Sunday, July 18th we left our New Orleans KOA camp sight and headed to Honey Island for a Swamp Tour. We rode in a covered boat through the swamps of Louisiana where we saw essentially pet alligators in the wild. The guides know where each of the gators hang out, have names for them, and feed them marshmallows and hot dogs on a stick, so they will jump out of the water and entertain the patrons. I must admit it was cool to see. We also saw some cool birds in the swamp and learned about the flora and fauna of the area. Just as we were coming to an end of our tour, the rain started to come down. We really lucked out with our timing!!
We headed to St. Andrews State Park on the Gulf Coast of Florida right by Panama City Beach for our next stay. It was still hot and very humid! It was funny to see people camping in tents with window air conditioning units sticking out of their tent flaps! You learn a new trick everyday! We must admit we didn't want to be without OUR air conditioner!! We set up our trailer right by a lagoon. Can you believe that as we set up, we were still finding some of our stowaway ant friends?! Once set up, the boys went out and found tons of hermit crabs there on the shore. Colin climbed some rocks nearby to look further and cut his foot pretty badly right on the side by his big toe. It was pretty deep. It kind of scared us all a bit. It bled a lot. We doctored it up and put a bandage on it, but with all the sand and flip flops, it has been great fun to try to keep it clean!
Ratings for Sunday, July 18th
Ann 9 I enjoyed the swamp tour, and had fun with the hermit crabs. I wish Colin hadn't gotten hurt!
Marcus 9 Beautiful spot. Too bad Colin got hurt.
Derek 8 I loved the swamp tour, but I was kinda homesick.
Colin 6 I hated the cut on my foot. Everything else was good.
Monday morning Derek and I hung out at the trailer while Marcus went in to town for some errands. He got a hair cut, had the oil changed and tires rotated, and went shopping. One thing we needed was cortaid for Colin's bad case of poison ivy that he got when visiting the cousins. I thought I should take the kids to the beach, but Derek didn't seem to want to go. I couldn't figure out why, until he explained he thought it would be too cold! He is a Pacific Coast kid! While Marcus was gone, Colin found a Baptist Youth Group from Kentucky. They invited him to join them for games, stories and fun. He really enjoyed them! When Marcus got back, we packed up kids and headed for town where the rest of us got our hairs cut. The cuts weren't the best, but what can you expect on the road?! Next, we headed for the beach (less than a mile away from our campsite). Once the kids were in that water, it was not so easy getting them out! Cold indeed! I would say the water temp there in the Gulf of Mexico was close to 90 degrees! It wasn't really even that refreshing. There were cool shells all along the beach. I sat in my chair and picked the nicest ones from a reachable radius around me while the boys hung out in the water.
Ratings for Monday, July 19th
Ann 8 It was good to get some down time and hair cuts, but I wish we had spent more time at the beach!
Marcus 7 Too much shopping, but good to get things done.
Derek 8 I didn't have enough to do in the beginning, but I enjoyed the beach.
Colin 10 The church guys were really good. The beach was fun. The whole day was just great.
Tuesday morning, we got up early and headed back to the beach for some beach combing. We spent about an hour and a half and found some very cool shells! Around 8 am we headed back to the trailer for breakfast and trailer take down. We were soon to be off to our next location! (By the way, Al, you would be very impressed with how fast and efficient we have gotten with the set up and take down of that thing!
Ratings for Beach Combing
Ann 10!! What a beautiful beach and what great shells!! I had a great time with Colin digging into the sand walls for the best shells!
Marcus 10 Great beach combing.
Derek 10 I loved it, I had so much fun!!
Colin 10 It was great I enjoyed the shells.
Love the blogs, especially the ratings. Keep them coming. Like, what did you do in DC?
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