New Orleans area

We arrived in Bayou Segnette State Park (just over the Mississippi River from New Orleans proper) on Saturday afternoon.   We're in site 55, an excellent green and leafy place for Beluga to rest after all the nasty Texas traffic.

We have Baldcypress trees with very wet feet behind us and across the street.  They're standing in water filled with water hyacinths and wading birds.   No armadillo yet though, Jodee......  By day we're serenaded by birds and at night the frogs and crickets pick up the melody.   It's quite nice.

  I won't talk about the campground on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, however.   It would make me sound unkind and curmudgeonly.    Dingus Day (Monday) things calmed down and Lewis could resume his long walks unaccosted (if that is even a word....)

 Just outside of the campground loop itself is one of the many canals that drain this part of Louisiana.   The State Park has built 16 (I think) brand new rental cabins on the canal (they're floating!) since the original ones were destroyed by Katrina

The boat ramp parking lot is always filled with empty trailers, I gather the canal has good fishing.    Around the corner are commercial docks with boats in various states of health.    Some are obviously working shrimp boats that go out and come in daily.   Some have seen better days.

We didn't do anything particularly exciting for Easter, other than checking out the surrounding area a little and eating jelly beans before and after our fresh shrimp dinner......

We tried to drive along the river to see some of the ships and barges working but forgot about the high levee that keeps the surrounding area safe from the water flowing above.    We drove down to see where the nearby Algiers Ferry docks in case we decided to take it to the French Quarter instead of driving.     We've spent quite a bit of time in New Orleans over the years and are fairly familiar with the city itself but we've never been on this side of the river so we spent the day getting our new bearings.

 buildings in the central business area dwarf the old ones
in the French Quarter, on the right

a laughing Louis Armstrong looks over the
Algiers Ferry terminal

colorful double shotgun houses in Algiers

we walk to the top of the levee

I hope this guy is left over from Mardi gras!
(notice the beads in its teeth)

it's rather disconcerting to see huge ocean going ships pass by
on the river over our heads.....

we discovered a mardi gras storage yard!

New Orleans is on the list of places we're considering for our Christmas holiday with Jesse and Erin so Monday (Dyngus Day for you Buffalonians....) Dave and I went into the city to find the 3 houses I'd identified as ones we may want to rent.

We drove through three different neighborhoods, each with their own personality.

bubbles!

We even brought Lewis a special New Orleans treat!

mom, mom, does it taste like chicken?
can I have some for dinner, can I, can I?

Tuesday we spent the day in the French Quarter, more on that tomorrow.