So we got lost.
Yes, incredibly lost on this year's annual trip to Clark Creek.
What should have taken two and a half hours turned into five hours. I cringe when I say five, because I have trouble admitting it. Five hours.
FIVE.
I know exactly how it happened. At least now I do, now that I've had a few days to stew on it.
What should have taken two and a half hours turned into five hours. I cringe when I say five, because I have trouble admitting it. Five hours.
FIVE.
I know exactly how it happened. At least now I do, now that I've had a few days to stew on it.
We missed our exit. Plain an simple.
Do you know how it happened? Well let me explain.
We met up at eight a.m. We took two cars.
In Jason's truck- Jason, Sally, Anna, and me.
In Jason's truck- Jason, Sally, Anna, and me.
In Keever's car- Keever and Bobby.
We set out toward Baton Rouge....with no directions. Because I was certain I could simply google them on Jason's phone and Sally was certain that there was an exit that said "St. Francisville". Easy enough.
As we started to drive, we started the usual non-stop chatter about life. Jason chimed in a few times but he had little to offer on topics of the Bachelor and Reality Steve. So he settled in and focused on the road.
We were all sipping on these really horrible smoothies I made that morning that I had accidentally added too much cinnamon to. It was supposed to be a dash of cinnamon, but half the jar spilled into the blender. I never told anyone until now. And I appreciate that everyone pretended they were good, or spilled them in the grass when I wasn't looking. At any rate, it's the thought that counts.
Anyway so between sipping on smoothies and chatter, we ignored all exits in Baton Rouge. ALL EXITS. Before long we saw a sign that said Lafayette 3 miles and that's when we knew we are in a bad spot. That's when I started to panic. We turned on the GPS and let it recalculate for us. Why wasn't the GPS on when we started. I have no idea......no idea.
The next thing I know we are turning around to an exit we had just passed and taking it through a part of Louisiana I've never seen before.
We set out toward Baton Rouge....with no directions. Because I was certain I could simply google them on Jason's phone and Sally was certain that there was an exit that said "St. Francisville". Easy enough.
As we started to drive, we started the usual non-stop chatter about life. Jason chimed in a few times but he had little to offer on topics of the Bachelor and Reality Steve. So he settled in and focused on the road.
We were all sipping on these really horrible smoothies I made that morning that I had accidentally added too much cinnamon to. It was supposed to be a dash of cinnamon, but half the jar spilled into the blender. I never told anyone until now. And I appreciate that everyone pretended they were good, or spilled them in the grass when I wasn't looking. At any rate, it's the thought that counts.
Anyway so between sipping on smoothies and chatter, we ignored all exits in Baton Rouge. ALL EXITS. Before long we saw a sign that said Lafayette 3 miles and that's when we knew we are in a bad spot. That's when I started to panic. We turned on the GPS and let it recalculate for us. Why wasn't the GPS on when we started. I have no idea......no idea.
The next thing I know we are turning around to an exit we had just passed and taking it through a part of Louisiana I've never seen before.
But that's not true, because I had seen it before.
"This looks really familiar," Anna said. "Yeah it does." Sally agreed.
How could this look familiar? We were looking at farms and tiny gas stations, we were traveling down a winding road that looked like any country road.
"I think this is the way we went last time...." says my Anna.
She was right. The last time we got lost. My stomach does a flip flop, because this is the moment that I realize we'll be taking a boat again. Most likely. Like we did the last time. And it may take longer to get there.
And it would be one thing if it were just us. Because they expect that from me. But it's not just us. It's Keever and Bobby following behind us.....Trusting me to know where to go.
So after a long time of driving through winding roads and many confirmations from the peanut gallery in the backseat (Anna and Sally) that this is in fact the same route we took when we were lost last year, we ended up in New Roads, Louisiana.
It's a beautiful little town, if you get a chance to go there. (You might if you ever go to Clark Creek with me) A quaint little town built completely around a lake with bookshops, baby shops, and florists on every street. I think that it must be where people go to retire, buzz around the lake several times in their pontoon boat, buy flowers for each other, baby gifts for their grandkids, and books to read in their spare time.
We drove over to the levee to where our ferry to St. Francisville would be and pulled behind a thirty car line.
* Now let me just insert here that it would have been a three hour trip if the line for the ferry hadn't been three ferry trips long. We wouldn't find out why this was until we actually got to St. Francisville.
We finally got a hint that the ferry doesn't zip across the Mississippi in 5 minutes, it was more like 30, and we got out our vehicles. We set up lunch in the back of the truck, we munched on sandwichs and told Sally it wasn't a good idea to roll down the levee, because there might be ants.
Two ferry trips later we had made it to the top of the levee. That's when we decided we should walk down to the river and skip rocks while we waited.
