One would think living in the south since 1998 and Atlanta for 9 years we would be accustom to heat and humidity. Well… Louisiana, you win. Your heat and humidity is not for the weak and we are humbled and soggy.

We adventured around LSU, the boys made Harper stand next to Tyrann Mathieu’s All SEC First Team plaque for a picture since the boys have called her the “Honey Badger” since she was a day old. Poor baby. Mike the Tiger was sleeping in a cool corner of his enclosure, but damn does that Cat have some big paws. The boys loved seeing Death Valley and then we headed over to the Agriculture School to see the horses on campus – a big hit for Harper.

Next up was a tour of The USS Kidd “The Pirate of the Pacific”. A Fletcher class destroyer, the USS Kidd was never modernized and is the only destroyer to retain it’s World War II appearance. There was also an awesome exhibit of model ships in the museum that was extraordinary.

We took a chance and had lunch at what can be described as a local diner dive, Frostop. Pretty decent lunch, exceptional root beer and friendly service.

With the bulk of the late afternoon ahead of us, we drove an hour and a half to Avery Island and toured the Tabasco factory, taste testing, bought some souvenirs and ate some ice cream before heading over to the Avery Island Jungle Gardens. A very cool drive through gorgeous landscapes. We were able to get up close and personal with an Alligator, see hundreds of birds and a pretty awesome Buddha statue.

We dragged the tired, hot and sweaty crew back to Baton Rouge for a quick Jimmy Johns Father’s Day dinner and  then we crashed.

As I type… we are heading to Dallas, Texas and looking forward to dinner tonight with my Texas Family.

Here are some highlights via iPhone…