Hello ‘Gators!

Texas had a bit more in store for us, seeing as it is just endless. We left the beaches and drove through Houston to spend a couple of days in the pines of Davy Crockett National Forest.

Right on the border between Texas and Louisiana we stopped at Big Thickett National Preserve. It was quite rainy so we had the place to ourselves, which gave us time to re-adjust after the beach.

It was raining so hard that we kept getting flash flood warnings on our phones. This couped us up for a couple of days and so we caught up on a bit of work in the van.

Our next destination goal was New Orleans, but on the way we took a great Creole drive that sent us to some boardwalks where we saw our first of many alligators! The ‘gator in this pick is in the water where Kate was looking:

We ate some local boudin, and then headed down to Avery Island, which is a private salt mound where Tobasco is made. The Tobasco tour is well put together, but an even better part of the island is the Jungle Gardens walk. An heir of Tobasco was really into conservation, so he built a large experimental garden with different plants, flowers, bamboo, etc.

There was also a huge egret nesting area. The owner made this by raising eight babies in the early 1900’s in cages here, then releasing them during migration. Six of them came back in the spring and after that each generation has brought more birds.

Our last stop was supposed to be a camping spot in a city park, but when we landed in Beaux Bridge, we found that it was full to the brim. Turns out they were having their annual Crawfish Festival, which had amazing Zydeco music bands playing. We hung out for several hours eating crab cakes and listening to the washboard and accordions jam out.