March 11, 2017 - Lake Charles & Sulphur, LA

It rained overnight.  At least, it did not when we were up.  

The Intracoastal Waterway was busy this morning with barges going both ways.  An entertainment to watch while we ate breakfast. 😀

We visited my cousin, Dori and her husband, Paul for a couple hours.  We left the last box of my mother's china set with them.  

We went out for lunch at Raising Canes on Ryan Street and had the Caniac Combo (6 piece chicken tenders with fries, cole slaw, Texas toast and a large drink).

We visited Lake Charles town district, checked out some buildings.  Lake Charles is the 5th largest city in Louisiana.  It was founded in 1861. According to Wiki, Lake Charles has the biggest casino market in the state of Louisiana. 

There are several historic buildings: Calcasieu Parish Clerk of Court and City Hall, which is now an arts and cultural center.  Both were closed when we visited.

Next visit was to check out the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception that was built in 1913.  The doors were locked.  The area looked so quiet and somewhat spooky, so we left right away. 

As we were driving along Ryan Street the large mural on the side of a building caught our eyes, and we quickly pulled into a parking lot, so I can get pictures of it.   It is called The Tree of Life, and is on the south side of the building where Candice Alexander Art Studio is at.  We went inside the studio, browsed around. The studio was fully stocked with unique items from small to big. Candice, the artist, is well known for her fleur-de-lis paintings. 

Last year we visited part of Lake Charles, but did not drive through the historic part of it.  This time we made it a point to visit the area, saw some interesting buildings, murals, vintage brick signs, etc. 

I had read so much about the historic Bilbo Cemetery, did not visit it last year, so I had it on my list to visit today.  The cemetery is at the end of Lake Charles boardwalk and Veterans Park.  It is the oldest cemetery in Lake Charles and was established in April 1840 with the burial of Margaret Bilbo. It is said that about 200 residents of Lake Charles have been buried in the old cemetery; however,  most of the graves were either unmarked or their markers were lost, have deteriorated or were vandalized.  There were probably about 20-30 out of 200 marked graves.

John Jacob Ryan is one of the founding fathers of Lake Charles
He helped build Lake Charles

15' Statue of Jesus on a 8' base

After we got back "home" Erwin went fishing for a while.  There were no takers.

~Edith