Jefferson

Since we had a three day weekend, we decided to hit the road again.

This weekend took us to Jefferson, Texas.  We again stayed at an Army Corp of Engineers campground.  This time it was Buckhorn Creek-Lake O' the Pines.

We left as soon as J got home from work on Friday night.  It's only about an hour and 15 minute drive so we figured it would still be light when we got there and J should be able to get the camper hooked up with no issues.  Well, that was wrong.  When we got there (it was still light), but the man at the gate asked J to verify our campsite.  I had reserved E117 because it was right on the water.  The guy asked J his last name and asked if he was sure that was our site.  J of course said yes and had the paperwork showing we had reserved that spot.  I guess that another couple came in a little before us and they told the clerk they were in that same spot and he gave it to them.  So the clerk had us follow him so he could tell the other people they needed to move.  When we pulled up, the people were not at the camper, but the lady was just walking up.  After looking over her paperwork, it was determined they were indeed in the wrong spot.  Now, if they had been in a spot on the water, we would have just told them we would take theirs, but they weren't.  The park ranger showed up as well.  It was also time to give Buddy his shot and then feed him breakfast.  So by the time we "kicked" the other people out, it was 8 pm and completely dark outside.  Luckily J keeps a flashlight with him.

Here was our view:

On Saturday, we went into the town.  We stopped at a visitor's center and were told it was the annual Big Foot convention, however, they were all sold out so we had to find other ways to amuse ourselves.

Since it was still very early, we stopped at a small café "The Bakery" in town for breakfast.  The service was very slow and it wasn't the cleanest place we've ever been, but it was actually pretty good and cheap.  We both had omelettes.

The flea market was also going on this weekend and there was a citywide rummage sale.   We found nothing that needed to come home with us. 

After hitting the flea market, we made our way back downtown and did some shopping.  There is a Blackburn syrup & jelly factory here so we stopped at their outlet store and picked up a few things.  We also went to the Jefferson Historical Museum.  J got in free because he was a veteran (which was nice), however, this was a very disappointing place.  The exhibits were not specific to the city and it was really a hodgepodge of stuff people had donated.  

The museum also had a model train exhibit:

There was also an old train car across the street:

We did some more walking around after this.  We had hoped to take a ride on the Steam Train, but it has closed for the season:

There were no less than 6 antique (junk) stores in the town.  We went in every one, but they all had the same overpriced things.  

And finally our last stop of the day was the "Touring Basin" Riverboat Tour:

We went back to the campground and cooked dinner, with Buddy patiently waiting:

We were up again early on Sunday and went back into the town just to make sure we hadn't missed anything.  We stopped at the Old General Store, and 2 fudge stores.  We also visited two more "antique" stores we missed the day before:

We were originally supposed to leave on Monday morning, however, because we had seen all of the sights, we decided to go back to the camper, have dinner then pack up and hit the road.  Jefferson was a nice, quaint town, but definitely not more than a day trip.

We'll be back out on the road in November (Veteran's Day) and head to Natchitoches, LA.  It's also a little over an hour away.