As part of my recent East Texas vacation tour, my friend,
Coral Beach, and I moseyed on up from the excitement of the zip-line in
Nacogdoches to Jefferson, a small town with a quaint, downtown historic area.
We stayed in a magnificent bed and breakfast called The
Delta Street Inn, shown in the photo at right. My room was cozy and beautifully decorated, and
came with the added bonus of a sunny balcony. The inn keepers, Pam and Bob
Thomas, were gracious hosts and the breakfasts they served were scrumptious.
While in Jefferson, we visited many of the downtown stores, took
in the “Shakespeare under the Stars” play, checked out the historical ghost
walk tour (thankfully the ghosts were otherwise occupied), and did our best to
sample as many of the local restaurants as possible.
But my favorite adventure was our ride along Caddo Lake’s
Big Cypress Bayou on The Graceful Ghost, a replica of an 1800's era steamboat
and is the last known wood-burning, steam powered, paddle-wheel touring vessel
in the world. 
Coral and I posed for this photo at the back of the boat,
while it glided gently down the bayou, with the piercing sound of the steam
whistle occasionally alerting the neighbors of our approach.
Boat owner and Captain Ron Gibbs kept us entertained during
our trip with a bit of history about steamboats on the bayou, along with a few tall
tales about alligator sightings and shenanigans.
Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any alligators, but the
captain let me steer the boat for a short while. It’s not as easy as it looks,
and, like the rudders on an airplane during taxiing, the lag time for turning
the boat is considerable. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but we didn’t
run aground a single time. Whew!!!
Thanks, Captain Ron, for a great adventure on the bayou!
