Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour

The sun was out yesterday and temps were in the low 50s. Although not the best weather for a swamp tour, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be much warmer for the rest of our stay in New Orleans, so we decided to use one of the Groupon coupons I purchased. The tour is $25 per person, but with the coupon we paid that for the both of us.
The Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour Company is located about 30 miles south of the city. On our way, we crossed over a couple of bridges. We had a great view of downtown New Orleans. That’s the Super Dome on the left. You can really see just how big it is from this viewpoint.

There were 10 of us on the 90 minute tour. Our guide and boat driver was a retired man who has lived in the wetlands of Louisiana all of his life. He had lots of very interesting information to share.

We saw lots of Cypress trees and learned that the knees are part of the root system. New trees don’t grow from the knees.






This picture shows the difference between a swamp and a marsh. The area in the back with trees growing in it is a swamp. The area in front with the grass is a marsh. Trees don’t grow in a marsh. Although it looks solid, we were told that if we tried to walk out into it, we would quickly sink in up to our chest, and it would be almost impossible to get out. No thanks!

This shack is an original swamp shack that is more than 100 years old. It was moved to this location for the tour. The outhouse blew down during a storm, so they rebuilt it using new wood. That sure takes away from the authentic look.

This shack was built by a movie company for a Burt Reynolds movie. I forgot what the name of the movie was. There have been quite a few movies filmed in this swampy area.

We saw some birds, turtles and a nutria. This was a new animal for me. It looked like a big woodchuck. These animals were brought here by settlers for trapping, but are now considered a nuisance.

These black vultures a/k/a buzzards were drying off and sunning themselves.

We also saw an anhinga and some turtles.


The turtles we saw were not the kind used for turtle soup. Our guide told us that snapping turtles are good for soup. He brought out the head and shell of a snapping turtle he caught and had for dinner.

In the spring and summer there are many alligators in these swamps. However, it was too cold for them to be out yesterday. Our guide showed us the head of a nine foot alligator. Kind of creepy!

At the end of the tour he brought out a live alligator that we were able to hold. The tour company rescues baby alligators who get separated from their mothers. They raise them until they are able to fend for themselves, and then release them back into the wild. In the meantime, they use the babies for the tours. The bottom felt just like leather. Good thing his mouth was taped shut!

There was a cage with some alligators and turtles behind the tour office. A heat lamp was keeping them warm.

I couldn’t resist being a tourist for this last shot :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Cruise–Part 2

Our second day ashore was in Belize. There is a barrier reef that extends all along the coast of Belize, so cruise ships are not able to dock at the pier. Small boats called tenders are used to transport the passengers to the pier. This causes some delay, especially when the water is a bit rough as it was that day. Our ship sure did look spectacular sitting out there in the Caribbean Sea.

We had booked our excursion of zip lining and cave tubing through the ship, so our bus waited for all of us to get ashore. It was an 80 minute drive to the jungle, but our guide Nuri did an excellent job keeping us entertained with stories of the history of Belize. Once we got to our destination, we were quickly outfitted into our ziplining gear by friendly and knowledgeable guides.

Then it was a climb up a path and some steps to get to the training area. We were given instructions and then climbed to the first platform. Ziplining was a bucket list item for me. I was so excited to be doing it right up until I got on that first platform. Suddenly my heart was racing! But, I got hooked in, and off I went. It was so much fun!! We did five lines, and it was over all too quickly. All of us enjoyed it very much!!

After the ziplining we were assigned to a new guide who took a group of eight of us tubing in the Crystal Cave, part of a large cave system under the island. We were each given a tube and led down steps to the refreshing water. We were also given helmets with lights on them. We hooked our tubes together and our guide led us through the caves. There are no lights inside, just our helmet lights and a flashlight the guide used to point out some cave features and some Mayan artifacts found in the caves. There were some beautiful formations, and some crystals created from quartz seeping through the limestone. What a great experience!

At the end of the cave, we came to a lagoon that was about 30 feet deep. The water was crystal clear, and the most beautiful blue color. You could see all the way to the bottom. We were able to either swim or tube across, and then we got out and carried our tubes back to the top.

