Baton Rouge: Life in the Big Greasy

I'm trying to make "The Big Greasy" stick as a nickname for Baton Rouge. Despite the fact that Baton Rouge is generally cleaner than it's more cosmopolitan neighbor New Orleans (The Big Easy), Baton Rouge's relationship (dependence) on the oil/gas/chemical industries is on full display with its skyline as you cross the main I-10 bridge. It's half city skyline to the south and half Exxon refinery to the north.

 Anyways, this post is just a mish-mash of some of the different things I took pictures of in BR.

I didn't believe some redneck telling his little kid that Huey P. Long was buried under the massive statue in front of the capitol building, but it turns out that guy was right. (Geaux Tigers!) Despite ol' Huey's stated desire for a small, simple grave marker, he got a whopping statue on a pedestal with tended flower displays. (He allegedly requested a very simple grave, so maybe this was another middle finger from his political enemies.. but maybe not.)

And of course, here's the capitol itself (not to be confused with the Old State Capitol that I shared a picture of previously), the tallest state capitol in the US as of 2017.

View from the top, of the grounds below, with Huey P. Long's memorial in the hourglass-like shape in the middle.

Three ships side-by-side here: the USS Kidd on the left, whatever that boat that played the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean is called, and one of the casino riverboats (Belle, I think) on the right in the distance.

Hilarious old photo of a researcher from the 1970s measuring trees at one of our sites in the Atchafalaya River basin. No shirt, no problem.

Great example of Cajun ingenuity on the swamp: just work with what you've got (especially if what you've got is an old school bus and some empty drink syrup barrels), and voila, you've got your floating houseboat/fish camp!

Zoom in close to the pier, and you can see a logjam's worth of lumber strained out of the river (unintentionally).

Long-horn cow at the LSU Rural Life Museum.. definitely a place worth checking out, and not just for the cow.

Someone decided to speak for our lab truck and declare to the world, "I'M DIRTY".

And speaking of Cajun ingenuity, just DIY your own home repairs: grab a bobcat and rip up that annoying concrete-slab driveway.