HEEYAH, GATAH!

More Big Easy!

We both agreed one of our favourite things from our trip was the swamp tour.  (If you ever go to NOLA, this is a must!)  It was an hour and forty minutes of air boat ride through the Louisiana swamps.  Completely amazing.  Gorgeous scenery for those of us who have never seen that kind of landscape, and alligators everywhere.  Hubby was very good at spotting them from far away - what a woodsman I have. :)  We were lucky enough to see a thirteen foot gator up close...directly beside us on the boat.  Captain Chip fed him/her raw chicken and marshmallows.  Everyone likes marshmallows!  He said you'll never see another gator that big in the wild again.  (And I believed him because when we got back to the bus, other groups said they never saw any nearly that long.)


Captain Chip feeding chicken to the 13 foot gator.

At one point Captain Chip got off the boat to pee (shh, don't tell) and a little guy started to follow him.  He just turned around, whacked it on the nose and said, "Stay back!"  Quite funny.  I can't imagine growing up in the swamps like that and being comfortable just whacking an alligator on the nose (he also kissed the really big guy).  When he came back from his, um, bathroom break...he was basically surrounded by alligators.  It was crazy!  They were all around the boat and on the ground all around him.  I snapped some great pictures and just tried to edit one in a cool way.  You'll see.  I think I'd like to blow up the nature scene (of the swamp) and put it in our dining room or bedroom.  It was my favourite photo of the trip.


These canals were man-made to dig for oil, although we went to more natural parts of the swamp as well.

This was when Captain Chip jumped off the boat to go to the bathroom.  I wouldn't want these guys in the bathroom stall with me...