Louisiana

Wednesday, January 16
We left the Wolf River RV Resort today. Actually we left Mississippi as well. Time to head further West, but not far. The next stop is Abita Springs RV Resort.

We saw these guys every morning out the back window of the trailer. The white one seemed to be the boss.

A Blue Heron was a regular visitor too.

We saw several of these Bluebirds

It was a short two mile trip up to Interstate 10, then headed west. It was only about 20 miles to the Louisiana state line and of course a stop at the visitor center.

Lots of rivers flow through this area on the way to the Gulf.

They used to test the Saturn V rockets here that were used in the Apollo program.

Interstate 10 heading to the sky......or is that Louisiana!

The Pearl River that separates Mississippi and Louisiana.

Elevated roadway over the bayou.

Another 20 minutes down I 10 and we were heading north on Hwy 59 toward Abita Springs. A very tight roundabout and down a very narrow road to the campground.

A very nice Coast to Coast resort

Nice corner lot. Parked beside a fellow Albertan. Haven't seen many for a while.

The campground is full.

The pet geese are kinda cute but they like to take over the place!

Saturday, January 19
Yes, I am skipping a couple of days. We went into New Orleans on Thursday and Friday and will be sure to post an account of our adventure, but for now I'll let you in on a quick trip to the local brewery. It poured rain this morning and they had tornado warnings only about 40 miles north of us so we stayed put until the storm passed. The sun came out and we headed out as well. First stop was the Abita Springs Brewery for a tour and tasting. Then a stop at the grocery store and back to the trailer. The wind has picked up and there could be frost by morning. We started the day at about 70 F (20 C) this morning and maybe 32 F (0 C) by tomorrow morning. A big change in the weather.

A big variety of shirts in their gift shop.

The 'beer garden' and food truck outside the window.

Some samples of barley roasted to various degrees. Hops are in the lower left. Interesting smells.

Our guide gave us a very informative 30 minute tour of their amazingly clean facility. They moved to this location in 1996.

They weren't brewing today so the kettles were empty.

They recover the steam generated by the kettles for re-use. The condensed water is used in the next batch of beer.

The beer making process. No need to take the tour now!

Down in the lower level below the kettles. Lots of piping and valves.

The fermenting tanks. Most are 800 gallon.

The 'skunk works' where they mess around with various beers to make new flavors.

Their hard root beer was quite good. A bit sweet for me though.

The tap room. They had all their varieties available for sale.

The tasting bar. With your $5 tour fee you got four samples of beer (or pop if you wanted).

The Abita Springs Brewery. Nice place and pretty good beer. My favorite was the Amber Ale.

........and that was Our View From Here!