Last Sunday, Mother's Day, we packed up and headed east to Madisonville.  When we travel we try to avoid the interstates as much as possible.  They are boring and tend to make us sleepy.  Interstate 10 through Louisiana can be pretty but the road surface is awful and in need of repair.  We chose highway 190 as we've traveled this road before and it's interesting driving through small towns.  Well there's a section that they're working on and we know why!  Jim got an upper body work out just trying to keep us between the lines.

After two stops, one to stretch and relax from the bumpy ride and one for lunch we finally made it to Fairview Riverside State Park in Madisonville, Louisiana.  Nestled in the pine and live oak trees on the Tchefuncte river it's one of our favorite places to stay.  We always stop here when in the New Orleans area.

home sweet home

As you can see we are among the oaks just dripping with Spanish Moss

our backyard

 We chose this site, back by the boat launch because it's so pretty

bald cypress on the Tchefuncte River

 There's a boardwalk along the river with benches set up so you can watch the river.  We saw some folks water skiing and towing tubes Sunday afternoon.

my fellas sitting on a  live oak

bald cypress on the Tchefuncte river

Jim spent Monday morning cleaning bugs off the front of the rig and the washing the truck.  No matter which road you travel it's springtime in Louisiana and that means bugs!

Tuesday we drove across Lake Pontchartrain and visited a couple of our favorite places.  We found diesel for $3.70 so we filled up the tank.  Then we headed to the Brick Oven for a pizza....but everyone else decided they wanted to eat there too.  So we headed to another favorite spot Deanie's in Bucktown.  We each had a schooner of Abita Amber (we should have split one!) and enjoyed the boiled potatoes they offer as a treat to get you started.  Jim ordered fried shrimp and catfish and I had a delicious bowl of seafood gumbo.  I was so full when we left that it hurt!  And we still had another stop....

As many people know Whole Foods Market is my favorite grocery store in the whole wide world!  That's where we headed next.  We picked up a few necessary items and some not so necessary but delicious items.  I was surprised by our restraint!  But perhaps that was due to the meal we just ate  :-)

Yesterday Jim cleaned up the trikes.  They get nasty riding on the back of the rig.  I've been informed that a weld or two on the rack is in need of fixing so the trikes will be riding on the bed until we can find a welder.

Today is our last day here, we would have liked to stay longer but this state park is a popular place and they stay booked up on the weekends.  So we'll head out in the morning and head east.

Fairview-Riverside State Park, Madisonville, Louisiana

We left Alabama yesterday morning under cloudy skies. Our trip wasn't long, about 166 miles. We stopped for lunch and we arrived at the park around 1430. Within an hour we were set up and sitting outside enjoying a cold beer under sunny skies with balmy, pine scented breeze.

This is the view we had...

After a dinner of leftover stir fry and egg rolls we went for a walk. We saw evidence of high water from the Tchefuncte River. Walking along the boardwalk you can see the waters edge has been eroded in spots.

the cypress trees are still lovely

not sure what this is but I've seen a lot of them in bloom along with the goldenrod

Tchefuncte River

This morning I was up early enough to see the Moon about to set

This oak looks mystical to me in the morning mist

Jim asked if I'd like to drive across the lake to drive down Magazine Street and visit Whole Foods Market. Well duh! So after breakfast, dishes and getting dressed we headed across Lake Ponchartrain to visit some familiar areas.

To me New Orleans is home. We spent over twenty years here and I've never lived longer anywhere else. We drove around the Garden District, even managed to hit new streets due to an accident. Don't you love exploring new areas?

We had lunch at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen on Carrollton Ave before heading to Whole Foods. I love this store and had fun shopping there. I didn't even go down all the aisles because it tempts me to buy more than we need!

We stopped at a light I saw this beautiful home. You could spend a lifetime taking pictures of all the beautiful homes in New Orleans!