FAIRVIEW RIVERSIDE STATE PARK, LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AND NEW ORLEANS

We moved to Fairview Riverside State Park at Madisonville, Louisiana on March 11th and stayed thru the 12th.  The park sits along the Tchefuncte River that flows into Lake Pontchartrain. This park was close enough to the river that Joyce said if it starts raining a LOT, we're hookin' up and headin' out!

Joyce and I standing in front of Lake Pontchartrain

Fairview Riverside Park sits on the Tchefuncte River

If you look straight down the dock walkway that is our campsite.

House we could see from the campground on the river

The yard was full of statues

Otis house was built by a saw mill owner in 1880s sits inside the park.

Old tree in the park

 Lake Pontchartrain covers 630 square miles with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet. The lake is oval shape and is 40 miles east to west and 24 miles north to south.   They made a causeway (bridge)  across the lake to make faster travel. The bridge is the longest bridge in the world at 24 miles long.  Just to put that in perspective to people at home, that would be traveling from Archie, MO to Belton, MO over water with nothing but water on both sides.
  We are camping on the North side of the lake so we traveled across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to get to New Orleans. Randy had crossed it as a kid and wanted Joyce to experience the LONG bridge.

Causeway across Lake Pontchartrain. The blue dot was us in the truck crossing.

In the distance you can see the 24 mile Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (this was taken from Fontainebleau State Park)

 

65 mph speed limit on the causeway

They had 7 or 8 turn around's across the bridge where there was generally a sheriff or tow truck sitting

Nothing but water and concrete for 24 miles

Finally land in site

We drove by the Superdome and then drove through the French Quarters.  It was Sunday and we were amazed how many people are touring the area.  We went down Bourbon and ??? streets.  The buildings and ironwork is neat to see.  We didn't get out only drove around.  It is hard to image all of the area under water because of Hurricane Katrina.  There is so much new construction.

Superdome in New Orleans

Superdome

"Since we're in New Orleans lets go see French Quarter."
This is the famous Canal Street.

So Randy drove the truck down Bourbon Street on a Sunday at 11 am.

Part of Royal Street was blocked to vehicles, it is noted for it's art galleries.

Traffic was crazy!

Loved the architecture & wrought iron balconies.

Bourbon Street in French Quarter in New Orleans

The narrow streets reminded Randy of driving in San Juan

Royal Street in the French Quarter

The return trip we drove around the west side of the lake to get back to our campsite.  We stopped at a Mexican restaurant and had lunch.  Joyce said we hadn't had Mexican for a long time and enjoyed the food.

Joyce has been very nice letting me have my seafood.  It's time for her to enjoy Mexican.

 Later we decided to check out Fontainebleau State Park.  It sits on Lake Pontchartrain.
We stopped by Just Chillin' to try out a new treat for us.  It's called Snoballs.  They're similar to flavored icee's. If you get it with any flavor of ice cream inside it's called a Stuffed Snoball.

Another picture of causeway from Fontainbleau State Park.

Some of the many flavors at Just Chillin

Hummingbird(Nectar Cream/Honeycomb) & Just Chillin (Vanilla Cream/Vanilla) Stuffed SnoBalls

Back at the campground Randy eating his SnoBall on the dock. 

The main trails they have in Louisana are SWAMP trails. This raised boarded trail led back close to the Otis House.

Our next stop is Tickfaw State Park. We had read great reviews & it was on the way across Louisiana to Texas.

Davis Bayou at Ocean Springs, Mississippi- March 8-11th

Our campsite at Davis Bayou part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Davis Bayou campground is blue dot. It is just east of Biloxi Mississippi.

Tunnel under that Mobile River. It was a relief to see that tractor trailers ahead of us didn't scrape the ceiling of the tunnel.

Our view looking down at the Bayou at sunset.

First time we've ever seen this sign!

When we arrived at this campground Joyce told Randy "you might want to turn on the light and look at the bottom of the steps before you step out, just in case a gator is waiting on you." The ranger came by and when questioned he said they avoided the campground but told us all the places to see them. This was another park that as soon as you were off the park grounds you were in a urban area. We enjoyed driving into Biloxi and see all the history there. Of course there were several casinos along the shoreline but we just are not gamblers so we just admired the architecture of the new buildings from the outside. 

This was a new home being built. The first story was just
 garage and pillars as this area had been hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.

We had a late lunch at McElroy's Harbor House. That's Deer Island across from docks.

McElroy's (built up for storm surges) had great seafood.

The Hurrican Katrina Memorial in Biloxi. The red band at top of pole shows the storm surge level of Katrina at 34.1 ft,
the blue band is the storm surge level during Hurricane Camille in 1969.

The Biloxi Lightouse was on of the first cast iron lighthouses built in 1848. It was only open at certain times for touring.

Broadwater Beach Lighthouse was part of the 
President Casino Broadwater Resort which was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.

Once the sun came out as we drove around the Davis Bayou area we were able to see gators everyplace the ranger had told us about.

This big girl sunbathed here everyday.

What a smile.

When we drove up to this pond this gator would swim towards us. 

Joyce said he liked having his photo taken.

Another pond another gator.

We drove up about 12 miles to the Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. Although we enjoyed learning about them in a movie at the visitors centers we never got to see a crane. It was their breeding season so the refuge acreage was closed to the public. The staff told us some nearby roads that had farms where some cranes had been spotted. After driving for several miles we truly felt we were looking for the elusive crane in a sandhill.
While driving around Biloxi we found Beauvoir the last home of Jefferson Davis. So we returned the next day to take the tour and go thru the museum. It was a beautiful southern home.

Beauvoir is just west of Biloxi Mississppi

You can see the height of the first floor and it was covered with water for almost a week after Hurricane Katrina. 

We enjoyed our tour of the home and visiting the museum.

Photos of what the home looked like after Katrina.

The interior was beautifully restored.

Roses blooming in March. The gardens outside of the museum.

Randy had to pull Joyce away from watching the fun-loving goats.

One goat LOVED Joyce... Ok, so he loved her shirt and tried to eat it! LOL