Tourists in the South

I am completely smitten with traveling to new places.  I know that I've said that before, but days like yesterday (Thursday) just solidify it for me.  We got up early in our yucky hotel, where we didn't set anything on the floor and worried about bedbugs all night long.  We headed southeast from Shreveport, going through Lafayette, and then on to the outskirts of Baton Rouge.  From there, we headed southwest a bit to Belle Rose, a tiny little town that has the track on its outskirts.  So, while that is interesting, here are the real highlights:
*We saw a camel farm.  A big field, filled with big camels, baby camels, middle-sized camels... I'd never even thought about one of those existing.
*We saw swamps, marshes, bayous - you know, just like what I keep in my mental image of the south - cypress trees, white cranes, moss hanging from the trees, etc.  We drove over the most enormous swamp on an interesting raised road.  I have a couple of pictures, but I left my camera's cord in the truck, so I'll have to attach photos tonight.
*We saw people crawdad fishing in ponds created for that purpose with orange markers creating a grid, each attached to a basket.
*We saw a boat, which I'm sure has a specific name, but I don't know it - the one with the big fan on the back that you see in movies used to navigate swamps - we saw people...well, navigating through a swamp, on it.
*And most importantly to L, at the track, we saw an ALLIGATOR!   In a totally fluky-weird twist of events...L and I walked down to the eastern edge of the track in the late afternoon, because I was bored.  And I'd seen on Google Earth that there are little swamp marsh areas at each end of the track property.  So we walked down that way, but I couldn't see it.  It's not very big, and one end of it has a barrier wall made of stacked tires, about waist high.  So we walked through the field toward it, and I figured that it was going to be nothing.  But as we got close, L said, "MOM!  That's an alligator!"  And right in the end of the swampy part, near the wall, was an alligator.  I thought it was fake, since it wasn't moving (in retrospect, I'm so glad it wasn't moving).  I thought the track owner had put it there for fun.  So another man who was pitted nearby came over and asked if we saw anything in there (since I was taking pictures of it) - he freaked out when he saw it, and said it was about 6 feet - its head and most of its tail were out.  So L and I ran back to get Stuart.  He was in the middle of a chore, but it only took us about 10 minutes total, and when we got back - it was gone!  I'm so glad I have photos to prove it!  :)
We have to leave for the track now - Stuart gets two runs this morning, and then has the opportunity to try to set the class record after lunch.  It's beautiful here - sunny, about 80-something yesterday.  My face and arms and sunburned!
Carla