Top Ten Reasons To Explore Your Inner Cajun At Caddo Lake

1. Cajuns are cool cats.  They are a potpourri of redneck, French, mystery, hilarity, and worldly wisdom.
2. Lodging is easily accessible, laid back, and extremely budget-friendly.
3. The scenery and topography is breathtaking, which makes item #2 curious.  But I don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
4. There is literally no other place in Texas like it, to my knowledge.  In a state occupied largely by flat plains, Caddo Lake makes this tree lover and east Texas native enter hyper tree appreciation mode, topped with oodles of Spanish moss.
5. I think there is a quantity of signs and notices in the Caddo Lake area to justify a "Funny Signs of Caddo Lake" web site.  My favorite of late is "Ronnie's Bar & Grill, Coming Soon," seen near a pair of lawn chairs and a Weber charcoal grill.
6. Quiet, stillness, bright stars, lush vegetation.  If you're like me and you live in a Texas metropolitan area (that hasn't quite mastered the inclusion of nature in development), it's welcome to "get away."
7. Canoeing, paddling, boating, bird watching, fishing, and, despite Alexis's and the locals' claims of safely doing so (versus my skepticism and appreciation of aquatic reptiles), swimming.
8. An excellent reason to sing this song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKOVPXhlnE
9. Ladybird Johnson grew up on Caddo Lake.
10. Caddo is Texas's only natural lake.

Things I learned on this adventure:

1. If Alexis says we're paddling through it, we're paddling through it.  Or under it, over it, or around it.
2. Sharby is a fantastic Adventure Partner!  I mean, pahdner.
3. Despite my assertion that "I'm not ready!" to be launched into the lake, in the canoe, from the pier steps - I mean, the steps WERE the launching pad, and despite Sharby's feeble attempt to back me up, I was ready.  Just a wee bit wet afterward.  Alexis is a mother of two so surely she knows water and canoe safety.  Who are we to argue, right?
4. This trio comprised a magical dynamic.  How can you fail when you have non-stop laughter?
5. Did anyone grab the cheese puffs?

This photo represents the essence of the trip, "laughs like whoa." --S. Hunt:

These photos demonstrate that even teachers aren't above trespassing in (on?) someone's private duck blind:

Where we began:

Where we turned around for dinner:

Generally delightful and typical Caddo Lake scenes:

Curious about that muck on the water surface?  It's a non-native water plant introduced to the area and has been giving the locals, fishermen, boaters, and tourists headaches for several years.  Article regarding the on-going attempts to annihilate the stuff:  http://cise.tamu.edu/caddo

These scenes are of a little monkeying around Jefferson, a charming hamlet near Caddo Lake:

With all adventures, there comes a time to return to real life.  Here is a sampling of our road trip sustenance:

The door Alexis picked up in Jefferson, seen over my left shoulder, was quickly transformed into a lovely headboard by her creative hands over her master bed:

Perhaps the Weber will have expanded by the time our next Caddo adventure commences.  If you look closely, you can spy it in the far, near-right of this photo: