Sunday, September 29, 2013

Oh. My. Word.

  Here it is nearly October, and I never finished posting the photos of our last trip. And we've been home since the end of August!

Well, I could hang my head in shame, or I can just get on with it and post them now.  Hard to do anything with my head hanging down.  So, I'll just swallow my embarrassment and truck on.

We had a wonderful time in Abita Springs, Louisiana.  We were there for 3 1/2 weeks.  Here's some of the highlights:


We drove to Bogalusa one day, just because we liked the name of the town.  It just makes me happy to say I've been to Bogalusa, Louisiana.






Cowboy caught lots of fish in this lake.  It's on the property of Abita Springs RV Resort, where we were staying.  One of the bass he caught was right at two feet long.  We had people coming to the door of the trailer asking to see "the big fish"!!!






In Slidell, they've decorated nearly every downtown street corner with these wild pelicans!


At the Civil War Museum in Slidell, Cowboy got to play with the guns!  The young man standing behind him was our guide.  Such a friendly young man.  He loves the local history, and I think he enjoyed telling us about it as much as we enjoyed listening!



 
Isn't this lovely?  They hold a public "Farmer's Market" here on Sunday afternoons.  We bought hummus, and cinnamon pear jelly, and tamales and peanuts!





Once again, we attended Pearl River Baptist Church, where a friend of ours is the preacher.  It is one of the friendliest churches we've ever visited.  This time we were blessed to be included in an outreach to a Women's Mission, the Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans, just outside the French Quarter.  The church had been collecting school supplies for the local children, and we went and helped fill back packs and passed them out.  We met so many nice people. Made some wonderful new friends.  And, our bus driver took us on an impromptu driving tour of the French Quarter!  So much history in that area.





The last few days we were in Abita Springs, our daughter and her husband and the two girls came down and stayed in a cabin at the RV Resort.  What a joyous reunion! As I've said a thousand times, the only downside to travel is missing family and friends! 
We had a lot of fun with the kids.  We visited the Insta-Gator Alligator Ranch, where we learned all about alligators.  The girls even got to hatch baby alligators in their hands!
 
Then we all went to the Abita Mystery House Museum.  This kitschy little place is beyond description.  My favorite exhibit here is the collection of paint-by-number paintings.  But the computer parts nailed all over the ceiling is also ....um...interesting.
 
 
We also did some antique shopping, spent some time at the resort's club house, visited with the neighbors, made several trips to Wal-Mart and one or two stops at the Mall.  And we ate. Mercy!! We ate good.  I'm pretty sure that southern Louisiana has the best food in the world.  And since it will be a while before we get back there, we made sure to eat all we possibly could! 
 
So, there you have it.  We came home around August 23 or 24.  

 
 
 
Our horses were waiting for us.
 
It's good to be home.