Grandma Adventures pt. 1

Our first Washington visitor - Grandma Susie!

I'm so excited that we get to show off all the cool places and different foods we've had the pleasure of experiencing since being in Louisiana. I'm also extremely excited that Steve and Grandma Susie are able to bond again, Steve hasn't forgotten anybody and latched onto her like no time had passed at all.

We went and picked her up at the airport in New Orleans and it was dinner time when we got back to Lafayette, so we decided on craw fish for her first night in the south. It was delish, again. She even loved it but refused to suck out the head of the craw...I guess she isn't quite ready for that yet. I forgot my camera in the car, I think Charlie was happy about that little mistake.

 

 

 

The next day we went over to Jungle Gardens, on Avery Island. The weather was perfect, but Grandma Susie keeps insisting on bringing a jacket wherever we go, even though its 85 degrees outside. Apparently, she is waiting for the inevitable monsoon to hit and the weather will turn into a blizzard. 

You can take the girl out of Washington but you cant take the Washington out of the girl; always dress in layers, because the weather will change. Not here, Grandma Susie!

Jungle Gardens is a huge place on the bayou that you drive your car through. They have alligators, birds, turtles, weird fish and a crab running around. They might have multiple crabs but I only saw one, and it was weird. Whats a crab doing in the bottom of the bayou? The place is so pretty and scenic, the trees are amazing, huge oak trees sprawling out and palm trees and bamboo everywhere. The alligators are the main reason I like it here though, you can get so close to them and they don't even move. You can literally walk right up to them and stand there in their face and they just ignore you. Probably because they know that with a little flick of their head, your hand would be gone, forever in their belly, but these alligators are above that such nonsense.

I was a little terrified at one point though, the signs say "Do Not Feed Alligators". Clearly there is no room for misrepresentation, it states that feeding them is not allowed, but there is always that one guy that just cant help himself. We had just gotten out of the car to go and check out the alligator that was sunning himself on nearby grassy area. Grandma Susie had bought Steve a pair of flip flops, he wasn't used to wearing them yet and they kept falling off and he kept tripping on them, so needless to say they weren't ideal if we needed to run for our lives because an alligator was about to crush us in his jaws. We walk slowly over, all huddled together because there is always protection in numbers and just as I'm about to snap a picture of the alligator, this guy leaps out of nowhere and starts hucking fried chicken and clapping his hands at the alligator. I was like two feet away from this thing and this guy wants to startle it? Great! So, Charlie swiftly snatches Steve up and we all backed away, not daring to make eye contact with the now chomping gator. I was a little irritated to say the least.

They also have a Buddha Temple which is beautiful but probably the most random place for a Buddha, ever. They have bamboo and flowers lining the red walkway and elephant statues with plates guarding the temple stairs, the plates on them are for offerings. Steve was confused as to why we couldn't take the money that was sitting there. I said it would bring bad karma upon us, further confusing him.

There was a little walkway with a stone archway and pond directly under the temple, so we decided to take the long way around which was along the side of the pond, there was a baby alligator in the pond. It was so little and cute in comparison to the other huge ones we had seen earlier. I was all over it with my camera, I got so close that I could literally count all his little baby gator teeth. Then he started hissing, which made me jump back and look around for the mother alligator who was sure to be ready to pounce on my back. We defied death and made it to the archway. I'm sighing for relief here.
The last thing on our little tourist list at Jungle Gardens is Bird Island.
Hundreds of big white birds come and nest here every year. They were everywhere, hundreds of birds flying around and squawking at one another.

It was a lovely day in the world of the bayou, we all got a little suntan/burnt and went home starving and happy to be together. 

Cheers.