Lafayette: UL Homecoming Parade

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

November 1 was the UL Homecoming Parade. Oh, right, there was also a game and other stuff, but I'm all about the parade.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

Even the Pope was there.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

And, as always, Louisianans really know how to make a parade up nice.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

OK, well, I was standing in front of the UL Alumni Center.

Marching bands. My favorite part of a parade. 

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

 Here's a video from the Opelousas High School Marching Band:

And from the Franklin High School Band. It makes me smile to see how the drummer smiles at :34.

Oh, those drummers.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

A slide show:

#30



 

Lafayette: The Campus Swamp

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana

The University of Louisiana - Lafayette campus is compact and pretty.  Live oaks drape the main promenade, St. Mary's Street. Bright flowers leaven the seriousness of red brick buildings. Much-loved Girard Park anchors a corner of the campus.

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana

You'd never know that in the heart of the campus lies a petite swamp. With alligators, turtles, cypresses and Spanish moss, an array of fishes, and fat squirrels. It's surrounded by an attractive black metal fence to protect residents both within and without the habitat.

 

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana

 People visit and feed bread to the fish and turtles.

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana

The "swamp" is more technically Cypress Lake. If one really wants to get technical, I'd propose it was more a large pond than a lake, but historically, the swamp-lake-pond originated as a depression caused by two-stepping buffalo who liked to party in the cypress grove. The depression, which later filled with water, was here before UL was.

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana

If you look closely at the photo above, you can see turtles sunning themselves on a log. .... or is it a log?

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana