My travel story: Texas, Day 3 - Caddo Lake

Hello guys and girls,

I managed to put together another part of my recent US travel story. I am satisfied on how first two parts played out with response from the community. To summarize in few words of what I was writing about in case you missed it. Well first part was an intro to my travel, about why I choose Dallas, Texas and how I actually decided to go there. I also wrote a few words about cost of this travel and how did my trip started with special experience – real American Rodeo. There are also some photography that I like very much from Day 1 of my travel, so welcome to check it out. What come after Day 1, Day 2 obviously :) That day was again loaded with great experiences and awesome delicious food as well. I still have BBQ sauce which I bought in historic Fort Worth and I just don’t want to open it, since it will be gone in days… In the evening we had first encounter with American Airlines Centre as well, when we went to watch hockey game. There are some nice photos from that day too, but you can expect more from today’s photography selection.

So now we are in Day 3 and I had high expectations for that day as probably the nicest natural attraction in a circle around 3 hours’ drive from Dallas is located. I am talking about Caddo Lake which I visited. Later in the evening I had to return to Dallas to go and see first NBA game when Golden State Warriors came into town. But first things first, Caddo Lake. I had a lot of adventures which could be fairy tales already from our visit of Caddo, so stay tunned if you are ever planning to visit that beautiful and special lake.
It all began when we started planning the route and what to do, what to visit, where to stop. Caddo lake seemed attractive and doable in half day. We are travelling on high tempo, so everything has to be planned in advance, but this Caddo Lake tour was not… Not that we didn’t want to plan it, but we couldn’t. Simply we couldn’t reach anybody living near of Caddo Lake. We tried all (3, 4, 5?) tour providers we found on Google and get reply only from one, saying he is all booked up for that week we were coming. All the others, none, nada, silence. I wrote emails after emails and reminders on reminders, but without any luck. We concluded that we will call them from US and for sure we will be able to get in touch with some and arrange a tour. That was a plan, but it didn’t go through. No answer… I read on one webpage that, we shouldn’t anticipate any answer through email since there is a swamp and connection is bad. That really was the case, when we finally decided to go there and find someone who could take us on a boat in person. So we drove two hours and a half and finally came to this Caddo lake. We inserted some points in our navigations of where these “travel agencies” should be located and we actually founded on small house, which was advertising tours on Caddo Lake, but soon after we saw sign closed as well. We went to the hotel there, which was you can guess… Closed. We only had two more locations to go to and no luck there as well. After about half an hour drive around whole small region of Caddo Lake where there were at least some houses we finally found one man outside. That was relief at the beginning. We asked him about tours and where we could found one, so he gave us a telephone number of somebody local, but our mobile signal didn’t work… Ohhhh what a swamp. We were back at point 0 and we doubt that there would be any luck even if we would have the connection. All houses there were empty, most likely they are meant to be as a vacation houses. We went to the small town if I can call it like thiat named Uncertain. Nice name, right? Well we were driving and nobody, nowhere again. Than we spotted one caffe and there were actually two ladies outside talking and waitresses was inside. After about an hour of driving around and searching for somebody who could help us, that was our last hope. We were behind of schedule as we had to return to Dallas the same day to catch an NBA game as I mentioned earlier. Well after speaking to the ladies, they again gave us contact of somebody and this time we borrowed their stationary phone which actually had a signal, but no answer on the other side. Well, probably just wasn’t meant to be this day for us. Or, it was… One of the ladies told for a marina just couple of hundred meters forward and that we should try there. So that was our last try and you know what perseverance pay off! There was a lady and we asked about a boat tour on lake, so she said that her husband just left with some other clients, and we really saw his boat just departing… What does that mean? Can we have a tour when he returns? She said that he was busy all morning long (no doubt if he is the only person on Caddo Lake doing ours and earning money!), so he will probably want to have lunch. Auch… As already said, we were close on time, but we decided to wait on him. So we really waited about an hour on him to end the tour and then he smoked a cigarette and ate something and we were ready to goooooo. Jupiiiii. Tour was an hour long and it is similar all the way, but it is very worth seeing is since it is a unique place. Never seen anything like that. I have been to Everglades in Florida, but it just can not be compared to Caddo Lake. Caddo is much better. Our guide told us few interesting facts as well, but I don’t know them anymore :) I was there to enjoy nature and not to talk much. I was enjoying nature through lens a lot too. Made 250+ clicks in that hour alone. Like, I said motive is pretty much the same, but if it is a nice one, you don’t get enough of it that soon. You will be better judge of it :)
There is also Caddo Lake State Park nearby and, yes that is a place to stop by firstly. I am sure they would have some useful information on where to get a tour in their visitor centre. But past is behind us. On the way back we stopped there as well. You have some hiking trails and you can rent a paddle there which have to be an amazing experience! If I will be back in Texas, hopefully in some other season as winter – early spring is the worst to visit Caddo Lake. Autumn and also Summer is much better due to vegetation. I am sure each time of the year has its special charm though. What I wanted to say is, that I would go paddling by myself if I would go again. More time, 5 hours on water, relaxed, only birds singing and sound of water…
There is also nice photography spot in the State Park and you can overnight there in a cabins or campground. Also has to be an amazing experience.

Well that was it from Caddo Lake and we hit the road towards Dallas and stopped by somewhere to eat a lunch and then directly on a basketball game, when Mavs beat the Warriors and all the reast is the past :) Luka played well that game and I remember that they limited Curry to zero field goals made in last quarter which was first time for him in xxx amount of time. Hopefully they will meet again in conference finals of this year’s playoffs. I can see both teams make it that far!

I thought, I will be shorter today, but what can I do. I wanted to share my whole experience with you here today. Caddo Lake is worth visiting despite all the grey hair I got since nothing went as planned. Now I know where Johnson's Ranch Marina is located and if you need any tip for your trip there, don’t hesitate to ask for the advice since you will need it :)

Have a great weekend folks!