Yet another favorite moment from my friend the orangutan. He puts bags on his head to stay cool. 

THis is the state rodent A nutria or beaver rat. They were brought over by the french to make fur coats out of. But unbelievably so no one wanted a nutria pelt. A few escaped, mated and now the city is swarming with them. They actually have a hunting season for them it's so bad.  

We drove down to the lower ninth ward. We haven't been down there yet. A year later and they still have no electricity or potable water. Many of the homes have been gutted others are just heaps of rubble. It was once again a sobbering experience. If you look at the roof you can see someone had written the word HELP. I'm sure this house was one of those that had people stranded on the top. Here are a few of the photo's from our visit. 

This is where our church used to be. It had major flooding and they tore it down a few months ago. 

This house was stopped by the tree. Otherwise it would have been in the middle of the street. 

We saw a couple of the homes where poeples pets died. Such a sad thing. 

 

good thing they had an umbrella handy. 

I'm not sure if it's supposed to be looting, loitering or both. 

 

 

 

I think it's the blazers fault. He rearended the other car. Or was is the telephone poles??? 

 

We did a swamp tour on the bayou. It's crazy to think people really live in a place like this. 

We only saw smaller gators this trip. 4-5 feet long. But big enough for me. 

Some of the smaller boats sunk with the hurricanes. The guide told us they had more damage with Rita than with Katrina on the bayou 

Liam had had it. If he couldn't touch the gators he was no longer interested. He cried so hard, that I had to hide in the bathroom on the boat til he calmed down and fell asleep. Our fault it was during nap time. 

One of the first places to go to in New Orleans is Cafe Dumonde in the french quarter and get a beignet. I try to only go when people are in town, not the healthiest treat around. 

If you like scones you'd love a beignet. They put about a lb. of powdered sugar on each one. Makes for a great mess!