Lost Trees and Lazy Water

Like I said, water down here is just lazy. It tends to wander where it shouldn't, and then it sticks around for awhile, like it is too tired to try and figure out where it ought to be. Apparently the trees have a similar problem. In the picture on the left is Megan going out to the end of a pier in the Black Bayou wildife preserve outside of Monroe, LA. We met some bald cypress who wandered out into the water and forgot to head back to shore. Being from the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" it was quite surreal to look accross what looked to be a perfectly normal body of water and see all these trees standing there. How's anybody supposed to ski around here?
This was where we spent our one day off during our two and a half week disaster response adventure, and it was a fine place to spend it. Very peaceful. We saw some turtles and some lily pads the size of a large table, and no alligators. Megan was unhappy about missing the gators (a man leaving as we arrived saw an 8-footer!), I was less unhappy.
Below you can see a lily pad I would estimate to be 2 feet across floating in what is actually very clear water, not black. Next to it is the trunk of a cypress tree, useful for its strong and water-resistant wood and known for its "knees" that protrude from the root system above the water. Once thought to provide the tree with more oxygen, it is now thought the knees are more for support. I think perhaps emotional support 'cause those trees look pretty lost way out there all alone in those lakes.