Merry Christmas

As you can see, Santa found us all the way out here in the Louisiana bayou.

We hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas!

Tickfaw State Park, Louisiana. Dec. 17

December '08

We made our way across Alabama and Mississippi and have settled in Louisiana for the Christmas season. We took a day trip to New Orleans' French Quarter where Mardi Gras happens. It's a colorful, lively and entertaining place to wander around. We enjoyed the artwork on the streets and the Mardi Gras themed shops. To add to the excitement there were advertisements along Bourbon St. that required us to distract the girl's attention elsewhere. That's us in front of the church in Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

The girls enjoyed some fishing in a Louisiana state park. They haven't caught anything yet and are tired of us telling them 'that's why they call it fishing and not catching'.

We also got bikes with the kid attachment on the back. The state parks are large and it's often too far to walk everywhere. Not having a car, the bikes have come in very handy.

A Few Extra Photos, November

If anyone knows what kind of snakes these are we'd love to know. The one in the water was the size of a pencil and so hard to see, we're not sure how Kyra spotted it. The other snake might be a rattler. Anyone?

The armadillos are so neat looking with all their body armor and scurrying. They don't mind people too much unless you get too close, then you have to chase them to get a good picture!

Big Cypress

Big Cypress National Preserve is attached to Everglades NP. A canal runs parallel to the road through the parks and about every 10-20 seconds you spot a gator in it. There are a few boardwalks and a visitor centre along the way where you can stop and enjoy them which is more enjoyable then watching gators fly by at 55 miles per hour.

Mercedes with the ranger hat? They have great programs at national parks, and even some state parks, called junior ranger. If you complete the book of activities for that park you get a badge, sometimes you have to repeat the junior ranger pledge as she is doing here.

The birds in that campsite are vultures. They were scavenging the site while the campers were off hunting. That was ok with us as they were the same campers that decided feeding the gator in the lake was a good idea in spite of signs everywhere saying otherwise. It's bad for the campers that come after them as now the gator will come to them expecting to be fed, and it's of course very bad for the gator because now he's a danger and is doomed.

More Everglades National Park, November

We stayed a night at Flamingo campground and rented a canoe from the marina. We paddled up the canal for an hour and got to see several aligators on the shore. This is the only place in the world where you get aligators and crocodiles living in the same area. We were lucky to see 2 american crocs on the shore of the canal. One of them is in the first picture, while the second photo is of a gator.

The Everglades, Nov.

We spent 3 nights in the south end of Everglades National Park. On this boardwalk trail through the everglades we got to see plenty of life. From left to right: an anhinga bird drying it's wings, an aligator tired of having it's picture taken, a green heron, and my budding photographers. Don't worry mom, there was a fence between them and the gator.