A total body workout...

The Upper Body Workout...On Monday, the 19th, we decided to utilize some Chicot State Park's many amenities. We began with renting a canoe. We paddled around an embarrassingly small portion of Chicot Lake, but managed to see quite a bit in the process while simultaneously wearing ourselves out. We canoed from the South Landing Boat Launch where we headed straight into strong winds at the main channel of the lake. This entire area of Louisiana, and farther south into the state, is a bayou, or swamp, and is covered with cypress trees growing out of shallow, virtually stagnant, water, making for a perfect mosquito breeding ground. Poor Ken.

We maneuvered the canoe into the middle of the lake where we found small stands of cypress trees to stave off some of the wind blowing our small craft against our paddling. Our tired arms aside, we pulled into a little cove off the main part of the lake, where I managed to spot an alligator resting on a log sticking out of the water. Although we approached as quietly as possible, he slipped silently into the water and commenced stalking us for the next few minutes. This little alligator couldn't have been more than 3 feet in length and he stuck his little face out of the water only enough to keep an eye on us and our intruding boat. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing him...our first live alligator seen in the wild! Shortly thereafter, we noticed two other little faces sticking out of the water just enough to keep tabs on us. None of the alligators seemed willing to pose for a photograph, though.

We also caught sight of some turtles sunning themselves on cypress roots, but they, too, were much too shy for picture-taking. After two hours of relaxing canoeing and nature-viewing, we turned in our paddles.

The Lower Body Workout...After lunch in the RV, we headed to the arboretum on the grounds of the park. The arboretum offers a small museum exhibit outlining the parts of the cypress tree, the ingredients of the forest itself, as well as information on some of the animals of the area. We hiked a couple of the trails, but managed to find only three frogs and an infinite array of irritating insects buzzing about and snacking on Ken (yet again).

Trying not to steer us into a tree...

We also met a nice French couple and their adorable little boy (his shirt: "I put ketchup on my ketchup!"). They asked us about armadillos...had we seen any on our hike, how rare are they...this kind of thing. We had not seen any on our hike and in fact, despite this being armadillo territory, we have only ever seen them as roadkill. We are still on the hunt to see a living, breathing armadillo during the day, though we realize this is probably a mythical creature at this point.