Thursday, February 16, 2012

ST. BERNARD STATE PARK - BRAITHWAITE, LA

Well we made it safely through the night at Bogue Chitto State Park.  It rained pretty hard and steady all night but I kept looking out the window to see if the water was rising and it looked fine.  Got an early start this morning because I wanted to ride around the park to see it all.  Sure glad I did.  I found another site I really liked (#122) and it's a bit closer to not only the RV Beach area but the Day Use Beach which was nice.

Site #122

Path to the beach.






THEN IT WAS ON TO OUR NEXT STATE PARK


Arrived at St. Bernard State Park around 2:00 pm and the drive there was again another nightmare.  The first time I tried to get to this park I had to deal with a small river ferry.  This time I had to drive on very busy and very small and very congested and very unsafe city streets.  Driving in New Orleans is the pitts.  Things were falling off my walls, dishes were clanging, the dog looked upset at all the noise the coach was making and I almost turned around and went home instead.  No park is worth going through all that.  But I set my mind on visiting these 6 parks and by golly I was going to do it.

I made a brief stop at the Chalmette Battlefield where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1814.  Took a few photos from inside the coach and headed out.







I tried to drive into the Chalmette National Cemetery but the gate was too small for the RV so I headed down the road to the park.

Nice stretch near an old plantation.
  
Got to the park and the gate attendant informed me that I could only stay one night as they would be booked tomorrow due to the Mardi Gras season.  That's all I wanted anyway so I took site #14 near a lagoon.




Peace Rock

Check out the Camp Host.

Well, that's our last park for this trip.  I thought I'd be gone at least 2 weeks on this trip but it will be 10 days tomorrow.  I think if the weather had been nicer I'd have stayed a little longer in a couple of parks.  My itenerary for my next trip will allow me to stay a week in some parks I deem worthy.

I have a lot to do when I get home in preparation for my next trip when we visit the rest of the 14 State Parks in Louisiana.  Not sure if I'll have enough time to do everything and still leave on March 1st.  I may have to wait another week before leaving.

4 comments:

  1. This has been fun, going along with u on your state park odyssey. Am sure u will have better weather when u leave again in March!!

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  2. Hi Loree... Glad you enjoyed following along. I think March weather will be great for my next trip.

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  3. Thanks for posting these. Too bad the weather isn't better for you, but you still give us all an idea of what these parks are like. I usually travel through La, Ms, etc to go on up to Pa. May change that route this year though. Not sure yet. Course, if I do stay in La, usually, I stay at the Atchafayla rest stop for a night, then move on. Then by the time I get to Ms, I'm ready for a real night of camping! Usually in Ganado if I'm heading north.

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  4. Hi TexCyn... I read some good reviews about the Atchafayla Welcom Center which offers free RV parking with armed security 24 hours a day.

    Louisiana's Atchafalaya is North America's largest river swamp and ranks among the top 10 wilderness areas in the United States.

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