100 Things To Do In Beaumont, Texas Before You Die with Lauren Monitz

• Lauren Monitz talks about her book uncovering the best attractions in the area. She will guide you from the woods to the wetlands, the beaches to the bayous, and everything in between.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, today we're talking about allsorts of things to do in Beaumont before
you die. As a matter offact, one hundred things to do in
Beaumont before you die. Lauren Munntsis with us, and thank you for
joining us today. Thank you forhaving me. I'm so excited to be
here. Well, this is aninteresting book. When I received a copy

(00:20):
of the book, I knew Ihad to talk to you. There are
all sorts of things to do inBeaumont and in reality, Southeast Texas.
And you were telling me before westarted recording, not originally from here,
so you really come into Southeast Texaswith this outsider's perspective. While many folks

(00:43):
in Southeast Texas say there's nothing todo here, you found a lot.
Absolutely. I think this landscape andhabitat is totally unique. I love that
we're an hour from the beach,We're an hour from Houston, We're an
hour from Like Charles, We're anhour from the National Preserve, the first
national preserve in the country actually,And of course there's plenty to do in
Beaumont itself, whether you're history,outdoors, artsy, family buff there's really

(01:08):
a ton to do. Well,I noticed in the book you talk about
many of the museums. There's alot of things to do there, but
you also talk about places to eatand the fun things. Yes, Sir,
I will always and die on thishill that the food is the biggest
attraction in this area. Texas twentyis definitely real. Cajun cuisine has my

(01:32):
heart and soul, and there's justa ton of unique food opportunities and things
to do that people don't realize sowell. I think it's one of those
cases where sometimes and that's what makesthis a handy guide. Sometimes, if
you're not familiar with things in Bowma, or if you've lived here all your
life and just don't get out much, you don't realize the unique places to

(01:55):
eat. We all think of somefranchise or some chain that you could probably
find in any city, but thereare unique places to eat. How did
you discover some of these? Well, I moved here three years ago as
my weird pandemic pivot, so justexploring on my own food wise, I
say, the trifecta's kind of theheart and soul of our area. So

(02:15):
we got the Cajun, the texmex and then the barbecue, so kind
of your Big three award winning stuffin all those categories. We have one
of the top ten kso's in thearea at Carmela's. We have a barbecue
in the top fifty of Texas.That's pretty crazy. We also have Patillo's,
the oldest family owned and black ownedbarbecue in the state. So there
really are these amazing local gems thatI try to seek out because I'm not

(02:38):
from here. I want to getto know the area and really what makes
this place unique in tick and noteat where I can get it anywhere.
You can get it anywhere, AndI think that's what a mistake a lot
of folks make. I was tryingto do that when I'm going out of
town, is find unique places.I have to admit I don't always do
that in town than in my homemadeSometimes I just end up at a chain

(03:01):
somewhere. And there are so manyunique opportunities here in Southeast Texas. Likewise,
they're some unique opportunities simply to seeand do things. Some of them
very inexpensive, are free that peopledon't realize. Museums are very low cost,

(03:21):
parks, all sorts of things.Absolutely, I think that's one of
the biggest attractions of this area,honestly is the affordability, especially and family
friendly. If you have kids.You could easily take your kids on a
day out. We've made itineraries withthe Tourism Board of forty eight hours under
forty eight dollars and you could rentsome bike, see the murals, go
to all these museums, tons ofmuseums and a couple blocks radius. Gator

(03:45):
countries are really unique. One likesuper quirky for the area. Take a
picture with the big fire hydrant,Explore the old fire museum. Lots of
things, and I'm familiar with thefire museum, and You're right, you
don't think about it until you're standingthere and you see in particular families young
children come in and they're just enamoredgator country. Where do you go again?

(04:06):
We just sort of take that sometimesfor granted. Here, Where are
you going to go and see gatorsin other parts of the country and feed
them hot dogs off a fishing pole. It is very unique to this area.
There are so many unique things todo. Now, what are some
of the other things in the bookOne hundred Things to Do in Beaumont,
Texas Before You Die, which,by the way, how did you come

(04:28):
up with that title? It's actuallya series, so the publisher gave me
the title, but they do itin different cities around the country, so
it is part of a series.Personally, I'm a huge outdoorsy person,
so kayaking the Big Thicket was definitelyon my bucket list when I got there.
It's been described as a brother's grimstorytale come to life. Really kind
of weird trees, cool, cool, haunted vibe for the fall. I

(04:54):
love the beach, so we alwaystake road trips to Sea Rim State Park
that has one of the most uniquethings in the book of You can actually
spend the night. You can onlyget there by kayak on a floating platform
in the middle of the Gulf Coastof Mexico, so pretty wild. Never
heard of that, yep. Ifyou're up for the adventure, where do
I find out? More So?The book is available online at Barnes and

(05:16):
Noble and Amazon, and we'll beavailable locally in some of the gift shops
around town. My friends that visitBeaumont are actually coming up with a really
cool passport program that goes along withit, So we don't want this to
just be my bucket list we wantthis to be everyone's bucket list of replacing
that hashtag Bomont is boring with hashtagBoumont bucket lists. So we want you
to be sharing and tagging all thefun and positive things to do in the

(05:40):
area. And again, go toAmazon in utable book with Barnes and Noble
and find the book. You makea good point about the Big Thicket.
I grew up in that area andnever thought anything odd about it because I
grew up there. I thought thatwas just the way everything is until I
moved away and realized there's some reallyunique things going on in the Big Thicket.

