Waveland MS - Buccaneer State Park
Leaving Florida behind after 4 weeks at various county and state parks, we pointed the RV westward again to arrive at Waveland, MS. Waveland, located right on the Gulf of Mexico, was ground zero during Hurricane Katrina 2005 and home to
Buccaneer State Park. BSP was basically wiped out by Hurricane Katrina and totally rebuilt. All new facilities completed within the last four years include a very nice wave park/pool, disc golf course, hiking trails and some beach front sites. We were in the section right near the park office, and since this was just a stop over point on the way elsewhere as opposed to a desired location, this was totally acceptable. This is a nice park, located an hour East of New Orleans, and home to
Jean Laffite the pirate!
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| new park office built accordingly for future storms! |
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| Buccaneer State Park |
After two rainy days at BSP, we moved westward again, crossing the Mississippi at Baton Rouge.
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| Mississippi at Baton Rouge on I 10 |
Our new home for the next 3 days would be
Chicot State Park outside Ville Platte, LA in Cajun country. The park is very nice, fully wooded with Cyprus swamps and a rolling landscape.
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| Chicot State Park - our last night we were the only campers in the park!! |
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| Cyprus Swamp down over hill from our campsite |
We were fortunate to have a
Cajun couple camped directly across from us! Ed & Janie. They were very informative and suggested several items of interest. Ed is retired Air Force and at one time was stationed in PA! Janie told me where to see a
Toothache Tree ,
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| Toothache Tree |
The rest of the area is very, very flat with very dark soil, rice fields and a Cajun heritage. Within the park, we have various species of woodpeckers, grey herons and white herons, deer and numerous Cyprus trees. The weather has been cloudy and in the low 70’s with our last day being in the mid 70’s and sunny! We went over to Eunice, LA to visit the National Historic Site on Acadian Life to discover it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (dang, missed that on the web).
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| southern Louisiana rice fields |
Our last day in Louisana we took a ride through the bayou at Breau Bridge with Cajun Country Swap Tours. Shawn, the owner, gave us an excellent 2 hour tour of the bayou, swamps and lake at St Martin Lake. Alligators, Herons, turtles, Egrets, Red Shouldered Hawks, Double creasted Coromonts and Belted Kingfishers were among the wildlife observed. Shawn has lived in the immediate area his entire life as his family has for generations. He has a deep connection to the water and its wildlife and his Cajun accented commentary was greatly appreciated.
Cajun Country Swamp tours
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| Bayou tour - Cyprus trees, Duck Weed, many birds and Alligators! |
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| we saw dozens of the shy critters on our Bayou Tour! |
We are again on the road. As this is our last post before the holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Cooper and CJ
