With the lightning the night before, we didn't get to the beach.
So that was our first thing to do in the morning.
It was pretty simple to find.
We just kept heading south.
The sand was so soft!
It was soft like cake mix before anything is added into it.
Poor Josh had no clean shorts.
The hotel the night before didn't have a laundry, and his clothes weren't in the ones I washed at Gary's house.
So, he wore jeans on the beach, and wouldn't roll them up to enjoy the sand and water!
The sand looks like snow!
There was a squirt gun in the water, so Josh was squirting back.
We saw jellyfish, crabs, and fish.
Andy caught a fish with his hand!
The little black dots are jet skis for rent.
Beyond them, Andy and I saw dolphins!
The color on this does not do the crab leg justice.
We saw several of these, and they were so brilliantly red!
It was interesting to see the different sea gulls than what we have in the northwest.
There was one that just flew/skimmed over the water.
It was so cool!
tracks on the beach, human and avian
One of the cool tractors that keeps the sand fluffed and sifted and picks up litter.
Lilly looks like a movie star.
After the beach, we drove along the beach boulevard.
We all (not just me) loved the architecture of the homes there!
It was interesting to see them on stilts or a full story above the ground.
We also were sad to see so many empty house foundations.
They weren't old either.
Must have been a hurricane. :(
Continuing on, we were behind a shrimp boat.
Again, the colors were far more vivid than this.
We enjoyed some powdered doughnuts.
passing the shrimp boat
We had the radio on loud for a song so we could sing along, and Anthony loved dancing along.
As long as he had the headphones on.
rest stop
LOUISIANA
New Orleans!
The girls loved this lady's hair, the long hair.
We were supposed to stop and have lunch at a special restaurant that my friend suggested.
New Orleans was so full of people though, and there was construction, and the streets were so narrow.
I couldn't find a place to park, so we continued on.
It was sad to see so many homes that were sagging, and also so many that STILL have red X's marked on them, left over from Hurricane Katrina.
Something newsworthy is that I drove over the Mississippi River on a huge, very high bridge.
I am normally not able to drive well on bridges. It stems from a lifetime of nightmares about drowning.
When I'm on bridges, I feel like passing out, literally.
So, it was a real accomplishment to drive over the Mississippi. :)
Another thing that I might have posted earlier, not sure, is that we had no issues driving 75-80 MPH during our trip. Normally, I don't like going over 65, if that.
But, if it meant arriving at our destination earlier, I had no problem passing semis or going the current speed.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana Temple
touching the temple
The stake center (church building) next to the temple.
I had to take a picture because of the colors that are so Louisiana!
You won't find an eggplant building in Washington.
Yet again, there was thunder and lightning that night, so we found a hotel to stay at.
We were at Ramada Inn and Suites Shreveport Airport.
Once again, it was sketchy, and not pleasant at all.
The poor woman at the desk was on her own, on her 2nd day of work!
She assigned us some rooms that ended up being smoking rooms.
We went back and had her get us some other rooms.
They ended up being smoking rooms as well.
I was tired and didn't want to stress her out even more, so we just dealt with it.
We carried 3 loads of laundry from one end of the hotel complex to the other and up and down so many stairs to do laundry.
There was only one washer and dryer.
Thankfully though, we got our laundry done, and Josh had clothes again.
But, when we separated the clothes to fold, I wouldn't let them touch the floor (grimy carpet) or the bed (nervous about bugs).
Turns out my instincts were right.
The girls' room had cockroaches.
There were light fixtures in the bathroom coming apart and hanging down, vomit on the phone in our room, tiny bugs in my sink drain, and the girls' tub wouldn't drain.
We couldn't wait to get out of Louisiana.
One of the cool geckos we saw while walking to do laundry.
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