Every year, the week before Thanksgiving, my best friends and I go on our annual “Girls Trip.” Our goal every year is to eat a lot of snacks, sleep late and laugh a lot. It is by far, one of my favorite trips every year, hands down.
We’ve discussed having the goal of traveling to a different state every year until we’ve visited all the states or are too old to travel any longer! So far, our travels have taken us to Hot Springs, Arkansas; Gruene, Texas; Turner Falls Oklahoma and Natchitoches, Louisiana. We’ve pretty much hit up all the states that are within close driving distance of where we live.
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Here’s a little information about Natchitoches: According to the Natchitoches visitor bureau, Natchitoches (Nack-a-tish) the original French colony in Louisiana, is the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. Established in 1714, Natchitoches retains its European flavor through its architecture, heritage and lifestyle.
We missed the 96th Annual Natchitoches Christmas festival by one day! We were so bummed to find out that we missed one of the oldest community-based holiday celebrations in the country since we all love Christmas so much. We were able to take a tour of the river and see the over 300,00 Christmas light display and it did not disappoint.
We arrived on Sunday evening, well past dark. We stayed in an AirB&B about 45 minutes outside of Natchitoches. It was a cute little home, but the view was incredible! Here’s the link to the AirB&B we stayed at. The only complaints we had about the home was that the indoor fireplace did not work (super sad for us since we wanted to watch movies in front of the fire) and there were zero towel hooks in the bathrooms…. kind of weird right?!? We stopped at a nearby grocery store to stock up on snacks and then settled in and watched the Steel Magnolias movie.
On our first full day, Monday we slept late, sat in front of the outdoor fireplace and did some online Christmas shopping and then decided to get up and get going. We drove into town (about a 45 minute winding road drive for us) and explored the cute little town of Natchitoches. We visited the Steel Magnolia house (although we did not go on a full tour of the inside), and we took a little horse-drawn carriage ride. I was a little nervous on the carriage ride, because the driver said it was that specific horse’s first week pulling the carriage for her. The horse ended up doing great and the carriage ride was a fun way to view the little historic town.
One of our traditions on Girl’s Trip is to do a little gift exchange. This year, one of the girls came up with the idea to do a favorite things gift exchange. My friends are so fun and came up with the best gifts! Here’s a post that includes the fun earring set that I got, they’re so lightweight and dress up even sweats and a t-shirt. The gifts I gave were my favorite eyelash curler and makeup remover cloths. It was fun to leave with a bag full of new, favorite things!
We ate a late lunch at Merci Beaucoup restaurant in Natchitoches. I stuffed myself full of fried pickles and a crawfish étouffée stuffed baked potato. I definitely recommend visiting this cute restaurant if you find yourself in Natchitoches.
On Tuesday, the second full day of our stay we took our time getting up and getting out of the house. As a group, we really enjoy each other’s company and could go to a place and just be together and have the best time. We purchased tickets to take a boat ride on the river with Christmas music and lights later that evening. The river boat took us on a leisurely ride down the historic Cane River. The boat ride was one of my favorite things about the trip, the town was lit up with Christmas lights and we enjoyed Christmas music while floating down the river.
For dinner, after our boat ride, we ate at Hana Steakhouse Seafood & Sushi. I’m not as adventurous as my fellow traveler friends and opted for the hibachi steak instead of sushi. It was absolutely delicious! My friends who ate the sushi said it was very, very good.
On Wednesday, we packed up and began the 4 hour drive home. Before leaving town, we stopped and grabbed a quick brunch and some of my friends were able to try a famous Natchitoches meat pie. I was not brave, and decided that a meat pie was not the journey for me that day.
Now, to start planning where to go in 2023!!!
