We had rushed to pack the car before the storm hit and it wasn't long before the rain started to fall. We wanted to take a walk in a swamp before we left Louisiana and we had a found a small nature preserve (called the Jean Lafitte National Historical Preserve) just to the south of New Orleans which is where we headed.

The thunder and lightening was immense as we crossed the Mississippi river and the streets soon began to flood. The storm passed as quickly as it had arrived and by the time we had arrived at the park the skies had cleared somewhat. Thankfully the temperature had dropped significantly and it was now a lot more comfortable.

We stopped in at the visitor centre and spoke to a ranger who gave us some suggestions. The large spider by the entrance was a sign of things to come. The first path we took was a quick boardwalk out into the swamp. The swamp was like I had imagined; the air was heavy and still, the light cutting through the canopy. It was an eerie place, guarded and closed. Any number of creatures could have been sitting right in front of us and we would not have known.

The path eventually broke out from the dense forest and into an area of thick reeds. We could hear and see movement nearby but weren't able to identify the culprit. I did see a large dragonfly swallowing a bug of some kind. Above all else we were hoping to see an alligator but the swamp was too think here to have a reasonable chance.

We moved a little further into the park and tried another walk in the hope of finding a gator. This trail would prove to be a trial of sorts thanks to the large and uncomfortable local fauna. Very quickly we began to see spiders like the one from the visitor centre which would build their webs in the empty space created by the path. Generally these webs would be around head height and often the only way that we would notice them was by seeing the huge spider crouched in the middle. We were soon forced into crouching as we walked to avoid taking a web to the face.

Now that our eyes were fixed firmly toward the sky, the trail prepared to unleash a new horror. We first noticed one at a viewpoint, a huge black grasshopper sitting on a fence. For the next ten minutes they were all over the path, forcing us to look out for both our heads and feet as we walked. These things were about 10cm long and very chunky. Luckily this bulk meant that they couldn't fly and their jumps were short. Still, it was unnerving to have them hoping around us as we walked. At this point we saw our first gator, a small one sitting beneath a section of boardwalk.

Our first gator

At this stage things were already uncomfortable and to make matters worse we then started to get harassed by mosquitoes and nasty flies that tried to get into our ears. A dodgy looking squirrel added to the unease until we finally reached the end of a trial at a long overgrown canal. We stood on a bridge watching a saw a much larger alligator which noticed us and started to swim towards us. It slunk below the water and then emerged just meters from the shoreline. We walked down to a little dock right beside the water and it swam right up. We backed off pretty swiftly but inched back a few moments later. It was amazing to stand so close to a huge wild predator.

Our friend was less than a meter from us

We hurried back along the path back to the car as fast as we could, the flies seemly becoming more and more intent on getting in our ears. Thankfully the return journey was much quicker and I'm glad to say we made it without a spider to the face or a grasshopper to the shoe.

We were all tired and dealing with various levels of sickness at this stage and had all decided that it was time for a bit of a holiday. We had had Pensacola Beach in Florida recommended to us and we had booked a night a campground nearby. Unfortunately the booking could not be extended so for the next two nights we moved a short distance back west to a campground in Alabama, near Perdido Beach.

We passed through Mississippi on the way to Florida

Our Alabama campsite

We spent two days relaxing on the beach and swimming. We tried to take a swim in the brackish water of Perdido Bay, out in front of our second campsite, but soon after jumping in, Hannah was stung by what was most likely a jellyfish and we were all out of the water within seconds. The sting looked nasty and actually bled a bit which was unexpected. We decided to stick to the regular beaches after that.

Gulf Shores, Alabama

On our second day most of us were in need of some admin time (blog writing for me) and decided to drive to a Starbucks to make use of their WiFi. Todd had decided to stay at the beach so we left him (without a phone) and agreed to pick him up a few hours later. Within minutes of arriving at Starbucks a huge thunderstorm moved in. The lightning was striking extremely close to us, at one point knocking out the power for a couple of seconds. We decided that we couldn't leave Todd out in such weather so Peggy and I set off to rescue him. The lightening had disabled a number of traffic lights and the heavy rain meant that people were driving slowly. This was exacerbated by a flood of people who were leaving the beach. Luckily we found Todd right where we left him, taking cover underneath a building.

The first confirmed snake sighting of the trip. This guy was no bigger than a worm

It was nice to stay in one place for a few days without having to do anything too energetic. While the campsites were nothing special, the beaches were nice and we all felt refreshed and ready to explore again. From here we set our sights on Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, which you can read all about next time.