Louisiana Welcome Center

Hubby and I motored over to Beaumont, TX yesterday to wander around Barnes and Noble. On the way over and back, we stopped at the Texas and Louisiana Welcome Centers for me to take pictures. It was a great day to be outside in the fresh air.

It was a bit difficult for me to concentrate on taking photos with this warning in my head! I was a bit disappointed because the boardwalk that goes into the swamp was still closed from Hurricane Ike that came through back in September of 2008 (according to Wikipedia, 112 people were killed in that storm). I was able to walk alongside the water to get a few pictures.

I love seeing the reflections of the trees in the water. There were several fish jumping in the water. Believe it or not, I did get two pictures of that but one was too far away to be a good photo. The second one was closer but the fish was right at the edge of the photo. I eventually gave up and entertained myself by taking pictures of the water circles that were left after the fish jumped!

Such a tranquil scene, if one can forget the warning about snakes. 

This rock shape reminded me a dog's head coming out of the water. It also has the look of an alligator, but the "ears" on the back ruin that illusion for me. I am fairly certain this was just a chunk of concrete that was coincidentally formed this way and not an artist's deliberate work. 

There was something about the juxtaposition of the rocks and the water and the flowers that pleased me about this sight.

This is probably my favorite image of the day (from the Louisiana side). It is a cypress "knee", a part of the root of a cypress tree. When I was a child, I had an aunt and uncle who had in their house a couple of cypress knees that were polished and varnished. I was always enamored of those things, loved the gnarly beauty of them.

There is so much beauty all around us if we would only stop and notice.