Lake Charles, LA - FL To NM Road Trip - Stop 2

We made so many wonderful memories on our FL to NM And Back road trip.  If we have enough time and energy, after we have met our goal of visiting every national park on the US mainland, we might want to do this trip again.  There are a few things we would pass on next time and some places we would plan to stay longer than we did this time.  One of those places we wished we had more time to explore was Lake Charles, LA.   

If we ever visit Lake Charles again, we will probably do it the same way, with our RV and camping in one of Louisiana's state parks.  We found Sam Houston Jones State Park by searching for a state park closest to I10 which was highway we were traveling on.  We were sold when we found out it was only 8 miles off the highway.  This was our second campground stop and we were hoping it would be as nice as our first stop but the campground was small and even though there were only 38 sites, it felt pretty cramped.  But each site had a picnic table and fire pit and enough room to cook up some burgers for dinner and sausages for our second night.

Please read our full report on Sam Houston Jones State Park in our brand new Guide To State Park Campgrounds coming very soon!

We didn't have any plans made, before we left on this road trip, for Louisiana.  This was just going to be a place for us to stop for two nights on our way to San Antonio.  During our 5 1/2 drive from Pensacola to Lake Charles, was when I looked to see if there was anything to do.  We were pleasantly surprised and very excited when we found out about the Creole Nature Trail which was very near the campground.  

So after breakfast the next morning we set off to explore the trail.  First we stopped at the tourist bureau to see if we could get some more information about the Creole Nature Trail.  The very helpful person at the information desk gave us a map and pointed out a few of the must see trails.  We found out, as soon as we entered this building, that the Mardi Gras was in full force.  For some reason, I thought New Orleans was the only city in Louisiana that celebrated.  I was wrong.  We didn't have any time this trip to check out any of the Mardi Gras festivities in Lake Charles so if we ever do have a chance to get back to this area we will plan it for February so that we can join in the all the festivities we missed this time.

The second stop we made, before we hit the trail, was Creole Nature Trail Adventure Point.  This attraction was at the start of the trail so it was easy enough to stop in here.   The very friendly host and hostess at the information desk answered all our questions about Mardi Gras, boudin and king cake.  After all this great info, we took a look at the displays and learned more about the culture of Louisiana and about the wildlife we could find in this area.  We were happy we stopped in. 

We needed to make one more stop, for lunch, before we hit the trail.  We packed a lunch before we left the campground and we were glad we did.  We saw on our map of the trail, Intracoastal Park.  Here we found a picnic table and had a relaxing lunch while watching all the activity on the Intracoastal Waterway. 

During our picnic lunch we pulled out our map of the Creole Nature Trail and decided what trails we wanted to hike and what else we wanted to see and do.  After lunch we got back into the car and headed to the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.  With the bird identifying brochure, in hand, that we picked up at the Visitors Bureau, we hiked the Blue Goose Walking Trail.  We saw a couple of birds, but since we didn't have binoculars, we couldn't compare any of them to the brochure we had.  It was a nice, leisurely walk, though, down to the water and back.

We read that the best trail to spot alligators on was the 1 1/2 mile Wetland Walkway trail so that was where we headed next.  I wanted to see an alligator as much as I didn't want to see one I think.  I jumped at every sound I heard or movement I saw.  Halfway around the trail, we started to ask people, we passed, if they got a glimpse of one and no one did.  We were thinking that we would not see one until we noticed a couple looking intently at what we thought was a log but they were sure it was an alligator.

Our next stop on the trail was Holly Beach to get a close up view of the Gulf of Mexico.

After spending some time at the beach looking for shells, we decided it was time to get back to the campground so we headed off to find the Cameron Ferry that would take us a short distance over the Intracoastal Waterway.  We had front row seats on our ride to the other side of the trail.

We toured this side of the Creole Nature Trail without getting out of the car.  There wasn't as many trails on this side but enough that we would love to come back and explore this side one day.

Before we went back to the campground, we made a pit stop at a Market Basket supermarket where the nice people at Adventure Point told us we would find boudin.  Boudin (pronounced boodan) is made with cooked rice, pork, onions, green peppers and seasonings which is stuffed into sausage casings.  It is a staple food of Louisiana, especially around the Lake Charles area.  We wanted to try boudin balls which is boudin taken out of the casing, rolled into a ball shape then breaded and fried.  I was very excited to find that they also had king cake, which is a cake that's eaten throughout Mardi Gras season which lasts from Epiphany Eve to Fat Tuesday.

