Wandering Browns

Pelican while we were waiting for the ferry The barge I wanted to see the rest of the Creole Nature Trail. My plan was to drive an out and back route from Lake Charles. Austin thought it would be very fun to go on the ferry across the river in Cameron. So we drove south from our hotel in Sulphur and followed the trail around to Cameron- doing a loop instead of out and back. We reached a point where there was just a big river, with no way to get across it. Enter the giant ferry boat. It was in the middle of the river when we drove up, so we watched the wildlife and waited for it to get across. We were second in line, and eventually drove onto the boat. I was curious as to how this all worked, but it was really simple- there was a ramp from shore to the boat. Landon was not quite sure what was going on until we pulled away from the shore. Then he got excited. Nobody else got out of their cars once the ferry was on the water, so we just sat back and relaxed in the car and ate l...

Landon the fireman- I think the jacket was so heavy he could hardly move! Austin had to go into work very early in the morning on his day off, so Landon and I took off in the morning to give him some nap time. We had actually attempted to go to the Children's museum earlier on in the week, but it was closed because for "inclement weather". That inclement weather was it being 35 degrees outside and having a chance of the bridges icing over. I thought that an inside activity was perfect for that day, and Landon was crushed when it was closed. Anyway, second time was the charm and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there!  Sorting his crab catch! The museum was housed in a downtown historic three-story brick building. The first floor was definitely Landon's favorite- all of the pictures came from this level. The 2nd level had a model train town (but we could not get the train to move!) and lots of physics and science experiments. Landon enjoyed brushing the teeth...

The USS Orleck's awards Lucky for us, there is a United States Navy Destroyer docked on the Calcasieu River close to Lake Charles. The USS Orleck was built in 1945 in Orange, Texas, and served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, receiving many awards for its service. It was decommissioned in 1982, and transferred to the Turkish Navy. They decommissioned it in 1999 and it returned to Orange, Texas to become a museum ship. Hurricane Rita messed it up, and they decided to move it to Lake Charles in 2010. It has been there ever since.   Infirmary We went to check it out and the tour they gave as well as the boat itself exceeded my expectations. When we first arrived, we actually had to enter the boat to pay the entrance fee. I was not sure how the whole thing worked, but Landon took off down a hallway and I followed him. Turns out, someone had just started a tour, so we jumped in with that couple and we took a two-hour tour of the boat.  Starting off, a man who was working...