Welcome to Louisiana

After getting our Montana sticker back in June, we finally made it to lucky state number 13, Louisiana!  We stopped at a rest stop right after entering Louisiana, where we saw an alligator in the water.  We celebrated with an alligator po'boy sandwich from Steamboat Bill's in Lake Charles.  Currently camped in Chicot (chee-koh) state park.

 

State number 13!

 

Welcome to Louisiana!

 

Gator in the wild

 

Gator on a roll

 

Jacob Feeding the Coots

Jacob having a ball feeding birdseed to the coots at Central Park in HB.

The Coot

The coot is a waterfowl. Curious to me was that instead of webbed feet it has webbed toes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Coot

Honk! Honk!

Huntington Beach wildlife on the attack!

Jacob's Elk

An elk walks into a bar.
The bartender asks him,
"Why such a long face?"

Racoons on a Fence

Time to rethink the chain link fence to keep the racoons out.

Bear-ly able to stand

Gentle Ben's cousin definitely looks to be ready for winter.

Simon and the Buffalo

"My, what a big nose you have"
"Feed me or I'll knock over your car"

Audra and the Buffalo

Audra gets a bit closer than she would like to the buffalo.

Lunch at Shark Cove

The North American Kangaroo

Sea Lions on a Buoy

This one is from the whale watching trip I took with Jessica in January.  Soon after this they all scattered because the boat got too close for comfort.

Into the Lion's Mouth

Jessica lost her head at Legoland in 2008...

Seagull Nest

Common Dolphin Plan View

Without whitewater to give away their speed you can't really tell how
fast they are going.

The Egret and the Seagull

Usually this is the domain of seagulls and egrets maintain a haughty
superiority by sticking to the marshy grasslands. This fine specimen
decided it wanted to fight with the seagulls over scraps of bait on
the pier.

Turkey Vulture

In California, if it looks like a hawk with no head it is probably a turkey vulture.  Unlike it's cousin the California condor, it is not endangered and does not have a 10 ft wingspan.  This one is probably a mere 5 ft tip to tip.

Whale Tail and Dolphin

Apparently the dolphins like to hang around with the whales but the
whales are just annoyed by the dolphins. Who knew dolphins could be
annoying?

Pacific Grey Whale

We went out dolphin watching and saw some whales. They put on quite a show.

Common Dolphins

We went out whale watching and found some common dolphins. They
swarmed around the boat and put on quite a show.