I was born there and raised there, and have my memories there. Granted, I
have good memories in other places. Matter of fact, a lot of them are in other
places. Actually, most of them are. But in Louisiana, I have a few that really
stand out. They are
This is my parents' house where I grew up, where I first laid
eyes on my brother, where I have my first memories, where I learned to ride a
bike, where I pigged out on pizza, and where I had some of the best sleep I'll
ever have.
This is the pool in the backyard where I have my best memories.
I'd swim for hours in the day, then sleep on a flotie or something and wake up 3
shades darker! After that, go inside and pig out on Domino's in front of a
movie. Summers in 'Africa' for you....
The far end of Congress Blvd, where we would ride our bikes, and
then turn and race down the street in the direction you're looking. When we
could drive, we sometimes did the same with our cars, but not often and not
during busy times of day. I wouldn't do that anymore, though. You could get
quite a workout on the bikes going down the length of Congress.
This is my man Mack's house. We could hang out here and hear
some of the stories his mom would tell us about crazy relatives, ignant bosses
and whatever else would crack us up! Some of the worst days were when I'd go by
his house and he wasn't there. One of my favorite things to do was go there and
tap his window and wake him up, just to mess with him. :o)))
This isn't a house of anyone I know, just an example of metal
roofing on some homes to reflect the sunlight instead of traditional roofing
that absorbs heat. This is how some homes save energy in the summer with the
serious heat and humidity we get in Louisiana. I don't know what they do for
heat in the winter or if these come insulated.
Don't know who lives here now, but this used to
be Matt's house. Now, Matt is on of those guys everyone sees driving by and says
"That's a cool @$$ white dude right there! And nice ride, too! I have no clue
what happened to him or if his parents are still there. But I always remember
him.
What I'm going to tell you is not a joke, it's real. This is
Dawson Creek in Baton Rouge. Now as a kid, I'd play down there, well below where
the water is in this pic. In this pic, it was right after a big rain, and the
creek was flowing backwards because it was so doggone flooded there. We always
played there in the winter, when it didn't flood and the snakes weren't out.
Once it warmed up and started raining, we knew not to go around there until next
winter.
And this is what you would see in some other creeks if you
weren't careful. These things aren't like crocs, but they'll still take on a kid
or some household pets if they find them in the water. We felt glad our creek
didn't have any of those!
This is our state capitol building, taken from across the river
in Port Allen. The Mississippi River is in floodstage in this photo, and this is
why you see it coming all the way up to grass like that and covering some. And
the state capitol building is the tallest in the area, from which you can see
for miles around in any direction at the top floor gift shop.