Park Walk & A Fair - (Lake Charles, LA)

We eased into the day like the gentle flow of the Calcasieu River.

By late morning, we were ready to get outside and take a stroll.  Just outside of the campground is a trailhead for the "Orange" trail.  The trail hugs the river on one side and comes and goes from a large hidden pond on the other.

We walked slowly watching turtles in the river and doing a little birdwatching along the way.

There wasn't a whole lot of bird or wildlife activity (Linda did spot a snake), but it was a pleasant walk.  Eventually, the trail came out on the other side of the campground.

We stopped at the rig to get some water and lunch.  Then we walked the park road.  At that time, there were only four RVs in our camping loop and very few people in the park.

In the middle of the park is a large pond filled with cypress trees.  Unfortunately, the saltwater instrusion from Hurricane Rita killed them.

I'm sure that this pond was once a beautiful example of a Louisiana cypress swamp, but now the bare trees stand as a reminder of how an ecological change can permanently affect the landscape.

Though we still haven't seen any alligators, the turtles are in abundance.

We continued our walk along the road where there is another pond between the river and Camp Area 1.

In Camp Area 1 there is a short boardwalk over the swamp.

There wasn't a whole lot to see in the way of wildlife at that time of day, but it was a nice walk around the park road.  It was at about this point when Linda said "We could be sitting in an office somewhere".  :)

I got the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it for that brief moment.  :)

Back at the campground, we checked out the fairly new bathhouse to look at the showers.  We were thinking we'd take a couple of long showers in there today to save our gray tank for later in the week when the campground gets crowded.

Back at the rig, I took a nap.  For some reason, I've been waking up really early the last couple of days.

After my nap, we walked over to take our showers.  Now, the showers are the push-button kind where you have to push the button to make the water come on and then it shuts off after a short period.

It took holding the button in for a while to get the water hot.  But when you release the button, the water only stays on for about 20 seconds.  It was the shortest cut-off time we've seen in our four years on the road.  So you either have to hold the button in and take a one-armed shower, or you have to constantly push the button every 20 seconds.  We won't be doing that again.  :)

Once we were cleaned up, we went to the opening night of the Cal-Cam Fair over in Sulphur.  It's the only two-parish joint fair in the state bringing together the folks of Calcasieu Parish and Cameron Parish (Cal-Cam - get it?).  We're in Louisiana so we have to remember they have parishes instead of counties.  :)

The Cal-Cam Fair was supposed to take place in the middle of October, but it was postponed because of weather.  So we took advantage of the delay with the primary purpose of going for the food.  :)

It looked like a pretty typical fair with carnival rides, games, food, a craft show, and a stage area.

But I was only interested in getting some local food.  Hmm.  What do I want?  Jambalaya (jam-bah-lah-ya), Red Beans & Rice, Gumbo, Boudin (boo-dan), Pistolettes, Etouffee (ay-too-fay)?

Jambalaya is a well-seasoned one-pot rice dish with meat and vegetables.

Gumbo is a stew that usually contains one or more of poultry, shellfish, or smoked pork along with okra or file and celery, peppers, and onions.  It's traditionally served over rice.

Boudin is a Cajun sausage made with pork, rice, and spices.  I'm not a big fan - usually a little to "mushy" for me.  I'm very picky about my food "textures".  :)

Pistolettes are French bread rolls stuffed with seafood or meat and often cheese (or pretty much anything else).  The stuffed rolls can be baked, but they are usually fried.

Etouffee is usually made with a shellfish and roux (ru - a base made with flour and some type of fat) and served over or with rice.

We walked around looking at all the choices.

At one point Linda shouted "Bourbon balls!"

"Honey, that would be Boudin Balls - remember where you are."  :)

Linda was too chicken to partake of the spicy possibilities, so she got a big ol' turkey leg.

I went for the Crawfish Etouffee at this place.

Oh, it was soooo good.  :)

Moving on, I tried a Shrimp Pistolette.  Linda took a couple of bites and decided she really liked that.  It was like a shrimp & cheese-filled donut without the sugar.  :)

We got what we came for.  But we didn't stop there.  The sign for "Deep Fried Oreos" was too intriguing to resist.

We watched as the guy dunked a half dozen Oreos into a batter and fried them up.  He put them in a little cardboard tray and sprinkled cinnamon sugar over them.

As you can see, one of them was already gone before I could get a picture.  Wonder who could have taken it?  :)

Now, I was a little skeptical.  But ooooohhhhhh were they gooooooodddddd.  :)

We sat and ate our deep fried Oreos while watching the first of many of the night's pageants - the Tiny Tots division.

We listened as the emcee, with her Cajun accent, pronounced their Louisiana names and told us their favorite toys (My Little Pony, Barbie, etc.), their favorite TV shows (Hannah Montana, etc.), their favorite thing to do with their family (go on vacation), and other juicy tidbits.  :)

Of course there was the over-zealous mom filming with one hand and giving signals to twirl and blow kisses with the other.  :)

But they were still adorable and looked like they were having fun.

Well, mission accomplished.  We got some local flavor, talked to the nice vendors, met a few people, and had a great time.  We were only there about an hour, but it was worth the fifteen mile drive.

We made it back to the park well before the gate closed.  On the drive in, we saw more deer, a raccoon, and an armadillo.  If you come to this park and don't see a deer or raccoon, you just aren't looking out the window.  :)

Another fine day.  We've got a little plan for tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.  See you then.  :)

---

 

Comments

[Andy (Jassson007) Grimes]

Meant to tell you one of the the reason's you will see alot of deer at Sam Houston is because pre Rita there was a pen with a large herd inside, after the storm the deer just hung around and did not go any where as they were used to being fed. As far as I know there is no plan to rebuild the pen as the deer appear to be perfectly fine hanging out the way they are.
BTW...my mom is being transferred back to Lake Charles today sometime.

[Marci Gimmarro]

As I sit here in my cubicle (don't even have an office!) reading your journal (on my lunch-hour, of course LOL) . . . I find myself thinking "I could be walking on a trail along the edge of a river somewhere . . .", and I wish I were -- SOON!!

Marci

P.S. The fair looked like fun, too!

[Heyduke]

maybe you should have just had Linda hold the button while you showered and then you could have returned the favor :)

[Jesse]

You guys should have taken a shower together so you each could take turns holding the button.....lol. You had to know someone would suggest that.

[Abase]

That's too funny. We all was thinking - benefits of showering together.