the wandering chick
...Louisiana
Louisiana has as many nicknames as it does cypress knees: The Creole State, the Sugar State, the Bayou State, the Child of the Mississippi and the Pelican State, which is its official state name.
Anyone who has been to Louisiana probably thinks first of New Orleans, itself called the Big Easy, and the cypress-tree filled swamps of the most southern section.
Myself, I think of the food! Some of the best seafood, jumbalaya, red beans and rice, gumbo, boudin on earth. The Creole culture does it all up to a savory perfection.
Mostly I've just traveled through Louisiana, other than a couple trips to New Orleans, and to Lake Pontchartrain as a child. The real adventure is a tour through the swampy alligator-infested waters that eventually empty into the Gulf of Mexico.
Whatever one likes, from food to casinos and sprawling, southern plantations to boating and fishing activities, Louisiana is worth a visit.
here and there
St. Louis' Cathedral, New Orleans
A typical street in New Orleans' French Quarters
Sandhill crane
Hurricane Katrina made landfall across the state of Louisiana on August 29th, 2005. Though much of the city was underwater, ward 9 was especially hit hard. Home completely ransacked and some torn from their foundations.
Frogmore Mound (named for its location in Frogmore, Louisiana) is an ancient native American mound site. Typically, the mounds are small bluffs or hills, now
overgrown with trees and brush. Unawares would probably pay little notice since there is nothing today that identifies
them as an ancient Indian site, except perhaps a roadside historical marker. The mounds, often located within the villages, were built as
religious, ceremonial or burial sites as well as living quarters. Louisiana has developed a mound site trail on which 39 mounds can be seen.
The ancient mounds are not exclusive to Louisiana, but are spread sporadically across the U.S.
In the background is a part of the Frogmore Cotton Plantation and Gin, the only working cotton farm that is also a museum. Its history dates back
to circa 1815, beginning as a wagon stop along the Natchez-Natchitoches trade route; then, as a civil war encampment; and, today, as a cotton plantation.
It is located on Louisiana's Highway 84 in Frogmore, very close to the Missisippi border.
It was the sweet pink ground cover that first caught my attention as I was driving along. Then, when I saw the historical marker, I turned around to check it out.
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For years I have traveled the Interstate 10 through Louisiana and have always been intrigued by the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, the stilted I-10, as it transports traffic over the Atchafalaya Basin for 18 miles between Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Finally, I decided to exit off the bridge at the Whiskey Bay exit to get a few shots.
