Lake Charles, LA: L’Auberge Casino, Food, Golf

A few weeks ago I got the urge to take a trip to L’Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles, LA. I love this casino for it’s atmosphere, food, shops, cleanliness and would be perfectly happy spending my three days of vacation playing in the casino, and enjoying their excellent restaurants. However, it is always more fun to have someone else come along if they are of like mind or happy entertaining themselves if they don’t like to stay in the casino as much as I do. I finally found a traveling companion after I told them about the lazy river, and pool with the swim-up bar at the hotel.

So at 8:00 AM we headed up I-l0 out of San Antonio, Texas for the 5-1/2 hour trip to Lake Charles. I knew we needed to leave this early to miss the traffic snarls around Houston, TX around lunch time and after work. As we neared Lake Charles I suggested stopping at this yummy seafood restaurant called Steamboat Bill’s right before the L’Auberge exit. This place has fantastic shrimp and crawfish pistolettes which are fried Louisiana rolls filled with shrimp or crawfish etouffee. I could eat just these @ under $2.00 each but their fried seafood plates are delicious too, and I just couldn’t resist.

We arrived at the hotel in mid afternoon where my friend and I immediately went to the casino, and then she left a little later for the driving range since it closes @ 7 PM. I knew she couldn’t wait to get out there since the golf course was designed by Tom Fazio and is very beautiful. We met up later for the steak and crab buffet at the hotel which I always try not to miss. Oh, and did I mention the dessert case which is world-class!

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The next morning my friend enjoyed tubing around the lazy river and exploring the shops at the resort while I went to the casino. We met up to check out Lake Charles and find a place that sold the infamous boudin sausage. We lucked out and found a place on Gertner Memorial Drive called Famous Foods where you could buy a bag of cracklins (original or soft ‘n spicy)and try several different types of boudin. We loved the “smoked” boudin and ate the whole bag of cracklins that we had planned to take back to hotel. Yum!

Afterwards we drove around town enjoying the water views, and my friend found another driving range that she wanted to check out later as they stayed open later than the one at the resort. So with full bellies, we headed back to the casino for some gaming and then my friend disappeared in the evening to practice her drives.

The next morning we were both tired so we slept a little late, then had the lunch buffet at the hotel before we headed home. As we got close to home we had to stop at the famous Buckees which is a humongous gas station with unbelievably clean restrooms (with between 30 and 40 stalls in each) and sells delicious handmade sandwiches, jerky, fudge, and you name it. It is a real tourist attraction. Check it out – it’s near Luling, Tx.