The first night, there was a crazy thunderstorm with a lightning show that lasted for hours... it felt like a giant stroboscope in the bus.

The sun came back the next day. And we had the perfect set up, right on the beach.

Stout was so happy to be allowed to run free on the beach. It was puppy heaven...

A bonfire on the beach. It doesn't get any better.

Stout has a light that attaches to his collar to see where he is at night. So fun and practical! And it makes for cool pictures too!

When we found out about that beach through another traveling family, I wanted to check it out. It's not often that you come across boondocking sites right on the beach! And it didn't disappoint!

This part of Louisiana has been severely affected by the passage of Katrina in 2005 and everywhere you look, you see concrete pads where houses used to stand, rusty metal structures, old restaurant signs... it's a sad sight... Many people could not afford to rebuild their houses and they now live in fifth wheels on these concrete pads.

A local told us that there were 35 to 40 houses along Rutherford Beach before Hurricane Rita... and now, only a few houses remain... It was the perfect place to watch the IMAX documentary Hurricane on the Bayou.

The drive to get down to the beach is beautiful though, as you cross bayous and a wildlife preserve. There were lots of different birds and I was jumping up and down when we saw some Roseate Spoonbill (Spatule rosée)! So cool! The whole time we were driving through the bayous, the lyrics of Stephen Faulkner's song Cajuns de l'an 2000 that my dad used to play in the Westfalia when I was a kid kept popping through my mind. And to top it off, a local we met on the beach kept using the expression Son of a Gun! Oh and JF is cooking a typical Creole Jambalaya tonight with authentic bayou spices!