Below Kennedy Space Center is Port Canaveral (where the cruise ships dock) and a barge canal (complete with lock) connecting the Atlantic and the Intracoastal Waterway.

The canal is also used by dolphins and manatees as a shortcut. Having to get through the lock, they usually hang out by the gates until they are cycled for a boat.

The birds feast on the schools of fish trapped in the lock and is a favorite stop on the migration path of the American White Pelicans. The Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in the background is over ten miles away.

On our way west, we had to hold up in Perry, Florida for a couple of days while a storm blew over (it's nice not to have a schedule). But it gets boring catching up on housekeeping chores while confined to one room! (We know we're wimps.)

After the storm blew over, it turned cold! Setting out in the morning we layered up (with all our layers) and plugged in the heated vest. It was the first time we had to do that since leaving the far north.

Just outside of New Orleans, as part of the water control system, is the Bonnet Carre Spillway. When the Mississippi River gets too high, boards are pulled out by the cranes to allow the water to empty into lake Pontchartrain.

At the Barataria Preserve unit of Jean Lafitte Park, we finally walked through a cypress swamp. Cypress 'knees' are nodes that rise above the water line to get air to the roots. It is now illegal to cut them down. These swamps are very different from mangrove and grassland swamps.

In the evening, they round up the kids and bring them in off the lake. We watched while four boats towed in about 15 kids.

There is a lot of sugar cane plantations in the area, and originally, the juice was pressed out with grinders like these. The cane was shoved in from the left while a horse walked in circles. The juice was then boiled until it started to crystallize.

On Avery Island is the McIlhenny Company, manufacturer of Tabasco Sauce, and the only place in the world where it is made. It turns out over 600,000 bottles a day and is sold in over 100 countries. - Oh - the aroma!