New Orleans, Louisiana TRIP Day 2/4 (6/26/12)

Today, we meet alligators! No, not croccodiles! Croccodiles are bigger and have a longer snout, there's a huge difference.
We got up at 9:30, and we didn't have much time today. We are going to the swamp at 12:00PM! But the place is 45 minutes away so we have to leave earlier. We left at 10:30... but we might get lost, and we have to eat on the way, so it's not early.
We drove, and we drove, and we drove... until we finally go to an exit and eat at Wendy's! Yay! I got a Baked Potato and Chili, my brother got a Spicy Chicken Sandwich and a Quarter Pounder, and my mom got the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, also. But the coolest thing about that place is that there is the new version of the soda dispenser! It's the one with a touch screen, and it may seem like the only difference is that it is using a display, touch-screen, and electricity, but no, if you click on one of the sodas, it pops up with a bunch of different flavors from that soda you selected! For example, instead of just Sprite, there is Lime Sprite, Grape Sprite, Cherry Sprite, and a whole bunch of different things. If you like originals, they still have it. I also think that Coca-Cola company is the only one that has this. Maybe Pepsi has it, or maybe Coca-Cola will sell it to Pepsi. For $1M! But I think they might just copyright it. Anyway...
We drove on a narrow road for almost the entire time after we got off the highway. It was like a nature desert. It looked like the road went to nowhere in the middle of a green but dry place. But soon we saw some water. There was also some long growing green things that looked like grass. On the other side, there was also water. We we in the middle, and there were houses in the middle, and they looked like those houses near beaches, like the whole downstairs is the garage, and the upstairs is where they live. The garage had no doors, only poles supporting upstairs. It's like that so it won't flood that easily. You know, because like, the water goes *splash* and then you make a *gurgle*, like the noise you make when you're trapped in your house, the whole house is underwater, the windows don't open, and you flipped the door inside out and your pet beaver ate the keys. But the bad thing is, you will look very stupid if you don't buy a boat, and then when you buy the boat, you will notice it was overpriced, you will notice that instead of the logo saying Yamaha, it says Hahaha, and the boat runs on melted gold. That's probably a lot of money you will never get back, unless you go to the TV show, "Barter Kings", and then you scam them into buying your boat. But seriously, c'mon, who... is... going... to... buy... your... HOUSE?
Enough with the randomness. We had a brochure for the swamp island tour, a GPS, and a GPS on the iPhone, they were both Tom-Tom, and yet, NONE of the 3 gives the same road. I'm actually not sure which one we followed. I think we followed the brochure, and then finally, they all had the same route. The place was next to the road, although there are tall trees in the way, so it looks hidden, but there are 2 signs that said "Cajun Encounters Swamp Tours", so I think it's hard to miss it. The parking were all grass and rocks. It's like when a Super Bowl happens, and the parking lot runs out of space.

The building was very small there. It was just a waiting room (outside, but there were shades and the anti bug-looking net, like the ones you put on windows), a way to the bathroom, and the ticket office. The ticket office had candy, drinks, and tourist items. It was like a tourist store mixed with gas station items. An adult ticket costs $25, and a child ticket costs $15. To make sure you payed, you get a wristband. It said on the wristband, " "Since it was like more than 90 degrees, I bought a Welches Grape drink. I had to go use the restroom, and when I came out, there was a person pointing to a raccoon. There was actually a raccoon there! It was eating animal food. I guess that's the only way to keep a raccoon there, or else it would run away, but get crushed by a car. Unless if it goes into nature, but then it sinks in the water. UNLESS!! If it's smart. But an ALLIGATOR'S brain is the size of a walnut, so who knows?
There was a small path we had to take, and it led to the boats on the river. Good thing it had shade! Or else I might of died because of the heat. I was also required to wear a life jacket because I'm under 18. There aren't any interesting things, except for the pictures!

OMG an alligator! It's totally looking and heading for you.

If we saw an alligator, to lure it in, we gave it a marshmallow. He (the tour guide) said that marshmallows are efficient and cheap, just like his boss. :P

THAT'S MY MARSHMALLOW!

There was also a channel that was created when Hurricane Katrina came.

Then a lot more alligators appeared. We must be very lucky!

We were just moving, talking, and feeding alligators for 2 hours and 15 minutes. For 30 minutes, we were going into a narrow swamp road, so it was very hot! But the fact about that part is: 10 nests of the Bald Eagle are in Honey Island Swamp! Yep, Honey Island is its name. When we got out of the river, the captain took out a baby alligator and let us touch it! The skin wasn't hard. In fact, it was very smooth! 

We left the swamp, and since it was so hot we decided to go to Wendy's to get some more drinks! But it seems like we got off at the wrong exit, because that restaurant didn't have the complex machine. Oh well. I can still mix sodas! That's exactly what I did.

We drove back, and we stayed in the hotel until my dad came, and when we decided we were hungry. We left around 6PM and went downstairs. We asked the person on the tour guide desk where there is seafood. She recommended a nearby place called "Deanie's Seafood". It was around 6 blocks away, and it had a little bit of the old burger restaurants, where you could see the cooks. I didn't pay much attention, though. I ordered their Catch of The Day Fish. I had to choose between Red Fish or something called Mahi Mahi Fish. My brother told me to get Mahi Mahi Fish, so I did. While we were waiting, instead of having bread, we had these little potatoes with butter. It had a sweet taste, but I know it's not Sweet Potatoes. Our appetizer came first: Barbecue Shrimp. The shrimp was not peeled, and it's head, and legs were there, so that took a while to eat, and there were also bread. The bad part though, is that there is only 5 shrimp! Oh well. It's still worth it while we dip the sauce in the bread. We also had salad. I asked for Italian dressing, but they don't have it, so the closest thing was sicillian tomato. Finally, the food came. There were mashed potatoes, the fish, and baby shrimp (or at least I think). There was a lemon included for the fish, so that's good. For some reason I like lemon on fish. Then when the bill came, I went to see the price for my fish. $27!! I thought market price was suppose to be cheap, but I guess my theory was wrong. We walked around again to visit, went back to the hotel, and slept.

I'll add pictures tomorrow!