Bobby skipped 8 rocks in a row and Anna did almost six skips. I did one. I did one skip about twenty times and then Sally patted me on the back and said that I was so great at other things that it is was okay that rock skipping wasn't one of them. I sat down on the a tree stump, rested my chin on my hand, and studied the hand movements of all the naturally gifted rock skippers in our group. I still have no idea.
When the ferry came back we got on board and had our picture taken just like we did last time. Just like we will do next year when this happens. Because I don't think this is the last time we will take a boat to Clark Creek.
"This looks really familiar," Anna said. "Yeah it does." Sally agreed.
How could this look familiar? We were looking at farms and tiny gas stations, we were traveling down a winding road that looked like any country road.
"I think this is the way we went last time...." says my Anna.
She was right. The last time we got lost. My stomach does a flip flop, because this is the moment that I realize we'll be taking a boat again. Most likely. Like we did the last time. And it may take longer to get there.
And it would be one thing if it were just us. Because they expect that from me. But it's not just us. It's Keever and Bobby following behind us.....Trusting me to know where to go.
So after a long time of driving through winding roads and many confirmations from the peanut gallery in the backseat (Anna and Sally) that this is in fact the same route we took when we were lost last year, we ended up in New Roads, Louisiana.
It's a beautiful little town, if you get a chance to go there. (You might if you ever go to Clark Creek with me) A quaint little town built completely around a lake with bookshops, baby shops, and florists on every street. I think that it must be where people go to retire, buzz around the lake several times in their pontoon boat, buy flowers for each other, baby gifts for their grandkids, and books to read in their spare time.
We drove over to the levee to where our ferry to St. Francisville would be and pulled behind a thirty car line.
* Now let me just insert here that it would have been a three hour trip if the line for the ferry hadn't been three ferry trips long. We wouldn't find out why this was until we actually got to St. Francisville.
We finally got a hint that the ferry doesn't zip across the Mississippi in 5 minutes, it was more like 30, and we got out our vehicles. We set up lunch in the back of the truck, we munched on sandwichs and told Sally it wasn't a good idea to roll down the levee, because there might be ants.
Two ferry trips later we had made it to the top of the levee. That's when we decided we should walk down to the river and skip rocks while we waited.
Bobby skipped 8 rocks in a row and Anna did almost six skips. I did one. I did one skip about twenty times and then Sally patted me on the back and said that I was so great at other things that it is was okay that rock skipping wasn't one of them. I sat down on the a tree stump, rested my chin on my hand, and studied the hand movements of all the naturally gifted rock skippers in our group. I still have no idea.
When the ferry came back we got on board and had our picture taken just like we did last time. Just like we will do next year when this happens. Because I don't think this is the last time we will take a boat to Clark Creek.
We zipped across the Mississippi to St. Francisville. It seems so much faster when you're on it then when your watching it from the levee.
I recalculated our arrival time at thirty minutes. Its about that much from St. Francisville. We drove through the town towards the winding road that takes you there. When we got to the big road that takes you to the winding road, it wasn't pretty. The entire road was jam packed with bumper to bumper traffic for........
the Angola Prison Rodeo. (the reason for the thirty-car ferry line)
I recalculated our arrival time at thirty minutes. Its about that much from St. Francisville. We drove through the town towards the winding road that takes you there. When we got to the big road that takes you to the winding road, it wasn't pretty. The entire road was jam packed with bumper to bumper traffic for........
the Angola Prison Rodeo. (the reason for the thirty-car ferry line)
Yes what a weekend to pick for a Clark Creek adventure!
Thirty minutes later we finally made it to the winding road past Angola prison. The road that takes you to Clark Creek. :)
We made it to Clark Creek at 2:00 pm.
I'm embarrassed.
But is was worth it. It really was. It always is.
We had a great time. The weather was perfect not to hot, not to cool. The leaves for so green, they were almost neon. The Creek was real low, so the hike was not so tough. It was really, really great.
Next year on our trip to Clark Creek, we'll bring directions. On second thought maybe not, I'm not sure it would be much of an "adventure" if it were so planned.
Here's some great pictures from our trip!
Boat (Ferry) to St Francisville, after an hour or so of lunch and rock skipping.
Hooray, we made it! This is taken on top of the waterfall. Normally the creek is so high that you can't stand here, but we lucked out.
My sister and me, just your average everyday explorers. Nothing Fancy.
Big giant boulders with snakes in between, I'm kidding, but's it's possible!
Putting our heads together for a solution on how to get to Clark Creek faster next year.
Wiping my face on Jason's sleeve. He doesn't yet realize it.
Waterfall fun!
Let's try to flip over this thing.
Jason might be stuck!
"...And this is Clark Creek."
Bother and Kid Sister in Laws
Let's take a breather.
Dr. Peppers mean we are done with our hike!
Dinner at the Mrytles Plantation (most haunted plantation in America)
We're planning to stay there if anyone wants in on it. Comment below.
Just hanging out on the porch with some ghosts. :)
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Just checking to see if this thing works.
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