Part II – The Long Louisiana Slog, and Even Longer Post

(See Part I here.)

Since the last post used a lot of words and not as many photos we’ll overcorrect here with lots of pictures and fewer words.

On New Years Day we got up, ate, and then began the really, really long day of driving to get back to Austin.  We loaded Princess’s home and all our baggage into the car and headed out into the rain.  Within minutes of being on the road we reached the Louisiana Visitor’s Center.

It looked cold and not exactly inviting.

Fancy wasn’t thrilled.

Once he found a sign telling him not to do something he perked up a bit.

MUST BREAK RULES!  WHOO!

As quickly as we arrived, we left, but Ryan was still annoyed.

We drove many more hours.

Kermit got a little stir crazy.

He began investigating potential risks.

Hours passed. Fancy also grew stir crazy as we crossed through the Atchafalaya.

Princess slept and we left her alone.

Then we reached the Atchafalaya Visitors Center.  Yay.  It’s on the west end, so we actually passed through the gigantic swamp before reaching to place where we could learn to appreciate it.  We were fully prepared and rather excited since it’s a really interesting place.

Dang.

We took Princess out so she could experience the place anyway.

Many things were closed.

And our old enemy returned.

Happily, there was a comment box.  We quickly formed a brilliant plan.

Princess and Fancy helped to deliver the note.

Fancy was impressed at the brilliance of it all.

Then Fancy found his favorite thing.  A sign telling him not to do something.

Kermit joined in.

A turtle tried to eat Kermit, while Princess watched in mild confusion.

Fancy tried to eat Princess to help her better understand why this was happening.

Kermit got a first-hand lesson in what it was like to be shrimp bait in a shrimp cage.

And learned how shrimp traps worked.

For a surprisingly long time.  Prickly-bear learned too.

Princess visited the famous Louisiana Pelican.  “Why are these famous?” She wondered.

Princess was attacked by an alligator, while Kermit hopped in to help.

Kermit was of limited help.

Princess rode a huge tortoise.  I guess there are huge tortoises in Louisiana somewhere?

The Alligator attacks continued.  Princess Sophie was a victim.

Princess P.P. visited with what we believed might be a Sandhill Crane.

She posed attractively on a nice piece of wood.

We took kind of a lot of photos, including one of Kermit in a swamp.

Princess fought the power!

Then we left, but took no pictures of us leaving, allowing the reader to build a dramatic scene in their imagination.

Next: Part III – Texas Touring Turns Troubling