(06:01):
Oh yeah, it's super weird.Like four of the five carnivorous plants
in the country can be found here. It is very, very odd,
and it's just one of those thingsyou could potentially drive by it every day
on your way to work and neverthink twice about it. So that's really
what we're trying to bring a focusto here, a focus to what you
can do in Southeast Texas. Andby the way you say, this is

(06:21):
part of a series, and itwould be great for somebody coming into town
wanting to look around to get thebook and find things to do. But
I think this is a great bookfor Southeast Texans. Absolutely. I think
it's a great stocking stuff for comingup and just people who really kind of
drive the same route, stuck ina rut, like, get out of

(06:42):
your head and take see your citythrough the eyes of a tourist and for
a new perspective. Well, let'stalk about some of the museums for a
moment. There are a lot ofmuseums, You're right, some of them
all concentrated very close together in downtown, but there are also museums throughout Southeast
Texas that are just really unique.Yep. I think Museum of the Gulf

(07:03):
Coast in Port Arthur is one ofthe best to start at. It kind
of has the whole history of everythingof the area, so dinosaur age to
industry. I personally love the iceHouse Museum. It's one of the most
unique ones and really showcases the pioneersof the area. And then you have
the Beaumonty ones where you really haveto see spindle Top. It's where the
Texas economy was changed forever. Theyhave really fun events throughout the year and

(07:27):
do reenactments and gushers and all thatgood stuff. So It's just so,
so very unique in Southeast Texas.And I think probably Southeast Texans don't always
realize that. What surprised you.How long have you been in Southeast Texas.
I've been here three years. Thiswas my weird twenty twenty pandemic.
So what surprised you the most aboutSoutheast Texas? The culture? Coming from

(07:51):
up north, it is completely different. Getting used to reverse high seasons has
been a challenge. We really liketo go outside the summer, but here
winter is a lot more enjoyable,that is true. Yeah, the climates
are very different. People are differentthan the culture is different. I don't
know if you would call Southeast Texasis a mixture of maybe Texas and Southern

(08:16):
and all sorts of things sort ofmixed together. Plus the cultural influences.
And you alluded to that a littleearlier with some of the foods and such.
Because I suppose of the refineries bringinga lot of folks into working refineries
many years ago. You have thisinfluence of cultures from Louisiana and all over
Texas and such that have sort ofcongealed right here in Southeast Texas. Yeah,

(08:39):
it's absolutely a melting pot. Well, we love the Mexican or the
tex mex and the barbecue Cajun isdefinitely our favorite. We love crawfish season,
So that is something that has becomevery popular, was not as popular
many years ago, and it's becomevery very popular. And the unique style
of restaurants and that thing. Whatare some of the other things that people

(09:01):
should see in Beaumont again one hundredthings to do in Beaumont, Texas before
you die. What are some otherthings we've talked about? Museums, some
outdoors, food. Some of thethings I love about the book is even
places you know really well, likethe log On Cafe. There's little tips
of did you know they have abig band night or free State Sellers which

(09:22):
I love. In Orange right nextto Shangri Lau beautiful Britannic Gardens. Once
a year they do a very free, amazing grape stomp harvest that's just a
community event. So in addition towhere to go, there's all these really
cool events and tips like you mightnot know about that these places put on
for the community. Wow. Sojust again things that you would never stop

(09:45):
to think about or know about.That's you know, I know of Shangri
La We've been to Shangri La,but I didn't know there was anything around
Shangri La. Are some of theactivities they have. They have some unique
activities throughout the year. Yep.So in addition to getting the book,
look, there's just tons of resourcesonline to find all these things to do,
follow visit Beaumont, te X.Things to do in Southeast Texas,

(10:05):
and I would just encourage everyone tokind of use these resources to find there's
tons Like people say, there's nothingto do. My weekends are stacked.
There's too much to do if you'rereally seeking it out. Well, there
does seem to be, I knowsome of the things we publicize here at
the radio stations. There always seemsto be certainly in the fall and spring.
Oh do October Fest my favorite onecoming up. Yeah, there's there's

(10:28):
plenty of things to do, Andyou're right, it's almost a case of
what are you going to do andwhat are you going to have to skip?
And besides the events themselves, andthere are a lot of festivals,
Marti Gras very very fun, theState Fair and that Marti gar you're right,
that again is something very unique.Not a lot of Marty Grass in

(10:50):
the South and this is one ofthem. So it's a very unique activity.
We do it very well. Ilike the Cajun influence here we have.
How do they get the book,Lauren? It is available online at
Barnes and Noble or Amazon, orlocally at a bunch of the gift shops.
So head over to Catail Marsh,to the Art Museum, any of
those great places. All right,thanks for being with us, Thank you

(11:13):
so much for having me