Walter's First Boat Ride

For years now, we try to do at least one fun thing every week.  I told my students to do one fun thing every week so often, that the first thing they'd ask me on Monday morning was "What fun thing did you do this weekend?"  It's a good plan, right?

So yesterday, Wayne suggested taking a boat ride at the Bonnet Carre Spillway.  I said, "Let's bring Walter!"  I wish I'd brought my camera and taken a picture of Walter on the boat.  It was unlike anything he's experienced before - I'm guessing, since we didn't have him the first six months of his life.

It took a bit of coaxing to get Walter to jump from the pier to the boat.  He sat in front of me while Wayne was behind us at the steering wheel of the boat.  Walter was taking everything in as we motored slowly away from the dock.  Then Wayne gave the boat gas, and away we flew!  Walter didn't know which way to look.  He finally settled on looking toward the back of the boat, letting the wind part his fur.

Wayne cut the motor so we could drift and get close enough to see an alligator.  All we could see of him was his snout and his eyes. Just from that, Wayne could tell that the alligator was probably about four feet.  We saw three kinds of birds: egrets, anhingas,  and great blue herons.

At the end of the boat ride, Walter was ready to get all four paws on steady ground.  It took more coaxing to get him to jump from the bow of the boat onto the pier.  This may be the start of Walter's going out fishing with Wayne.  I guess that now we need a life jacket for Walter...