The Great Killingly Tomato Festival

click to enlarge any pic

Sometimes I lament the picture I did not take. Such was the case when we journeyed out of New Orleans for a swamp stomp. This realization did not happen until  I had been home for about a week.

To avoid being eaten by gators, a tour by Pearl River Eco Tours was agreed upon.

We had enough people going to fill two cars, me following my father in law. We had discussed the directions and took off for a forty five minute trip. Things went awry when my father in law took a very early exit onto route 90, which was mostly bypassed by the directions given. I followed, thinking his GPS might be giving him better directions.

They weren't. As my passengers started to stress about the time it was taking, my eyes began to wander. Some hawks, kites, falcons, and buzzards wanted the camera to come out. But we were on a schedule. Arriving at the site, it was decided that I would ride in the other car to take the long way back for photos. That didn't happen, and my passengers were well rested for their wedding that evening thanks to the nap they had while I drove the return trip; I have no roadside pictures.

We had a fascinating tour, led by a former Preservation Hall Pianist. Captain Jack was a hunter and lifelong resident of the swamp, and shared as much expertise he could in our few hours together. As he was explaining the cypress knees I noted a bright silver tree and asked about it. There was a standing pool of Katrina saltwater that stayed long enough to kill the cypress.

I did not see Katrina's damage in the Irish Channel. Later in the week I would learn from Barry Bailey that the flood water did not reach that area. It is close to the French Quarter, slightly inland and elevated. Indeed the Superdome that housed Katrina's refugees was just around the corner. Slidell was not so lucky.

It did not hit me until a week later. The route we took to get to our swamp stomp was the only real evidence we saw of Katrina. We commented on it in the car. There was new construction, moneyed folks that could afford expansive solar collectors roofing houses on 20 foot steel and concrete stilts. And there were abandoned apartment complexes that had no windows and few doors remaining. There was a house being raised in the swamp. Our guide said it would be the highest in the area.

In the city they sold t-shirts that read "NOLA > Katrina". But the places I visited had rebuilt. Eight years later in the swamp and surrounding areas these apartment buildings and dead 200 foot cypress trees were the only real evidence I saw of Katrina's destruction. I would never have seen this if my doddering father in law had not taken a wrong turn.

I claim to be having a different new year. I think I am on the less traveled path. Yet I was so concerned with the destination when traveling it. I thank my father in law for a mistake that let me catch a glimpse of this disaster. Take the road less traveled.



The rest of the pictures are posted here. Apologies for overexposing everything, but yesterday's nightclub pics came out!