Southern Louisiana, Houston and Galveston

Old Jul 7th, 2014, 05:24 AM
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Southern Louisiana, Houston and Galveston

This was a trip coming from Central Arkansas, to Southern La, then across to Galveston, TX. It was me and my husband and our three children ages 8,7 and 2.

First day was June 27th and that night we stayed in Breaux Bridge, LA. We stayed at the Microtel there and it was clean, nothing special but fine. We ate lunch at Buck and Johnnys and it was actually probably the best meal on the trip. Good food, good service. We had dinner at Crazy for Crawfish ( or something like that) and it was nice.

We got up on Saturday the 28th and did the Cajun Country Swamp tour. It was a 2 hour tour and was incredible. Just fantastic. Very affordable and just amazing. A highlight of our trip. We then drop to Lake Charles, La.

They have the absolutely most amazing free public park I've ever been to. It's Millenium Park and it just wonderful. Enclosed so the kids won't escaped, great bathroom facilities, a splash pad, we literally could have stayed all day and we did stay probably 3 hours. The kids were exhausted so we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza. I think it was a Super 8, but there are lots of options. I also went to a Casino, they have several nice options there, as well as nice options for shopping and dining. We ate at Pat's of Henderson's on the way into town and it was great!

So off to Galveston....
We stayed there for a week. It was a large beach house with my husband's whole family. It was right on the beach, and a good location. The seaweed was pretty bad, but the kids didn't care.

We bought the CityPass to Houston. IT was about an hour and 15 minutes to downtown Houston from our house, but we wanted to go so we bought the CityPass. For one low price ( I think it was like $49 for adults and maybe $39 for kids and the 2 year old was free) you got admission into 5 top Houston Attractions.
1- Downtown Aquarium- super fun place, the actual aquarium isn't that large, but it sufficed for the kiddos, then they have an outside amusement type area including a splash pad.
2- Museum of Natural History- Fantastic paleo exhibit and Ancient Egypt exhibit. Just a huge place, we spent probably 4 hours there before the 2 year old got tired, adults could probably stay longer.
3- Choice of the Houston Zoo or the Kemah Boardwalk- we choose the Zoo and it was the best zoo we have ever been to, and we've gone to a lot across the country. It was amazing and we stayed probably 4 hours and only saw maybe a fifth of the exhibits. You are allowed to bring in coolers which was nice, they have lots of shade, benches water refill stations and restrooms and the animals looked happy, well cared for and had large exhibits ( as far as zoos go) and they have a very large splash pad for the kids. It really is a must see for all ages.
4- Choice of Museum of Fine art or the Children's Museum- I choose the Art Museum because it has some world class pieces. Me and the oldest two checked this out one day while my husband and the little one napped. Fantastic art.
5.Space Center- Another great tour. The tram is about 90 minutes long ( and free with admission) and takes you to the actual training facility as well as to Rocket Park that allows you to walk around and see retired space crafts. Tons of stuff for the kids to do, tons of stuff for adults. Great food court and gift shop. Another must do.

Things we did in Galveston
- The beach of course
- Pleasure Pier ( there was a coupon for quite a bit off in the City Pass booklet) and this is a pier that has amusements on it, lots of rides, games, food courts, it was nicely laid out and had plenty of rides for the little one and the bigger ones, as well as things my husband and I rode. It was nice. I think it was like $80 for all of us for an all day pass, but the kids had so much fun. Again, lots of picnic tables, restrooms etc.
-Bubba Gumps and Fish Tales were two of the "nicer" places we ate at. Both were fun. Bubba Gump's was fun just because I like the movie Forrest Gump and I like Shrimp. But it was a fun place.
Galveston has nice supermarkets so we bought groceries and ate at the house and made picnics and stuff. They have many places to eat and shop and have the traditional things like putt putt, a movie theatre etc.

We left on the 4th of July ( after the fireworks on the Pier) and drove all night to get home while the kids slept.
rachellynn99 is offline  
Old Jul 7th, 2014, 08:58 AM
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Nice trip report . . . I totally agree about the Space Center . . . top of the list must do!!
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Old Jul 7th, 2014, 01:26 PM
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I see you are from central arkansas. Have you seen the Memphis Zoo? How do you compare the Houston zoo with that one if you have. Glad the seaweed didn't kill the trip.

We have done both the pier and Kemah and find Kemah a little better but both are good for what they offer.
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Old Jul 7th, 2014, 01:33 PM
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We are going to Gulf Shores in a week and may have to stop on way or way back to texas at the park in lake Charles. Thanks for the heads up.

Going to visit parents in hot springs village in Arkansas in august so may ask of some places to visit because we might try buffalo river area
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Old Jul 7th, 2014, 02:00 PM
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Yes, we have been to the Memphis Zoo and I would say the Houston is better! The Houston Zoo just had a lot of really nice "extras" such as plenty of bathrooms, water fountains, several play grounds throughout, lots of benches and shades, several air conditioned exhibit halls etc that the Memphis Zoo doesn't seem to have as much of .

As far as animal variety the Houston Zoo has the Red Pandas which my daughters thought were cool, and the Memphis one ( last time we went) only had the regular pandas. Not a big deal, but in general I think the variety of animals was better at the Houston one.

Both are about a million times better than the Little Rock Zoo, unfortunately.

@WickedGood Yes if you have children stop at that park. It was probably the highlight of our 2 year old's trip. We went back the next morning on our way out, but it was closed ( opens maybe at 10 am) so we had to bribe the little guy with a Sonic slush for breakfast
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