Twelfth Anniversary Adventure, Part 3

As we drove into Natchitoches, we kept seeing these signs along the roadway directing us to a plantation here or a little church house there. I had planned to visit the Cane River National Heritage area. I had plugged the address into the GPS unit and it directed us straight to the Cane River offices, which were closed on Saturday. However, right there in the parking lot was a sign with directions to some of the plantations.

One that I had wanted to visit was Oakland Plantation. The plantations in this part of the state may not beas extravagant as the ones further south, but they are still very interesting to learn about. The Oakland Plantation in particular is fascinating due to the fact that it remained in the same family the entire time! Built in the 1820's, it was never sold or handed over to others until the early 1990's when the National Park service was contacted for ownership transfer.

We spent a good part of our afternoon here before going on into the historical district of Natchitoches.

A look down Front Street, right on the Cane River lake.

What a beautiful little town! I had heard that the oldest store in the state was here, is still in business, and even more intriguing, is still operated by the same family!!! DH and I walked in and spotted an old Coca Cola cooler right away. We opened the top and lo and behold, there were 6 oz. Cokes in the little green bottles!!! Ice Cold!! What a treat! I find it interesting that the drink tastes better when it's in one of those little bottles. The taste of the product when in the plastic bottles just doesn't hold a candle to the glass bottle.

We walked around the store for a bit and saw some vintage toys that we remembered from our own childhood! We even purchased two little wooden boats with the rubber band operated paddle wheels for the girls. Then we wandered across the street to the little park and walked around looking for at least one geocache. There were many more that I wanted to hunt for but we didn't have time and hubby really isn't as gung-ho about it as I am.

Hunny is helping me hunt for the cache.

After bushwhacking for the geocache, I finally decided to get a stick and poke all around the hiding place. On the 3rd poke I heard what I was listening for. A distinctive thunking sound of wood meeting a plastic container. There it was! Why didn't I think of getting the stick sooner!? I would have saved much valuable time.

The prize!!

Being worn out from that little escapade, we decided to go find a hotel (a Day's Inn), get settled, relax a little, and then return to the historic district for dinner in one of the restaurants on the Riverwalk. There were a few to choose from, and they all looked interesting, but we walked past them and decided to eat at the last one we came to, Antoon's Riverfront Restaurant.

When we walked in, I was quite surprised at the atmosphere. It was very relaxed and casual with no frills. We pored over the menu for quite a while before deciding what to purchase. Hubby ordered his standard seafood platter while I had some difficulty making my choice. The choices on the menu looked absolutely divine and I couldn't settle for just one!

As I read the menu, I would think to myself, "Oh my, that looks good! Oh, but this looks good too!" and so it would go. I finally told the waitress that I would go with their Catfish Gumbeaux featuring Blacked Catfish topped with Seafood Gumbo and served with shrimp, rice, and garlic bread. She left our table and went to another before turning to go back to the kitchen with our order. As she passed, I stopped her and changed my order to the Potatoe Louisiane which is a baked potato filled with a creame sauce with baby shrimp, crawfish, and mushrooms then topped with grilled jumbo shrimp. OMG! This was some heavenly stuff!!!!

While we dined, we met and chatted with a sweet young lady who was visiting the United States for the very first time on her first solo trip. She hailed from Holland and was enjoying her stay at a Natchitoches Bed and Breakfast while waiting for an aunt to arrive from Texas. She was such a delight and I regret that I didn't get any contact information from her to keep in touch. I suppose I could chalk it up to a divine encounter and hope that I made as much of an impression on her as she did on me.

After dinner, I was glad that we had parked so far away and made the initial stroll down the "blvd" to eat. I was so stuffed that I was happy for the exercise to get back to the vehicle. Plus it was a nice little romantic stroll. What a beautiful evening!

If you're still reading this, Thank you for humoring me with all of your attention! Our adventure continues in Part 4.

Part 1

Part 2