Across the Causeway!

My adventures in New Orleans continue!



Today my friend Robert took me across the Causeway, to Abita Springs and to a Fontainebleau State Park. ( http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/iFontaine.aspx )

This morning I headed over to Robert's house, and we jumped in his truck and went across the Causeway... 24 mi. to Mandeville, LA. We stopped at the visitors center and picked up several fliers, including a wonderful one showing the history of Abita Springs.

So we headed to lunch at the brewpub in Abita Springs, a few miles inland.
( http://www.abitabrewpub.com/AboutUs.html )

I had a muffaletta, and a sampler of the Abita beers... most of them are very good... the amber is so-so, but the wheat was very good. The sandwich was good too, but if I recall correctly, the one I'd had in the French Quarter was better.

Then we went searching for a Venus Flytrap Park listed on the brochure... but couldn't find it... so we settled for going to the State Park on the lake.



The park was one of Mandeville's estates. This is the old sugar mill... or what is left of Mandeville's mill.

The ranger said the mill was in operation until 1860... but there are no known photos of it when it was in operation.

It's a nice park. In the Visitors Center we saw a man making arrowheads from flint. He was delighting a 10 year old boy and his mother, and making a very intricate head-- flaking bits of flint off of it as he talked.

While we were in the Visitors Center, a thunderstorm passed.

After it cleared we headed for the marsh path...






and finally, the beach:



32 oz big-gulps in our hands, we headed for home. The Dr. Pepper ran out before the causeway did.