Shenandoah National Park

Hawksbill.  Windy and Chilly

In June of 2006, I hiked the 100 miles of Appalachian Trail that runs through the park.  In September of 2007 I bicycled the 100 miles of Skyline Drive as part of my cross country trip.  Both times the weather did not cooperate.  My hike was hot and humid with daily showers.  My bicycle trip was accompanied with rain the entire time. In fact, it was the first 9/11 that it rained.

Today I would take the easy route.  I would drive.  It also turned out to be a great day.  We drove south to north and I got to somewhat relive my previous two trips.  It took four hours.  I remember pitching my tent in the rain and powerful wind at Big Meadows.  That seemed to take four hours.  I also remember the walk to the shelter after we drank a lot of beers (also at Big Meadows) that seemed to take forever.  This time at Big Meadows, my dad and I just had a nice and quiet lunch.

Easy way with some Eastern Redbud's flowering

Old Rag

The view from Hawksbill

Spring finally starting to set in

The Valley

Fall Creek Falls

Fall Creek Falls with Coon Creek Falls to the right

On our way to Knoxville from Birmingham, I could not pass up the opportunity to check out the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi.

Technically speaking, there is a waterfall in North Carolina that is higher, but it's a cascade.  Fall Creek Falls is a singular drop waterfall and at 256 feet, it's the highest of its kind in the east.

Baton Rouge

When doing research for our trip to Louisiana, I read that it is the state that feels like a foreign country more than anywhere else.  Though I did not visit New Orleans and my time was short, I did not feel this to be the case.  It's capital city's capitol buildings, though, have been by far the most interesting of the few that I have been to.

Where is the tallest Capitol building in the U.S?  It's a good little trivia question.  It also has quite the history.  Louisiana Governor Huey Long can be credited with modernizing the U.S. poorest state in the 1920s and 1930s.  Part of his modernizing was to build a capitol as grand as were his ambitions.  Completed in 1932, the Capitol Building is an Art Deco, 32 story skyscraper.  It's the tallest building in the city and it is quite striking from a distance.

As Governor and then U.S. Senator, Huey Long made many enemies.  On September 8, 1935, one of these enemies shot and killed Long in the Capitol that he had such a huge part in building.  Walking through the halls, one cannot stop and think of this incident.

The grounds around the building are a great place to walk.  There are gardens and a statue of Huey Long.  It's also the site of his burial.  One can take an elevator to the top, which gives great views of the city.  It's clear the oil industry is the major player.  There are always oil tankers in the river and the city is littered with refineries.

Huey Long Burial Site

The Oil Industry

The Mississippi

The gardens on the Capitol grounds

St Josephs Cathedral

The busy Mississippi

The Old Capitol building is not to be missed.  Today it's a museum.  This also is a unique structure.  When I first saw the building, it looked like a castle.  This makes sense, since the state of Louisiana was heavily influenced by the Spanish and French in its early years.  

The Old Capitol

Huey Long

The beautiful interior of the Old Capitol

Old Capitol as seen from near the river

Magnolia bloom

Lol

Annie Miller's Son's Swamp Tour

Jim leading us through the bayou

When I originally did research for a swamp tour, most of the ones I found were in the Houma area, which is relatively close to the Gulf of Mexico.  I booked a couple reservations a couple weeks ago with Annie Miller's Son's Swamp Tour.

Originally operated by Annie Miller, it now is run by her son Jim.  Mrs Miller would make a living hunting alligators when she was younger.  The skins were quite valuable and many would be sold to Europeans.  Her son now runs the swamp tours after working in the oil industry as an engineer.  Though the region is not wild like yesterday's location (the scenery mainly passed houses and there was far more garbage than alligators and turtles) Jim, our guide, provided us with some great insight to the region.

Great Blue Heron

Turtle on the watch

A bird, of which type I don't know

One of the few we saw today. A local lost their chocolate lab to one recently.

The bayou

Though not as wild, we did see quite a bit of wildlife.  We started in the bayou, passing through a residential area.  We had to duck our heads under a few bridges since the water was quite high.  We then cruised through a canal into the intercoastal waterway.  Along the way, we spotted a few small alligators and Jim was able to coax a medium sized one with some raw chicken.  On a few occasions we saw some Bald Eagles high up in the trees watching us.  Jim coaxed a couple into the water with some chicken.  I'm not a big fan of these practices, as it makes the alligators more aggressive, but Jim only feeds a couple of the alligators.  

Mommy and Daddy

The bird life here was quite incredible.  We saw many different types.  Along with the Bald Eagles, we saw some Blue Herons and some Egrets.  The yellow feet of the Egrets are pretty damn cool.  My favorite bird was a red winged bird, which I was unable to photograph.  Birds are just too quick sometimes.  

Louisiana loses land each year at an alarming rate.  Southeast Louisiana is losing at the greatest rate.  It loses approximately a football field an hour.  In a year it loses land about the size of Manhattan.  The cypress trees here are not very healthy since the water is infected with salt water from the Gulf of Mexico.  Jim pointed out land that used to be for cattle.

Cypress Knees.  They grow off the root sytem of the tree.

The Intercoastal Waterway

Formerly land for cattle grazing