48 Hours: Beaumont, Texas

Located only 1.5 hours away from Houston, Beaumont is a highly underrated town. In the past I’ve only driven past the town on my way to Louisiana/New Orleans and never given it another thought, but thanks to a blog post by MyCurlyAdventures, I was inspired to actually make a visit. But I was still skeptical over exactly how many things I could actually do in Beaumont that my original plan was to just go for a day and return back home. However, after spending a day there I quickly realized that Beaumont had a lot to offer and that I would definitely need a second day. The beauty of exploring somewhere close to home though is that plans can be made last minute and remain very flexible. After all, a 1.5 hour drive is nothing in Texas!

Rao’s Cafe and Bakery

Coffee and a cupcake from Rao’s was the perfect way to start the day. I have to credit Mycurlyadventures for the recommendation because this place was a real find. The cafe looked very nondescript on the outside and was located in a shopping plaza, but inside was full of yummy sweets. There are 2 giant cases of any type of dessert you can possibly imagine- cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cheesecakes, muffins, macarons- you get the idea. They even have a big variety of gelato flavors! Rao’s was really just a wonderland for dessert lovers and those with a major sweet tooth. I had the hardest time deciding (seriously- it took me a few minutes and I had to let people waiting behind me pass me), but in the end I went with the snickers latte (Where else can I have a snickers bar inspired latte? And it wasn’t as sweet as it sounded!) and a caramel turtle cupcake. If you’re headed to Beaumont, Rao’s should be your first (and last) stop!

Tia Juanita Fish Camp

I was so surprised by the quality of food here because generally small towns have only ok food, but everything was SO good! I actually want to come back to Beaumont several more times just to try more of Tia Juanita’s menu because their entire menu looked mouthwatering. I couldn’t decide (this was a familiar problem all day basically…) between the seafood platters or the cajun poboys or the tex-mex inspired tacos/queso/quesadillas, but ended up choosing the boudin quesadilla because that was something I had never seen at other restaurants before. Plus, I love boudin! Tia Juanita is located near the middle of Beaumont and has a decent amount of outdoor seating (we came for lunch and there were plenty of seating available).

Tyrell Historical Library

A church or a library? Tyrell Historical Library is (was) both! The public library is housed in a former church in downtown Beaumont. It is free to visit and take pictures in, but is only open during the week. Because of Covid, there was strict contact tracing procedures in place so when visitors arrived, they had to write down their names and email addresses in a guestbook. Any books you touched during your visit have to go onto a special cart so they can be wiped clean. I saw photos of the library on Instagram and knew it would be worth a stop. The intricate stained glass windows are worth a peek alone!

Cattail Marsh

The marsh here looks unreal. It looks like something out of a book or movie (actually it did remind me a little of the book Where the Crawdads Sing, which takes place in the North Carolina marshes) and is beyond beautiful. We came on a sunny perfect day and the marsh framed with the sunny blue skies was just a dream to see. It was so nice that I decided to return on day 2 and take the free outdoor yoga class that is offered every Saturday at 9:30am. While the yoga class is free, tickets/advanced reservations are required due to Covid restrictions. The class actually takes place on the long pier or on the balcony overlooking the pier and is the most relaxing way to start off your Saturday. The yoga isn’t too difficult and is meant for beginners!

Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum

For those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t know this either even though I grew up in Texas), but the oil boom really began in Beaumont. This museum is a remodel of a 1830s Texas oil town is based on the industrial town of Gladys City, which was originally created as place for oil workers and their families to reside. Visitors can go into every single wooden building on site and experience what it was like to live during those times. Buildings include a dry goods store (similar to a clothing store), a barber shop, a general store, a photography studio, a drug store/soda fountain, horse stables, and other buildings related to engineering and oil. Each building has artifacts and items that are genuine and collected from the appropriate period. The center of the outdoor museum is a reconstruction of the Spindletop gusher, which exploded with oil (for 9 days straight!) in the early 1900s and kicked off the oil boom in Texas. There is so much to learn here and the history of how oil became huge in Texas and landed Beaumont on the map is fascinating. The Museum is located on Lamar University property and costs $5 to enter. Masks are required while on museum property.

Cha Cha Tea

If you’ve been following Toast and Travel for a while now, you know that I love trying bubble tea everywhere I visit. No matter if I think it will be tasty or not, I make an effort to try local bubble tea shops. It’s basically my travel tradition! So one of the first things I did when planning my Beaumont trip was research if there were any bubble tea options in the town. Beaumont isn’t known for their Asian population so I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to discover Cha Cha Tea. Cha Cha Tea is located inside the Parkdale Mall and while the drinks aren’t the best, I definitely appreciated the owner’s attempt to bring Asian culture to this Southern Texas town.

Sweet Basil

After getting Cha Cha Tea, I was in the mood for more Asian culture, so I decided on a ribeye banh mi sandwich and french fries with spicy mayo for lunch. Sweet Basil is a casual Vietnamese restaurant located near Parkdale Mall in a small shopping plaza- the inside space is huge, but I opted for takeout so I could safely social distance away from others. The food was great and I highly recommend checking Sweet Basil out if you are in the area! Everything is reasonably priced as well.

McFadden House Museum

I love touring old homes and mansions whenever I travel so when I discovered that Beaumont had the McFadden House Museum, which delved into the McFadden family during the early 1900s, I knew I had to stop by and check it out. Due to Covid, the House is only open for self guided audio guide tours of the first floor so I missed out on having an informative tour guide (they are the best for house tours!) take me around the lower and upper floors. But the audio guide tour was also interesting and divulged a lot of information on what it was like to be a wealthy family in Beaumont during that time period (which was the height of the oil boom). There is also a carriage house behind the house which includes the servants living quarters and exhibits on the family cars and gymnasium.

Willy Burger

The burgers at Willy Burger have such great reviews on Yelp and the silver airstream themed diner is always so busy. However, and this may be an unpopular opinion, the burgers and the shoestring fries are only mediocre. Although, the burger types are very creative, I felt like the actual making of the burger and the resulting flavors were rushed and careless. There is another Willy Burger outlet in Katy, Texas, however, so that one may be different! I did love their menu and looked forward to having the Hew Haw burger (homemade pimento cheese, fried green tomato, bacon, and red pepper jelly on a speciality beef patty) and parmesean garlic fries for dinner outside.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum

This tiny museum on the famous athlete, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, also doubles as the Beaumont Visitor Center and is free to visit and explore. There are several glass casings of artifacts, photos, and information on Zaharias, who is a worldwide renowned athlete (in SO many sports, including cross country, basketball, and golf) and who is originally from Beaumont. I was fascinated by the sheer talent Zaharias had for all those sports- I can barely even play one! The exhibits take about 30 minutes to read so this museum is a quick stop.

Largest Working Fire Hydrant

This giant dalmation themed fire hydrant was actually given to the city of Beaumont from Disney in celebration of the release of the movie, 101 Dalmations. Such an interesting fact! I had no idea our great state of Texas even had Disney memorabilia! The huge fire hydrant stands outside the Texas Fire Museum, which I have heard is extremely fascinating and great for children. I visited the Hydrant on a Sunday though and the Museum is closed on Sundays so I didn’t get to check it out (this time!). Viewing the fire hydrant is a wonder in itself though- it truly is huge!

And that’s a wrap for my Beaumont 2 day trip! I hope you guys are liking all of my blog posts on my Texas travels and find some inspiration to explore my beautiful state!