Swamp Tour, Basketball, Traveling and Touring

Wednesday, April 9^th

(Riverview RV Park, Vidalia, LA) Hi 71° F Low 46° F

Today we drove across the Mississippi River and went to the Mississippi Visitor’s Center to get some information on the Natchez Trace. We walked around the center and viewed their historical exhibits. It was interesting learning about the history of Natchez.

We then drove down to the historic section of Natchez, parked in a lot on the river, and did a walking tour of historic Natchez, MS. It was beautiful, sunny, mild weather today. We had a map that guided us around the area. We viewed many historic homes and read several of the historical markers associated with them.











View of the Mississippi River and a couple of steam boats.

 

We stopped for lunch at Fat Mama’s for lunch, home of the "knock-you-naked" Margarita. I tried a local craft beer called Juke Joint. It was an IPA (India Pale Ale) and it was good. Lisa ordered a salad and I had a ham and cheese Po’ Boy sandwich and they were both good as well.

After lunch we walked some more and stopped again for something to drink at the Pig Out Inn. They didn’t have any craft beer so we had a Miller Light. The place smelled great but unfortunately we weren’t hungry.

After we left the historical section we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before we leave tomorrow. We’ll start the Natchez Trace Parkway tomorrow. We’re not sure where we’ll stop each night or for how long. We hope to have internet access so we can keep everyone updated but we’ll have to see.

Well, that’s about it for today.

Thanks for following along.

Tuesday, April 8^th

(Riverview RV Park, Vidalia, LA) Hi 66° F Low 43° F

Today was a travel day for us. We wanted to try to leave by 10 am because the weather forecast called for rain to start between 10 and 11 in the morning. Kathy from California who travels by herself, and Louie and Sherrie from Iowa, also left this morning.

Many of the campers came by to wish us safe travels and say their goodbyes. We’d come to know several of them fairly well during the time we’ve been here at Betty’s.

It sprinkled on us as we were getting ready to leave but by the time we started on the road, the sun had come out and it was getting warm. We pulled out at around 10:30 am and headed toward Vidalia, LA , which is across the Mississippi River from Natchez, MS.

 

View of the Mississippi River from our campsite

It was an easy 3 ½ hour drive and we arrived at the Riverview RV Park at 2 pm. It was threatening rain when we arrived and just after we got parked and set up, a torrential downpour started. We had wind, hail, and lots of rain.

After it stopped raining we drove across the bridge to Natchez, MS and ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday. 

While we were eating it started raining again and the temperature was very cool.

Well, that’s about it for today.

Monday, April 7^th

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA)

Today we went to Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours in Breaux Bridge, LA to take their
 swamp tour.  It was only us and another couple on the tour.  The other couple was from France and spoke only a little English.

 

It cost $20 per person and lasted two hours.  We boarded an aluminum flat-bottomed boat and left just after 11 am.  It was misting and the temperature was cool when we started out.  The guide said that he thought the sun would be coming out soon after we started. 


Cypress Trees with Spanish Moss

When the sun is out the alligators are more likely to be lying in the open to absorb the heat. If it’s cool they bury themselves in the mud.

He showed us many birds, turtles, and alligators.  Sure enough, the sun came out and so did the alligators.  He would glide very close to them so we could take pictures and watch them. Often they would slip back into the water if we got too close for their comfort. 

 

 



Turtles on a log

The largest alligator we saw was about 12 feet long.

Alligator staring contest

 



One of hundreds of birds we saw

He also took us to a duck blind.  It was built into a U-shape and he pulled the boat right up into it.  The hunters can step out onto narrow platforms and hunt from there.  Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the blind.  I guess I was too busy checking it out.

 

After we returned from the tour we went on down the road to the bird sanctuary.  There were hundreds of different birds nesting there.  We didn’t stay very long but we did take a few pictures.

 

On the way back to Betty’s RV Park we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things.  We went ahead and bought more sausage to put into the freezer.

Back at the campground we put things away and prepared for Happy Hour.  It would be our last one here and we wanted to grill some sausages to try them.  We made some red beans and rice and sautéed some onions, green peppers, and mushrooms to go along with the sausage.

Other campers brought Cajun seasoned chicken wings, sausages, and boudin.  Boudin is a combination of cooked rice, pork, onions, green peppers, and seasonings.  I liked all of the food we grilled.  Lisa thought the wings were too spicy and the boudin was ‘OK”.

Afterwards we went over to our RV and watched the NCAA finals on the outside TV. One of the couples, Ron and Beth from San Diego, brought their lawn chairs and settled in with us for the Kentucky/Connecticut game. Ron and I drank some cognac that they had brought.  I thought it was pretty good and would drink it again.

In the first half Connecticut went ahead by 15 points at one time but Kentucky came back to cut their lead to four points at halftime.  In the second half the game stayed much closer but Connecticut hit a couple of timely 3-pointers and all their free throws to eventually win by six points.

That’s all I have to say about that.