I will start with an apology because it has been 20 days! And I have been lazy and not full of writing motivation. Good news, though. I have had fun adventures! So there is much to share, and if I can figure out how, I might even post a picture or two.
A thank you : I love you mom and I appreciate you reminding me that I should probably write some stuff down.
On we go!!!!
So, I got back from the rig and realized as my plane touched down in Louisiana that I was ecstatically happy about being back here. It may not have good coffee, reasonable temperatures or humidity, and normal alcohol laws, but I have become comfortable here. I love the people I have met here, gotten used to the weather (I swear it gets hot here mom!!), and, well, I can always order coffee from out of state. And after being in South Texas for over 2 weeks, I can honestly say that I have nothing to complain about while living in Lafayette. ;)
After getting back I immediately got excited because the awesomest thing ever was going to happen! Mum and Helen decided to come and visit me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Something I always am a little sad about, is that very few people I know actually go to the places I do. So even though I can show those I love pictures, I never get to really share my experiences with them. This was my chance! They drove down on a Thursday evening and got here between 5 and 7 am on Friday (I don't remember the time...all I know is they woke me up). I let them sleep for awhile until I got impatient for adventures with them, so I woke them up and we went out to eat. This really wouldn't be significant, except after 3 weeks of non-rain in Lafayette, it chose approximately noon on Friday to start downpouring. Then it rained every day for the next three days (come to think of it...for the rest of July it has been raining every 2 or 3 days now), stopping occasionally to get muggy and then rain again. However, that stopped us not a whit! I did get mercilessly teased for their entire stay that I just made up the crazy hot Louisiana weather in order to garner sympathy. Psh. Anyway, the rain did stop eventually and we went on a swamp tour at Lake Martin that evening. It was so awesome and absolutely beautiful! Our tour guide was amazing, he had cute dogs (though Helen doesn't agree with me on that), and his knowledge of the swamp and bayou was intense. We took "roads" through the swamp and saw alligators, herons, cranes, and little baby birds too. One of my favorite moments of day was when we were sitting in the boat and we could see a gorgeous rainbow that went from one side of the lake to the other. I've never seen both ends of a rainbow before. :) Also, the sunset was incredible. Later we got drinks from Dix (essentially a drive through bar) and collapsed in bed. The next day we got in the car and drove down to the Gulf Coast on our way to Galveston. We actually did not make it to Galveston, because as we drove along the Gulf of Mexico, we passed all this empty beach (some occupied with cars) where all the houses were destroyed in one of the latest hurricanes. So we pulled off into the sand, got our towels out, and went to play in the water for 3 or 4 hours. It was warm, salty, and had decent shells, though not as nice Florida. Helen and I started going out to where the shelf drops off (it slopes ever so slightly until then), but mom intimidated us with all her shark talk, so we wave jumped instead. After heading home, we went out to eat, swam in an apt. swimming pool, and then went to bed again. Then, as quickly as they came, they left again. :( I am so glad they came though! My family is amazingly fun to be around, so that was probably my favorite weekend of the entire summer.
My next adventure involved a trip to New Orleans. I was supposed to head there, fish, sky dive, then go out on Bourbon St. Two out of the four actually happened. Marlon and I drove to New Orleans, and met our friend Brian in Metarie about 10 pm. We all jumped in Brian's uncle's truck and drove out to the "camp", which is on huge stilt things and is one of the nicest "camps" I have ever seen. Awesome livingroom/kitchen/bedrooms. Two bathrooms. Washer and dryer. A/C. Anyway, we got there about midnight and I learned how to spot alligators in the little bay their dock sits in, cast bait nets (it involves putting a part of the net in your mouth and doing a twisty-body throw), pick up catfish and crabs without getting hurt, and that shrimp are really ugly in real life, too. Also...warning : look at the Deet percentage in your bugspray before using it. 40% Deet hurts. Next day we got up at 5 am, left at 6 am to go fishing in the marsh. We were heading to Black Bay and on our way, the motor on the boat started making a knocking noise. It was decided that heading back would be a good option, but since I was with crazy fishermen, they also thought it would be intelligent to stop multiple times on the way back in to fish. Of course the engine sound got worse, and it eventually culminated in us becoming dead in the water about 2 miles from the dock. We were told that another boat of fishermen were on their way back in to pull us to the dock and they were going to "fish" their way back in. 3 hours later....Yup. I ended up taking a nap in the boat due to boredom. Granted, it was a nice nap. At one point I considered swimming to the side of the water throughway we were on and walking back. Four things stopped me : alligators, marsh, catfish and stingrays. It was a fun adventure, though. I didn't get to go skydiving, but there is always another day for that. Also, instead of Bourbon St. we hung out with Brian's family all of who are really fun and also excellent cooks. They made us BBQ shrimp (which I actually ate), almond covered fish of some kind, hashbrowns, and some other food. All of which was liberally doused/boiled/fried in butter. Definitely delicious, but I ran extra far the next day. So as weekend adventures go, it was pretty good.
And with that (definitely enough writing for now) I will leave ya'll. I will write more about what is going on now with my projects as well as the end of internship stuff next time.
I love you guys!
Becca
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