My out-of-town visitors, daughter and granddaughters, ages 8 and 12, had complained that visiting grandma was boring until we discovered the Beaumont Birdie Passport. Packing up water bottles and snacks we spent a delightful day visiting most of the attractions listed and getting our passports stamped. Following the official passport was a rewarding hunt for Beaumont’s treasures.
Cattail Marsh and the Beaumont Botanical Gardens were our first stops. Although we had visited these two delightful locations previously, we marveled at the changes and development of the Wetlands Education Center. We missed feeding the koi in the conservatory because the fish had been moved to the back lake so repairs could be made on their habitat. The girls wanted to know how they would catch them to put them back inside.
I was concerned that our self-guided tour of the Spindletop/Gladys City Museum would not hold the girls’ interest, but was amazed that they both claimed that it was their favorite attraction. Could that be because they were fascinated by the chamber pots and hip tub in the upstairs living quarters over the general store? Or perhaps by the clothing displayed in the store? The John Jay French House will definitely be on our next tour.
From Spindletop we visited the Fire Museum of Texas, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas and other attractions clustered downtown. The Beaumont Children’s Museum gave us worn-out adults time for a sit-down break but even the 12 year-old enjoyed the varied interactive activities offered at the museum!
After a pizza break we visited several other locations. Tired, but excited to finish the scavenger/treasure hunt, the girls would not hear of saving some attractions for another day. We made our final stop at the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau to choose our own Beaumont Birdie. The girls are begging to visit the places we missed and to re-visit their favorites so they can earn another birdie.
Explorers of all ages will have fun meeting the Beaumont Birdies and flying to all the interesting attractions in Beaumont.