The Creole Trail and on to Texas

Friday we were back on the trail - and not just any trail - 

the Creole Nature Trail!

We left Abbeville pretty early to get a good start on the Louisiana Outback. We continued west on the 14 through Kaplan and on to Lake Arthur eventually turning south onto the 27 at Holmwood. The 14 was a nice easy drive and reminded us of Alberta in the spring with LOTS of water. I don't know if it is a wet time of year or the HUGE storm that came through a few days ago, but the fields were ponds.

Once on the 27 we were officially on the Creole Nature Trail. This is a really nice website - I recommend a visit. Today we will be doing 1/2 of the trail - the rest heads north again on the 27 up to Sulphur.

We had planned to stop at the Cameron Prairie National Refuge Visitors Center for breakfast and to walk the boardwalk. And stop we did BUT

MOSQUITOES!!!


The moment we got out of the truck they descended upon us - hundreds I am sure. We quickly got into and stayed in the trailer - with lunch finished we quickly got back in the truck and drove off.

The view along the 27 south.

It was a pretty quick drive to the main town along the trail near the Gulf - Cameron. From this link you can learn about the history of Cameron - as we suspected it suffered great damage from Hurricane's Rita and Ike. We could tell that this place used to have a lot more going on. There are several new buildings and a lot of people are living in RVs.

At Cameron we took our first ferry ride of the day. It is a very short ride - we spent more time waiting for the ferry then actually on the ferry.

Derek speaking with the fellow in line in front of us.

Waiting to get on the ferry. We were the last to get on - the ferry is shaped like a D. The cars drive on and go around the curve part. Because we are so long we get on last straight on to form the line of the D. Then we are the first to get off - pretty neat.

Continuing on we coame to Holly Beach and the end of the Creole Trail for us. The 82 along this strip travels right along the beach and so it was a nice drive. There are actually quite a few houses along this area - all on stilts. I had a brochure telling me that this was where the good shelling beaches were - I was pretty excited.

Finally! Beaches with whole shells!

Not so fast. Sadly, when Derek stopped the truck for us to get out we were again swarmed with mosquitoes. This was just not our day. My idea of beach walking and shelling was slipping away....fast.

And so - we just kept driving. You can see platforms in the distance.

As we got closer to Texas we saw A LOT of industry.

 ahhhhhh Texas - it's good to be back. We missed you!

Not many pictures for the next while. We drove the 82 up to Port Arthur. My original plan had been to spend the whole day in Louisiana and spending the night at Walmart in PA. But since we sped through that area we were WAY ahead of schedule.

So on we went along the 73 and south of the 124 turning west on the 87 at High Island. Boy are we ever moving fast. 

Before we knew it we were at the Port Bolivar to Galveston free ferry just as the sun was starting to set.

A container ship was going by as we were waiting to get on the ferry.

The ferry takes about 45 minutes so time to get out and walk around.

And look at our truck for above - hmmm - looks like our roof could use some paint. yikes!

The returning ferry arrived just as we were leaving.

And so that was our very long day of driving. Good thing we had TWO ferry rides to break up the trip.

Sad to leave Louisiana - Happy to be back in Texas.

Happy to be in Galveston. Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear you sea winds blowin'...............

Another song town if you have been following our blog for a while -  I like visiting song towns. I have been pining to visit Galveston since we missed it in 2008.

Saturday we took a look around this fine city.....

Thanks for visiting!

Teresa

Today's Interesting Link: Is Galveston on your list of places to visit? Here is a the link to the official Galveston Island website - it will give you a head start on us for looking around. I know we won't be doing it justice since we won't be staying long. More reasons to come back in the future.

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