Tag: bayou segnette

Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour — June 1, 2020

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Good Deals and Gators

I found a great deal for the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour on Groupon, and got us all tickets. It also helped that I had some leftover credits/Groupon Bucks! In all I think I paid $4.00 for the whole family, so it was an easy decision to go. Although we can see alligators in Florida, it has been very interesting seeing them on this trip, too, so we were very excited to go.

Amazed at ourselves we actually got there early! We registered and looked around the property for a few minutes before it was time to get on the pontoon boat. When ordering tickets we had already decided that we would enjoy that over a noisy/windy airboat tour, and once we got on and started chatting with others aboard we knew we had made the right choice. Joe broke the ice by asking where everyone was from, and after that there were a lot of conversations going around us. We even found a few people from Iowa!

After tooling down the access canal, we got into the Carpes Swamp area and started seeing more wildlife. I won’t go crazy with pictures of gators, but here are a few of the larger ones we saw on our tour.

We also went by a cabin that was used in the filming of several movies, so I took a picture of it if anyone recognizes it!

One of the movies filmed here was with Nicolas Cage, and so out pops an album with photos. See if you know any of these people (hint: one is Nicoas Cage!):

Getting even Closer to Nature

Now it was time to head back, and also time to get closer with nature. After looking at alligators for so long, Captain Jamie thought we should see one up close. First he showed us all how to hold it, and then we got to pass it around. Joe declined a turn with the baby because he thought it might pee on him. For the record, the baby alligator did not pee on anyone! Jamie also passed around a large preserved alligator head. Much to their delight, the boys got two turns with the baby alligator!

If you like alligators, bayous, and corny jokes, we highly recommend our Captain, Jamie Beasley!

Goofy Lunch Break!

Viewing and playing with alligators will work up the appetite! We found an amazing gem of a restaurant near our campground in Westwego. The Little Kitchen had all of our favorites, a fun atmosphere, and great low prices! If we had gone there sooner during our stay we definitely would have gone there often!!

Back to Camp

Flocks of birds, busy armadillos, fuzzy caterpillars, turtles, and more tiny sticky frogs were just a few of the things we enjoyed around the campground on our last night at Bayou Segnette. The boys enjoyed the playground and riding their bikes while Joe and I went for a walk. I also finished a an urban sketch of our day at Cedar Key.

Memorial Day at the WWII Museum

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We thought that one of the best ways to celebrate Memorial Day was to spend it learning more about WWII History witha tour of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

Entering the space we got oriented to the museum layout. The first activity is a train exhibit–always up the Liddy alley! We did the road to war and home front sections, and moved on the the Campaigns of Courage: European and Pacific Theters. After that we went to the amazing movie experience, Beyond All Boundaries. Narrated by Tom Hanks, there were also props and special effects that made it even more dramatic. After the movie and lunch, we spent a long time in the section with the most airplanes, the US Freedom Pavilion: the Boeing Center. The boys had challenge pages with the silhouettes of different planes, along with brief descriptions. Their task was to match them with the planes on display, so we took some extra time for them to finish their worksheets. For the final few hours we rushed through the two different campaign sections: The Road to Berlin, and the Road to Tokyo. We spent all day, but did not see it all!

Road to War

Fire Direction Tower model

Uniforms and Equipment

From the Leaders

By Air and By Sea

US Freedom Pavillion: the Boeing Center

The Road to Berlin

We had the opportunity to follow a service person with the Dog Tag Project. Clayton’s was Doris “Dorie” Miller, and we found some of his story in this section. The boys also loved the large equipment, and the “hole” in the ceiling with the planes going by. The museum was about to close, so we did have to rush through these.

Back to the Bayou!

A quick drive through town, and it was back to Bayou Segnette! We enjoyed some different views on our walk; the boys thought that the line-up of boats in the auxillary parking lot were pretty funny! We watched some tour and fishing boats go by, considered buying an island, and laughed at al of the large birds roosting in the power tower. All-in-all a great day!

5/24-6/2 Bayou Segnette SP, Louisiana

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After leaving the campground (at the appropriate speed!) we enjoyed driving along the gulf again. Clayton and I didn’t want to give up the scenic route so we went through Biloxi and stayed on US 90 until Gulfport before cutting up to I10 to meet Joe and Carter at a Cracker Barrel for brunch.

Although I was excited to see New Orleans, I needed to get gas from Sam’s Club before going to the park so Clayton and I were routed a little differently and didn’t go through the city center. We did get to go over a cool bridge that had train tracks in the center, and later when we did a quick trip to WalMart we got to see a train come over it.

When we got into Bayou Segnette State Park we discovered that they had been experiencing flooding at the park before we got there. It had actually gone down from the highest levels, but some of the campsites were still flooded. We were able to get into the site we were assigned, but the picnic table was in water, as well as the fire ring. As we were checking out another site, we discovered a surprise visitor!

As we were contemplating what to do about parking, a Park Ranger showed up. After chatting for a few minutes, he offered to check to see if we could be switched to another site. Luckily, even though Memorial Weekend was coming up, he was able to get us into a less-watery site. After we were parked, the Ranger came back in his truck to check on us. We stood around and talked for quite a while; long enough to talk him into a picture with us! Thanks, Keith! We found out from Keith about the flooding, about the animals to expect (an armadillo walked into our campsite as if on cue), and that they had just had the same termite swarms there that we had experienced in Mississippi. He also shared some great places to eat, and about the ferry to take to the city/French Quarter.

On our first full day at the park we decided to do some exploring. We went on the boardwalk trails inside the campground, and then we went down the road and through the massive levee gate.

After we marveled at the huge levee gate, we went down the road and discovered another amazing sight: the cabins. But these park cabins were different than any other cabins we had seen in campgrounds so far: they were on the water. Cabins at Bayou Segnette are actually houseboats!

After admiring the cabins we went out on the berm levee along the bayou. From there we admired the bayou: animals, birds, flowers, boats, and a view of the city of New Orleans. The boys also admired the big hill of the levee we were walking on, by rolling down it!

On our way back past the cabins, we started seriously contemplating staying in one for a night. I found one available during our stay, but Joe didn’t want to confirm without seeing inside one. At that moment, a couple of ladies were cleaning one of the cabins We approached them and they agreed to let us into a cabin to see what they were like. We found out they are HUGE inside! A very large, full kitchen connected to a dining area and living room, two bedrooms and a large bathroom. One of the bedrooms had two sets of bunkbeds, and the other a queen size bed. We all agreed it was pretty cool, so we booked one for Thursday night.