How to be Cajun in Texas
When a seasoned travel writer comes to get your “seasoning”
“How Big is Texas” writer Diann Bayes has experienced some of the best landscapes, adventures, histories and flavors of our great state. She’s traveled the our beloved Texas perimeter.. but that’s another story. We invited her to experience Port Arthur, the Cajun Capital of Texas.
How Big is Texas blogger gets back to nature in Cajun Capital of Texas
Cajun history around here runs deep, and Bayes hit some stops that tell our area’s story. Spotting birds at McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, a gator at Sea Rim State Park and of course the over-the-shoulder washboard story and a fiddle concert at Museum of the Gulf Coast are how part of Bayes’ bank of Texas knowledge.
Got to Talk About the Food
Port Arthurs flavors are many, and Bayes tried as many as she could. When she was a kid, she “fished” for crawfish from their mud chimneys, but never considered eating them. She took her second try and pinching and peeling at Larry and Rita’s, with some degree of success. Boudain is also kind of new to her, and she appreciated that The Boudain Hut made a link easy to sample with crackers and mustard packets.
Tracy’s Seafood was crowded with locals at lunch, but we managed to grab a spot to fill up on Cajun shrimp and fried rice and some Vietnamese eggrolls, which she calls “an unexpected treat.”
Thank goodness she was here Wednesday, the day Ancelet’s Cajun Market makes juicy cracklin’s. She enjoyed a bag of those and took a photo at the front door where the store posted “Crawfish Season Hours.” Did you know they have chicken cracklin’s, too? Another new thing she experienced in good old Port Arthur.
Rao’s Bakery, Doughlicious AF and the Staybridge Suites Port Arthur by IHG’s ample social hour also filled her agenda.
How Big is Texas?
Read the rest of the Port Arthur story, and about her other Lone Star travels
Diann Bayes is “How Big is Texas”
I’m Diann. Founder and #1 Quester at How Big Is Texas. I’m a Texas Travel Storyteller and Native Texan exploring the highways and byways of the Lone Star State. Check out my blog!
This write-up is by Darragh Castillo, Experience Manager for the Port Arthur Convention & Visitors Bureau, who feels blessed whenever she gets to show visitors around Port Arthur.
