Huntin' for Gators

On March 24th we left Galveston bright and early and took a short cut to Point Bolivar by ferry. As we drove off the ferry, we noticed what appeared to be a junk yard as there was all kinds of garbage pilled up. (We both thought it was a strange place for a dump.) As we looked around, there was debris and garbage everywhere and then we realized that this was the devastation that was left after the Hurricane Ike hit this area last September. We both commented on how we watch all the coverage on TV when natural disasters hit and then how quickly we forget that many are still dealing with their losses for months or years. Everywhere we looked we saw either seriously damaged houses, places being demolished, or just pilings where a house once stood. It was humbling. We decided to take the winding road thru the bayou country to New Orleans. This was such a great drive and we saw and experienced so much. Our first big stop was at a little town called Breaux Bridge, known as the crawfish capital of the world. We just had to try some local delicacies there. We had fried green tomatoes and chicken stuffed with crawfish and then topped it off with their famous bread pudding with white chocolate sauce. Our next stop was at Lake Martin where we went hunting for alligators. It was a gorgeous lake and was like a huge swamp. They are really hard to spot, but we found a couple---one laying real still, almost looked like a log and the other was a baby. We also saw a turtle and in one area there were more birds in the trees than I have ever seen in my life----there appeared to be hundreds and most looked like snowy egrets.