While we waited for the rest of our group to finish up, we had a chance to purchase our pictures, buy some lunch and buy some drinks. One lady did not show up at the prearranged time to leave, so our guide had to spend an extra ten minutes looking for her. Then, about half way back, several people who had too many beers at the bar, needed the bathroom. So, we were an hour late getting back for the last tender. Luckily, because we booked through the ship, they had a tender boat waiting for us, and we weren’t left behind.

We did miss the party Carnival had before dinner that night for cruisers who have reached the gold level or above. I went to guest services the next day, and Kevin and I were each given drink coupons for four drinks because we missed the party. That was sure nice!

Our last shore day was Cozumel, Mexico. We had booked an ATV Jungle Adventure excursion. This was our third visit to Cozumel, so we wanted to do something we had not done before. The guys thoroughly enjoyed this event. We were taken on a 20 minute bus ride to the ranch with our awesome guide Jamie. There was a short introductory video, we were issued helmets and then divided into groups based on ability.

I was in the beginner group as I’ve never ridden before. My three guys are all experienced ATV riders, so they were in the other group. The route was very rocky and bumpy. About half way through I had a blister on my hand. The guide gave me some gloves which helped a lot. We had a break where they gave us a snack and some water. Then back on the ATVs for a total of about 70 minutes of riding. This was another fun excursion. My guys totally loved it. I thought it was okay. A little too bumpy for me.

After the riding, we were taken to a private beach where we could hang out for about 90 minutes. We enjoyed some lunch and refreshments. The margaritas were very tasty and potent. Back at the pier, we had another free margarita as part of our package. Can you tell I’m feeling no pain!

My guys humored me with this picture.

We took some pictures during the second formal night.

Our last day was another at sea day. We pretty much hung out on deck and enjoyed the sun and warm weather. There were some deck games and events going on, but we were happy just to watch.

That evening was another beautiful sunset.

We were getting closer to the Gulf Coast, and we saw quite a few oil platforms that evening.

Sunday morning we arrived back in New Orleans to temperatures in the 60s and heavy fog. We took a taxi back to the camper and spent the rest of the day watching Super Bowl events.

The next morning we were up at 4:00 am to get both boys to the airport for their morning flights. All flights went off without a hitch, and both of them are back home safe and sound. We’re taking a few days off to rest up, and then we’ll be doing some New Orleans sightseeing. The weather has turned cold again. I sure hope it warms up soon.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Cruise–Part 1

I’m going to split blogging about our cruise into two parts as I have lots to share!

We left New Orleans on a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon. The sail away party was fun, and we had no trouble finding some tropical refreshments to toast our departure. Cruise ships dock on the Mississippi River in the heart of downtown New Orleans, so there were some fabulous views from the top decks.

A small section of the Super Dome was visible as well as one of the famous whale walls. We were on the Carnival Sunshine which had undergone a $155 million restoration in 2013. What a beautiful ship. Just look at the water slides and ropes course.

As you can see, we were still wearing jackets, but that would soon change. The weather for our entire trip was fabulous with lots of sun and temps in the 80s every day.

Anyone who knows me would say that I am a somewhat conservative person. For some reason, when they were looking for people to sign up for a drink mixing contest, I decided to go for it. There was a predetermined list of ingredients you could choose from, so I couldn’t do the drink I had in mind. Instead I improvised and named my creation a Eugene in honor of an awesome bartender on our cruise to Hawaii two years ago. My concoction consisted of a shot each of rum, amaretto, crème de cocoa, crème de banana and the rest was pineapple juice.

The contest took place on Monday afternoon. The contestants were myself and three guys. I was a little nervous they would make us look stupid, but I was assured by the staff that they would behave themselves. Two of the guys had drinks with tequila. They put so much booze in it, all you could taste was the tequila. The judges were the assistant cruise director, the head bartender and another passenger.

When it was my turn, I mixed up my drink. Then they had me do some shaking and dancing and that was it. After all was said and done, I was the winner! The prize was four free drink coupons. Cool!!

Our second day was another day at sea. We participated in the bean bag tournament and checked out many of the areas of the ship. All of us went down the waterslides several times. That was so much fun.

