Christmas in the Bayou

For the first time in our travels, when we decided to move on to Louisiana, we decided to stay for a month.  We knew being away from "normal" for Christmas we were going to need a place where we felt comfortable and where we wanted to be.  We also needed to find a "safe" place, as we would be leaving for almost a week to go spend our holiday time with the kids.  We were so happy to find the place that we did - we felt "at home" almost immediately.  The RV parks that we stay in are very different than what we experienced in our past as campgrounds.  For the most part, all of the RVers we are near are all big rigs, all needing full hookups, so in most places, we are lined up on concrete slabs one right after the other with our little piece of grass between us.  Its funny what becomes important as your life changes.  Where big trees and lots of privacy used to be most important to us, now it's big, level sites with room for slide outs and good wifi.  So I have come to look for other things as my "amenities."  We haven't used a lot of pools yet.  Although most places have them, the weather just hasn't been great for that.  The thing I look for the most is a nice place to walk.  Every day for me starts with a cup of coffee in my "family portrait" coffee mug that my daughter gave me and a walk around the park.  Everyone else is walking their dogs, so I get to see a lot of people, and I just love that peaceful time before my day starts.


My first day walking in Louisiana I caught sight of a beautiful Swan floating around in the water.  I named her my Christmas Swan and I loved visiting her each morning.  One day Cliff & I took the kayaks out on the pond..they had good fishing for Cliff and it was big enough for me to put on my headphones, read my book and just drift around the water.  I was in "the zone" peacefully floating around, minding my own business when I felt a little bump against my kayak and heard a little grunt.  I turned around and there was my perfect Swan with her face right in mine, hissing at me, letting me know in no uncertain terms that I was on her turf.  I didn't know Swans made that noise, and I don't think Swans knew that humans made the noise that I did.  Or that humans could move that fast in a kayak.   Needless to say I suddenly became much more enamored with several Christmas Geese that were living on the pond.

Cliff in front of one of the
ginormous Oak trees

Our first full day there we went to a State Park in the Bayou.  It was one of those "aha" days for me where I couldn't stop looking around.  Everything was so different than anywhere I was used to.  The cypress trees in the water are just mesmerizing and the giant oak trees are so majestic.  The Spanish moss hanging off the trees makes it look like they have all been permanently decorated.  We both agreed that the moss can be both beautiful and scary at the same time.  If it's a sunny day and you are riding through an area, it is just gorgeous.  If you are walking through the forest where it is darker and quieter, you almost expect the trees to reach down and start throwing apples at you.  There is something I love about it though.

It was very strange to leave and go to Maryland for the holidays with the kids.  As I said, we felt safe where we were and we were lucky enough to meet wonderful neighbors, Kim and Christi who took our information and watched out for our "house" while we were gone, assuring that he would call if anything happened. As we took off on the plane I said to Cliff - "How weird is it that we just left everything we own in a strange place with someone we just met last week looking out for it for us?"  To be honest, once I was with my kids I really didn't think about it too much, but one of the days Cliff realized that there was a tornado watch in the area and was keeping in touch with Kim without me even knowing it, until later when he told me that all was calm and they hadn't even gotten any bad weather.  What a comfort it was to have someone to be able to put our mind at ease.  We are quickly realizing that those are the kind of people you meet on the road.  Most of us are in the same boat (or RV) and everyone looks out for each other and it's a great feeling.  We had a wonderful few days with our family, and then spent Christmas Day together in our own little world.  It's amazing what little you really need to make Christmas special.

The rest of our time in this part of Louisiana we spent riding, and sight seeing.  I have to admit I am a bit obsessed with the show Swamp People and being in this area, recognizing the names of all of the places on the show was quite exciting for me.  I don't like to be a "groupie" and go searching famous people out, but I did get an idea where each of them were from and made it a point to ride around that area.  It will be fun in the future to watch the show and be able to picture the places that they are talking about.  We did go to the grave of one of the characters on the show who passed away last year.  I was so sad when he died .. there was just something nice about going to his grave and paying our respects.  It was a really interesting cemetery too, and we spent a good amount of time wandering around and learning what we could about the area from the stories the gravestones tell.

Since it was only about an hour away, we both wanted to pay a visit to New Orleans.  It is a challenge to get into a big city and find parking for our "big ass truck" but we decided it was worth it.  And it was.  We had been there once before so it was nice to walk around and reminisce and take in all the sights and sounds that make the city so unique.  We found a couple of great bars and although we don't eat out that often, we found an awesome place for burgers.  It was a great day, one that we are so glad we made the effort for.

Crazy Dave's To Go cup

Our story of Louisiana wouldn't be complete without Crazy Dave's.  If you have ever been to a resort area you have probably seen the drink machines that many places have - they look like washing machines with yummy frozen beverages spinning around in them.  In Louisiana, these are called Daiquiri Bars.  The unique thing about them is that most of them have "to go" windows.  Yep..you drive up, order your favorite Mud Slide, White Russian or even margarita - they fill up a big Styrofoam cup and off you go.  Of course you are not allowed to actually drink them while you are driving......  Well, we were fortunate enough to have Crazy Dave's right across the street from our RV park.  A little too easy and a little too tempting on the way home from ..everywhere...  We would go in and get a "medium" which was huge, play a couple games of pool while we drank the first half and then go across the street and settle in at home for the rest.  While I am sure this is not a great idea - indicated by all of the Styrofoam cups in the ditches on the sides of the roads - it was a nice little treat that we had close to home.

Enjoying some fried alligator
on New Year's Eve

Our one other weird experience was New Year's Eve.  We realized early on that since we were an hour behind all of our family we were going to be able to do our phone calls and messages at 11:00 our time and then watch the year change Louisiana style.  We didn't want to watch the ball drop from NY because we wanted to make it official at our local midnight.  So at 11, we talked to the kids and texted with friends and family and settled in and waited for Midnight.  As the time got closer we started switching channels looking for something, anything, to watch to mark the magical moment.  We found reruns of late night shows and several companies who wanted us to start our year off buying something from them...but no ball dropping, or horns blowing...nothing.  We looked at each other, slightly disappointed, kissed and talked about all the possibilities of 2014.  Then Cliff said, I think I hear fireworks.  We went outside and realized that when fireworks are legal to buy, there is no reason to have anything on tv, because everyone and his brother and his cousin and his family were outside shooting them off.  It was a cloudy night so the sky just glowed and for miles and miles, 360 degrees all you could hear was explosions, one right after the other.  It was almost surreal..one of those moments in time where you look at each other and you both have the same silly, little kid, ear to ear smile on your face.  It was just one more of those times that we realized that as scary and as strange as it was to leave everything behind for this new lifestyle.. there are so many new things out there just waiting for us to find them.