Week ending Dec 31, 2015 Morgan City

On Thursday, just after posting last week's blog, we saw a huge long flock of birds flying across the near edge of the lake.

Friday after a Skype visit with John's parent and his brother George we went for a walk through the park. We know that this area has experienced a lot rain in the past week or so, evidenced by the picnic table.

 

We returned back to the trailer in time to put our  turkey in our portable  oven out on the picnic table to avoid heating up the trailer..  Christmas day was very warm (19C)  We then had a Christmas visit with our kids and grandchildren. This year Karen and Dominique were at Trev and Sue's in Calgary , so one Skype visit was all that was needed.  We did another walk through the park, catching pictures of some of the resident birds. 

 Cormorants

    

Coots

Boxing day we drove around the historic district of Morgan City.
  

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church

We drove toward Cypremort State Park on the coast.  Along the route from the main highway to the coast there were many sugar cane harvesters.   The fields were very muddy. 

Cypremort Point is one of the few spots on the Louisiana Gulf coastline which may be accessed by road. We did a short walk along the beach, drove through the resort community, 

and then returned via the town of Franklin, which had some historic signs about its prominent residents, and a Civil War battle and Union gunboat that was captured by the Confederates, who fired it rather than letting it be recapture. before returning to  Morgan City. 


Sunday we spent the day walking around Lake End Park, visiting with fellow campers and campground workers. Although the day was very warm it was windy and we were warned that a cold front was on its way in. It was rainy and very windy all night,  but finally by morning the wind died down.

Monday we decided we needed rubber boots. It appears that we are camped in a "swamp" the water table is very high here and with all the rain lately there are puddles everywhere. We found some suitable boots at Walmart. We can now get from the trailer to the truck without getting our feet wet. 

Our next stop was at the Sea Wall.  Built by the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers in the late 1970’s, the Sea Wall protects Morgan City from the flooding waters of the Atchafalaya River in the spring.  Massive doors that allow access to the wharf and riverfront are closed during these times.  A catwalk was built at the top for pedestrians to enjoy views of the river. 

Now it is lunch time so we stopped at Rita Mae's. Joan had some spicy seafood gumbo and John a BBQ beef po-boy. 

After lunch we headed back to the trailer to try out our new boots. They work wonderfully.

Tuesday we did a drive through a number of small towns in the area, with Longfellow-Evangeline Historic Site as our destination. We arrived to discover it is only open Wednesday through Sunday.  We will never learn. That is strike 3, or three different sites we have gone to see in the past year or so only to discover it is closed.  We stopped at St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church built in 1735 by the Acadians. 

We then drove back through the town of Jeanerette.   

 Harry B Hewes House

 Sugar Cane Processing Plant

On our way back to the trailer we stopped to pick up our wine order. We then went for a walk through the park. John saw a turtle on a tree in the creek running through the park. Unfortunately he was unable to get a picture of it as it promptly dove into the water.

Wednesday was a wet cloudy day. Joan decided she was tired of wading, so spent the day inside doing housework and cooking. John  drove up to the local hardware store to get some dessicant.  They had an order arriving Wednesday morning. After lunch we went for a walk around the park. Half way through our walk the heavens opened, so by the time we got back to the trailer we were drenched.

Thursday morning we did another walk around the park.   Birds enjoy the lake here.

Because it is a cloudy day the resident turtle is in hiding. We had a  Wii rematch and watched the park fill up for the weekend.