Road Trip Day Eight

Today was half work and half play...so I'm going to fill you in on the play portion.  We got up and headed out to a town called Slidell.  The town has a swamp called Honey Island Swamp.

You drive and drive and drive out into the middle of nowhere and then you come up on the Cajun Encounters building.  Then you are led down to a boat and you sit on benches.  We went slowly at first, then went fast enough so we got pretty wet.  We then started to go slowly through the swamp and seeing lots of wildlife.

We saw alligators, birds, snakes and even pigs.  I had no idea that alligators ate marshmallows.  We saw big ones and small ones.  They were super silent and low profile in the water.  I was also amazed at how powerful they are the how big their teeth are.

I had no idea that pigs lived in the swamp! We saw a large pig they call bacon and two smaller pigs they call ham sandwiches.  They were adorable and wanted food so badly the largest tried to come into the boat!

Almost as cool to see was the swamp itself.  The water just goes forever it seems and all the plants and trees grow out of it.  It was really beautiful to see.

I loved being out in the water and hearing everything the guide had to tell us.  We even looked at some homes that didn't make it through Katrina and others that had been rebuilt.  The swamp is a diverse eco system that is fascinating to take a peek into!

I had to come back to work for the afternoon...but then we went out for dinner at Crescent Brewery and had a mini beer sampler and some amazing shrimp and bread pudding.  Good thing all the restaurants are within walking distance, it gives us a chance to burn off some calories and digest!

One of the creepiest things we've seen thus far is an amusement park on the side of the road.  I did a little Googling and found out that it was a Six Flags.  It closed a few days before Katrina hit in anticipation of the storm.  The area flooded with water that contained salt and did not recede for over two weeks.  The rides were destroyed and the park was abandoned.

We did stop by Harrah's Canino on our way back.  I'd never been in a casino before...I was amazed at all the lights and noise and theming...not my kind of place, but super cool to see.

More tomorrow!