New Orleans is the only destination we spent two full days in, because Ben had never been there before and there is so much to do. On the second morning we drove out to Slidell, LA for a tour of the Honey Island Swamp. The tour is in a flat bottomed boat, and they just drive you around the swamp for a few hours to check out all the wildlife. We saw a ton of alligators:
Small one chilling on a log
The tour guides throw marshmallows to them, so they know to come near the boats and hang out for treats. They get really close:
The guides also hold out sticks with hot dogs on them, so you can watch the alligators jump up and eat them. It's pretty crazy how fast and how high they can jump:
We also saw a bunch of herons:
Giant grasshoppers:
Ben picked one up. Gross.
And even wild boars:
The boars also know to come near the boats for tasty marshmallow treats:
Besides animals, we also saw the homes of people who live in the swamp.
These are small sheds for 1-2 day fishing trips.
Regular full time house.
Building a new house
Swimming party!
Most of the homes, including the one that is under construction, are only accessible by boat - that means everything they use, including the lumber to build them in the first place, has to be brought in by boat. Crazy.
After the tour, we had lunch at a delicious Colombian restaurant.
Arepas!
Ajiaco!
After lunch we swung by Mardi Gras World, where we were too cheap to do the full guided tour, but we checked out all the giant float leftovers around the exterior:
Tiny Ben, big Elvis.
Mermaid Horse!
We then went home and napped off our food coma for the rest of the afternoon, before finishing the day off with Dat Dog and some live jazz on Frenchman Street. Yay, New Orleans!
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