The area surrounding Lake Pontchartrain is an eclectic mix of sykscrapers in Metairie, to the vast Bonnet Carre Spillway where the fresh waters of the MIssissippi can be channeled when the river gets too high, to swamps and wildlife refuges along the western and northern borders, and historic old forts that defended the city in the 1800's. It's a place where wildlife and "wild" life play side by side, and the worlds longest bridge spans the 24 mile distance from north to south.