Some of our adventures don't turn out like we had planned . . .

After three days at Palmetto Island State Park, we were on the road again. At this point we are heading straight north through the state of Louisiana to our next stop near Breaux Bridge. We're still in the heart of Cajun country, as we're staying at Poche's Fish-n-Camp RV Park. We took this picture across one of the fishing lakes towards the line of RVs where we are parked.

This is actually another of the lakes on the other side of our RV. We are surrounded by water! We decided to take advantage of our lovely spot and the lovely weather to build a fire and cook out by the water.

The chili cheese dogs were good, but the toasted marshmallow smores were the highlight of the cookout.

The after-dinner entertainment was also great. We noticed many people around us with their fishing lines dipped in the lake. But it was more fun watching the ospreys that come to Poche's Fish-n-Camp to fish. They would make circles high over head as they watched for their prey. Sorry for the blurry picture, but these birds are very high up in the sky.

Then they would bend their wings and "kite" in one place high above the water. At just the right moment, they would tuck those wings and dive from that high altitude straight down into the water. We are easily entertained by animal behavior, and this was great fun to watch when they flew away with their fish.

The next day we left our little lakes at our RV park and headed to a bigger lake. We are at Lake Martin, about 15 miles away.

It's a cloudy morning, with no wind. So the water in this protected cove surrounded by moss-draped cypress trees is as still as glass.

Our original plan was to kayak on the lake. But we found that this public boat ramp has barriers across it, with "private property" signs posted. Recently there has been a dispute, and we talked to a local boater who wasn't happy with this change.

We found another parking area, and we could carry our kayak 100 yards to a muddy area that stepped down into the water. But if you look closely at the bottom center of the shot below . . .

we see a young alligator resting on a log very close to that spot.

Next, we found some tiny alligator heads floating among the water plants. With such little babies, we know now that there must be a mother gator close by.

We're not sure how we feel about trying to launch our kayak in the middle of an alligator nursery.

Besides, we found a trail that stayed close to the lake. We could hike, with views of the spanish-moss draped cypress trees that was almost as good as being on the lake.

Again, if you look at the bottom center of the picture above, you can see the small gator in the picture below. We feel better about hiking today.

With our kayak, we wouldn't be able to get through all the water plants and fallen logs to see so many alligators at the edge of the lake. We're happy, once again counting the number of gators we can spot.

We're on the levee trail, that gives us views into the lake, as well as views down in the marsh on the other side. Denisa has been trying to get a picture of the beautiful blue herons. Much smaller than the great white heron, the little blues sometimes hang out with their larger and paler cousins.

Seeing the very edge of the lake also gives us some not-so-pleasant views. For instance, we see this bloated and discolored dead alligator that has washed to the shore. These giant reptiles have few predators, and live long lives. But we were told that they sometimes get caught in a fisherman's net and drown.

Being on a trail also means that we may find a slithery snake crossing our path.

The good news is that round eye and narrow head indicate a non-venomous snake. Mark looked it up later, and we think this is a common water snake taking a walk today.

Our path took us further from the water 's edge into this lovely tree lane.

With black water views of the marsh from the levee road, we commented on how beautiful this morning is for a hike. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees, and we had no wind. We were three miles around the lake now--the furthest point from our car. We had decided to hike the entire lake loop.

That's when we started feeling the sprinkles. We had just gotten to the far side of the lake when it started raining in earnest. We had hoped for a bit of protection from the rain here, but found no structures to hide under. We picked up a decaying board, and got some relief from the downpour under it.

But when the wood was saturated and started leaking, we decided it was time to just make a run for it. It was easier to walk in the grass since the trail was now more like a river. We were drenched quickly in this down pour!

No more gazing around for alligators, we put our heads down and marched as fast as we could. Denisa sang the end of the children's song, "The ants go marching two-by-two, the little one stopped to tie his shoe . . . to get out of the rain, boom, boom, boom . . ." We hiked a good mile before the rain subsided. We were drenched with not a dry spot anywhere.

After another 2 miles of squishy walking, we were glad to get back to our starting point. We were also glad for the towel in the car, and it felt good to get out of our soggy hiking boots. Instead of eating at a local Cajun restaurant, we stopped for some pork jambalaya at a Cajun take-out place on the way home. Even with the wet ending, we still got to see 41 alligators in a beautiful setting. Some of our adventures don't turn out like we planned, but we'll still count this as a good (albeit soggy) day of wandering God's wonders.