Becky and I started this wonderful trip with a visit to Hideaway, Texas with our very good friends, Karen and Wayne Rogers. I have never known better hosts. They picked us up at Dallas Love Field, and we spent the better part three wonderful days with them. We left Love Field and headed straight to a Dallas institution, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, for some soft shell crab and gumbo. Then we headed on to their home in Hideaway for a few great days.
The first day we headed out to see some quaint small towns in East Texas that looked like they were frozen in time. We also had to have some chicken fried steak, a Texas staple. Becky had two things she wanted to do before we got to Baylor, eat chicken fried steak and eat fried catfish. So for lunch we all had chicken fried steak with country gravy and homemade biscuits. Then we headed to Mineola, Texas for dessert. Mineola is a neat little town.
Wayne and Karen knew a place where two ladies make homemade fried pies. I had peach, Becky buttermilk and the Rogers both ordered chocolate. We also got some to go for breakfast the next morning. and I tell you a cup of Louisiana coffee, and a coconut/buttermilk fried pie makes for a great breakfast.
Tuesday we headed out to find Caddo Lake, a swamp in Texas. As we drove northeast from Hideaway, we got lost a couple of times. That didn’t hurt a thing as we just ended up going by Lake of the Pines and through some really neat small towns.
We ended up in Jefferson, Texas, which is a town we must get back to one day. We didn’t have any time to spend there and still get to Caddo Lake before dark.
Still, we rode around enough that they almost had to hold me down in the car for me not to get out with my Leica and take pictures of quirky buildings, quirky people and old churches. By the way, over half of the pictures in this article were taken with an iPhone and not with one of my Leicas. So please forgive the quality of most of the photos, especially those on Baylor’s campus.
We did stop in Jefferson long enough to eat lunch at a rather unusual place that had cornbread sandwiches.Click here to read more.
Then we headed on to Caddo Lake, and it was well worth the hunt. By the way, the town closest to Caddo Lake is named Uncertain, Texas. Now, in Mississippi there are two towns not very far apart that are named Whynot and Causeville. We didn’t find a Certain, Texas though.
That night we headed out to a Cajun restaurant in the middle of nowhere that had catfish that was some of the best ever. They also had fried shrimp, gator, crayfish, dill pickles and lots of seafood boils. They also had a great chandelier inside the tent like eating area.
We crowded so much into our two full days that I didn’t get to do one thing I had really wanted to do; take a ride in this.
Wayne was a business partner with Carroll Shelby and is the proud owner of a beautiful 1965 Cobra AC. Going for a ride in this is another reason we have got to go back to Hideaway.
Wednesday morning we sadly had to leave Karen and Wayne, but happily headed for both mine and Becky’s Alma Mata, Baylor. There is nothing like going back to college when you’re 61 and graduated 40 years ago to make you know you’re old, regardless of how you feel. When did they start letting kids go to college? I know I was a grownup when I was there. The first time we walked across campus we ran into “Bruiser” and some very friendly students. We also went to see the live bears. Baylor has a huge bear pit for the two North American Black Bears, but they were asleep when we we visited.
Then we headed out to find the book store and then across campus to a huge Starbucks located in the atrium of a classroom building.
Becky loves the HGTV show, Fixer Upper. So she’s excited that we found Chip and Joanna Gaines’ store, Magnolia. It’s built in some old silos not far from downtown. We then went to lunch at Buzzard Billy’s.
After lunch, we spent Thursday afternoon on campus visiting with a couple of professor friends, David Wilhite and Joel Gregory. Then we went to Pigskin Review, which is a selection of Broadway-quality performances by different fraternities and sororities. Here are a few more pictures of the campus; sorry the weather was so bad, but it is still a beautiful campus.
Thursday night and almost all day Friday we had a chance to experience one good old-fashioned Texas thunderstorm after another until about four that afternoon. That was perfect timing for us to get out and go to my 40th anniversary banquet.
Then Friday night the thunder rolled and sounded like cannons, lighting up the sky like fireworks, and it rained cats and dogs. Still while we had now had eight inches of rain in two days, the field was ready and the thunder and lightening quit so we could have the main thing at homecoming; the football game. And BAYLOR WON!
