Well, I guess we aren’t quite out of
Texas yet! We left Beaumont and headed for the Louisiana border. Breakfast was
at the Chick-Fil-A – an up grade on McDonalds. Don was intrigued by the long
line at the drive through and it wasn’t too bad!
I loved driving through Louisiana. It
is one long bridge! The land is a swamp, filled with cedar trunks. The freeway
becomes a causeway. It was so beautiful and interesting. I love the names –
Atchafalaya Bayou, New Iberia, Bayou Teche, etc. I like the novels by James Lee
Burke and he really makes this part of the world come alive.
One of my other projects is
collecting state capitals. We hadn’t been to Baton Rouge, yet; so, we found the
capitol building and parked in one of the lots – no signs, it must be OK. The
building is the tallest capitol in the United States, thanks to Huey Long who
was governor at the time and insisted that it be so. It was finished in 1931
and Huey was assassinated there in 1935. Sort of poetic justice perhaps?
We love visiting the state capitals.
I have a passport type book, called The Capitol Collection, with a page for a
stamp from each state. But, when I went to the visitor’s desk to ask for the
stamp she told me it had grown legs and walked off! So, she gave me a Baton
Rouge (Red Stick) stamp instead!
After
looking around the building; beautiful marble, stone, bronze, etc. for the
House and Senate chambers on the first floor; taking the elevator to the 27th
floor for a gorgeous view of Baton Rouge; eating lunch in the Capital
cafeteria; climbing back down the 48 steps (for 48 states) to the gardens, we decided it
was time to get back on the road.
We took I-12 which goes across the
top of Lake Pontchartrain. This is another beautiful, woodsy drive. On entering
Mississippi we decided to head south to take the scenic route, SR 90, along the
Gulf coast. We were shocked to see there was hardly anything left of this
former resort area. There is a wide, white sand beach, the road, and acres of
untended, green vegetation. We saw campers parked in spots, but no campgrounds.
There would be a restaurant or motel here and there, and quite a few “For Sale”
signs on the bare land. Later we were told that after Hurricane Katrina most
people had decided not to rebuild.
So, we decided to return to
civilization and went back up to I-10 in Gulfport MS. We found a nice
campground and enjoyed a stop for maintenance, with dinner at the Sonic Drive
In.
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