The day before yesterday we went to the Cabildo museum which has exhibits about the history of southern Louisiana (see picture groups 1&2). We then went to the Presbytere museum, where they had exhibits about hurricane Katrina.
The next day (yesterday) we went to a nature preserve (my mom said it is called the Barataria Nature Preserve). There, we went on a walk on a boardwalk thorough a swamp. We suddenly saw a raccoon on the boardwalk, walking towards us (picture groups 3,4), he then jumped into the swamp and walked away. We also saw lizards with blue tails and blue and green dragonflies. We then drove along the Mississippi river, through some sugarcane plantations. We drove north for several hours, before camping at a national forest (we were the only ones there, even though it only cost three dollars.
Today we had breakfast (toast) and continued north, into Arkansas (we are now 2000 miles from home (according to the iPhone).
P.S. please comment if you are still reading this.
After Posting the last blog post, we arrived at Bahia Honda State Park. After setting up camp, we went snorkeling at the beach (we didn't see very many fish) At one point I noticed that we were suddenly moving to one side, and realized we were in a strong current. I told my mom and we quickly escaped the current. After snorkeling we went on a nature hike, where we saw tropical plants, and a few butterflies. Yesterday we went on another snorkeling tour to another reef. This time we got an underwater camera (film using unfortunately, so I can't post the photos until the film develops :( (and even then it will be photos of photos)) after the tour, we snorkeled at a beach near camp. Later that day, we went on a hike, where we saw a deer, some birds, and the sunset (see picture groups 4,5 ) Today we are going to go snorkeling on another island (called Marathon Key
A manatee! We saw this one near our tour boat.
Top half: the sunset panoramic from our hike; bottom half: a panoramic photo of our trailer (not the best, but shows the general shape) go to http://occipital.com/user/0170-434347/patrick-leiser to see 360 degree panoramic photos.
Yesterday we took a tour of the Capitol. We walked through an underground tunnel to the Capitol, stood at the center of Washington D.C. (picture group 2), saw the original supreme court,went inside the Capitol dome (picture group 3,4),saw the original supreme court and senate,and witnessed the house voting (unfortunately no cameras were allowed). When we left the Capitol, we went to the national gallery of art (picture group 6). We then went back to camp, and had almost fallen asleep when we heard sirens and another loud noise, when the camp police came near our campsite, we asked him what it was. He said that there was a storm with 50-90 MPH winds approaching. We quickly packed and locked the trailer and drove the car to a nearby hotel (leaving the trailer at the campsite in case the storm struck before we arrived). Just as we got to the hotel, it started to rain and we saw lightning in the distance. We checked in and took the stairs too our room (the power went out for a few seconds during the time we would have been in the elevator (if I hadn't thought of that and taken the stairs))
The next day we were worried that the trailer (still in the campground) was destroyed. Unfortunately our trailer was in the last place in the loop so we had a lot of time to see the damage that the storm had done (blowing down trees and destroying tents). In fact, the campground was closed because of the damage and because there is scheduled to be another storm tonight. When we finally arrived at our trailer we were relived to find it intact (picture group 7-end) although one large branch either barely missed the trailer or hit it and slid off(seen in pictures). We then took the trailer to a new camp area (a picnic area used as a campground substitute for today)
Top left: a model of the Capitol; top right: views through the window; bottom right: a plaster mold for the statue on top of the Capitol (just the mold weighs 1300 pounds!).
Top right: the center of the Capitol, and the center of washington D.C., the marker I am standing on is indented from all the people standing on it; bottom left: the original supreme court; bottom right: the original supreme court's clock, which was always kept five minutes fast so they would start on time.
Top left:the first African American woman in congress; others: inside the dome of the Capitol.
Top left: the Capitol dome; others: the original senate
Left:me with the trailer Right:my mom with welcome to Kansas sign (she's never been to kansas before, so was excited)
Today we reached Kansas and went to the prairie museum in Colby (pictures below) and saw a restored neighborhood of the pioneers.we are camping (kamping ;) ) at another KOA in Salina, Kansas
The prairie museum top: Me (left) and my mom (right) in a painting bottom left: a barn ( from pioneers) Bottom right: me ringing a bell in front of a school house
click read more to see photos
Our new teardrop trailer (and me)
Welcome to my vacation blog!
This is a blog I will use during my trip across the country this Sumer to keep anyone reading this updated on my progress