camping – Lois and Clark Explorers

Our first stop for the day was Barataria Preserve. It is one of 6 sights scattered across Louisiana as part of the Jean Lafitte’s National Parks. We arrived to discover, not only are dogs not allowed but there was only one short trail open. We put Chanel in the car with a window open and walked the .25 mile trail. Luckily it was early and the temperatures were in the high 60’s low 70’s by the time we finished. This guy is the only wildlife we saw. After walking the trail, getting my National Park stamp, we head to the city. New Orleans has lots of dog friendly restaurants and we chose
Flamingo A Go Go. It didn’t disappoint. We had lunch and they even brought a bowl of water for Chanel. She is soooo good. She sat quietly while we ate. After lunch we headed, on foot, to the French Quarter. After getting lost, we went back to the car and drove to the French Quarter. It was a full day and we got back in time for a not so spectacular sunset on Lake Pontchartrain and dinner and a few games of scrabble. John slaughtered me in both games. OMG! It was bad.

This was our favorite sunset pictures from that night.

The next morning we got up to go to a walk at a Bayou but unfortunately we could not find it. Our gps said we had arrive but there was nothing there. We tried another address–same thing. We were in the middle of a bayou but there were no walkways or parking lots. We did find a parking lot along the street with a dock and boat launch. We stopped and took a few pictures of some ducks and headed for another location. We arrived there only to discover–no pets. Ugh. We went back to the campsite and decided to go ahead and leave. The trails were closed at the park and we could be home in 6 1/5 hours so why not. It was only noon.

OMG! I forgot to publish this! lol

We got an early start on vacations this year! We no sooner came back from our last trip of 2025 and we are off again. This is the year for taking it slow and enjoying the ride. So often we jump in the truck and “gotta get there!” No rush this time. Our first stop was in Prattville, AL–just a little over 100 miles. My goodness it is barely out of town. Our goal was to take our time, enjoy every stop. Well this one may be close to home but it was also not far from Selma, AL where the Civil Rights March began in 1965. Our goal was to drive the route that these brave leaders took. (We did cheat a little by taking I-65 a couple exits).
Going to give you all a little history lesson here and most is quoted from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “On March 7th, 1065, 600 marchers led by future CongressmandJohn Lewis and Hosea Williams met at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, AL. The marchers departed for a planned 54 mile journey to Montgoery on foot to advocate for the equal voting rights for Black Americans. They made it to the Edmund Pettus Bridge (which is only half a mile from the church) where they were stopped and brutally attacked by local law enforcement. The violence, filmed by news broadcasters, shocked the nation, and the event became known as “Bloody Sunday.” The march restarted a few weeks later, where after four days of travel, the crowd swelled to over 20,000 in Montgomery. The events swayed public opinion and motivated the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”

Black men were given the right to vote in1870 but, many southern states disenfranchised them through poll taxes, literacy tests and threats of harm.

An Interpretive Center was built around the halfway mark and we were lucky enough to get there before the close. Here are some pictures from our drive. John had to take a picture of the meter. We had to pay 5 cents to park for our picture of the Capitol.

We did not get pictures of Campsite 2 as it was on the opposite side of a divided 4 lane hwy. Campsite 3 was just a sign. I got a picture of the sign but, that part wasn’t special.

The Lowndes Interpretive Center was very interesting. It is so sad to read some of the plaques telling how Black Americans were mistreated, abused, oppressed. I cannot imagine having so much hatred for someone based on the color of their skin. So much hatred that you could harm someone just because. They weren’t doing anything wrong.

After our journey we went into Prattville to see the town. Just like a Hallmark movie still decorated in holiday lights, trees, wreaths. It was beautiful. Our host at the boondocker sight suggested we visit the town and stop at Uncle Micks Cajun–so we did. We brought it home since we had the dog in the car and it was already getting dark.

The year has come to its end and we are on our last camping trip of the year. Each year for the past 5 or so years we have taken our last trip of the year immediately after Christmas. It is a time when our kids are spending time with their in-laws and we get time to ourselves. Makes perfect sense to us to take a short trip. In the past we have done, Panama City, Biloxi, Outer Banks (a couple times), Fort Pickens in the Panhandle and this year it is Wilmington, NC.

We are staying with a Boondocker for 3 nights in Bolivia, NC. We arrived about 5:00 and set things up. It was already getting dark so we stayed in, had some leftover pizza and played some scrabble. John actually used all 7 tiles in the 2 games we played. In all the years we have played scrabble, neither of us has ever used all the tiles in one turn. I think he cheated.

We had a good nights sleep and headed to Wilmington to explore. We wanted to go to Airlie Gardens but dogs were not allowed so we headed to the Riverwalk.

From there we headed to the other side of the river to see the USS North Carolina. Which served during WWII.

After walking around the USS North Carolina we were getting pretty hungry and we really wanted to see the beach. Needless to say NC allowed everyone to build on the beach side so you can’t see the beach as you drive along the road closest to it. I hate that. I love riding along the water. After studying the map we headed toward Jack Mackerals Bar and Grill toward the end of the island. We had lunch, which was delicious and decided to head to the tip of the island and catch a ferry back to the mainland.

And then we took a ride on the ferry. Just a cheap thrill for both of us. Oh, and while we were at the restaurant we started looking up lighthouses because we were on coastal land so there had to be lighthouses somewhere near us. Sure enough there is one that can be see from the ferry. Score!