Lake Chicot GTG - On the Town

We didn't spend all our time at the park. One day we headed to the Non-Blonde Café in Ville Platte. The owner arrived just as we were going to take a picture and insisted on taking it for us. The rest of the group hadn't arrived yet.

As soon as we walked in, wait staff quickly put tables together for all of us.

The menu is extensive and we tested quite a bit of it. Everyone thought their food was good.

Another day, we went to the Old Schoolhouse Antique Mall in Washington.

In addition to many floors of antiques, the museum has a really cute café.

It would probably take several days to cover all the antiques at the Old Schoolhouse.

Some of us took a break from looking at antiques.

We also had lunch at Lea's Lunchroom in LeCompte. They had a huge round table that fit all of us. It even had a lazy susan in the middle. The pie was delicious. The ham was also great....the sides just so, so but that's just me. They have one main meal each day plus a couple of sandwiches and lots of different kinds of pie. Our waitress was great....handles the whole group very quickly.

Our final lunch out was at Café LaSalle in Ville Platte. It is obviously a local favorite and easy to see why. The food was great, the service fantastic, Our waitress went out of her way to take care of us.....even offering to come outside and take a picture of us in front of the restaurant. They have a buffet and a wide variety of choices on their menu. The owner also came over to introduce herself to us.

They had a lot of cute signs to read while you waited to pay your check.

 

Lots of great choices to eat with choices for any food preferences.

Lake Chicot State Park GTG - Fun Times

Attending Le Grand Hoorah was not the only thing we did at this GTG. Lake Chicot (Cheeko) is a very nice park. We had a great time there but it could definitely use some maintenance. Those of us with EMS protection for our rigs experienced numerous power shutdowns because the power kept fluctuating above 133 which is bad for your electrical appliances so the EMS shuts things down to protect the rig. Of course, those without EMS protection were blithely unaware of the possible damage to their rigs since they didn't have power interruptions.

The park itself is very pretty. They have lots of trails, places to fish, etc.  No swimming due to alligators but they do have splashpads in season for the kids.

Several of our group hiked part of the trail system at the Arboretum. (Photos by Liz Crussell)

Relaxing was part of the whole adventure too. Claudia's little dog brought her duck to the party one evening.

We had a fajita night with lots of extras from everyone.

There were campfires on many nights.

A view from the road.

Whoops.....this was from the fajita night.

We also had a potluck put together by some of our guests who are now members of our group.

There were mosquitos but we sprayed to keep them under some control and the fire and smoke helped.

Michele's bull terriers were very quiet and well-behaved neighbors.

Lots of Spanish moss on the trees.

Le Grand Hoorah!

Our April Pink FlaminGoes GTG was a little different this year. We are always up for new things. Mary Jane and I headed for Louisiana on a Tuesday but stopped at Gulf Coast RV Resort in Beaumont for two nights just to relax. Birdie headed out the same day and stopped for the night at the Elks Lodge in Beaumont because her reservation at the Lake Chicot (pronounced "Cheeko") started Wednesday.  She had a rather rough ride getting there with 30 plus miles on Louisiana 10. We took a different route and had a beautiful smooth route across Texas and Louisiana on State Roads 12, 190, and 13. We were on 10 for only 5 miles and it was a resurfaced part. Lake Chicot State Park was hosting "Le Grand Hoorah".

This event lasts two days and leads into Balfa Week which features training camps for musicians.The two days featured Zydeco, Cajun, and Creole music played by numerous different groups which were all good.

Everybody brought chairs and set up to listen to the music.

There was also dancing.

....and beverages.

And more dancing. Carolyn has got all the moves down. The gentleman she was dancing with was from England. He and his wife came to the states to attend music festivals in several places. They were both fantastic dancers.

The little boy just left of center not only played but also sang a number of songs all in French.

We all had a great time.

The older gentleman on the left dancing with a much younger partner didn't let any grass grow under his feet. He had all the moves and never stopped dancing the whole time we were there.

Dancing to this kind of music is quite a workout but they sure were having fun.