Hello! Happy Easter! Our Lord has risen indeed! Hope that you have a blessed day and can share it with family and friends. We are currently in Waco, Texas and will be for the next two weeks.
May God shine His face upon you and yours.
Well, I am not sure where to begin, it has been very busy, a lot of eating out and not a lot of photos. I do have some, but it is like when I get back home (Houston area) I get caught up with friends and family and totally forget to get photos. So let me start sharing what all has happened since March 18, 2024. Hubby and I went to the grocery store, and I did cook on that night, lol, then March 19th and beyond happened, not so much cooking going on past this point. I was supposed to get a haircut (again) and it was cancelled so I gave up and told hubby that I was going to make an appointment when we were in Lake Charles. So, we went out to dinner with Tim, and then he needed to get some things out of the storage unit. So, that was our night. It is always good seeing the children and I am so blessed that they want to spend time with us.
Yes, Mexican food. La Viva Cantina in Cypress, Texas.
Wednesday, we met up with James and Robyn Vigil (not Mexican) for dinner. We so enjoy getting together with them and catching up. They are becoming true Texans and I am so glad they enjoy being here. It is also nice because they get to be involved in their children and grandchildren's lives. How awesome is that?!
Hubby, myself, Robyn and James. Great people!!
The sky before we met up with them.
Thursday, we met up with Jim and Fonda for lunch (yes, Mexican) and after that we had a girl car and a boy car as we drove to Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was so much fun talking with Fonda all the way there - pretty sure I talked her ear off, but it was a so much fun! I truly had a month-long birthday, and I couldn't have asked to be around better people for the month of March.
This is from our balcony view. This is the L'Auberge hotel and casino,
it is where Tim stayed.
The bathtub in our room at the Golden Nugget (didn't work, wouldn't keep water in).
Double sinks, been awhile since we were able to each have our own sink.
On the balcony before going down to play some games in the casino.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretzky
We had breakfast here. It was good!
Went to a brewery and this is what hubby saw in the men's room.
Just a bird, not sure what kind. Maybe a Grey Heron?
Some history on Lake Charles, Louisiana. On March 7, 1861, Lake Charles was incorporated as the town of Charleston, Louisiana.
Lake Charles was founded by merchant and tradesman Marco Eliche (or Marco de Élitxe) as an outpost. He was a Sephardic Jewish trader and he had arrived in Louisiana after hitchhiking and was invited onto a Spanish vessel due to his determination and loyalty to volunteer and work freely for the Spanish Empire. Long before incorporation and even before the Louisiana Purchase, other names for Lake Charles were Porte du Lafitte or Rivière Lafitte (River Lafitte/Lafitte's River), among many other names now lost. Eliche had also founded other outposts and towns in Louisiana prior, most notably Marksville, which is named after him. There are also urban tales he had planned to name the settlement “Nouveau Cadix", after the city in Spain, but this is uncertain.
Named after Marco Eliche. He was born in 1766 and pasted away 1819.
The town was first incorporated in 1857 as Charleston, after an early settler, Charles Sallier. Ten years later, on March 16, 1867, Charleston was reincorporated as the City of Lake Charles. The Great Fire of April 1910 devastated much of the city.
Charles Sallier
This is the famous Sallier Oak. At the time this picture
was taken, the tree was 381 years old.
Lake Charles soon rebuilt, grew and expanded in the twentieth century. The Charleston Hotel was completed in 1929, during the administration of Mayor Henry J. Geary. During and after WWII, Lake Charles experienced industrial growth with the arrival of petrochemical refineries. The city grew to a high of some 75,000 people in the early 1980s, but with local economic recession, the population declined and stagnated. In 1985, the city was identified as a potential Strategic Homeport to support Navy Secretary John Lehman's desire for a 600-ship Navy Support ships were to be operated from the new Naval Station Lake Charles; but with the tailing-off of the Cold War, the 1988 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended it be closed. By 1991, the incomplete base was dropped from the program and shutdown.
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| Charleston Hotel. This picture was taken in the 1940's |
In 2005, the city was heavily damaged by Hurricane Rita. In 2020, it was battered by two hurricanes, Category 4 Hurricane Laura on August 26–27, and Hurricane Delta on October 9, 2020. After the hurricane, Lake Charles, was described as if “20 tornadoes came in and wiped the city”.
Hurricane Rita.
Hurricane Laura caused a chemical fire to break out.
Aerial photo of the damage caused by hurricane Delta.
We returned from our trip to Lake Charles and Monday, March 25th and got everything in the RV and then decided to eat out (yes, Mexican) at Rancho Grande. "Keeping it real" we had dinner at Rancho Grande's four times, lunch once and one time we took fajitas over to Jim and Fonda's. It is a good place to eat and close to where we were staying. Maybe too close.
Yum!
We met up with Tim at Texas Roadhouse in Tomball for dinner on Tuesday. It was nice and we had a good time. Then on Wednesday, hubby and I met up with Tressa, Andrew, Paige, Caitlyn and Lailah. It was BBQ, that is always good. Especially when they have a baked potatoes. Thursday, I met up with Tressa, Ashley and Mason for lunch (Mexican again) and then Thursday evening we had Book Club.
Fun fact: We figured out that our Book Club has been meeting for eight years. We started with books where we could have a theme for dinner. Then we all brought something and shared. Well, this month it was my turn to choose the book. Most of the time in the eight years, we would find three or four books that all of us would vote on, and the winner we would read. This month, I sent out three books and we ended up with Laura Dave's "800 Grapes". It was a pretty good book about a winery and we all enjoyed it. At first the ladies wanted to go to a winery, but I had another idea, so we held it at Fonda's, everyone brought a wine that they liked, and I hired Brianne to create a Charcuterie Board. She did not disappoint!
Lizzy brought the queso and guess where it came from - Rancho Grande!
Brianne is such an artist. She showed hubby and I a picture of one of her boards
and it was a BBQ Board. It looked amazing!
Here is our Book Club Gang. I was so excited that I was able to go in person!
Friday was Good Friday; I went into the Women's Pregnancy Center because we are filming a video for this year's online banquet. It was a fun day, and we (Christian) were able to film five people. One volunteer, two staff (one was Dawn who was talking us through an ultrasound), one client and then Stef just wrapped up with an ending to the film. It was a lot of fun and I will let you know when it comes out so you can see it. Hubby and I also went to a Good Friday service at Hope Montgomery in Montgomery. Tim played the bass, and it was a very moving, somber evening.
There is our handsome son, Tim, and a few other
band members after the service.
Saturday, we drove to Waco and it is so lovely to see all the beautiful wildflowers there are alongside the roads. It was also Cameron's birthday, number three grandson. He turned 12 years old. Wow, they grow up fast!!
Cameron at our 2023 Christmas party at Tim’s. He is a cutie and really funny.
Happy birthday love, Grandma and Grandpa!
"Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty."
Psalm 104:1 (NASB)
Can you see any Bluebonnets?
It isn't uncommon to see people stopped along the road so that they can take pictures.
Have a blessed week and it is possible that I might have some wild pig pictures for you on the next blog. Hubby leaves tomorrow to go to Mexia and will hunt pigs with Bud.
If there is something special you would like me to take a picture of, please let me know!
Drop a comment for me and let me know your thoughts on the blog.
God, the RV & me...
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