While I was researching things to do in Lake Charles, I found that there were three casinos that were only 20-25 minutes from our campground!  So after dinner and our delicious snack we went out to try our luck at the Isle of Capri Casino.  Me and Soko both came out winners!  I think it was because we walked in through these doors!!

Join us on Stop 3 of our road trip, San Antonio, TX.  

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5 Safety Tips For Senior RV Campers

This is a paid post.  All opinions are my own.

We have been camping for more than 30 years and things have changed a lot for us since we first started camping.  First of all, we are camping in an RV now instead of a tent and, secondly, we are a lot older!   The RV makes it easier for us to continue camping and makes a huge difference in keeping us safer when we are camping.  No more walking around the campground in the middle of the night looking for the bathroom, a little more protection from wildlife looking for food and a door that locks.

Although, we can still enjoy camping, hiking and everything in-between, there are some things we have to be more cautious about and things we just don't take for granted anymore.  Below is a list of things we think about now that we didn't have to worry about when we were younger.

1)  Never go hiking without a walking stick.  We never had these sticks or poles in the past but about 3 years ago we hiked through the Great Smoky Mountains NP and I finally had to find a branch to walk with as we crossed streams on slippery rocks.  That Christmas, my sister bought us walking sticks.  Walking over certain terrains can be a challenge especially as we are getting older and losing some of our balance.

2)  Always be aware of your surroundings.   We have never felt unsafe in a campground.  We would let the kids wander away from the campsite as long as they let us know where they were going and they left in a group of 3-4 or more.   We always camped with 4-8 families and there was always lots of kids to pal around with.  We still feel safe but we are more cautious.
On our last road trip, we camped in one desolate campground.  There were only two host campsites that were occupied but they were parked way down the road.  One evening we went to take showers and there was a car, with someone inside, parked near the bathrooms and no one in the bathrooms that he might be waiting for.  We decided we would go back to the showers after the car left.  After an hour, it was still there.  We were concerned enough to not take a shower that night but not enough to alert anyone.  We just thought it might be better to be cautious.
At another campground, we had a ditch right in front of our campsite.  It made it difficult to get the RV into the site because of having to maneuver around it.  In the evening, we had to be very aware of the ditch because we couldn't see it well in the dark.

3)  Bring extra lighting.  As we get older, it gets harder to see, especially in the dark.  We do carry flashlights if we are walking around in the dark but sometimes the campgrounds are so dark that we can't see more than a couple of feet in front of us.  After we came back from our road trip where we had the ditch to worry about, I saw the need for better lighting around the trailer.  We have outside lights on our trailer but if we are approaching the RV from the opposite side of the lights, they don't help us much.
Now we have a set of Litom solar landscape lights.  I used them on a quick three day camping trip we just took with friends and they worked perfectly.  I had them out in the sun near my RV during the day and then placed them in front of the RV in the evening.  It was so easy to find our way back to the RV in the dark and it lit up the site enough that we were confident we would not trip on anything in our way.

4)  Make sure to give a trusted friend or family member a copy of your itinerary.  Cell phone service is very spotty in certain areas, or non-existent, so it is not something you can rely on to keep yourself safe.  Leave a detailed itinerary of your travels with someone and check in with them from time to time.  My kids like to follow us on Instagram or Facebook so we will post once a day on social media for them.  If we forget to post one day, they will contact us.

5)  Don't go hiking without water and your first-aid kit.   Pack up a small first-aid kit to throw into your backpack before you go out hiking.  It doesn't have to be a big survival kit that will be cumbersome and then unsafe for you to carry.  I bring a small kit that contains antiseptic wipes and ointment, band-aids of different sizes, ibuprofen and hand sanitizer to use before taking care of a wound.  There was a time when we could just wipe up a cut without worrying too much about it but as we get older our immune system is weakened and we have to be more careful of getting an infection.   And make sure to pack water.  Seniors are at more of a risk of dehydration as our bodies have less water than younger adults.

An RV road trip can be such a wonderful adventure.   We are still young and healthy enough to enjoy the great outdoors.  We just need to know our limitations.  We definitely do not hike on the strenuous trails and keep to the easy and the occasional moderate trails.

As long as we are aware of keeping ourselves a little safer than we did in the past, we will be able to go on these adventures for many years to come!


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