Discovering the Sunflower Trail and Festival near Shreveport, Louisiana

Looking for something fun to do in the Shreveport area in June? The Sunflower Trail and Festival in Gilliam, Louisiana is the perfect activity! And guess what! It’s free!

The annual festival is held every June in the downtown area of the very small town of Gilliam. What looked to be about a hundred arts and craft booths are grouped in a shaded area behind an old general store. As we make our way through the crowds, I notice several booths with activities for children and can hear music from a band. We didn’t stay long due to the heat and what seemed like thousands of people. I would recommend going early to find a parking place.

The highlight of the festival is the sunflower trail. It runs along Highway 3049 from Gilliam to Shreveport.

 There are many fields of sunflowers along the way to stop and visit.

 The fields are perfect for taking cute photos! There is even a photography contest. As with the festival, go early to miss the crowds!

You can drive the Sunflower trail anytime in the month of June. Oh, and you can pick the flowers!

Gilliam is located about 20 miles north of the Shreveport/ Bossier City area and about 48 miles south of Texarkana, Texas.

Happy Travels!

Exploring the Cajun Riviera: Holly Beach in Cameron Parish, Louisiana

If you love finding tons of beautiful shells on a secluded beach, then you are going to love this southwestern Louisiana beach!

Holly Beach, known as the "Cajun Riviera", is a stretch of coastline in Cameron Parish.  The area was completely destroyed by Hurricane Rita in 2005 and hit again by Hurricane Ike in 2008. The area is slowly rebuilding, but continues to be fairly isolated.

My first trip to Holly Beach was totally unplanned. We were getting plants from the nurseries in Forest Hill, Louisiana and were looking for something else to do in the area.  We found Holly Beach and decide to check it out since we had never been to that area of Louisiana. It was a two hour drive, but we were feeling adventuresome.   

We followed interstate 49 to the bottom of the state, and then I’m not exactly sure where we were. Are plans were to see how close we could get to the coast and follow it over to Holly Beach.

 Well….for the most part, the bottom of Louisiana is marsh and swamp!  We drove for about 3 hours looking at nothing but marshy areas on both side of the road. It was getting close to sunset when we came upon the Cameron Motel. It was a nice clean hotel, which was a good thing considering it was the only one within 50 miles.

Address: 531 Marshall St, Cameron, LA 70631

Phone: (337) 775-5442 

We stayed there for the night and caught the ferry to go across to Holly Beach early the next morning. The cost for the ferry was $1 per car. We were surprised to find that the kind gentleman in front of us had paid for our ride. We got out and visited with him as we crossed the channel. I could listen to someone with a Cajun accent all day!  

The area around the hotel is mainly shipping ports. There are a few small places to eat, a Dollar general, a fire station, and not much else.  

We were in shock when we arrived at Holly Beach! We drove out onto the beach and there was not another person anywhere to be seen.

And shells were everywhere! Thousands of them!

  

We had not even planned on going to a beach on this trip, so we didn’t have anything to put shells in. I don’t remember what we found to carry them in, but we got home with tons of unique shells.

I have been to Holly beach several times now and it still remains one of my favorite beaches for shelling. It is an excellent place for walking on the beach and finding shells. 
 

It is not a good place for swimming at times because of high levels of bacteria in the water, although, I have seen people swimming on every visit since the first one.

 If you would like to check for swimming advisories before you go, click here.

Happy Travels! 

Rip Van Winkle Gardens (Balinese Style) New Iberia, Louisiana

We stumbled upon this amazing place by accident. My Mother and I  were needing a place to stop and stretch on our way to Biloxi, Mississippi from Arkansas.

We were really excited to see that lodging was available in one of the garden cottages! We were lucky, considering they have limited lodging and it was so last minute!

The Rip Van Winkle Gardens is twenty-five acres of semitropical Balinese style paradise that surrounds the Joseph Jefferson Home. It is crazy how beautiful this tropical garden is in January. Can you imagine what it looks like in the summer!

The land sits atop a salt dome on Lake Peigneur in New Iberia, Louisiana.

The home was built in 1870 by Joseph Jefferson as his winter home.

In 1905, the home and land was sold to John Lyle Bayless, Sr. After the death of John Bayless, his son Jack developed Rip Van Winkle Gardens around the historic home in the late 1950's.

He later donated the home and surrounding land to a private operating foundation and built himself a new home by the lake.

On November 20, 1980 a drilling accident involving the salt mine caused a whirlpool effect pulling some of the Rip Van Winkle garden area and Jacks new house into the mine.

The top of the chimney in the lake is the only visible remains of Jack’s new home. The damage to the Rip van Winkle place had been restored.

The beautiful gates lead up to the Joseph Jefferson House. The cottages are on the right at the end of the drive.

If you stay in one of the cottages, the whole place is yours to enjoy alone after they close at 5 pm.

We walked along the shore of the lake and watched an amazing sunset before returning to our cottage for the night. This is truly a unique place to stay!

Planning your visit:

1. Make reservation well in advance if you want lodging. They only have three cottages to stay in at the gardens.
2. The best thing about staying in one of the cottages is that you have to grounds to yourself after it closes to the public!
3. Go in the spring, summer, or fall time. Although it is beautiful in the winter, there are a lot of bare spots.
4. Be sure and take the tour of the Joseph Jefferson House. It is very interesting! (The tour is free with lodging)
5. Check out their web site here.

Happy Travels!