Texas-Sized Adventure

Beaumont, Texas is a surprising, busy little city (population 114,000), with more museums than you can shake
a stick at and easy access to some of America’s most unspoiled wilderness areas. It’s the perfect place to get away from it all – but have it all handy when you’re ready to roll. 

Museums Galore

Beaumont got off to a sedate start with an economy based on cattle, rice and lumber until Spindletop blew its top. The first great Texas oil strike (1901) turned the place on its head and Beaumont became an oil boomtown.
For a slick look at the petroleum industry, check out the Texas Energy Museum. Exhibits include geology, exploration, drilling and refining. Tough subjects are handled with great visuals and easy explanations, making the learning fun.
Just a short walk from the Energy Museum is the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, which focuses on American and regional art. The premier attraction is a collection of folk art by the late Felix “Fox” Harris. Unable to read or write, Harris nonetheless found an amazing way to express himself and filled his yard with an imaginative forest of constructions that are now housed in the museum.
The antithesis of Harris’ exuberant free expressions is the art and architecture of the 1907 McFaddin-Ward House. Four tall Ion- ic columns grace the formal façade of the three-story mansion. In- side, the house features beautiful antiques, vivid art glass and even an indoor fountain.
If you like house museums, visit the John Jay French Museum. The house, built in 1845, is the oldest in Beaumont. Among the city’s other museums are the Edison Museum, the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum, the Beaumont Children’s Museum and the Fire Museum of Texas. And that’s just a partial listing! 
Gators, Gardens and More

To get your gator on, visit Gator Country Adventure Park, where you’ll not only learn a lot but will get an up-close (but safe) view of several hundred of them. Big Al, at 1,000+ pounds and 13'4", is the definite potentate of the pond. I was happy to give him plenty of room.
Gator habitat doesn’t get much more beautiful than the 252-acre Shangri-La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in nearby Orange. Though I didn’t spot any gators in the natural areas, if I were a gator I’d want to live there.

A state-of-the-art bird blind looks out over tall cypresses and dark water. During nesting season, the trees are trimmed with hundreds of egrets. Regular boat tours take guests further into the cypress/tupelo swamp. Shangri-La, named after the paradise in the book Lost Horizon, also showcases formal plantings in a variety of spaces.
For the ultimate in wilderness, the Big Thicket National Preserve is a “must.” A map of the Big Thicket looks like a bony hand with fat finger pads extending north from Beaumont into seven counties. The area has been named a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve and, by the American Bird Conservancy, a Globally Important Bird Area.

The 100,000-acre preserve incorporates elements of the Southwest deserts, Central plains, Eastern forests and Southeastern swamps. The roll call of plants and animals includes 85 kinds of trees, 60 shrubs, 20 orchids, four carnivorous plants, almost 1,000 additional flowering plants, 26 ferns and related species, 185 species of birds (either resident or transient), 55 kinds of mammals and 48 species of butterflies or moths. The wide variety of animal life has given the area the nickname “the American ark.”

Although there are roads leading into some parts of the Big Thicket, the best way to see it is by hiking the trails or boating on the waterways. David Martin of Piney Woods Outfitters gave me that opportunity as we shoved our canoe off the shore and onto Village Creek, a tributary of the Neches River. Paddling past a flotilla of yellow water lilies, we headed downstream. The striking black and white of a pileated woodpecker flashed through the trees while a persistent kingfisher surveyed the water before dive-bombing the surface. Turtles sunned them- selves on fallen limbs and cicadas sang in the trees.
We’d brought a picnic lunch and pulled up on a sandbar to en- joy an al fresco meal. Back on the water, a raindrop splashed my head. Dry under an umbrella, I breathed in the freshened air. We got to our pull-out place and into our vehicle just in time – the skies opened. Dry and comfortably full, I rated the day an A. 


Yummmms and Zzzzzzzzzs
Beaumont is the birthplace of Jason’s Deli, so fresh, healthy sandwiches and salads are easy to find. Willy Ray’s is a favor- ite for barbecue and their carrot soufflé is a signature dish. Jazz-themed Suga’s has fabulous fried green tomatoes – topped with lump crabmeat and drizzled with shrimp cream sauce and Hollandaise. Willy Burger is the newest hamburger hot spot and Rao’s Bakery Coffee-Café serves great baked goods and sandwiches – on homemade bread, of course. I sampled eastern swamps. The roll call of plants and animals includes 85 kinds of trees, 60 shrubs, 20 orchids, four carnivorous plants, almost 1,000 additional flowering plants, 26 ferns and related species, 185 species of birds (either resident or tran- sient), 55 kinds of mammals and 48 species of butterflies or moths. The wide variety of animal life has given the area the nickname “the American ark.”

Although there are roads leading into some parts of the Big Thicket, the best way to see it is by hiking the trails or boating on the waterways. David Martin of Piney Woods Outfitters gave me that opportunity as we shoved our canoe off the shore and onto Village Creek, a tributary of the Neches River. Paddling past a flotilla of yellow water lilies, we headed downstream. The striking black and white of a pileated woodpecker flashed through the trees while a persistent kingfisher surveyed the water before dive-bombing the surface. Turtles sunned them- selves on fallen limbs and cicadas sang in the trees.
We’d brought a picnic lunch and pulled up on a sandbar to en- joy an al fresco meal. Back on the water, a raindrop splashed my head. Dry under an umbrella, I breathed in the freshened air. We got to our pull-out place and into our vehicle just in time – the skies opened. Dry and comfortably full, I rated the day an A.
Birdwatchers at Shoveler Pond, in Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, near Big Thicket a number of items on the breakfast menu and it was hard to choose a favorite; however, I like breakfast with a bite so the kolache with locally-made Zummo sausage, cheese and jalap- eno not only floated my boat, it rocked it.
I can also recommend my home hotel, the MCM Eleganté. They provided a comfortable stay with friendly people and great service. From Big Thicket to a big breakfast, Beaumont offered lots of bang for the buck.