Baton Rouge, LA and East Texas

March 30-April 1, 2019

TL;DR: Our quick jaunt through Baton Rouge and east Texas was varied and interesting, filled with good food, a few surprises, and one of our favorite boondocking spots yet.

The sights

La King’s Confectionery – Galveston, TX

A throwback to the 1920s (like much of Galveston) with tons of old time candy, hand-dipped chocolate, fudge, and salt water taffy. Didn’t get anything but fun to peruse and see all the classics.

Balinese Room Pier – Galveston, TX

The Balinese Room nightclub was built on a pier that stretched over the Gulf of Mexico for 600 feet, but Hurricane Ike destroyed it in 2008. It was once a favorite of Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers, even Howard Hughes, and was home to some serious antics, what with illegal gambling and mob activity in full swing.

Proletariat – Galveston, TX

Cool little bar to have a quiet beer and do some work.

Details, details, details

Baton Rouge, LA

Right where we parked to walk around, there was a really pretty center walkway that was really nicely manicured.

The new capitol building is the tallest in the country, though we’re pretty sure we like the old style better. Also, it was completely empty because it was the weekend.

Port Bolivar, TX

The sunrise over Port Bolivar was one of the most beautiful we’ve seen.

Galveston, TX

Layla took her second ever ferry ride from Port Bolivar to Galveston (ride time: approximately 30 minutes).

And then this happened…

Were going to use a dump station at Love’s when we realized that our hose was missing an O-ring. This could have resulted in a messy disaster. Walmart to the rescue.

We passed an old truck towing a beat-up van, which was towing a beat-up car. Can’t be legal.

Now we know

They still like their confederate flags in the South.

Driving down to Bolivar Peninsula is not a pleasant experience. Lots of bumpy/broken roads and zero wiggle room with concrete barriers on each side.

Galveston

Parking in Galveston is pretty easy in the quiet season. Right where Pleasure Pier meets 25th afforded us a nice central spot. We even got in a nice little water-side run. Back when we ran.

There’s an oil rig museum right at the water that we almost went into. But it was $10/pp and we decided we didn’t want to nerd out that much.

There’s also a peanut butter warehouse that was intriguing, but they were unfortunately closed.

You can steal Bubba Gump Shrimp internet to do work, but not stream Game of Thrones.

Road food

At City Pork, thin-sliced brisket with pickled onions and horseradish cream is where it’s at.

Star Drug Store has survived three hurricanes and a fire, providing citizens of Galveston bacon-tomato soup, grilled cheese & frothy egg creams for over 100 years.

Miller’s has the most incredible spicy corn and crab chowder. Great margs, too.

Where we stayed

Night one: Cracker Barrel, Hammond, LA

Night two: The Beach in Port Bolivar, TX

Just off Rettilon Road, in Bolivar Flats, about 30 seconds from the entrance, tucked up next to the grass

This was one of the surprise favorites. It’s just east of Galveston, and completely free. And completely gorgeous. Would have been fun to stay there and just hang out on the water.