Gators Like Marshmallows

Yep, they do...

I really, really wanted to do a Bayou tour while in Louisiana, and we did the perfect one today! On the way from New Orleans to Lafayette, I spyed a swamp tour sign, and we headed that way. Boy, did it look remote...cue the banjo music...

It was AWESOME! Zam's Swamp tour is a must if you're every neat Thibodaux, LA. We rolled up without a reservation, but for 10 bucks extra, they gave us a private tour. Our tour guide "wild" Bill was extremely knowledgeable as he grew up on Bayou Bouef, he even showed us his old fishing hole he used to swim at when he was a youngin'. The colorful owners were very nice and the store/outpost had some the weird random stuff you'd expect to see in the middle of nowhere Bayou country. Zach and I saw tons of gators, turtles and other wildlife while Bill told us the history of that bayou. After the boat tour, a random kinda scary dude took us to the owners yard where they have a menagerie of baby gators (we got to hold one!), rabbits, chickens, and GIANT gators (in a fenced in swamp thank god). It was truely kinda strange...and that dude was definitely cajun...wow.

As an aside, the owners were actually on that reality show "Trading Spouses", and ironically that episode is about 1 of 3 that I've actually seen, and I recognized the whole family. Here's a summary of the episode...yessss:

An animal-rights activist from San Diego trades places with a Cajun swamp tour owner from Louisiana. Diana Tregle operates a swamp tour in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. She lives with her husband, Lloyd "Diego" Loupe, and her eight-year-old son, Zamariah "ZZ" Loupe. The family lives with a menagerie of snakes and alligators. Diana worries about the mother she's swapping families with, because she knows Zamariah can be a handful. Meanwhile, in San Diego, California, Barbara Gates, a mother, homemaker, and animal-rights activist, keeps a vegan household. She and her family try to abstain from hurting any animals. She lives with her husband Jim, and their children: ten-year-old son, Jack; and daughter Lucy, age eight.

Now these are some colorful folks, enjoy the pictures and the video of "wild" Bill throwing marshmallows at an alligator.

After that Zach and I continued onto Lafayette to indulge in some Cajun food. After a feast of crawfish, alligator, frog legs and gumbo we decided to pack it in for the night.