Then Eric and I decided to try the ropes course. There were two sides to the course, a harder side and an easier side. Eric chose the hard side, and I chose the easy side. I am happy to say I completed the course, but it was not easy in my opinion. I don’t know that I would have been able to do the hard side.

Eric had no trouble. In fact, he enjoyed it so much he went around a couple of times on both courses. Once was enough for me. But, I’m proud of myself for trying a new challenge and conquering it.

Kevin took a bunch of pictures of me. I had to laugh at the look on my face on many of them. Our son Korey was a high adventure director at his last job and spent many days helping summer campers climb a rock wall and navigate a ropes course much harder than this one. So, he had no interest in trying this one.

That evening we had one of many beautiful sunsets.

On Wednesday we arrived at Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, which is an island off the coast of Honduras. Cruise ships have only been coming here for a few years. The ship docked at a very nice pier with great shops at the end of the pier. There is also a private beach for cruise ships a short walk from the pier. The entire pier area was beautiful!

We had booked an excursion through Carnival to swim and snorkel with dolphins. The excursion had many great reviews online, so I was very excited. We took a 20 minute ride in a van to get to the resort where about a dozen trained dolphin live in a two acre area of the bay which has nets around it so they can’t get out.

We were in a group of twelve people. We stood in the water about waist deep and a trainer had the dolphin swim right in front of us so we could touch it. Then he had her do a few tricks. She left for a while because she had a baby with another trainer. Eventually she came back with the baby. She didn’t seem to want to do all of her tricks because she was more interested with her baby. Then they did pictures of each family with the dolphin and then individual pictures of the dolphin kissing each person.

 

Eric didn’t want to have his picture taken for the kiss. After we did the pictures, we put on our snorkel gear and had 30 minutes to swim in the enclosure with the dolphin. We saw them swim under us a few times and saw them playing with each other on the surface. This excursion was the most expensive one we did, and we were a bit disappointed. We did not feel we were able to interact with the dolphin as was advertised. Also, the pictures were way overpriced. They charged $85 for a family of four for 31 pictures they emailed to us. That was double what we paid at the next excursion for more pictures. It was fun, but we didn’t feel it was worth the money or that you got what was advertised.

After we got back from the dolphin excursion, we walked around the pier area for a while and walked to the beach. For someone who didn’t want to pay for an excursion, this pier area is excellent to just get off the ship and walk to a beautiful beach. Definitely one of the nicest ports I have ever seen.

Come back tomorrow for the rest of the trip including zip lining and ATV riding!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Cruising Today

After a stressful Friday, both of our boys finally made it to New Orleans. Korey arrived on Friday with just a two hour delay. Eric’s flights on Friday were cancelled, but he was able to get onto flights on Saturday and finally arrived at 5:30 pm on Saturday.

We leave today for a seven day cruise so I won’t be posting until we get back. We’ll have two days at sea. Our first port is Honduras where we will do a dolphin encounter excursion. Next is Belize where we will zip line in the rain forest and then tube in a river in a cave. The last stop is Cozumel where we will do an ATV adventure.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share when we get back. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and well wishes when I was stressing about our son’s flights being cancelled. Travelling in winter is not for the faint hearted!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

One of Those Days

So, yesterday was one of those days. Started out with a flood in the bathroom because the toilet water kept flowing, and we didn't realize it for about an hour. That's never happened before and it's working fine now. Luckily, the water did not go through to the basement. Kevin cleaned it up as best he could, and we dried as much as we could in the dryers here at the campground. We had a heater on the carpet that got wet all day, and everything is dry again. That was just weird.

Then Eric's flights were cancelled. It seems O’Hare was a mess yesterday, so he is re-booked for today. Sure keeping my fingers crossed. If he gets cancelled today, he’s hopping in his car and driving 16 hours from Milwaukee to New Orleans. If all goes well with the flights, he’s supposed to arrive at 5:45 pm today. Our plans to visit New Orleans today with the boys have been cancelled. That’s fine as long as Eric gets here safe and sound and before the ship leaves tomorrow. Traveling in winter is stressful!!

Korey's first flight was delayed about 20 minutes. Not too bad, but when he was sitting on the plane from Dallas to NOLA they announced the plane was broken, and they would have to get on a different plane. Thank goodness it didn’t break while they were in the air. Dallas is a hub for American Airlines, so they were able to get another plane in service pretty quickly. Two hour delay, but at least he's hear safe and sound.

