Wednesday, went with my friends Anne and Rocky accross the Mississippi River to Jean Lafitte National Historical park. A number of years ago, I had been to the Everglades National Park with my family by canoe, and had loved the rich life and sights in such a true wetlands - so I really wanted to see the cypress swamps of Luisiana. After renting a car and picking up Rocky and Anne, we headed over to find Earl's Bar and Canoe rental where I was told we could rent a canoe for the day. I was not interested at all in going on one of the commercial tours. Besides not enjoying commercial tours in general, I knew that that a engine powered tour boat would not be able to get into the most interesting areas.
We got to Earl's, and filled out the paper work with his wife, she then said "Hold on I'll get Earl", after the screen door shut behind her we heard a screaching "Hey EEEEaaaarrrlllll". She came back in, took another long drag on what was probably her 30th cigarette of the day and said "Good thing I still got these lungs" - maybe not for much longer I thought.
We launched the boat and made our way down a set of man made, but still interesting canals, stopping for lunch at a marsh overlook, which had a walkway where we saw all gheckos, skinks, giant spiders, and some sort of venomous Moccasin snake that was right by the walkway.
The swamp had an amazing amount of color and wonderful atmosphere and serenity. We did see some trash in regions closer to the road, which no longer surprises me but still upsets me a great deal.
Deciding to take a little bit of adventure we opted to make a loop out of our trip with a short overland section instead of going back the way we came.
Later that night Anne and David joined my coworkers and I for a night of bowling at the rock'n bowl. What a great idea to have music and bowling in the same venue, since you have plenty of time when bowling with a large group to enjoy the music.