Click here to view our Picture GalleryPaddle trip- Day 1
My arms are so sore! Today I paddled 17.5 miles down the Bayou by canoe! I was not as bad at paddling as I expected but it was still hard work. Though, the experience was well worth it.
Picture this:
You are in a small canoe. All in front of you is open river water of a mucky, green-brownish color. On either side of the coast is forest. Large trees hang out over the river and moss drapes down from their branches just touching the water. Occasionally you see a small house on stilts along the coast or the backyard of house with a dock. Sometimes there are families on these docks or stilt-house balconies waving to you and throwing you food to eat. Sometimes you run too close to the coastline and have to push off the muddy bottom of the bank with your oar. You pass under bridges and sometimes run parallel to small motor-boats. You even see a dead alligator that floats casually passed your canoe. There are often ducks hovering near the coast. At first you have to concentrate on the paddling motion of your oar...but after a while, it becomes second nature.
This was what today was like.
I loved the bayou scenery! Everyone was so friendly in the houses along the water. Lunch was gumbo (a traditional Louisiana dish)...but I am a vegetarian so I did not try the gumbo.
I had a great time paddling today!
But there was something I saw today that disturbed me. As we were passing under a bridge I saw the acronym "kkk" sprayed painted on the side of the bridge. This stands for "Ku Klux Klan" which was a white-supremacist group that often launched violent attacks against African Americans during the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century. This group is still around today, though it is not nearly as prevalent or visible...and you seldom hear of kkk induced violence. In the north of the United States, where I live, you hardly ever (if ever) see signs of the kkk. So, seeing this acronym was surprising to me. It made me sick to think that there are still people in America... half a century after our civil rights movement...who would join such an organization and spread its propaganda.
But...onto other subjects...
After we paddled 17.5 miles we set up camp on the grounds of an old plantation home. Plantation life is a significant part of American history. For decades in the southern United States, plantations were everywhere...they were combinations of farmland/crops (often sugar cane or cotton) and family homes. Wealthy plantation owners often had many slaves who lived in quarters away from the "plantation home" and worked in the fields long hours during the day. As industrialization overtook America, the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves free, and more and more land became developed, the traditional plantation lifestyle became a thing of the past. Today, some plantation crops are run by major companies and most plantation homes are used as inns/hotels, museums, or tourist attractions. The grounds of the plantation we spent the night at is used as an Inn.
Tonight, we ate a filling dinner (I was so hungry after paddling!) and talked with some of the other paddlers. I talked to two friendly teens who live in the bayou region...their cajun accents were so thick that I had a hard time understanding what they were saying.
After dinner we walked around the plantation grounds...
And, I'll always remember this moment:
The plantation home is this large white house with huge columns in front. It was about 8:30pm and you could see inside the house...you could see people eating, drinking wine, and talking. It felt as though I had gone back in time. Everything was so quiet outside. There were huge willow trees making shadows and sprawling gardens with little brick paths. I could even hear a horse galloping in the distance. We were not allowed to enter the house (it was only for paying residents ...and we were just campers)...but we walked up to the windows and peered inside. It was like looking in on another world... all the rooms were furnished with antiques... the colors I remember are lots of reds, golds, and silvers. It felt like the scene in the book Wuthering Heights when the children peer inside the windows of the wealthy house-owners and imagine what life must be like inside. But, I did not even want to go inside...it was better to be standing outside and peering in. It was very beautiful.
Good night!
Sincerely,
Jessica Rimington
Picture this:
You are in a small canoe. All in front of you is open river water of a mucky, green-brownish color. On either side of the coast is forest. Large trees hang out over the river and moss drapes down from their branches just touching the water. Occasionally you see a small house on stilts along the coast or the backyard of house with a dock. Sometimes there are families on these docks or stilt-house balconies waving to you and throwing you food to eat. Sometimes you run too close to the coastline and have to push off the muddy bottom of the bank with your oar. You pass under bridges and sometimes run parallel to small motor-boats. You even see a dead alligator that floats casually passed your canoe. There are often ducks hovering near the coast. At first you have to concentrate on the paddling motion of your oar...but after a while, it becomes second nature.
This was what today was like.
I loved the bayou scenery! Everyone was so friendly in the houses along the water. Lunch was gumbo (a traditional Louisiana dish)...but I am a vegetarian so I did not try the gumbo.
I had a great time paddling today!
But there was something I saw today that disturbed me. As we were passing under a bridge I saw the acronym "kkk" sprayed painted on the side of the bridge. This stands for "Ku Klux Klan" which was a white-supremacist group that often launched violent attacks against African Americans during the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century. This group is still around today, though it is not nearly as prevalent or visible...and you seldom hear of kkk induced violence. In the north of the United States, where I live, you hardly ever (if ever) see signs of the kkk. So, seeing this acronym was surprising to me. It made me sick to think that there are still people in America... half a century after our civil rights movement...who would join such an organization and spread its propaganda.
But...onto other subjects...
After we paddled 17.5 miles we set up camp on the grounds of an old plantation home. Plantation life is a significant part of American history. For decades in the southern United States, plantations were everywhere...they were combinations of farmland/crops (often sugar cane or cotton) and family homes. Wealthy plantation owners often had many slaves who lived in quarters away from the "plantation home" and worked in the fields long hours during the day. As industrialization overtook America, the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves free, and more and more land became developed, the traditional plantation lifestyle became a thing of the past. Today, some plantation crops are run by major companies and most plantation homes are used as inns/hotels, museums, or tourist attractions. The grounds of the plantation we spent the night at is used as an Inn.
Tonight, we ate a filling dinner (I was so hungry after paddling!) and talked with some of the other paddlers. I talked to two friendly teens who live in the bayou region...their cajun accents were so thick that I had a hard time understanding what they were saying.
After dinner we walked around the plantation grounds...
And, I'll always remember this moment:
The plantation home is this large white house with huge columns in front. It was about 8:30pm and you could see inside the house...you could see people eating, drinking wine, and talking. It felt as though I had gone back in time. Everything was so quiet outside. There were huge willow trees making shadows and sprawling gardens with little brick paths. I could even hear a horse galloping in the distance. We were not allowed to enter the house (it was only for paying residents ...and we were just campers)...but we walked up to the windows and peered inside. It was like looking in on another world... all the rooms were furnished with antiques... the colors I remember are lots of reds, golds, and silvers. It felt like the scene in the book Wuthering Heights when the children peer inside the windows of the wealthy house-owners and imagine what life must be like inside. But, I did not even want to go inside...it was better to be standing outside and peering in. It was very beautiful.
Good night!
Sincerely,
Jessica Rimington