You would have thought yesterday was Friday the 13th or something. I sure hope today is a better day. I’m ready for some tropical breezes, sitting on the ship deck with an umbrella drink in my hand and my family beside me. Ahhh!!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

New Orleans French Quarter

A couple of weeks before arriving in New Orleans, I had found a Groupon deal for a two hour walking tour of the French Quarter with Magic Tours. I made reservations to do the 4:00 pm tour on Monday afternoon. The tour never happened, but we still had a good time exploring the French Quarter.

We left the RV park around noon and parked in a lot about two blocks outside of the French Quarter for $5. The campground owner had told us about this lot, and it is definitely a bargain. Parking in the area is very expensive.

Driving around New Orleans we have seen quite a few condemned or abandoned houses with numbers spray painted on them. These houses are casualties of Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans in August, 2005. From what we’ve seen so far, New Orleans has lots of very old buildings, and seems to have many areas struggling economically.

We wandered through the French Market which had the typical tourist stuff for sale. If you want a t-shirt or an alligator head, this is the place to buy it. Prices were definitely better than in the shops. We walked along the riverfront for a bit, and then continued walking along Decatur Street which has many shops and restaurants. We saw quite a few street performers and also a number of panhandlers.

If you look closely at the above picture, you can see paintings along the fence in the background. That is Jackson Square, which is a park near the center of the French Quarter near the Mississippi River. Many artists gather around the square to sell their artwork. There were also quite a few fortune tellers set up near the square. The square was the location where in 1803 the US flag flew for the first time in the Louisiana Territory.

The square was originally called Place d’Armes, but was renamed in 1856 for the hero of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans Andrew Jackson. There is a statue of him on a horse in the center of the park.

The church behind the square is St. Louis Cathedral. The first local parish church was built on this site in 1727. The church was destroyed along with three-quarters of the city in 1788. Since then it has been rebuilt a few times. The current façade was added in 1851.

We had lunch at Crescent City Brewhouse. We had a coupon for a buy one, get one free lunch entrée. I had crawfish etouffee and Kevin had shrimp jambalaya. Both dishes were good, although a bit spicy for our virgin northern pallets. Kevin also enjoyed a glass of Weiss and IPA beers. Even with the coupon, our bill was $40. New Orleans is a pretty expensive place.

After lunch we wandered around a bit more. We made our way to Bourbon Street. We passed Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop, the oldest bar in the country. It looks like an old blacksmith shop although I overheard a tour guide saying they actually never forged anything there. It was a front for pirates to get together, drink and do business.

We walked all along Bourbon Street from one end of the quarter to the other. Lots of bars and strip joints. In 1997 we flew to Biloxi, Mississippi for a 20th anniversary trip. On that trip, we drove to New Orleans for one day. That day happened to be Halloween, and Bourbon Street that night was a crazy place to be. It was pretty mild this time. We are planning to come back with our boys on Saturday evening, so we’ll see what that’s like. This will be a new experience for them.

Here I am with my pal Pat O’Brien. The Hurricane drink originated at this bar in the 1940s. On our trip here in 1997, I had my first Hurricane. It left me rather tipsy as there are 4 ounces of rum in it, yet it tastes like fruit punch and goes down very easy! I may have to try another one Saturday night.

We arrived at the appointed time and place for our walking tour. The guide, however, did not arrive. I called the company, and the guy on the phone couldn’t reach the guide. So, no tour. Magic tours had many great reviews online, so hopefully this was just one of those things. I called them back the next day, and he didn’t explain what happened, just that the guide was fine. I rescheduled for Saturday with our boys, and they are giving us the same Groupon deal for the two extra people. Hopefully, the guide shows up this time.

On our way back to the truck, we walked along the riverfront again. The Carnival Eclipse was leaving the port heading down the river. We’ll be on the Sunshine on Sunday. After looking at a map, I learned that the river flows quite a ways from New Orleans before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. It should be fun standing on deck as we cruise along the river.

Now I just have to hope the weather cooperates so both boy’s flights are not delayed or cancelled and they arrive safe and sound on Friday. Can’t wait!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!