It was another early morning, so I set Sam up with a movie while I went and took a shower and started some laundry. When I got back, we decided it had better be a grocery day...our fridge had exactly:
1 bottle of ketchup
1 cob of corn
3 juice boxes
So we took a little walk to the rangers station where we were informed that the closest groceries were 15 minutes away, but they recommended the store that was about a half hour away. Whatever, we only needed the basics since we would be at our friends' house the following day.
We found this on the way back from the rangers station. So Russ and the kids hung out here (in the sprinkling rain) for a bit.
1 bottle of ketchup
1 cob of corn
3 juice boxes
So we took a little walk to the rangers station where we were informed that the closest groceries were 15 minutes away, but they recommended the store that was about a half hour away. Whatever, we only needed the basics since we would be at our friends' house the following day.
We found this on the way back from the rangers station. So Russ and the kids hung out here (in the sprinkling rain) for a bit.
And I got to go aquaint myself with these two lovely machines. Sigh. Oh well, at least I don't have to wash and dry it by hand! Ha!
The kids came back and Brooklyn demonstrated her pole climbing skills. Sam was SO frustrated that he couldn't do it. We told him to just keep trying. So he did.
Within about 10 minutes he was 3/4 of the way to the top of the pole. Buffness.
We got in the car and started driving. We went 8 miles and crossed over another old one-way bridge, watched the shack-houses (with their nice, giant trucks sitting out in front) go by....along with the first grocery store. We couldn't hardly tell it apart from one of the "houses"! lol
So we decided to head to the "bigger" grocery store. We went on a few backroads and finally came upon this little town where we found this lovely store.
It suited our needs--we got our milk, apples, sugar, etc. We decided to skip on the alligator filets this time though. We grabbed all of our goods and headed to check out where not one of the employees isn't missing at least one tooth.
My kids are being crazy and Russ offered to take Sam out to the car while I paid for our stuff. There was a younger black man standing behind me purchasing only a giant can of beer, which he politely offered to purchase for me if I'd like. I declined, took my groceries and headed out. He followed behind me, popped open his beer and guzzled half of it, and then proceeded to jump into his beat up old yellow sports car which was parked in the fire lane and drive off. Things that make you go "HUH?".
When we were coming into town we saw the Inmates Working sign that is often seen alongside the road. You should have seen my jaw when I saw this.
Inmates there still wear STRIPES! I thought that was only in the movies!!! I was just floored. I tried using my best spy skills (which I am quite obviously lacking) to snap these few photos as we were driving by at 30mph.
Alongside these country roads were fields and fields of THIS. Anybody know what it is? I was going to ask the store employees, but I think she was either deaf or couldn't understand me because acted like she didn't hear a thing I said.
After we got back to camp we had a hearty breakfast of cantaloupe, apples, raisins and granola bars and then put the kids down for naps. Russ set off for one of the nature trails at the park while I had some quiet time. By the time Russ got back though, it was sprinkling. We finally figured out a few hours later that we were in the middle of a tropical storm. Awesome. What better place to be than on the very edge of a easily floodable river??
So we hastily packed up all of our stuff so we could just throw some clothes on, eat and be on our way in the morning. Unfortunately, there are mosquitoes in Louisiana. Whoda thunk. At one point when we were putting things away, Russ (who had his arms full) says, "Can you slap the mosquito on my ankle?" I looked down and there were no fewer than TWENTY on the area that my hand covered. By the time we both finished and got inside (which was no more than 20-30 minutes), we each have over 100 bites on our legs. Plus they were coming in through the woodwork on the camper!! Between the fear of a flood, the fear of being drained by mosquitoes, and the fear of itching myself to death, this mama got approximately 3 hours of sleep. Sigh.
Stay tuned...on to the ALDERMAN'S!!! (Which is why I haven't posted more often. Whoops!)
So we hastily packed up all of our stuff so we could just throw some clothes on, eat and be on our way in the morning. Unfortunately, there are mosquitoes in Louisiana. Whoda thunk. At one point when we were putting things away, Russ (who had his arms full) says, "Can you slap the mosquito on my ankle?" I looked down and there were no fewer than TWENTY on the area that my hand covered. By the time we both finished and got inside (which was no more than 20-30 minutes), we each have over 100 bites on our legs. Plus they were coming in through the woodwork on the camper!! Between the fear of a flood, the fear of being drained by mosquitoes, and the fear of itching myself to death, this mama got approximately 3 hours of sleep. Sigh.
Stay tuned...on to the ALDERMAN'S!!! (Which is why I haven't posted more often. Whoops!)
I was surprised to see inmates in stripes too. In St. George they where a lovely green stripe. My kids loudly proclaimed that they looked funny. I just kept walking quickly to my car. Sounds like your trip is....interesting. Hope you recover from those bites quickly.
ReplyDeleteThat plant was sugar cane--and on our first visit to New Orleans I told Pete that if there were any sugar cane fields growing within a ten mile radius I couldn't live there. I think it must leach something into the groundwater--that is why the people are so hard to understand ;-)
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