LOUISIANA – ‘Deep South’ Experiences! 🪅 🐊

First stop was a small town called Covington where we stayed at another Harvest Host … Abita Brewing Company. We did a little drive about town, saw some very interesting sights 😂 … again. If any of you reading this blog are travelling, we highly recommend signing up to a membership on Harvest Hosts. It’s great because a lot of these small towns we’ve been staying in and then finding things to experience there, are only happening because there was an inexpensive Harvest Host to stay at in that town. We had zero desire to visit New Orleans when we discovered it was Mardi Gras week … regardless though, it seemed like all of Louisiana was decorated in Mardi Gras themed colors … so that was fun to see!

While in Covington, we found this family run alligator hatchery called Insta-Gator Ranch

Second one night stop in another very small town called Darrow at another Harvest Host called Houmas House. This is a restored 1800’s Sugar Plantation Mansion Estate and Gardens. We don’t always do what the Harvest Hosts have to offer, but I was very excited about seeing this place. We made a reservation at the very fancy Carriage House for our Valentines day dinner and then signed up to tour the Mansion afterwards. More perfect timing as it was Super Bowl Sunday so it wasn’t busy at all 😊 They told us that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford stayed in the Mansion during the filming of a couple of the movies that were filmed there.

We were quite amazed at how much land is just swamp! Houses built right in the swamps and literally miles upon miles of raised concrete highways built up over top of the swamps! Haha … not much solid ground here!

We drove by this small town and decided it was worth a drive through. For some reason I really like walking around old cemeteries – Lynn kindly and patiently waits in the truck for me 😆

And the third one night stop was in a tiny old town called Breaux Bridge (we amused ourselves by calling it Beau Bridges, the actor) This Harvest Host was called Champagnes Cajun Swamp Tours. So of course we took this one last opportunity to see some more alligators, turtles, birds etc

After dinner we went for a walk as the sun was going down and met a few other people out there taking pictures of this amazing sunset! One lady that lived nearby pointed out a tree with a perfect hole in it’s trunk … she said this was the result of it being struck by lightning a few years earlier. Amazing timing that we met her there this night to learn this fun fact! I’m sure we would not have noticed this hole otherwise!

… and now on to TEXAS! 🤠