Every night at Betty's, all the RVers meet in the patio of her office/house and share the events of the day. We got lots of recommendations for things to do and places to see. Yesterday, we ventured off to Avery Island, home of Tobasco. We took in the General Store first and gawked at all the varieties of Tobasco available as well as other tourist-slanted stuff. A busload of students had just gone in the factory for the tour which is controlled as to numbers allowed in at any given time. Rather than wait for the next tour we opted to visit the gardens. Beautiful old oaks with moss and lichens dripping from the branches. Streams and rivers running through the entire acreage. Ned McIlhenny created the garden as an attempt to save egrets from extinction due to their popularity for feathers for women's hats. He built platforms for them to nest on and they return every year to raise their young. Amongst the birds roosting on the platforms were Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Anihingas, and Roseate Spoonbills. Of course, we saw a few alligators also, all very small. Have not seen any Water Moccasins so far.

Today we ventured out for more birding with another couple in the park, Jo and Fred. They wanted to visit a new refuge, White Lake, and we were happy to go too. Along the way we passed some flooded fields (rice is one of the principle crops grown here) filled with all kinds of wading birds and a few ducks (mostly blue winged teal). We just stopped in the middle of the road and tried to identify and photo as many as we could. Rural area, no traffic. I guess we were a bit of an oddity, because one woman stopped to ask if we were having trouble. White Lake was a bit of a disappointment. Its a very nicely maintained refuge, but the trees are so dense not very many birds could be seen. Although, we could identify some by their song.

On the way back we stopped at a restaurant favored by locals for some authentic Cajun food. Rob had Turtle Picante (pronounced peecant) Sauce. The place was packed with locals on their lunch hour. Good food. No dinner tonight but we'll be in the patio for happy hour. Betty is having someone come in to entertain us.

Tomorrow we're off to Foley, Alabama on the Gulf shore.