We were keen to walk the front and back streets and explore the small but beautiful town. However, we were not in a rush, knowing places in towns like this open late, and given it’s a Tuesday perhaps not at all. To us it doesn’t really matter, as there is always cool sights to take in, so we set off mid morning in hunt of some treasures, and new stories to tell.

As we step outside, to jump into the car, and giggle as our car has even more love from the Love Bugs from driving the open highways.

It’s incredible to see this sleepy town is mostly awake and open. With the exception of a few. It’s incredible to see they still have gaslit street lights glowing on the buildings. We methodically make our way through the side streets and I laugh as it’s so easy to navigate with the ingenious street names. Front street, then Second Street and Third Street.

We make a stop at the church which doesn’t look much from the outside, but notice it looks like there are stained glass windows and see whether we can get inside. Success! The doors are open, but not a soul in sight. Maybe they’re lost? Lost souls….get it? Sorry, let’s carry on.

There are a couple of antique and curiosity style stores open and the stuff in them is amazing. I do acquire a few 1960s Disney records, but we cannot believe there is an old telephone booth from Liverpool, England, where Matthew’s parents are from. Even the shop owner can’t explain how it ended up in the US, but apparently it has been purchased, and currently being paid off.

We know it’s lunch time as the multiple grandfather clocks chime one after the other, and finish our final back streets before heading back to a well known spot here. The place is called Lasyone’s Meat Pie Kitchen – which to me suggests there will be a whole bunch of pies. Only 2 are on offer – meat and crawfish! But I get it, when you’ve been using the same delicious recipe since 1967 why do you need to make it fancy?

I think you’ll agree it doesn’t look much, but everything we had was 100% delicious. Just before we were about to step out a group of retired woman sit not far from us, and one is wearing a hat that said “Bondi Beach – Between the Flags”. I am curious to see if she has been in Australia so we stop and ask if she’s been there. She called it Bondee Beach, I guess our suburb names aren’t always easy to get right either. It seems the hat was a gift and has never been there. She asks what it means about ‘between the flags’ so we impart some critical Aussie beach knowledge, as well as a debunk a myth she thought that Bondi is a topless beach. Aussie education – done!

We bid farewell and plan to walk off lunch along the Cane River. The day is cloudy and humid, but the lovely breeze is keeping us comfortable. It’s stunningly peaceful and picturesque. We are treated to multiple turtles popping their heads up briefly for some air then disappearing out of sight as fast as they appeared.

There was a young family with a dad attempting wrangle a screaming toddler while fishing off the dock, and we’d passed them earlier to see if they’d had any luck. He was kind of grumpy and seems for good reason. No fish and an unhappy child isn’t exactly something that fills you with joy. But as we cycled back, and passed them again, the mum had secured the toddler for a walk in a pram, and he excitedly shared a picture of his catch he described as a Bream, and we share in his excitement and pride in his catch, however it looked more like a small catfish, but joke with him he has a long way to go before he has enough for dinner. As I walk off I remind him, that’s why it’s called fishing and not catching. It was nice to see the grin on his face.

We know we haven’t worked off our lunch with our walk, probably just one bite of my meat pie to be honest, but we call our exploring to a close and know we can relax in our beautiful place by the same river, just down stream a bit. Driving out of town we snap a picture of the Steel Magnolias house this area became so well known for.

As we drive up to our place, I am saddened to see the cows across the road are not in the pasture. I was hoping to go and hi this afternoon, but alas just a few are way back in far end of the paddock and I have no idea where the rest of them went.

Sometimes it seems that all we are doing is planning our next meal, but we are ready to hit a place we’d visited for lunch yesterday (which to be honest feels more than a day ago) because we loved the food, the staff and the vibe.

We sidle up to the bar seating – our favourite place to be to talk to the staff and locals – and meet the very lovely Hayley. She soon becomes a new friend and she tells us that Music Bingo is on tonight. The place is filled with an eclectic clientele, families, college kids, retirees and everyone in between. The place feels very like ‘we’re home’ and are quickly given bingo cards, and a wave hello from the bingo master for tonight, who we’d recognised us from the day before.

We soon meet the lovely Jacob who already is really getting into the music, but also find out he has his L plates on as he is learning the ropes there, not that you’d know. We cover all kinds of ground with him, including finding out he’s originally from NOLA but here for college studying biology and is a saxophonist. He has a college shirt on, which I personally loved. For those who know me will know why, but also something I might not have expected in a small southern town in the USA.

He is the same age as my youngest daughter and we get to talking about what’s expected of young people his age these days, and he tells us that girls get our of college, get their degree and then have families. Having been obvious to me he was part of the rainbow community I asked how same-sex couples go here. He points to a guy at the bar and says “well that’s my boyfriend”. A Columbian over here on exchange for the last 6 years, and apparently college towns are very diverse and inclusive and having been brought up in NOLA he also had very accepting and loving parents. This warms my heart to hear for so many reasons.

Our music bingo meanwhile is not brining us the same kind of joy, and abandon the final round, realising tonight is not our night, and opting to chat more to Hayley and Jacob instead. All the staff here seem so happy, and Hayley tells us this is the best place she has worked in the town.

Full of wings and pizza that hit the spot in a visceral way, we are ready to head home. But not before we gift them both with an Aussie badge and snap a pick with our new friends. Both of them already know exactly where they are going to put their new badge. Hayley apparently has a cap she keeps badges on, and Jacob said it’s going straight to his backpack.

On our way in we’d noticed a drive through daiquiri stop, and given this is the only state in the USA where you can do this, it would be rude not to try. The drink sizes are… generous. Given I had already enjoyed a couple of cocktails, I bought a small just for the experience.

We have had such a beautiful time in Natchitoches. Not bad for a place we could barely pronounce two days ago.

Tomorrow we move on to our final stop, and we cannot believe the stories we have collected, the things we have seen, the experiences we have treasured and the people who have made this trip unforgettable in the best, least touristy way.

The rest our holiday you can read here, ICYMI!