Gonzales Travel Guide

Gonzales is a pretty nicely integrated little town. You won't arrive to find yourself the only white in a town of black strangers or the only black in a town of white strangers. We have fewer members of other groups, but the industry along the river draws a pretty diverse talent pool.

I'm not one of those snobs who has to say something horrible about all fast food places. As a general rule, I like fast food. I like not having to wait a long time for my food. I like being able to take food home so that I can sit at my kitchen table and read while I'm eating. I understand that working at a fast food restaurant is considered something of a dead-end job, and I don't expect the folks there to treat me like royalty. I do expect them to be reasonably competent.

With this introduction, I have to say that I've had bad luck at the Burger King restaurants around Gonzales. We actually have three of these places, and I was surprised to learn that a place as small as I thought Gonzales was would rate three. Unfortunately, I've had some bad luck at each.

One is located on Hwy 73 at exit 173 off of I-10. In the original version of this tip, I hit this place pretty hard for not being organized and not having any employees who seemed to know what they were doing. I still occasionally run into trouble here, but overall it has gotten much better.

Another is located on Hwy 30 at exit 177 off I-10. I've been there twice. Once, everything was okay. They were out of onion rings the second time. Maybe that was a fluke, so if you like Burger King, I'd recommend that one.

The third one is on Airline Hwy. When I went there, the guy was preparing my drink and for some reason had to dump the ice. He walked to a trash can, tilted the cup to put the ice into the trash can, and pressed it all the way into the can to push some other stuff down. When I protested, he gave me another cup, but I was not encouraged at that performance.

It isn't actually off the beaten path at all, and no one coming through could miss it. However, Gonzales has a Tanger Outlet Mall, and I don't see any good category for it. For the most part, I don't find it very exciting, but shopping isn't exactly a 'guy' thing. The one exception is the bookstore outlet. I recently came home with six books including three or four hardbacks for about $25. Getting excited about books may prove that I'm old and boring, but I mention the mall because I've heard some people actually make trips to shop at these places.

Favorite thing: If you have never been to gonzales you should visit the plantations. Plantations are houses that have been around since like WWI. they are remarkable land sites and are really interesting to learn about.

Fondest memory: One of my fondest memories in Gonzales is boat riding. Gonzales is a small town so when you go boat riding you'll end up in other small towns too, but all in all boat riding is a favorite past time of mine.