Hiking and biking at Fontainebleau State Park, LA…

We have enjoyed our stay in Mandeville, LA these last few days. It has been chilly in the mornings but nice during the day. We are in a nice site at Fontainebleau State Park, LA and other than the park being a bit soggy due to recent heavy rains we have really enjoyed this park. We are on a 50 amp site with water and no sewer but are near the bath house which made it all good.

This is a large state park on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. There are some decent trails to walk on and some lake shoreline with a pier to enjoy. We hiked the small trail near some old sugar mill ruins but the boardwalk trail which went out into the swamp is still un-repaired since Hurricane Isaac hit this area a while back.

The long pier on the lake is a great spot to watch the sunsets over Lake Pontchartrain. The long shadows from the wrought iron railing around the pier casts some beautiful shadows during the twilight hours. We spent several hours over the course of our three day stay visiting this pier.

We are back in the part of the USA where the Acadian culture exists. Known for its great Cajun food and music and we are happy to be back in this part of Louisiana. Nearby are two honky-tonks that we checked out even though there were no musical events occurring during our stay. The oldest one (May 5, 1885) is called the Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall and although it wasn’t even open we simply had to check out this historical music hall. Another well known music venue is Ruby’s Roadhouse. It is more of a dive bar but we still stopped in for a cold one to enjoy the feel of the place.

On another day we drove a short distance over to the Tammany Trace. This is an extensive hike and bike trail on the north shore. We decided to ride about 5.7 miles north on the trail to the Abita Brewing Company in Abita Springs, LA. to take a tour at 2:00 pm and we hoped that the tour would be the same as the last time we stopped here.

The last time we took this tour it was free and we were shown a brief movie about the brewery and the brewing process.  Next everyone on the tour lined up to go behind the bar to pour their own samples in a pint glass. You were allowed unlimited samples until they closed the bar about a half hour after the end of the tour. What fun this was! Well that was then.... now the charge is $5 per person and tokens are given for four 4 ounce samples. While not nearly as fun as before, at least the tour was actually a tour of the brewery and not just a movie.

Alas, all good things must end as has our stay at Fontainebleau since it is time again to hit the road. We will be heading over to Abbeville where we will be at Betty’s RV Park for a month stay before moving on toward Texas…