Well it got colder than expected last night. When I took the kids out for their walk this morning, all the cars had frost on them. Fortunately the wind had died down so it didn't feel as cold as it probably was. We stayed here two nights so we could drive the Creole Nature Trail (http://www.creolenaturetrail.org/) and see how much had changed over the past year. The route took us to Sulpher then south along LA-27 past Hackberry where we made our first stop at the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge (http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=43640). Parking at a different place this year (it was closed last year due to hurricane damage), we hiked along the one mile paved trail out to Calcaseau Lake. Even though it's still relatively cold, there were numerous wading birds, Red wing Blackbirds, a Common Yellow Bird, a Peregrine Falcon, Roseate Spoonbills and several thrush hiding in the bushes.
From Sabine NWR we continued south to the gulf and the small community of Holly Beach. This is a small retirement type community similar to what Ocean Shores was thirty years ago. There has been a tremendous effort to clean up all the damage plus several places have been rebuilt and several new homes have been constructed. There are four "streets" between LA-27 and the shoreline, each block being one lot deep. The roads are still crushed gravel but each intersection has stop signs. Leaving Holly Beach we continued eastward along the gulf stopping at a pull off so we could go to the beach. We discovered that the beach is still rebuilding itself with erosion from waves eating away at the shoreline and exposing the twelve inch mud/clay layer from the last big hurricane. We picked up a few interesting shells to add to our collection then returned to the car.
As we followed LA-27 the came to the ferry landing to cross the Calcasieau River. With a fifteen minute wait we took the opportunity to get out of the car to take some more photos. This is an area developed to support the oil and gas industry - there are numerous oil platforms visible out in the gulf. The small community of Cameron also shows signs of cleanup efforts, though some businesses will never recover. All in all it is easy to see rebuilding and repairs, but there is still a lot of damaged commercial buildings still there.From Cameron we drove to the small town of Creole for lunch at Sha Sha's Restaurant. Last year when we were here we had some of the best gumbo ever. Unfortunately we got there late and the gumbo was all gone. So we settled for a shrimp plate instead. The shrimp were fresh that morning, Peeled and butterflied then deep fried with a very light batter. Tina had onion rings with hers, I had fries. The shrimp was absolutely the best. Mmmmm, mmmm good!!
Leaving Sha Sha's the road continued northward to the Cameron Prairie NWR .Just after we crossed a huge curving bridge was the Pintail Wildlife Drive. Pulling into the first part of the drive we were absolutely astounded to see a huge flock of Snow Geese and Greater White Fronted Geese wheeling about in the sky as they prepared to settle in for the night. There must have been may thousands of birds with the sun flashing off their wings making them almost glow, then nearly disappearing as they turned in a different direction.
Turning into the one lane, one way drive along the top of a levy, the road took us out into the wetlands. There were lots of ducks and other waterfowl on the marshes and canals though we didn't see any alligators. As we neared the end of the drive a second flock of Snow Geese and Greater White Fronted Geese as big or bigger than the first flock was going through its own dance in the sky. It was simply awesome to watch, and reminded me of National Geographic videos of swirling schools of fish with the sun flashing off them. Really cool!Leaving the drive and returning to LA-27 north, we stopped at the main center for the Cameron NWR to walk out on their boardwalk and look out over the sea of grass. After the Pintail Drive experience it was fairly quiet. Last year when we stopped here we saw about twenty Red Eared Slider Turtles in the marshes around the main building. This year, due to the cold, all the turtles were holed up somewhere trying to stay warm.
Once back at the car we took the kids for another walk then headed back towards Lake Charles and our campground. With a quick stop at the store for dinner fixins we got home about 4:30 PM with the sun out and the temperature about fifty. So while Tina got dinner started I hooked up the car to the tow dolly to avoid doing it in the morning.Once we had dinner we settled in for the night, made our drive plans and took it easy.
To see all our photos, click on:
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