Due to flying in that incubator in the sky, I came back with a cold. Despite trying very hard not to, I passed it along to Denny. It's hard to keep germs away from one another when you are living in a large tin can!

Next up, Lake Lincoln State Park in Mississippi. We had another beautiful lakefront site, and we had the park mostly to ourselves until the weekend.

Isn't that a great site?

Again, I saw no alligators. May have been too cool. Highs were in the low 60s.

We obeyed MOST of the rules.😀

Paul Johnson State Park, also in MS was next. It was also nice and we were able to get in quite a few miles in spite of my cold and even a couple of geocaches.

Nice reflections!

The local wildlife, again, no alligators!

The entrance to the park was across the dam spillway so you had to drive through the water!

We stopped at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge on the way to our next stop. The species of crane that lives there looks very similar to the type we see in Michigan, but is a bit shorter and non-migratory. Alas, like the alligators, none were around.

When you want to see alligators and they aren't cooperating, you make it happen.

We chose Gulf Coast Gator Ranch for our next Harvest Host stay. I finally got to see gators, but in semi captivity.

This guy was enormous!

Keeping an eye on us

All those algae covered lumps are alligators. Don't fall in!

Make sure to watch your children while you are here!

Our nighttime view:

One night here was plenty, a train nearby kept waking us both. So, we were happy to move on to more serene camping at Davis Bayou in the Gulf National Seashore. It was our third time there, and we love it every time! Give us lots of places to hike, great wildlife and a couple of geocaches and we are happy campers!

My first alligator in the wild! He is a small one though. The closest turtle almost climbed on his buddy to get a little farther away!

This guy was about a foot long.

They were doing a prescribed burn along the road on one of the days we were there.We tried to stay out of the smoke on our hikes!

Mississippi parks are beautiful and well maintained. We had planned to next sample some of Alabama's parks but their reservation system is so bad that we decided to move on to the Florida panhandle. Alabama does not have online reservations at most parks, and when I called they didn't call back for two or three days and then left me a message and again didn't answer when I called back. Frustrating! I wonder if their parks are half empty!

A few years ago we ended up in New Orleans trying to escape a cold blast (it didn't work). We decided to visit the same park again hoping for better weather. We stayed at Fontaine Bleu on the north coast of Lake Ponchartrain. Another lovely Louisiana park! Lots of walking, free laundry, and cool weather. At least it didn't snow this time!

Alligator boardwalk, again we saw no alligators

You always knew I was a tree hugger, right?

I love these big old Live Oaks

We had a sweet gum tree right beside our motor home . Apparently those spiny little fruits are good eating because the squirrels sure were busy!

Double trouble!

Trading Places: I went home for a week while Rochelle came down to New Orleans to see Denny and experience New Orleans. I miss my kitties a lot while we are gone (surprise!) so I stocked up on kitty snuggles while Rochelle got to experience Carnival in New Orleans and fill her tummy with beignets! They stayed at an RV resort on Lake Ponchartrain with live music nightly, a restaurant, and a shuttle to the French Quarter. Fun times!

Ready to party!

Everything goes in Nola!

They saw 2 parades with many floats and bands.

Hard Rock cafe, still standing after 4 months. Locals are not happy! The Uber driver told Rochelle and Denny that the orange and red tarps in the middle are to hide the decaying bodies of two workers still inside. Very sad!

Face paint and Nipple glitter. I've been told Rochelle did not partake...

Rochelle loved the street performers and street art.

Trolley, next time I want a ride! Rochelle and Denny did!

This tree is ready for Mardi Gras!

Louis Armstrong park, right downtown, is a lovely place to walk and relax. Just minutes from the craziness of the French Quarter!

Music Legends park, where you can listen to live music with your morning beignets. My favorite!

The last day before I returned they moved to a park a little further from all the decadence. There they saw a couple of baby alligators and a lot of small green eyed geckos.

Our flights were due to start and end at the same time allowing us to leave cars at the airport for each other. It would have been perfect if my flight wasn't delayed! I got to spend the night in Detroit and picked up the car the next morning. Then it was on to Mississippi.
Good bye until next time New Orleans!

We headed into Mississippi for a few days before we head back to the New Orleans area. First stop: Infinity Science Center, a space museum. One of the Apollo 13 astronauts was from this area. They had a rocket booster and a lunar module outside and many displays and interactive exhibits inside.

Booster

Lunar landing module

Denny is smaller than a rocket engine

Inside, we stood in front of a thermo-imaging camera. Who knew I was such a hot mama!😂

Then, on to Buccaneer State Park, where everything is named after pirates. It is right on the gulf coast and has a water park (not open yet).  We have had three very sunny days here and enjoyed all the trails, ocean walks, sunsets and water birds. However, the next two days have torrential downpours in the forecast. Time to clean house, read and do some sewing!

White ibises in the tidal marsh

Cool mushrooms on the nature trail

This fishing pier looks old.We're not sure if it survived Katrina (doubtful) or was built right afterward (2005) and has already weathered.

This area has very few coastal buildings left, and it doesn't appear that anyone is snapping up the vacant property. There are a few houses that appear to have survived the hurricane but that's it. No new building going on. Maybe a lesson has been learned?

We stayed one night at Crying Eagle Brewery through our Harvest Host membership. Stays are free but you are encouraged to patronize the host. No problem. We enjoyed some good pizza, great beer and trivia night! I'm pretty sure we spent more than it would have cost us to camp elsewhere but we had fun and enjoyed a non-cooking night!

Mardi Gras tree behind the trivia hostess

The next day we moved on to Bogue Chitto State Park, another Louisiana state park. Louisiana has very nice parks! We only stayed 2 nights because they were having a race over the weekend and we wanted to be out before the hordes moved in! We took a lot of walks on paths and through swamps on boardwalks. They were also slippery but not as much of an incline so no falling this time, which is good as I am finally almost healed from my last fall! We were only there two days but managed to hike all the trails and find 5 geocaches!

A tree limb that Denny thought looked like a wild boar.

Swamp boardwalk

They had a small water play feature which was not running. Denny decided it was too cold and told me it wasn't working. I saw a button which I thought activated it. He said it wouldn't work. I told him I was going to push it anyway. He was so convinced that he was right (like always) that he walked straight across it and was surprised when water started coming up out of the ground. 😆😜

They also had a small area they called a sandy beach. We Michiganders, who know what real sand looks like, would call this crushed rock!

All signs warned us of alligators but even though we scoured the swamps for them, we never saw

even one!