week 4 - part one-b Boating on the Atchafalaya Basin

The Atchafalaya Basin

Most of these pictures are for our son, Jordan, who is our outdoorsman.  He loves to fish and hunt, and I know he wished he could go out into the Louisiana Swamps with us again.  We saw many different herons, an osprey, and it's nest, an alligator nest, and a duck blind you would love to see.  It had a little cabin nearby for hunters to stay in.  It looked like something you would love to do.  Love you , Jordan!!  You, too, Jeffrey!!! 

Sunday - We packed up and left the French Quarter, and headed to the Atchafalaya Welcome Center, where we met our guide, Kim, from The Atchafalaya Experience.  

Here is the website that he and his Father have -

  www.theatchafalayaexperience.com

I'm linking up with Scripture and a Snapshot over at   http://www.justfollowingjesus.com/

---

 This was absolutely one of my favorite stops on this trip.  It is so peaceful, and beautiful.  It reminded of the feeling I had when I saw the Grand Canyon.  The song "I love Your presence"  came to mind.

 "I will praise You, oh Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all Your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High"
Psalm 9: 1 & 2

 Here's the duck blind.  Tyler thought you'd like it, Jordan.


Ty and Emma getting ready to go.

 Emma and Parker enjoyed sitting out on the front of the boat when we were going slow.

 This is what the boat had to get through to get us over to the cypress forest. Dad said they had a apecial filter so it wouldn't tear up their engine.  It is really taking over in many placesin the basin. You can see on the Cypress trees how high the water has been.  Kim said that he only found one alligator nest this year, because so many of them had been flooded.

 Tyler and Trey did a good job with the camera for a lot of these pictures.  I took a few , too.

 The osprey nest.

 Tyler got out of the boat to take these pictures of the alligator nest.

At the end of our afternoon boatride, (it was from 1:30 - 4:30 or so),  when we mentioned to Kim that we were going to drive to New Iberia, which was at least an hour away, to the Boiling Point, he told us about a place that had wonderful food, and was only 15 munutes away, Pat's.  Everything was so fresh, and tender, and delicious.  

 Alligator bites.

Trey and Parker with their frog legs dinner.

 

The frog legs

 

This was the fried shrimp platter.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think it was even better than Marin Joe's.  Maybe it was just the fact that I was in Louisianna,

This was the seafood platter.  It includes a cup of seafood gumbo, which we finished so fast, I didn't get a picture.  I have been craving it ever since, because it is the best gumbo , or soup, for that matter, that I have ever eaten.  It also has fried shrimp, fried oyster, fried frog leg, filet catfish, fish pattie, stuffed crab, stuffed shrimp, fried crawfish, french fries, and hush puppies.  If I lived near here, this would be my favorite place to eat.  How could I forget the crawfish boulettes which were an appetizer?  Thanks for  the good advice, Kim!

Time to head toward /san Diego, and Comic-Con to meet up with most of our other kids.  Yay!

I'm linking up with another Kim, at Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesdays.

www.savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com