On the next page... into Orlando and spending time in Walt Disney World.

O.k.  Take a swig of beer and fill your mouth with popcorn and say this word... ATCHAFALAYA.  That’s the name of the basin just outside of Lafayette where we took a 2 hour airboat ride in the swamp.  It’s the largest swamp in the United States and we happened to get there on a warm winter day, low 70’s, just a couple of hours before sunset.  We asked about rides and the operator said he normally took 6 to a boat but if we wanted to go it was such a beautiful day that he’d take us.  In fact, since it was the end of the day he thought he’d take his normal route through the swamp the opposite direction of that he usually did so that we would be in the Cypress Forest during sunset.

For more pictures of our adventure in the Atchafalaya Swamp, including our first alligator of the trip and the Cajun version of an Italian gondola ride, see the photos pages for Trip 2 by clicking HERE.

From Lafayette

we drove north,

through

St. Francisville

and its plantation homes, to

Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Over 1,340 monuments, a restored Union gunboat and a National Cemetery mark the 16 mile tour road through the battlefield that gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union forces under General Grant.

Vicksburg was the beginning of the end for our trip plans.  Bailey had gotten sick so we didn’t make too many stops from there to Florida.  But be sure to check out the Trip 2 Photos pages for many more pictures of the Vicksburg Battlefield, Plantations between Lafayette and Vicksburg, and the Gulf Coast.