Fun time in Sulphur Louisiana

Thursday 21 March 2019

Feeling better this morning as we head off to Sulphur Louisiana, just west of Lake Charles.  It was a beautiful day and we were packed and on the road by 10:00.  It took us 4 hours to go 160 miles but in our defense we took an hour lunch break at the Atchafalaya rest area, just at the end of an eighteen mile bridge over rivers, bays and swamps.  It was probably one of the best, if not the nicest rest area we ever been in. They had a wonderful display of wildlife, plants and insects that live in the wetlands and a 5 minute movie about the early settlers in the area.  Back on the road we arrived at the A+  Motel and campground about 2:00 pm.   A really nice park with roomy sites, large concrete pads, pools (one was adults only) and fishing pond.  In this area of Louisiana there is a heavy presence of oil/gas production and related industries. We can see a huge flame burning off methane (I think) from the back of the campground.  Burgers and fixing for dinner as we enjoyed the warm sunshine.

The Minerva Ship on the Mississippi, just had to have a picture. 💔

The one on the right is the Visitors Center at the Atchafalaya River Basin.  The place was beautiful and the crossing the bridge was an enjoyable ride.







Friday 22 March 2019

Another wonderful weather day 80 degrees and sun shine all day long.  Breakfast French toast and bacon on the grill.  Cleaned up and packed up for a ride down highway 27(the creole trail) to the gulf coast via some wild life refuges counting on a nice seafood restaurant .  Well, no one warned us how desolate this ride would be.   We drove some 40 plus miles(it took 1 1/2hrs) to Cameron Louisiana, stopping at Holly Beach to walk out to the Gulf and did not pass a gas station or restaurant.  We noticed a lot of damaged homes and businesses as we drove and after taking a ferry boat to cross the river we finally found a place to eat called the Anchors Up Grill. I had the Kick'n shrimp Po-Boy and Diane had shrimp basket.  They were good and as it turns out that was the only restaurant we passed.  Turns out Hurricane Harvey made land fall here in Oct 2017.  We seem to be on the hurricane trail this year. Again the vast devastation is almost incomprehensible.   We headed home stopping a wild life refuge and walked a mile long boardwalk and a 3 mile drive through a huge wetland area.  Many different birds winter here just hundreds and hundreds of birds and of course alligators and new to us Nutria (swamp rats), they reminded us of groundhogs.  We stopped at the first gas station we saw to use the bathroom.  Even the restaurant didn't have restrooms.

At the Anchors Up grill
we found this little guy going for a ride.




         The guy on the right wasn't happy getting his picture taken and the picture below is the Nutria (swamp rat)

Saturday 23 March 2019

Off to down town Lake Charles to tour the Historic District and go have lunch at a good seafood place, but we were a bit disappointed.  All the restaurants were Mexican, so Brad had a Shrimp Po-Boy that was ok and I had the triple taco, 1 shrimp, 1 fish and 1 beef, I enjoyed them, but it really wasn't what we were looking for.  Oh well, a stroll through town, most of which was closed (on a

Mural on the outside of 

the Art Shop

Saturday).  We did find a art place that was open and actually pretty interesting work then off to find a coffee shop.  We then took our coffee down to the lake side to enjoy and that was nice, lots of people to watch and the lake was beautiful.  We finally headed home about 4:00, stopping at a Market Basket to get some Boudin (southern sausage) and wine, then off to home to save Rudy.  We did a nice long walk around the park and then another long walk, then we headed inside for some Nachos for dinner.  We are heading out tomorrow, off on another adventure.

Sunday 24 March 2019

We are up and on the road at 10:00 heading out for our long 130 mile drive.  First stop about 20 mile down the road at the Texas Welcome center, then another 10 miles to the Flying J for fuel.  After that it was a straight shot to Livingston TX to the Escapees Rainbow Park.  Just our luck, parked us beside the highway, hopefully it quiets down after dark.  We were both a little disillusioned, as the place seems pretty old and run down, we just thought it would be a nicer place.  But what the heck, we're only here a week.  We did a quick walk around the park and that took an hour, and no we didn't cover the whole thing, it is rather large.  Back to the Moho a glass of wine, some outside time chatting then Boudin and upside down pickles for dinner.  Doesn't get much nicer than that.  We are now inside, no TV, nothing over the air and the satellite dish quit working.....oh well, we will survive.