There’s no shortage of beautiful Christmas lights in north Louisiana! Check out these two awesome experiences I had this year.
I love Christmas season so much, and I’m so happy to finally be dating someone who loves it as much as I do. There’s plenty of Christmas cheer being spread around Shreveport/Bossier City this month, but my boyfriend and I have traveled out of the city twice this season to enjoy some festive activities outside of the SBC.
Zoo Lights in Houston, Texas
The day after Thanksgiving, the boyfriend and I decided to take an impromptu trip to Houston to visit one of his friends from school. We went into it with very little planning, which normally gives me a lot of anxiety, but he is constantly challenging me to step out of my comfort zone, which has helped my anxiousness so much. It wasn’t until we were on the way to Houston that we decided we wanted to go see the Zoo Lights at the Houston Zoo. This was actually suggested by my co-worker and officemate who is a Houston native.
I’m fascinated by Christmas lights because I get frustrated just hanging lights on the Christmas tree, so I can only imagine how awful it must be to hang them on a house or, you know, throughout an entire zoo.
The zoo was divided into different sections, including a watering hole, a little train village and this whimsical land that reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. There was also a giant Christmas tree, a light tunnel and a carousel.
Even though the animals were asleep for the night, we did get to see a few of them out and about just livin’ their lives. The first ones we saw before we entered the trail were the elephants. Elephants are my absolute favorite animal, and my dream is to go to Thailand to volunteer at an elephant sanctuary, but I digress. We also saw giraffes, my second favorite animal. They were up and at ‘em just eating and being tall and loving life.
If you ever find yourself in Houston around Christmastime, I 10 out of 10 recommend. I would also recommend either getting there early or buying your tickets online because when we decided to go, the line was absolutely horrendous.
Natchitoches Christmas Festival in Louisiana
This is the fourth year that I’ve gone to see the Christmas lights in the Natchitoches, but the first time I got there before the actual festival shut down. My friends and I used to road trip in college to see the lights, but we didn’t want to get lost in the crazy crowds, so we would go eat first and then walk around to look at the lights when the crowd died down. The year we went after we graduated college, we actually got there so late that the lights were already off. We didn’t care though. We still wandered around, played inside the stands and displays and took really low quality photos.
This year, my boyfriend and I double-dated with one of our favorite couples, and on the way there, we did car-aoke with the two mics I bought for my birthday party. The lady in the couple was actually a Natty native, so she hooked us up with a ride on her family friend’s barge. It’s the coolest way to see the lights. Plus, there was a dog on the boat, and she was perfect.
We made it for the fireworks show, which was neat to watch. I enjoy fireworks, although while I’m watching them, I’m constantly thinking about how much money it must have cost to put the fireworks show on. They did a good job with it, but I have a few suggestions about their music choices, the #1 being to change them.
After our ride on the barge, we shared a bunch of apps at a restaurant called The Landing. We got free dessert because we had to wait a long time for our food, and it was key lime pie. I freaking love pie.
There have been so many Christmas festivities this season, and I’m loving it. This is 100% my favorite time of year.
Do you enjoy looking at Christmas lights? What are your favorite Christmas events in your area?
