White Castle Ferry

And for my second trick...

This afternoon I had an appointment in White Castle. Not in a White Castle over a stack of sliders, but White Castle, LA, in Iberville Parish. There are some nice plantations out this way, but I didn't have time to take any photos of them today.

White Castle is on the south/west side of the Mississippi from Baton Rouge, so to get there I had to take the "new bridge" - nothing unusual about that. But after crossing the bridge, I had another 30 minutes to drive along LA-1 to the southeast. The problem is, you can find yourself a long way from a bridge doing this, and I needed to get home to Ascension Parish. I had three options. The first was to go back to the bridge I had crossed earlier, but that would take me back toward downtown and away from home. The second was to keep driving down LA-1 to the Sunshine Bridge near Donaldsonville, but that would have taken me past home. The third option is to take a ferry. The Louisiana Department of Transportation operates a number of ferries in and around Baton Rouge.

These pictures were taken on my BlackBerry again since I didn't have my camera, but I couldn't resist. I admit I was actually smiling and really enjoying the experience, like a little kid. It was a fun little diversion at the end of the day, and really makes you appreciate the size and power of the Mississippi.

Baton Rouge | Spanish Town

Hello kiddies! Sorry it's been so long again. But you're in for a treat because I have two posts to make today. The first one has been a long time coming. Last fall, my wife and I did a walking tour of the Spanish Town neighborhood of Baton Rouge. Spanish Town has the distinction of being Baton Rouge's oldest neighborhood. Indeed, when established, the land was under the control of the Spanish government. Today, it's a sort of bohemian, eclectic neighborhood with a few small businesses and lots of old homes, including a number of bungalows. It's also not very big - just a few square blocks on the east side of downtown Baton Rouge. I haven't posted any of the photos yet because they were all taken on BlackBerry and I'm not thrilled with the quality... but last weekend we also took in the Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade, and I took some pictures of it, so I guess it's time to share everything.

First, the pictures from the walking tour:

The tour began at the Louisiana State Museum.

This home is a Civil War survivor and was used as a hospital during the war.

Spanish Town residents chatting on a nice Saturday morning.

The residents of Spanish Town are no fans of developer Richard Preis, who residents see as wanting to destroy Spanish Town in the name of progress.

Capitol Grocery.

Okay, now for some flavor from the Spanish Town Parade. Note the love for Richard Preis on one of the floats as well.

This is looking north, up 9th Street toward Spanish Town Road.

This gentleman was selling slices of king cake.

The people next to us offered the police bowls of gumbo.

PICTURE OF BOOBS (I did that just for pageviews).

Boudreaux (as in Boudreaux and Thibodeaux).