There are two doors because each of these buildings housed two families.  There was a chimney in the center with a fireplace that opened into each side.

This approximately 10 X 10 room had to house an entire family for living, cooking, sleeping etc.




You might find this article interesting   http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/01/23/untold_story_of_us_slave_rebellion_retold_centuries_later.html


We have decided to stay in New Orleans for another day so we hope to go to the French Quarter tomorrow.