Mon/Tue Apr 4-5 2016 - Baton Rouge

Mon/Tue Apr 4-5 2016 - Baton Rouge
Mon - Long drive - We set off at about 8:15 and knew we had a long drive. It was slow going through San Antonio (rush hour), but generally speaking the drive was not too bad. We had anticipated traffic in Houston, but other than a couple of slow downs we were fine. Arrived tired and ready for a break at around 5pm. Glad we had decided to stop for 2 nights. There was a bit of a mix up about our site (they had given it away), but after a few minutes of head scratching and doleful looks we landed a great site in the row behind, on the end of the row.. lots of room, its own fireplace and patio furniture and lamppost. We had our meal planned and after we ate, we set up our little red campfire and relaxed.. beautiful evening. Plan on exploring Baton Rouge tomorrow.




Tues -  Apr 5 - Breakfast and Baton Rouge

Derek decided to treat Janice to a tea in bed and then proceeded to make a fabulous bacon and egg 'full english' breakfast outside, complete with orange juice and more tea... yum! Great start to a great day. Headed in to Baton Rouge for a fun-filled day of exploring. We went first to the USS KIDD .. a WW2 battleship... very interesting to see the technology and the living areas and also to read about the war service of this surprisingly small ship. 
After a walk along the Mississippi riverside promenade and taking pictures of the old governors mansion, we headed into town on the recommendation of the guy at the USS KIDD museum to go for fresh oysters to a small place downtown called "Jolie Pearl". 

If you like fresh Oysters (and Oysters Rockefeller) and you are in Baton Rouge ... GO THERE!!! We had a frank political discussion with the young server. She was telling us about the poverty in the the State of Louisiana and how bad the transportation system is, and how she is scared of Trump actually becoming President of the USA. She seemed very bright, but not to interested in her job, kind of sad really. Such a depressed area of the country. We then decide to go to the State Capital Building and after a trip up the elevator to view the surroundings from the observation tower, we were lucky to find that both the state senate and the house of representatives were in session, and we were allowed to sit in and watch.

 

I was totally in shock at how the majority of attendees (I mean senators and state representatives) were not listening at all to the business at hand.. separate conversations being held everywhere (and loudly). It seemed so disrespectful and irresponsible. No wonder there are problems when politicians can't seem to focus in meetings. It would not be tolerated in a business boardroom!! How do they get away with it?? (Oh lord am I sounding like Trump??) After shaking our heads and leaving, we went straight to Don's Seafood (we seem to be eating ... a lot!!) Derek ordered the mega sized seafood mixed grill and proceeded to gobble down about a 1/4 of it. Janice opted for the more sensible fresh seafood salad and ate the lot!! But we have some great left-overs for tomorrow.  Back to camp to watch CNN and catch up on the day's political - US election news. It is quite fascinating, in a train-wreck sort of a way!!