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.

Return to Disney World, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom

February 12 & 13th we returned to Disney World because when we were there in January we both came down with horrible colds. With Joyce fighting fever & campground site unavailable we decided to return later. We still had 2 days left of our 4 day pass that we needed to use by June.  The two parks we hadn't seen was Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  We had returned on Sunday and got there early and decided to see if our site was available early.  They had one ready so we were able to go on to the camp site and get set up.  
After we got setup we decided to ride the bus to Hollywood Studios.  We did Star Tours - The Adventure Continues.  It was a ride that about made me sick.  
Joyce rode The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  
We also went to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.  They did stunts from the movie with explosion and flames.  That night we watched the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular.
As we returned back to campground by bus that night we were thrilled to not be driving in the crazy traffic. Joyce was ready to encourage the bus driver just to push one little car aside after they cut the bus off. Randy decided then that if we ever returned to work at Disney, bus driving was NOT the job for Joyce. LOL!

Joyce rode the "Tower of Terror"

 What is this a drive-in for babies?

Randy making friends

The Indiana Jones stunt show was great.

The night show Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular was truly spectacular! We were so glad we stayed for it. 

On Monday we went to Animal Kingdom.  On the bus ride over we meet Mary and Gary.  We enjoyed talking with them, and visited again when we ran into them back at Ft. Wilderness.

The first thing we did once we arrived was the Kilimanjaro Safari tour. We rode a large truck that took you through different parts that represent Africa and its animals.  Our driver introduced herself as "Babbling Brooke".  She held true to her name and was lots of fun! She would stop so we could take photos.
We then went to the Gorilla Exploration Trail and Discovery Island Trails.  These areas had different animals and birds on display.
We watched "It's a Bugs Life".  It was a 4-D animated show and very good.
Later in afternoon we went to see "Festival of the Lion King".  This show had performers and singers dressed in costume from the Lion King.  We were amazed at the singing & acrobat talent. The dancers on stilts were unbelievable!
We went back in the evening and did Kilimanjaro Safari Tour again.  We had been told the best times to see the animals was first thing of the morning while it was cool and the animals had just been fed.  The other time people had mentioned was late towards evening, as they feed then also.  We had a different driver and she didn't stop for photos but had other interesting facts.  They had just fed and we saw some different animals than in the morning. So we were glad we did both times!

Sorry we didn't know which photos to post as we had WAY too many so here are several...

Of course since we love animals, this was our favorite park!

Hippo nap time.

Ankole-Watusi, their horns are made to help cool their body temps.

An Eland blocking the road.

The baby elephant was ADORABLE to watch!

"I think I can..."

"Ah mom...please?"

Black Rhino

The mighty lion.

"Ugh, my nose itches"

"Guess I'll get cleaned up for dinner"

"I'll just sit over here and pout"

"Ahh that sun makes me sleepy...."

An Okapi, an endangered relative of the Giraffe, native to the Congo.

 The bird exhibits had spotting guides. You walked thru the area while they flew around you.

Fairy Bluebird

Fairy Bluebird

Olive Pigeon

Taveta Golden Weaver

Taveta Golden Weaver

The keeper said the one on the left is his girl friend but not of the same breed.

Nicobar Pigeon

Crested Wood Partridge

Black Collared Starling

Pygmy Goose

Masked Lapwing

We first thought something was wrong with his beak, but all were the same. The yellow are his wattles.

No two sets of stripes alike.

Optical Illusion

Could watch the Meerkats all day. They are so funny!

There's always one...

"Ahhhh, I'll just lean back here and work on my tan"

The Lowland Gorillas exhibit had 3 that the keepers were trying to take their assigned spot to receive snacks. One STOMPED off and the other 2 took after him and we thought there was going to be a fight. The one keeper had a baton with sleigh bells on it and shook it. I asked her what it was for and she said they were to take their placements when she shook it. The 3 finally returned to their spots and got banana chunk treats.

"Did he get a bigger banana chunk than me?"

"I'll act like I don't care..."

"Does she still have any bananas left?"

"You lookin' at me?"

Collared Lemur

That stare!

Ring-Tailed Lemur

Joyce loved watching the Ring-Tail Lemurs.

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

It was fascinating in trying to find all the animals in the tree. 

Kangaroo soaking up the sun.

Lesser Flamingos had the weirdest orange eyes!

The Small-Clawed Otters just wore themselves out!

What a cute face!

The lotus flowers were blooming.

Saddle-Billed Stork

Festival of the Lion King was a great show!

Komodo Dragon

"This is MY rock"

Wait you have a hair out of place here.

"Shut that kid up...

I'm trying to sleep..."

Nervous energy.

Gibbon

Joyce loved all the flowers blooming in February! These were in front of Wilderness Lodge.

When we left the park we rode the bus to Wilderness Lodge.  It was the large log hotel.  It was very pretty inside.  We then rode the boat back to Fort Wilderness Campground.

Wilderness Lodge Lobby

Our campsite at Fort Wilderness #1713

As you can tell by all the photos (we have LOTS more), Animal Kingdom was our favorite Disney park. Seeing such varieties of birds and animals amazed us how great our God is! (Of course with the looks of some of them he must have a sense of humor also😉)