Chasing Life

 Day 7 Lousisiana Today was spent driving and touring plantations. At the first of several, we learned a lot of history, and saw a bay leaf bush (the spice) and took some leaves home. We also saw the caterpillar of the Gulf Fritilary, a cute tree frog, and gigantic clover! The next stop was a brief drive by, because the plantation was closed, but the third had a self guided call-in tour that led us around. There, we learned more facts and history about a different time period a saw a false strawberry plant (it's not edible). Throughout the south, we saw many pecan trees (Kade's not so impressed by those because of his semi-allergy). We stayed in Lousiana for the night.

 Day 6 Louisiana Today was spent entirely in or near Lafayette. First, we toured an old village called Vermilionville (it's on the Bayou Vermilion). There were three artisans/historians throughout the property to teach us things, but we only heard from two, as we couldn't find the third at his assigned place. The first of these was an elder and former Indian chief of a Native American tribe. He knew many things that weren't on the plaques in the buildings, including about the Acadians, black, and native people of the area, and much more general information and forgotten history that is not taught in textbooks. He also told us about a plant called jobs tears that was used to make beads and told us a lot about Spanish moss. The second thoroughly explained the differences between cajun and creole. After hearing from them, we continued walking and found a hand-powered ferry. There was also a small barn with some sheep and a donkey. After we finished touring Vermilionville, we d...

Day 5 Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana After staying two nights in Orange Beach, we packed up and started driving again. On the way to Beloxi, Mississipi, we stopped at a boat launch/park in Alabama. The bricks along the shore made weird noises when we stepped on them, and along the water they were covered with bug looking things (they looked like a mix between a pill bug, earwig, centipede, and millipede). After leaving there, we drove to the Beloxi Lighthouse, and glimpsed a battleship in Mobile, Alabama on the way. While there, we walked through the visitor center, saw the lighthouse, and played on the beach for a while. There was a pier, but it had no walkway on it. The water was very shallow and there were several sand bars. After playing there for a couple hours, we got back in the car and drove the Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While there, we stopped to look at the former capital building (Baton Rouge is the capital of the state). Then we drove to Lafayette, Louisiana and stayed there...

   Day 4 Alabama Today we spent the entire day at our hotel in Orange Beach, Alabama. It is located about 5 miles west of the Florida border, and is known for its white sand beaches. The beach in front of our hotel was as white as the rest, and the soft sand made a funny squeaking noise when applied too much force, such as when you run on it or kick it. There were scattered shells and broken pieces of huge dried out sand dollars along the water's edge, and a pier jutted out into the ocean down the beach. There were several surfers around this pier and the waves were decently sized for it. Seagulls and Sand pipers were abundant, along with a few dolphins and larger birds we spotted beyond the waves. There was also an outdoor pool, but it was not heated, so we hardly swam at all. We also did not swim in the ocean because it was too cold. We were outside from breakfast until sunset, then went to bed.