Lake Charles is the halfway point between Houston (where we flew in) and Lafayette (where we are staying tonight). As beer drinkers, we are always curious about brewers’ rendition of beer when we are further from home. We were pleasantly surprised with Crying Eagle Brewery in Lake Charles. The beer, food, and facility was outstanding. We may even go out of our way to swing by here on our way home in a few weeks.
Creole Nature Center Adventure Point was the perfect place to jump into Southwest Louisiana’s flora, fauna, food, music and pastimes. The nature center is located along the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road, one of 43 scenic byways designated as an All-American Road in the USA. This is a small but super informative and toddler-friendly nature center. Visitors can play music, smell spices, read about wildlife, make ‘sausages’ and go ‘crabbing’. It was there that we learned that if we went to Pintail Wildlife Drive and Boardwalk we were guaranteed to see alligators.
Pintail Wildlife Drive and Boardwalk is a three mile one-way driving loop located within Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was established to preserve and protect wintering waterfowl and their habitat. Luckily for us, their habitat includes ferocious prehistoric beasts. And we got to enjoy them from the safety of our vehicle. Surprisingly, Louisiana is full of ornate and colorful dragonflies. There are 36 species of dragonflies and damselflies in Louisiana.
It is so nice to be out of state, we didn’t have to share Pintail Wildlife Drive with anyone. We could stop whenever and wherever we wanted to soak in all of the nature we were surrounded with. I have been dreaming of this trip for years, and it is already exceeding expectations.
Incredible photos! The dragon flies are remarkable. And I wonder who would need to be warned about feeding alligators?! At the Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle), a sign posted outside the porcupine exhibit states, “Please don’t pet the porcupine.”
Also, that lovely beer – was that an IPA? Gorgeous color.
Everyone feeds the alligators! They have grown accustomed to people so they come out when they hear you coming.
Petting porcupines seems like a no brainer. But people make terrible decisions. :/
My beer was a double IPA. We have rearranged our loop to go back to Crying Eagle before we head home. It is that good!