Morgan City, Louisiana

We left the Rio Grande Valley on April 21st, with a quick stop in Victoria, Texas, before heading toward Louisiana.

LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA

We made a two night stop just east of Lake Charles at the Blue Heron RV Park in Iowa, LA. 

Since we were in Lake Charles for two nights, we had time for the 129-mile Creole Nature Trail Circle Tour. The scenic byway passes through four national wildlife refuges and includes a ferry crossing at the Calcasieu Ship Channel. Along the way we passed many towns that had been wiped off the map by hurricanes, leaving only cement foundations. On many of the foundations, we saw RVs apparently parked by the owners to replace their homes.

We took the loop in the clockwise direction and ended up in Lake Charles for dinner.

The two-mile Pintail Wildlife Drive was very interesting. We saw many birds along the way, including glossy and white-faced ibis, teals, stilts, purple gallinules, herons, egrets, coots, grebes, phoebes, warblers, red winged blackbirds, and a number of alligators.

The Ferry across the shipping channel took just minutes.

MORGAN CITY

On Monday we traveled 133 miles to our next stop in Morgan City. We stayed at the Lake End County Park and Marina on Lake Palourde. 

We had a quiet back-in spot just over the berm from the lake and marina.

International Petroleum Museum and Exposition

Morgan City is well known for its petroleum and shrimp industries. We found the Petroleum Museum very interesting. Our tour guide, Virgil, gave us a private tour of "Mr. Charlie", an authentic offshore oil drilling Rig. This drilling rig is retired and sits on the shore of the Lower Atchafalaya River. It is now used for education and training. Mr. Charlie was the first offshore drilling rig for depths up to 40 feet of water. From 1954 to 1986 Mr. Charlie drilled hundreds of offshore wells off the gulf coast.

The drilling rig had accommodations for a crew of 58 men.

This is a retired unmanned production platform, used to pump oil from well heads after the drilling rig had finished its work.

This basket is lifted by a crane down to the deck of a ship to load or offload workers.

View of the over 100-foot-tall oil drilling derrick. 

Southwest Reef Lighthouse

For over 70 years, since 1859, this lighthouse stood at the passage into the Atchafalaya Bay. It was retired in 1916 and now sits at this site on the Lower Atchafalaya River across from Morgan City.

The "Great Wall" runs for miles to protect the river communities from flooding. Floodgates can be closed as needed.

Nottoway Plantation

Prior to the civil war, more than half of America's millionaires lived between New Orleans and Natchez. Nottoway Plantation is the south's largest antebellum mansion. It was closed on the day we were in that area, but we did stop for pictures.

Completed in 1859, the 53,000 square foot mansion has 15-foot-tall ceilings.

View of the formal gardens in the rear of the mansion.

BATON ROUGE

Louisiana's Old State Capitol

This Gothic architectural building served as the state capitol for over 160 years until 1932.

The grand staircase provides great views of the beautiful stain glass dome.

The House of Representatives Chamber is now used for presentations. The building also contains an exhibit documenting Louisiana's political history.

Louisiana State Capitol

In 1932 the new State Capitol opened about ten blocks from the old state capitol.

On the front lawn of the capitol this statue marks the gravesite of the controversial governor, Huey Long, who was assassinated while in office in 1935. 

We took two elevators to the 27th floor observation deck. From there we could see all of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River. Just as we were about to board the elevator to return to the main floor, a waterpipe burst and the observation deck was closed for the rest of the day. Glad that was our first stop. Timing is everything.

House Chamber

Senate Chamber