Our Last Summer HOORAH!

We finished up our staycation and got home. When we got home I was kidding with Cita that we had one more opportunity for a getaway before school starts. We have not had much time with her this summer, because she has traveled a lot for business. We did a little research and decided on Caddo Lake. We made reservations on Wednesday and took off on Saturday morning! I am ashamed to say I have not been to Caddo Lake before. It was like nothing I have EVER seen! All these huge cypress trees with eerie Spanish moss hanging from them.

We stayed at the Hodge Podge Cottages. We were in Snug Harbor #3. It is named Snug Harbor because rumor has it that it was originally owned by a merchant seaman radio operator involved in covert operations with the CIA who used the cottage as a "safe house" after WWII and the Korean War. It was more cabin than we needed but Cita wanted to be right on the water. It has two bedrooms (enough sleeping for 8), full kitchen, back patio and a grill. The views were amazing. Oh, and get this the cabins are located in Uncertain, TX! How funny!

We arrived, checked in, unpacked and rested for a bit. We had reservations at 4 PM for the boat tour. The tour WOULD have been wonderful if our captain hadn't been a JERK! He started out the tour telling us he was a male chauvinist pig and we all just giggled. Well, it just got worse from there. He bad-mouthed women (can't cook, can't drive, Tabasco was invented to cover up the taste of bad cooking), lawyers, Louisiana (he referred to it at Lousyana), the government (too many comments to list) - he pretty much offended EVERYONE on the boat. At one point he even commented on "what a tough crowd we were". Think he would have gotten the hint when no one was laughing! He even threw his own daughter under the bus! It was a shame because he had a lot of great information and the lake is beautiful. He ruined it with his mysogynistic ranting! No wonder he is single. I am not recommending the Graceful Ghost. There are plenty of others to choose from. UNLESS, you want to be held hostage for an hour and a half being yelled at and talked down to, hey to each his own!

We saved the day by heading to Jefferson to the Stillwater Inn for dinner. And it was AWESOME. I had a filet mignon with Maytag blue cheese, scalloped potatoes and green beans. Kate had trout and Cita had duck. So good! We drove around town and then headed back to the cabin.

Sunday we slept in. I was the first one up. I made a pot of coffee and took my book out on the back porch. It was so peaceful just sitting there enjoying the moment and taking in all the sights and sounds. Every now and again a huge heron would fly out of a tree in the distance. Majestic. Cita and Kate woke up and we all dressed and headed back into Jefferson for breakfast at The Bakery. The food was good. They also sell beautiful pastries and homemade breads. We bought some cinnamon raisin bread to take back to the cabin. Unfortunately, it was not very fresh and ended up in the trash. Quite a let down because it looked so amazing. After breakfast we did some sightseeing. We drove by the House of Seasons and some other beautiful places. We also did a little antiquing. We fell in love with these retro metal chairs. I want them! I want them all! I want them ALL in EVERY color!

Now for the fun and EERIE part. Right outside of Uncertain, Texas is the Caddo Lake Animal Refuge. Okay, so I know that is not a big deal but the wild thing is that it used to be the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant! It was built when LBJ was a congressman from Texas. It is right outside of Karnack where Lady Bird was born and raised. We drove through and all over there relics of old buildings and silos and bunkers! So cool. There are also all these restricted area signs posted to keep you out. I wanted to badly to drive down one. The plant was used to manufacture TNT, incindiary devices and rocket motors. This is where the first U.S. missiles were destroyed in 1988 after a treaty was signed between U.S. and the Soviet Union. EPA came in and removed chemical wastes. Crazy!!! I love this kind of stuff!

After all of our fun we headed back to the cabin for relaxing, napping and reading. For dinner we took advantage of the grill and I made hot dogs, with baked beans and cole slaw. We watched an old black and white movie called The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I love this movie. Before hitting the hay, I went out on the back porch to see what was going on. Out on the edge of the water I saw a HUGE nutria! ICK! A nutria is a big, huge ugly water rat! They were brought here from South Africa for their fur. I ran back in the cabin and locked the door! Yes, I know they are vegetarian but I don't care!

Monday morning we took it easy. We slept in, had breakfast, packed up and headed home. Goodbye summer. It was fun!

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