Floods and Sugar
Our day really started off with a bang when we stopped at Mr. Ronnie’s Donuts. Naturally, I got the one with the most chocolate– the chocolate covered devil’s food– and a second red velvet cake donut for good luck. I had the honor of navigating for the day, so I got a good look at all the canals and swamp lands by which we drove. The Mississippi River Delta is such a beautiful place, and I would have loved nothing more than to take a canoe and paddle all throughout the waters. Or to take a ride on one of the air/ hovercraft boats. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to find a nice Louisiana native to take me around on his boat and go gator hunting. Maybe next time…
Per usual we got stuck in a massive thunderstorm that lasted for hours. As we pulled into Elmer’s Island, which was supposed to be our first site, everyone else was heading out. We drove out to the beach and parked to wait out the storm, but soon enough the line between sand and water started to blur so we headed back to the main road for safety. We headed towards Grand Isle, but not without driving through foot deep puddles that had completely flooded the road in parts. So many red flags going off in my head. In the end, we made it out alive and the car didn’t get swept away to sea like I may or may not have feared would happen. I even braved the rain and chilling wind to collect samples. The things I do for science… However, in reward we treated ourselves to sno-balls of a variety of flavors. Sugar for lunch!
After re-energizing, we headed back to Elmer’s Island and collected tar ball on tar ball on tar ball from the beach in a worryingly quick amount of time. Then we hopped back in the car and braved a few more storms before making it to New Orleans, our last stop of the trip.
