Louisiana in 2023 - A Year In Pictures

 The sun shines brightly through the trees on the shore of Bayou Boeuf south of the town of Lecompte.

With a winter storm just on the horizon I decided to take a brief walk along the bayou in Lecompte.

A foggy January day along a lonely country round in central Louisiana.

The shadow of a stick stuck in the sand on the banks of Lake Charles.

Turbulent skies over Prien Lake Park south of the city of Lake Charles.

 The sugar cane has long been harvested so this old farmhouse sits alone in the February rain near Cheneyville. 

The early morning sun shines straight through this old abandoned farm house south of Lecompte.

The same old farmhouse from a different perspective.

A beautiful early morning scene south of Lecompte.

The highway to heaven, or a country road to Cheneyville, you make the call.

There isn't any reason to look both ways at this railroad crossing because there hasn't been a train on these tracks since the 1950s when the Red River & Gulf served the now abandoned town of Long Leaf.

The now abandoned tracks of the Red River & Gulf Railroad eerily disappear into the foggy woods near Long Leaf. The railroad once hauled lumber out of the woods to the nearby saw mill complex that is now home to the Southern Forest Heritage Museum.

Locomotives of the Kansas City Southern Railroad sit awaiting maintenance in Lake Charles. Within a few weeks of this photo being taken, the KCS would merge with the Canadian Pacific to form the CPKC Railroad.

 A pair of giraffes seem out of place in northern Louisiana. The pair are part of a display outside the Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum in Haughton.  

The majestic Louisiana State Capitol building as seen from the grounds of Veteran's Memorial Park in Baton Rouge.

A beautiful Louisiana sunrise, taken in an area that once was the town of Meeker.

The sugar cane is just starting to sprout in this field in central Louisiana. Nourishing rain is just on the horizon as the son begins to set.

 A pair of Revolutionary War canons stand guard over an ancient Indian Mound in Veteran's Memorial Park in Baton Rouge. 

In April the Mississippi River flooded the area in Plaquemine. Normally I could walk out to the signpost that is now in the middle of the river.

In the distant past, ships used to travel up Bayou Plaquemine from the Mississippi River via the Locks at this site in Plaquemine. Now boats travel inland at Port Allen near Baton Rouge. 

This F-84F Thunderstreak fighter jet once flew with the famous Flying Tigers in service defending our country. Now it stands with other examples of aircraft flown by the squadron in a static display at England Air Force Base Memorial Park in Alexandria.

This lovely location can be found along the Oakwing Golf Course at England Airpark in Alexandria.

It was at this location along Highway 154 south of Gibsland where the famous outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met their demise when a police posse ambushed them in May of 1934.

A hot and humid June evening on the banks of the Indian Creek Reservoir near Woodworth.

A reproduction of the famous Liberty Bell stands in the shadow of the State Capitol in Veteran's Memorial Park in Baton Rouge.

A great place to beat the summer heat is this shaded walkway in Veteran's Memorial Park in Baton Rouge. 

 This Electric Trolly Bus used to transport passengers all over Shreveport, now it sits abandoned in the woods behind Ford Park.

The remains of the Campbellite Church, built in 1840, and it's adjacent graveyard sits across from the bayou in Cheneyville. 

This abandoned home will soon be nothing but a pile of old lumber in Cheneyville. 

Another spectacular sunrise over the lake at England Airpark in Alexandria.

A very old statue of a girl underneath the wind chimes in front of the Old Washington Schoolhouse Antique Mall.

'Thank you for your service." A collection of World War II era photographs in Washington. 

A collection of vintage metal advertising signage in Sunset.

A collection of treasures from the good old days up for sale at Remember When Antiques in Sunset.

The three main staples of life, bread, coffee and toy trucks in Sunset.

A plethora of delicious ramen for sale at The Asian Market in Lafayette.

  Light boat traffic on the water on this late November day, taken on the banks of the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge.

A whimsical sculpture on display in West Monroe. 

A view from the middle of the road looking north towards the antique district of West Monroe.

An image that mirrors a scene from an earlier photograph, the old Red River & Gulf run into the woods in Long Leaf. This photo was taken eleven months after the one at the top of this article.

The homes of a town long forgotten in Long Leaf.

The old runs parallel to the new in this photograph taken in Long Leaf. The tracks of the old Red River & Gulf, which last operated in the 1950s, run adjacent to the active Union Pacific Railroad line mere yards away.  

Always a sucker for a beautiful sunrise photo, I took this one next to a freshly plowed field in Alexandria. 

Another example of Louisiana's natural beauty is this scene of a farm just south of Alexandria.

These birds seen quite content to spend this rainy November morning perched upon the remains of an old pier at Prien Lake in Lake Charles.

From this perspective the Israel LaFleur Bridge over Prien Lake seems to go on forever.

Over the years I must have passed this old Acadiana Railway locomotive a hundred times and I always wanted to take a photo of it. On this trip through Bunkie, I finally did.

This perfect fall scene was taken in the historic district of Shreveport. The weather was rather warm and dry this year so the leaves didn't start turning until it was nearly December.

These steps once lead up to a grand old homestead in the historic district of Shreveport. Today the house that once stood here is a mere memory.