New Orleans Bayou Segnette State Park

We are setup at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westego Louisiana just outside of New Orleans. It’s a very nice park with WIFI, free laundry, pool, trails etc.  We are only 20 minutes from the French Quarter and centrally located to other attractions.

Plantations, Eat a Gator See a Gator

We woke to a very chilly morning, I had to bring out our small heater to take the chill out. The forecast calls for a beautiful day with sun and highs 70’s. We are planning on taking the Great River Road Drive to visit old plantations. 

We drove the Great River Road and decided to tour the Oak Alley Plantation.  For information on the plantation I’ve included their web address  www.oakalleyplantation.com 

What impressed me most were the trees, these were the prettiest trees I have ever seen, they are magnificent. The most amazing thing is that they were on the property 100 years before the plantation was even built in 1837.

The following photos show the trees and grounds of this fabulous plantation.

 Slave cabin 

Some of the slave cabins 

Rear of the Main house where the slave cabins were

 Beautiful Large Oaks

The back yard 

Back of the house

Front of the house 

View toward the Mississippi River which is just over the Levee at the end of the trees in the photo

Beautiful grounds

Avery large front yard 

The name Oak Alley comes from the fourteen oaks on each side of the walk

Front view 

View of the front of the main house

The sitting and family room 

The dining room 

A slave boy would stand in the corner and pull the rope which would activate this large fan 

Our tour guide

View from the front of the second floor balcony

  View from second floor balcony

After the Plantation tour we stopped at a small Creole restaurant where we had a delicious lunch. I had a spicy sausage burger and Chris had the gator burger.

After lunch we went to Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve. The park has a number of board walks through the swamp. I've attached a number of  pictures taken along our walk. Chris was first to spot the gator and actually took a picture in which I felt she got entirely to close. I’m sure we past many other creatures that we didn't even notice, may be that was for the best.

To find out more about the park you can google  jean Lafitte national park.

 An elevated board walk through the swamp

On the way back from our swamp walk we stopped at The Chapel of St. John Bosco on the campus of Hope Haven. Hope Haven is part of Catholic Charities. Hope Haven consists of a few interesting looking buildings.

Grand Isle Louisiana

We drove through New Orleans without really seeing anything other than bridges, more bridges, water and the freeway. We were headed a couple hours south of New Orleans to Grand Isle Louisiana. Grand Isle is a small settlement at the end of a very long and narrow peninsula. There is a state park at the very end of this land strip. It is a beautiful park and a nice place to spend some down time. Other than spending time on the beach and a few small hikes there is little else to do.

We will be leaving here on Tuesday and heading to New Orleans where we plan to spend a week.

The following are some pictures from our time at Grand Isle.

Along I10 approaching New Orleans

Water is everywhere here

Going across lake Pontchartrain. The bridge off to the right is the Causeway and is one of the longest bridges in the world, 24 miles long.

New Orleans

An eight mile bridge going to Grand Isle

All homes are built on stilts

Grand Isle State Park

Chris Is washing shells she collected on the beach. 

Looking back from the fishing pier