Winter trip 2026 - Day 13: Coast to Forest

We were up before the sun, and I stayed in bed while Joe moved us to a better spot closer to the water. After we did our morning things we headed out through Galveston. Not much activity this early in the day, but sure looks like a fun town. Miles of beach, and at the north end a pier with an amusement park. 

We had another ferry opportunity and we were excited to do it again. This trip was longer, just under 20 minutes, which was just enough time to get out and walk around the boat. 

Back on land, about a mile down the road we passed a sign for Fort Travis, which prompted a u-turn back to a neat little park.

There were a few batteries here, all locked up but easy to see inside, especially since I brought a flashlight. 

We spent about 30 minutes reading the history and plotting our next steps 

Past this area, the road ran directly along the gulf, and we made a quick stop to look for shells and cool rocks before our path headed north away from the coast for the last time this trip.

Crossed over into Louisiana just before noon. Made a stop and Joe picked up some boudin balls for his lunch. These are kind of like a hush puppy, recipes call for sausage, rice flour, spices, shaped into a ball and deep fried. 

Not much exciting happening in this part of the state between Lake Charles and Alexandria, or so I though. I had Maps pulled up and saw the Southern Forest Heritage Museum along the way. Tickets were $8 each and less than 10 minutes off route.

Despite the boring name, this was an awesome stop. This property began as a sawmill in the 1890s and expanded and grew over the next 50 years. At one point, this was the most populated place in the area, over 100 homes were built for the men and their families that worked at the mill. 

The mill closed in 1969 and it's just like they up and walked away. The place sat vacant until the 90s when it was donated to be a museum. 

The homes are gone, but the mill (buildings, machinery, equipment, trains, stacks of lumber) still remain. 

Joe said he saw other visitors when we got there, but the only people I saw were the lady working the museum/store (just filling in, she works at the still-operational post office next door), a cat, and a guy running some equipment in the back. We had the whole place to ourselves.

In addition to all the information on the mill, there were about half a dozen buildings, each devoted to a different but relevant topic - the CCC, forestry in the area, women in conservation, WWII (Camp Claiborne where men trained was just down the road), train history.  We only had time to spend about an hour, could have easily spent 3. 

We crossed the Mississippi at Natchez and picked up the beginning of the Natchez Trace. This is a national park road, very much like the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are 3 free campgrounds along the 400 miles, and we stayed the night at the first one around mile 55. 

Super warm night, we still got a fire going in the world's largest fire ring.