Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana
November 16, 2022
Indian Bayou.
Since our trip to our next destination in Louisiana was a fairly long drive, we split it up by staying overnight at Camp Walmart in eastern Texas. This gave us the opportunity to get some grocery shopping and laundry done.
Around here, they call laundromats "washaterias".
Our destination in Louisiana was the Atchafalaya Basin. It apparently is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States (even bigger than the Everglades). We arrived on a beautiful, warm sunny day, and we were fortunate to have three equally gorgeous days during our stay. After that, well, we pretty much joined the rest of the country in colder weather. Fortunately, "cold" this far south was in the 50s (daytime highs), so we couldn't really complain that much.
We watched for the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign but didn't see one.
Henderson Swamp
We stayed at a very friendly little campground directly on the Bayou La Rose. We wondered what the difference was between a bayou and a creek or river. Turns out, a bayou is basically a very slow-moving stream or river that is usually shallow and flows through flat, wet ground near the coast
Our friendly little neighborhood campground
All the campsites overlooked the Bayou La Rose
On our second day, we took a drive north to the Indian Bayou Wildlife Refuge and hiked along the bayou (about 3.5 miles). We had to walk pretty fast to outrun the mosquitos. Who knew there'd be mosquitos in the middle of the largest swamp in the country?
Our drive to the wildlife refuge was adjacent to a levee. There were levees everywhere in the Basin to keep the swamp out of roads and buildings during periodic flooding.
We had to pay attention to avoid these large spiders in webs stretching across the trail!
Back at camp, we thoroughly enjoyed sitting out on the deck in the mornings and late afternoons, watching the slow happenings on the bayou while the weather was nice. Mosquitos here weren't a problem until the sun went down.
Our campground was in a neighborhood made up of "camps". The camps looked to be mostly vacation homes and the like, many of them situated on a bayou or canal. It was definitely not a ritzy area, but it felt very relaxed. We rode our bikes (12 miles) around the neighborhood on the last nice day. Many of the homes had fun signs out front.
We wondered whose sign went up first.
Doesn't seem wise to advertise that they're never home... ...but don't worry, the Neighborhood Watch has their back!
Has kind of a DIY look to it
There sure were some interesting homes.
Gotta like the hair dryer chair out front!
This nice property actually looked a bit out of place in the neighborhood.
Riding atop the levee.
The cold weather started on Rick's birthday 😞. But no worries, we put on some sweaters, jackets and long pants (gasp!) and headed out to the local Atchafalaya Basin Festival.
We got to sample some homemade gumbo in the gumbo cook-off.
Got a kick out of this Louisiana Mexican beer offered in the silent auction.
We got to experience some good Zydeco music (Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band). The dancing couple in the lower right hand corner were quite good! Sample video of the band (click here)
Sonny the Bird Man with one of his parrots.
The next day we headed to Cypress Island Preserve and then to the historic town of St. Martinville.
The boardwalk in Cypress Island Preserve was closed after the first 50 feet or so due to collapse, so we didn't get to see too much ☹️
Much of the swamp was dry this time of year, but there were flowers!
A touch of fall
Evangeline Oak Park in St. Martinville
Bayou Teche
There were several large live oak trees in town.
St. Martin de Tours, the town namesake
St. Martin De Tours Church is the third oldest church in Louisiana.
The Acadians who settled the town had been forcibly removed from their home in Nova Scotia.
We passed lots of sugar cane farms in the area.
During our stay here, we met several incredibly friendly people. One neighbor even gave us two large servings of his homemade seafood gumbo. It was delicious!
Next stop--New Orleans!
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