Natchitoches: Vacation Itinerary Day 1

As mentioned in one of our past posts, the Louisiana state park system is one of the best kept secrets around.   With over 25 state parks and historic sites, Frugal Family Travelers like ours can do quite a bit of exploring on a budget!   Today is the FIRST post in a series, that when concluded, will provide our readers with an entire vacation itinerary to the Natchitoches, LA area!   Nachitoches is well-known by Louisiana natives for the awesome display of lights on the cane bayou presented each year at Christmas! However, there is so much more to explore here that will captivate both the younger and older Frugal Family Travelers in your group!

Hodges Gardens was the dream of oil businessman, A.J. Hodges and his wife Nona, who took an abandoned rock quarry and transformed it into a garden paradise, complete with amazing flowers, walkways, bridges and fountains! The garden also features a 225 acre lake, built in 1954, which supplies water to the fountains in the garden and also provides visitors with a multitude of activities.  The garden officially opened to the public in 1956 and was donated to the state park system in 2007 by the A.J. and Nona Trigg Hodges Foundation.

Hodges Gardens State Park is one of the newer state parks in the system and in addition to the beautiful gardens, offers numerous cabins situated on the lake, hiking, fishing, boating and much more!   Canoes and Kayaks can be rented for $5 per hour, ($20/$30 per day respectively) with fishing boats, (with trolling motors) available for $20 a day!  Rentals include life jackets and  paddles! Admission is $5 per person ages 4-61, $4 per person over age 62, and free for ages 3 and under.  Our Frugal Family Travelers enjoyed meandering through the garden while playing in all of the water features on the trails.  They also loved canoeing and riding bikes in the beautifully wooded park and seeing their first piece of petrified wood! 

Tips:

*Pack water and sunscreen 

*Water shoes are suggested if you plan to canoe, kayak or boat.  

*Bring fishing poles!

*Bikes are great to have when traveling to any state park! 

*Annual passes are available to Louisiana state parks.  A pass is $80 and allows all traveling in your car/van entrance into ALL state parks and historic sites for no additional cost!

Note:  

Continue to read our post over the next few days to discover the full Natchitoches, LA itinerary!

Be sure and check out the letterboxes in this area! To learn more about letterboxing, click here to read our blog about it! 

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Directions:  

1000 Hodges Loop, Florien, LA 71429

Exploring!!

Petrified log!! 

One of the Cabins....

Row, Row, Row Your Boat....gently in the Lake!

Biking!!

(Be sure to click on all highlighted text within the blog for additional information regarding activities, including websites, special instructions and travel directions!)

Disclaimer:

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