Hurray for free laundry at the Vinton RV Park! The only (extremely minor) challenge is that there's no timer showing how long a load will take when it's free, so it took longer than expected to get the washing done, but we were able to leave the RV park right at check-out time.
An Itinerary Change for the Day
Our initial plan was to drive to the city of Shreveport, but we upon further research there wasn't much that we wanted to see there, so we figured we'd continue on to Baton Rouge, arriving there sometime in the afternoon, and stopping at anywhere that looked interesting along the way. We noticed a bunch of positive reviews for the Creole Nature Trail Adventure Point, a small Visitor Center, so stopped there to see what it was all about.
And it was so fun!! We ended up getting so many tips for what to see around the area from the two folks who worked inside, focusing on the Creole Nature Trail, which we didn't really know about or include in our itinerary. The trail is known as "Louisiana's Outback," and is a 290 km (180 mile) looped scenic byway that includes marshes, prairies, islands, and the Gulf beaches of southwestern Louisiana. We even saw oil rigs out there! While we've seen swamp lands and done a tour in New Orleans (seeing plenty of alligators too), there was more terrain variety on this trail with the beaches, and there is also a free ferry ride across the water (it's $1 if we were traveling in the opposite direction).
The Visitor Center itself was also incredibly fun, where we learned more about the region, and laughing hysterically while doing it. It was built for kids in mind, but we probably had just as much--if not more fun--than any kid. We got to squeeze bottles that would emit the smells of ingredients that would go into a Cajun dishes (like cayenne peppers, and bay leafs), dress up in hunting gear with our decoy duck, and pretend to play instruments typical of Cajun and Zydeco music (such as an accordion and rubboard).
Driving Along the Creole Nature Trail
Once we got onto the Creole Nature Trail, we noticed how much swamp land there was, and were surprised to see a couple of alligators hiding in plain sight on the side of the road, their arms sticking out onto the road while the rest of their bodies were somewhat obstructed by the tall reeds around them. There were also people spread out along the drive, going fishing or hunting for crabs, in an environment with plenty of birds and most definitely a ton of different amphibians, reptiles and fish species as well. Lisette wasn't sure that she'd want to do this in waters where alligators also reside, even though Michael did comment that they're not as fast or aggressive as the crocodiles we have in Australia!
We briefly stopped at one of the beaches, Holly Beach, which was completely empty except for us, and a bunch of shells lingering on the shore. It was a very pretty and peaceful beach, so we enjoyed having a chance to stretch our legs and walk along the sand, but we didn't stay along as the sand was hot, and the ocean was as warm as bathwater! Just before it there were plenty of houses on stilts, similar to when we were in Galveston, Texas, given this is an area where hurricanes and floods are not uncommon.
There was quite a bit of construction work happening along the road, with some roads closed to be one lane only. We had been considering driving further south to go to the Tabasco Museum on Avery Island (Lisette grew up with this hot sauce permanently in her fridge), but it closes at 4pm and we'd be too late to do a tour of the factory. But we're adding it here in case you read this and realize it's a place you can visit if you're in the area!
Our Failed Ferry Attempt
We eventually made it to the ferry crossing just as a ferry was leaving, but we'd been told at the Visitor Center that the ferries come every 5 minutes or so. There was a truck and another large vehicle ahead of us, and the ferry is big enough to hold multiple trucks and the like. As we were waiting, one of the ferry workers came up to us and warned us that there was a significant drop from the ramp onto the ferry, and since we are a high clearance vehicle, we may end up scraping at the drop. We figured we'd at least try to make it, and waited for all the other cars and trucks to get on before us before attempting it. We were about halfway up the ramp when the ferry worker who'd been monitoring our drive up told us that we'd absolutely scrape our leveling system, so we had to give up our ferry aspirations and head back onto the highway.
A Swampy Highway
While it was a bit of a bummer not to get onto the ferry and continue on the trail, we were happy to have had some time going on the Trail as a pleasant detour that morning! As we got back onto the highway, we not only were able to drive faster along, noticing the many billboards for restaurants that served boudin, which we learned was a type of sausage popular in Louisiana Creole and Cajun cuisine (there are also variations in French, Belgian, Swiss and other French-speaking cultures). The ads were for boudin, cracklin (crispy pork skin), crawfish, and other foods known in the area. Up until this point, the only "Boudin" we were familiar with was the brand of San Francisco sourdough that we used to buy regularly!
We didn't really have a hankering for these foods, so continued on and found ourselves driving along the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge over the Henderson Swamp, which was a really unique experience for us to have the highway, swamp on both sides, and at some points, even between the roads on both sides. It was cool to see the swamp so low in some areas, that we could see people in their boats, out fishing (bass, white perch, crappie, bream and other species can be found in this area), and possibly seeing a few alligators and different birds on the expedition.
As we got closer to Baton Rouge, we also drove across a bridge, crossing the famed Mississippi River for the first time, the second-longest river in the United States, after the Missouri (although the Mississippi is much more famous, and it's common for people in the US to believe that the Mississippi is the longest).
The Biggest RV Park Yet
We arrived at a HUGE RV park at Baton Rouge, called Tiger's Trail RV Resort, which is part of the L'Auberge Casino Resort on the other side of the road. There were probably about 300 RV sites and cottages, with a lake surrounding some of the sites, and a decent-sized pool and entertainment area. There were so many sites that to use the amenities, we needed to wear wristbands, like we were at an amusement park!
Our RV site was on the end of a road, which was nice because we weren't sandwiched between two other RVs (although the spots were all very generously sized with their own picnic table and benches, so that wouldn't have been an issue), and we were fairly close to the pool. We're now in a part of the US where we notice that it's common for people of all ages to say "Ma'am" or "Sir" when talking to us. Case in point: Lisette saw a teenage boy who didn't look that well heading over to the pool (ok, he kind of threw up a bit), and when she asked if he was okay after he waved, he said "Yes ma'am" very politely and walked on..!
We headed to the pool after dinner and sunset. It was a really great set up! There was music through speakers facing the pool, a station with free hand sanitizer and sunscreen, and several pools. The first was a lazy river (the first time we'd ever seen one at an RV park), a round pool, and a spa. We've noticed that people don't tend to swim after sunset (after 8.30pm), so it's also nice to have the pools to ourselves, arriving as a family was packing up.
We tried the lazy river first, both of us getting on a floating tube, and simply letting the water move us along at a fairly rapid pace. It was a lot of fun (we could imagine enjoying this during the day, cold drink in hand), but the water was too warm, which meant that we weren't actually alone--a lot of bugs were floating or even paddling along with us!
The pool unfortunately wasn't much better--because it was so shallow (it probably didn't go higher than 4 feet or 1.2 meters at any point), so the water was as hot as a bath. So there were more bugs hanging in there, and it made us start to think we were in some kind of petri dish, cultivating germs and whatever else could make it into the water. Once that thought popped into our minds, we didn't stay in the pool for much longer!
After getting back to the RV, Michael headed to the L'Auberge Casino Resort across the road, having some fun chatting to a few other folks with southern drawls and open shirts before turning in for the night.
Route Map
