Now that we’ve checked New Orleans off of our list, today our destination was the Barataria Preserve which is located in south Louisiana. Like, really far south. We’re off to the wild wetlands!
The Barataria Preserve is a part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and protects 26,000 acres of bayous, swamps, marshes, and hardwood forests.We learned about the wetland crisis and what is being done to try to protect the area. No other place on Earth is disappearing as fast as the Mississippi River delta. The visitor center had lots of animals for Adler to identify.Adler already knew all about nutria but the rest of us hadn’t even heard of this particular rodent. Nutria are an invasive species that eats the roots of the plants and trees. They are such a pest that the state of Louisiana offers a bounty for each nutria tail brought in by trappers. Where do we sign Adler up?! 🤣After the visitor center it was time to head out on the boardwalks and see what we could find. 😬The kids spotted a green anole right away. Anole change their color based on background, lighting, and temperature. This one was very camouflaged!Baldcypress have knees?! These woody protrusions are actually from their roots and help the tree to breathe. It wasn’t long before we spotted an alligator. You could only see the eyes and snout out of the water so it was a lucky find.Adler loved this wild animal scavenger hunt while I, on the other hand, felt mildly terrified thinking about what could be hiding under the boardwalk. As we were moseying along, we turned around, and all of sudden we saw this right we had just been standing…I may or may not have screamed in surprise because this alligator was SO CLOSE to the edge of the boardwalk. 😱He had not been there a second before so I was right about things lurking under our feet!After I had recovered and we kept walking, it wasn’t long before they spotted yet another animal…Umm, yep. That is a water moccasin, aka cottonmouth, aka time for me to get out of this swamp. Smile if you survived the swamp walk!Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Junior Rangers – that’s a mouthful. 😮💨 Similar to the visitor center in New Orleans, this site was interesting because there was nothing about Jean Lafitte. We did our own research and learned he was a pirate who helped Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans. Now we just need to figure out why his national park site doesn’t actually have any information about him…We couldn’t leave Louisiana without an authentic sno-ball. It was pretty obvious that we were first timers so luckily the server took pity on us and helped with our order. The options and flavor combinations were endless so it was overwhelming! First, there was a mound of fluffy shaved ice flavored with syrup, then stuffed with ice cream, more shaved ice and finally topped with sweetened condensed milk. I think that my pancreas is still reeling from that sno-ball! Everett knows that it’s never too late for Mardi Gras decor when you’re in NOLA.
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