It is the perfect day to go see the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. Now I can say I have touched the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Golf of Mexico this year. Shannon has us beat though because he has swam in each of them this year.
We got a little lost trying to find our way but finally made it to the Cypremort Point and the Gulf. It is very foggy here so the Gulf looks a little eerie.
The picture above is the cabins that they rent.
The coolest thing is the houses built up on stilts at the edge of the Gulf. Some of them are pretty big and amazing.
Once done here we do go to Avery Island it is still raining off and on but not hard. Once parked we go have lunch at their restaurant. We sit at a table that has a beautiful view of Lake Peigneur. Once lunch is done we go to walk around the gardens and tour the mansion. The gardens are beautiful. I have never seen Bamboo so big. They have great big Oak trees some of which are 350 years old. There are twin oaks that it is said that buried treasure was found there, buried by the pirate John Lafitte
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The mansion is beautiful and was built and owned by Joseph Jefferson who produced the screen play for Rip Van Winkle, he also was he actor who played the part for many years. Then the property was purchased by the John Bayless SR. His son, John Bayless Jr also know as Jack, inherits the property. He has the house renovated and rebuilds the gardens. He names this place The Rip Van Winkle Gardens in honor of Mr Jefferson. Mr Bayless Jr had another house built on the other side of the property to live in as the mansion was to big for just him. In 1980 shortly after he finished his new house a disaster struck the island. Mr Bayless also owed the salt mine that I told you about on Avery Island, Jefferson Island is right next to Avery. An oil company was drilling for oil and accidentally drilled into the salt mine. This caused water from Lake Peigneur to start draining into the salt mine. This caused a big whirl pool in the lake that was sucking everything in it's path into the salt mine. Barges, land, tree's and even Mr Bayless' new house. This lake went from a not so deep lake to a 30 foot deep lake. When the water equalized the barges just popped back up. It is an amazing story and if you care to hear about it go to U Tube and look up Lake Peigneur Sinkhole Disaster. There were 55 salt miners in the mine and all were able to get out, there luckily were no deaths and the oil company had to pay out big time. All that is left of the house is the chimney that sticks up out of the water the rest of the house is still underwater.
These are pictures of the Jefferson mansion
The bird on the right sitting on the log is not fake like I thought it was. I don't know what kind of bird this is but they sit on the logs or post with their wings spread out like you see in the picture and they revolve around in half circles.
We had such a great day at Jefferson Island from lunch to touring the grounds to the mansion. If you are ever in this area I would highly recommend you come here.
Tomorrow we leave for Austin to see our son Shannon. We are very excited to get to spend some time with him. We saw him about a year ago in San Diego when he was touring but only for a couple hours while his band played. We have not been able to have a long visit with him since 2009, so this visit is long over due. We will be in Austin until Monday morning then head to New Mexico and finally Mesa. See you all soon.
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