30 Things To Do Before Leaving Beaumont

People move to Beaumont for jobs, for family, for school at Lamar — and they often leave before they've actually experienced the city. They get busy, they stick to the familiar routes, and then one day they're packing boxes and realizing they never went to Shangri La, never kayaked the Neches, never made it to a Friday Night Art Walk. This is the list for those people — and for the lifelong Beaumont locals who've been meaning to check these things off for years. Thirty things. Get started.

The Essential Food Experiences (1–8)

1. Coffee and a pastry at Rao's Bakery on Calder and College on a Sunday morning — take your time. 2. Eat at a Beaumont seafood restaurant that's been open for more than twenty years. 3. Find the best boudin in Beaumont and form your own opinion. 4. Eat a full Cajun seafood boil during crawfish season. 5. Try the Vietnamese food in Port Arthur with a local who knows where to go. 6. Find a food truck on Calder or Dowlen Road that you've driven past a hundred times and never tried. 7. Have a proper steak dinner at one of Beaumont's upscale restaurants — special occasion, dress up. 8. Eat breakfast at The Courthouse Diner or a similar local institution on a weekday morning. [/best/restaurants/beaumont-tx] [/category/food-dining]

Culture, Arts, and History Must-Dos (9–20)

9. Attend a First Friday Art Walk in downtown Beaumont. 10. See a performance at the Julie Rogers Theatre. 11. Visit the Art Museum of Southeast Texas and spend at least 45 minutes with the permanent collection. 12. Go to the Fire Museum of Texas and see Sparky the world's-largest fire hydrant up close. 13. Tour the McFaddin-Ward House and take the interior tour. 14. Go to the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum. 15. Visit the Edison Museum and look at real objects that Thomas Edison owned. [/category/museums-history] [/category/arts-entertainment]

Outdoor Beaumont, Community, and the Big SETX Experiences (16–30)

16. Walk the Cattail Marsh boardwalk at dawn during spring migration. 17. Kayak the Neches River for at least two hours. 18. Walk all of Tyrrell Park. 19. Attend a Lamar University athletic event. 20. Attend a Beaumont community festival. 21. Drive Calder Avenue end-to-end on a weekend afternoon and stop somewhere you've never been. 22. Shop at a Beaumont farmer's market. 23. Drive to Port Arthur and cross the Rainbow Bridge at dawn. 24. Visit Shangri La Botanical Gardens in Orange — it is absolutely worth the drive. 25. Go to Spindletop-Gladys City and watch the replica gusher. 26. Take a day trip to the Big Thicket. 27. Find the best neighborhood dive bar in Beaumont. 28. Buy something at the farmer's market and make dinner from it. 29. Go birding at Cattail Marsh and name ten species. 30. Make one friend who's been in Beaumont their whole life and let them show you their city. [/category/parks-recreation] [/category/outdoor-recreation] [/events] [/city/beaumont-tx] [/city/orange-tx] [/city/port-arthur-tx]