February 17, 2010 in Rowlett, Texas

I'm not doing to well with my logs/journals, etc. Haven't had an overload yet, but we're working on it. About all I feel I can do right now is list where we have been so far:
Williamsburg
Elizabeth City, NC
Ocracoke Island 4 days
Charleston, NC
Savannah, GA
Okefanokee, GA
Andersonville Prison, GA
Mobile, AL
New Orleans, LA
Raceland and Oak Alley, LA (bayou)
Avery Island, LA
and now near Dallas visiting Liz Grubaugh

We've been gone only two weeks, though it seems longer it also seems as if we have had not enough time to do all we wanted to do--like keeping up a journal. I was able to get on the internet,here and there, but when we realized we were so far behind in the journal, we realized we needed some cheat sheets to figure out the places we had been and the things we had seen.

Since we just arrived in Dallas yesterday Louisiana is on my mind. We hit New Orleans during the Mardi Gras parades and thoroughly enjoyed the milieu but equally happy to get to the bayou country. We started toward the bayou on Saturday. We stayed at a small B&B on the bayou near a very small town called Lockport where we enjoyed a homemade Mardi Gras parade that beat New Orleans in heart.

The airboat ride on LaFourche bayou was a real treat. Our guide found a nest of mother and several baby alligators; he stuck an H-shaped pole in the mud and somehow pulled up a baby alligator. The mother stuck her head out of the muddy bank and hissed the whole time we were there. Birds were thick throughout the open water, cypress swamps and bayou canals lined with Live Oaks heavy with Spanish Moss. The most abundant wildlife was nutria (large rodents) and we got several closeups, TOO close up for me. The birds were everywhere with bald eagles, a red-tailed hawk with a white chest, ducks, a ring necked something (not pheasant) that we'll identify when we get home, beautiful great blue herons, snowy egrets and large white herons. The coots (different coloring than the Potomac coots) were comically dumb as they tried to out- run/fly the airboat. The guide had to slow down often just to let them figure out how to get out of the way.

We also stayed at Oak Alley Plantation right next to the Mississippi levee where from our window we could hear better than see the tugs pushing the barges down river to the Gulf. Oak Alley was the site of several movies (NOT Gone with the Wind as many had told us.) I believe Interview with a Vampire was one that was filmed there.

Today we three (Liz, Joe and me) went to Dealey Plaza so Joe could go to the Book Depository where Oswald alone shot Kennedy [or so they say.] Liz and I had seen it a year ago but we waited for Joe so we could argue the Warren Committee decision with him. Nobody changed their mind. Why am I not surprised? ha

Next week will be the original focus of the trip: Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, Utah. Right now we have cut out CA in favor of seeing my college roommate whom I haven't seen in over 40 years in Arkansas. We're hoping to make Big Bend, TX; Almagordo, and Albuquerque, NMex before we pick up Tim in Las Vegas. He's changing jobs about March 1 so he has some time off and will go with us to Utah.