Pearl River Eco-Tour of the Swamp and Bayou (10/31)

We were able to book a tour of the swamp and bayou for today at noon. I was so glad we could go today because a cold front is coming through tomorrow and it is suppose to 60 degrees for a high.  Today it is suppose to be in the mid to high 70's.  We left a little early so we could stop for lunch.  We found a Panera Bakery and restaurant.  With full bellies we head to the Peal River Eco Tour company.  We are now in Slidell LA.  We are about 40 minutes early so have a little bit of a wait.  We are booked on their 6 person tour and lucky for us no one else has signed up of it so we get a private tour.  We will be riding in a small skiff that can get around easy and into small places.  We start right at noon.  This is the first sight we saw.  This wreck of a boat is left over from Katrina.

Once we get around this spot we get to see our first alligator.  It is a two year old, as are all the one's we see today.  It seems we are a little late in the year to see the big ones.  They are already starting to hibernate for the winter.

The guide puts marshmallow's on a stick and gets him to jump up out of the water, it was pretty cool.
We found out they are very cold blooded creatures and the nodules along their backs work as solar panels that attract the sun and warm them up.

It is a little chilly riding at 50 miles an hour, then we slow down quickly to get a good luck at the yellow belly turtles.

It is really amazing out here, we are enjoying ourselves so much.

This cute guy is sunny himself on a log.

As we round a corner we come to a little town on the swamps. These people have lived out here for generations.  Some lost their homes during Katrina and were not able to rebuild. Your could do repairs but the government would let you rebuild if your home was to far gone.  I can't imagine living out here with they only way in or out is by boat. This area is called the Honey swamps because they used to have a lot of honey bees here.


 The house on the left is the neighbor hood party house.  It is know as the Life is Good house and when the sun goes down everyone gatherers here on weekends for drink and food.  I like that house.  A woman and her two daughters live in the house on the right.

Once we leave here we go through some more of the swamp and get to see this cute little guy.

 Now it is time to head back to the dock.  We have been out here for about 2 and 1/2 hours.  This is a place I will never forget.

Once back at the park we weren't sure what we were going to do for Halloween.  It is starting to get cold out already.  But I decided we would go into town for dinner.  I want to try eating alligator.  Our guide directed us to Ralph and Kaccoo's. We had alligator for an appetizer half blackened and half fried nuggets.  It was really good, the blackened was a little spicy.  For dinner I had fried catfish and Joe had Jambalaya . Our table was at the front window and it was fun to sit and watch all the different costumes go by.  There were some pretty elaborate one's.  I had one of their home brewed beers called Abita Harvest, it is a pecan beer and really good.  After dinner we wandered around the shops and bought some souvenirs.  I did by myself a feather mask.

Then it started getting really cold so we headed back to the park.  The French Quarter was starting to get really crowded not crazy yet just fun.  If felt good to be back home and warm.  This was a very good day!!!!!!