A Gothic Winter's Day in Civil War Territory

I recently headed north of Baton Rouge with two new pals I met through this blog to see some Civil War sites and other nearby points of interest.

With battlefield exploration, you have to fill in a lot of blanks with your imagination. My own brain supplied vague jumbles of mustachioed men in double-breasted coats fighting each other with bayonet guns and cannons. I'm not going to front--I have not retained a lot of information about the Civil War from high school history class, not that much of it ever sunk in. For me, any battle descriptions go in one ear and out the other, unless it's told with some compelling human element or perhaps if it is acted out in a movie starring Patrick Swayze. 

But for those interested and knowledgeable on such matters, I can tell you that we visited the site of the Siege of Port Hudson. Back then, it looked like this:

 

See those mounds in the illustration? If my sources are correct (and I have no reason to believe they're not), I'll show you what some of those mounds look like now.

Dog Day Afternoon

I have now used this title at least twice in previous blog posts, but not on this blog, so no matter.
Kara and I and Miss Lola Mae the chocolate Labrador went out on another bicycle jaunt on Sunday. We encountered numerous dogs, of the "hot" and "stray" and "barking like they wanted to rip out our jugulars" types.

Here is one that falls under the "hot dog" category, on the side of what I decided was an old whistle stop cafe, as it was set right along some train tracks.

If you look closely, you'll see the ghost of what appears to be a hand-painted Community Coffee banner on the building.

I know: BFD. It gets better after the jump.

Scenic Highway

If you find abandoned buildings, vehicles, and discarded furniture scenic, then Scenic Highway lives up to its name.

Co-explorer Kara and I arrived in this unfamiliar part of town on bicycle with her dog, Miss Lola Mae, trotting alongside for protection. 

As Kara, another newcomer by way of North Carolina, observed, it looks almost Caribbean here sometimes. I've never been, but knew what she meant.

The money shot of the day was found just past the corrugated-metal building on the left, and is found here after the jump.