Tickfaw State Park & Baton Rouge

We just enjoyed our first campsite in Louisiana at Tickfaw State Park.  This park is about 45 minutes east of Baton Rouge.  The park was awesome!  We had a very private campsite (as were many of the sites on the outside of the camping loop) with a wooden deck to keep us away from the swamp.  There was an awesome bathhouse with a clean and well equipped laundromat.  They had tons of bite-sized hiking/biking trails, many (all?) with boardwalks.  The whole park was just well maintained and beautiful.  

Our campsite at Tickfaw State Park

Louisiana sticker added!

Now, the downside is that the highest the temperature reached while we were there was around 55F.  We bundled up that day and biked the longest trail in the park, which was quite fun despite the cold.  We also went to the nature center to watch a video on the park and look at the exhibits inside the warm building - fortunately the only other soul in the center was the ranger, masked in one corner of the center.

Biking on the River Trail

If you look closely you can see me on the far side of the river

The other days we did some birdwatching from inside the RV - saw several cute fluffy songbirds and this handsome fellow.

Woodpecker at our campsite

We drove into nearby Ponchatoula for groceries.  It was a beautiful town!  We saw some true mansions on expansive grounds, complete with fountains.  As we drove around, I noticed a pattern we had seen a little of in Biloxi - houses, even nice expensive ones, that had uncovered cinderblock pillar foundations.  We learned at our last stop at Beauvoir that historically homes were constructed on stilts even in dry areas to help with cooling in the hot summers; or since the whole area is swampy, perhaps it is that or just to keep the foundations out of the moisture, or maybe both!  It was amazing how prevalent it was.  I got a representative picture of the cabins at the state park.

Cabins on cinderblocks

On our last day we drove into Baton Rouge - it was too cold to enjoy the way we hoped to, but we drove down to the Mississippi River, took a picture with a sculpture that occasionally sings (not while we were there) and drove by the old state capitol, which looks like a castle!

Sculpture on the river walk in downtown Baton Rouge -
the Mississippi River is in the background

Old State Capitol Building

This area was pretty nice, and we were sorely disappointed that it was too cold for us to stand being outdoors to enjoy it more.  Perhaps we'll return some day.