Another First -- Visiting Louisiana .. Part 1

This is our first time ever to visit Louisiana! How I wish I had kept track of all the highways we traveled, but I was already so far behind posting updates on my blog that I was too tired to do one more thing. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride, and snapped pictures! John mapped our route using his Samsung Galaxy 6 Edge phone, so I did not need to follow along on an Atlas. With the right apps, those Smart phones can do it all.

Leaving out of Livingston, Texas, our friends advised us to take highway 190 towards Jasper, Texas, to stay out of areas where some highways might still be flooded.  The water was really high as we crossed this big old iron bridge heading east.

Crossed this big old iron bridge as we drove east

I took several photos of flooded areas in Texas as we continued east.

Flooded area along highway

Another view of flooded area along highway

Newton, Texas 

The water tower at left back of photo confirms this is Newton, Texas. The historic clock bell is setting under the roof at the lower front left of the building. I barely had time to focus when I saw this interesting building on our right. This shot was a hurry-up and snap-the-photo and hope for the best.

Historic building with clock bell as we came through Newton, TX

Soon after Newton, we crossed the Sabine River into Louisiana.

Welcome to Louisiana 

Here we were in Louisiana for the very first time. Another first with more adventures to come.

Welcome to Louisiana

Our intent was to make a left turn right after we went through DeRidder, Louisiana, and follow 190 south, but I was not looking at a map and had no clue where the road turned left. All I knew was I was watching for a road sign that would show 190 turning left. Soon I realized that we were no longer on 190. The road signs said we were on 27.

What happened?

Where did 190 turn? We figured out the road turned left very soon after we veered right. Two semi trucks were sitting on the right side of the road. They were very large and apparently blocked the sign, as they waited to turn left to follow two cars stopped for a train moving on the track. Since we missed the turn to follow 190, we continued on 27 and ended up in DeQuincy, where we turned east on 12 to get to 190. It was still a pleasant drive, but I understand we missed a scenic piece of highway.

We still saw beautiful scenery! 

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to our Friends!

We arrived at our friends place in time to help them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a surprise party that evening in their honor. They actually had two cakes.

50th Anniversary Cake

Mardi Gras King Cake

Mardi Gras King Cake with cream cheese filling

The Mardi Gras King Cakes come with a choice of filling, and they all have a baby Jesus inside of them. Whoever finds the baby Jesus is supposed to have good luck.

Parked in the clearing by the tall trees

Parked in the Shade of the Tall Trees

It was so nice to be parked in the shade of the tall trees. Many thanks to our friends for their hospitality. One night, our host asked as he was firing up the grill if I had anything I wanted to fix on the grill.  It didn't take me long to grab a couple of chicken breasts from the refrigerator and get them on the grill while he was grilling steaks for their anniversary. What a nice grilled treat!

Juicy steaks on top and Chicken Breasts grilling on the bottom

Behind our trailer across the drive to the left they had a gazebo where we gathered. I do not know how many world problems we solved, but we did a lot of visiting and telling stories as we enjoyed being outside with nature.

Angel enjoyed being outdoors too!

To the left of the gazebo across the drive was a wee rock garden and the homes where the gnomes lived. If you click on the photo, you might see their little green tractor to the left of the stepping stones.

Gnome Homes and rock garden

Scenic Sites Near Lake Charles

Early in the week while out and about, our friends showed us some of the sites.

Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau

The Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau was located right along Lake Charles. It  had a lot of indoor exhibits as well as things to see outside.

Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau

This table on the inside had shoe boxes on both sides. School children decorated them with many themes for the Mardi Gras celebration. The white paper in front of each box was there so visitors could vote on the box they liked best.

School Children decorated shoe boxes for Mardi Gras.

Close-up of one of shoe boxes on the table

Another close-up of a box on the table.

Close-up of another box on the table

Life size statues depicted the winners at the previous year's Mardi Gras.

Display depicting King and Queen winners at previous Mardi Gras

Outside the gift shop was a statue of the pirate, Blue Beard.

Statue of Blue Beard, the pirate, outside gift shop

The alligator, guarding the elevator

Artist, Bernard Allen, was born in St. Francisville, Louisiana. He and his brother would ride their bike to school every day, past the Rosedown Plantation. Every day he would see a man fishing on a pond on the plantation grounds. That is where his inspiration to carve "boudreaux" came from, in honor of the man he saw fishing every day. He became an artist at age 14 in 1979.

"Boudreaux" is hand carved, made of solid cypress that Bernard purchased in Louisiana. It took him three days to hand carve, and not one power tool was used.

Close-up of display in the Visitors' Center

"Yur on Cajun time"

Jazz Blues display at visitors' Center

Artwork in Ladies' Restroom
We called it 'me and my sisters'.

Sign overlooking grounds and the water

Alligator-shaped bush 

Look close (click to enlarge and escape to return) to see the small alligator sunning himself on the bank in this photo. The larger alligators had already been removed from the pond.

Small alligator on the bank

Ducks in nearby pond

Flying Sponge Bob Kite

Flying another colorful kite

Antique car seen as we were seeing the sites

I love wind chimes, especially the large hand-tuned ones, so had to grab this photo when we were out. They are like deep thoughts blowing in the wind.

Hand-tuned wind chimes

In the next post we will still be at our friends' place in Louisiana. If you remember from our travels, we have more things to accomplish before we leave, but I will talk about them in the next post.

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