Today was a very pleasant day since we reached temperatures well into the 20's (say around 80F).  It was humid and mostly cloudy and there was  a very nice breeze which made it quite comfortable.  Our major stop along the way was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

What a great tree which was found in the garden of the old capital building in Baton Rouge.  I would have loved climbing in my younger days!   

This is the old state capital  building (now a museum).  Notice how nice and green the grass is.  

Here is a picture of the new state capital.   When I was in school I read an excellent  book called "All of the King's Men" which was thought to be inspired by Huey Long.  He was a popular Louisiana Senator and Governor who was assassinated  at the age of 42 (so I guess not that popular with everyone).  Anyhow, he advocated the construction of the new building during the Great Depression.  

TThis is a picture taken from the front of the capital building.  You can see the beautiful gardens and downtown city buildings in the background.  You can also see a statute of Huey Long if you look very closely.

This is a close up shot taken of the front of the capital  building and the steps leading up to it.   Leading up to the main entrance are a series of steps with the names of all of the United States in the order of each state's admittance to the Union.  After the first 13 steps (symbolizing the original  13 steps) there is a small platform. Behind this platform, the steps continue again with the rest of the 48 steps. The 49th step lists both Alaska and Hawaii which were admitted to the Union after the Capitol was constructed.  I know- way too much detail but I thought it was interesting.

Here is a real close up shot of some of the steps.  I liked the design.

The Capital  building has an observatory deck on the 27th floor.  It was worth going  through security to see the nice views.

For this shot I switched lenses so I could get a closer up view of the bridge.  As you can see it was fairly cloudy by now which was a good thing- much nicer for lighting.

I thought I would make this shot black and white.  It is a very simple view of the Mississippi River.  

After we left Baton Rouge we drove by a lot of swamp land.  We stopped just outside of Lake Martin to check out the wildlife hoping to see alligators.  

Well we didn't see much wild life but we did see a lot of white egrets.   It was very difficult to get a clear close up shot.  Way too many branches in the way.  

So I had to settle for photographing swamp land.  

I liked these huge tree trunks and their reflections in the water.