Road Trip Day 5 - a swamp and Nawlins (new orleans)

John headed off to work and the rest of us got cleaned up for the day. By the time we came home we needed another shower. It's HOT today.

On our first stop for gas I got a call from work and found out I GOT THAT JOB! More later about that.

Started the day heading over to a place called Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. I wanted to find the endangered "Red Cockaded Woodpecker" . Didn't see it. We walked the boardwalk trail, about a mile, most in the burning hot sun. *whew*. I did get to see one bird to check of my list. It took me about an hour of internet searching to figure out what it was when we got back to the hotel. It was a Yellow Crowned Night Heron (juvenile). That is the only checklist bird I saw today. But hey, that's one more off my list!

After the swamp sweat, we headed through Sidell, over a 5 mile bridge to get across Lake Pontchartrain, and into New Orleans. We headed right to the French Quarter. We had lunch, I had Muffliato ? sandwich, Jordan had a shrimp sandwich. I loved seeing all the architecture, but the T-shirt shops had a lot of disgusting things on them. We stopped at Jackson Square and the Moonwalk (river front walk). We saw the Supreme Court building too. We drove by the superdome on our way out of town.

The drive back was unremarkable. Tomorrow we head to the Gulf Coast - Grand Isle State Park (oh the BIRDS!) Just call me a bird loser. :-)

LOTR update - we are still in Two Towers, chapter 5.
BIRDS: Yellow Crowned Night Heron - juvenile.