16 Jan 2019 - Last day in Westlake/Lake Charles LA Area, King Cake

16 Jan 2019
Pretty quiet day today, last day here.  Still pretty chilly at night here and overcast today.  Some rain is moving in tonight.

Our touring is done here and we are making preparations to pull chocks in the morning and head into Aggieland - College Station TX!  Funny, Doreen put a pencil to our trip and we will be in the state of Texas 44 days all together!

We thought it only fitting before we left Louisiana that we should pick up a King Cake!  I had never been introduced to King Cakes until I started working in Wing Headquarters at the 132d Fighter Wing.  Our administrative assistant, Jaime Jo'che, was from Biloxi MS and she brought a King Cake to one of our morning staff meetings. Here is what I understand about the history of the King Cake.

The Mardi Gras celebration starts on January 6th, or twelve nights after Chritmas, which is also known as Epithany which means  'to show'.  Mardi Gras continues until the day before Ash Wednesday, the specific date varies each year.  Jesus first 'showed' himself to the three wisemen and the world  on the 12th night.  The cake is decorated in three colors, purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.  They were chosen to resemble a jeweled crown honoring the three wisemen.  As a symbol of this day, a small plastic baby (Jesus) is embedded in the King Cake.  The tradition goes that as the cake is sliced and served if your piece contains the baby, you must either host the next party or bring a King Cake to the next event.  King Cakes are readily available in most grocery stores and bakeries down here this time of year.

This picture makes it look like a big donut, but it is actually like an oval coffee cake.

So that is probably more than you ever wanted to know about King Cakes, but now you know!!

We went for a drive this morning around the East and SE side of Lake Charles.  We passed a Veterans Memorial Park and then a nice area near their Civic Center.

As we proceeded south we discovered many beautiful old lakefront homes along Lakeshore Drive and Shellbeach Drive.  The houses are across the street from the lake and their boathouses were on or near the water.  Wow are they fancy!

This is one of many very fancy boathouses along this drive.  You should have seen the main houses!!

In the background you can see the Calcasieu River Bridge on I-10 that connects Lake Charles and Westlake.  You can see one of the many casino's to the left of the bridge.  Also notice how gray and gloomy it is out.

We got back to the RV and started on our regular 'day before we leave' routine.  I flushed tanks and stowed the hose, cleaned and stowed the barbecue grill, stowed the tire covers, loaded the folding chairs, etc.  Doreen did one last load of laundry including our jackets.  We thought for sure we would be done with jackets by now!!

Tomorrow morning we will head out about 0830 hrs and plan to be in College Station about 1300 hrs which is the check-in time at our next stop.  Next report from Texas!