48 Hours: Longview, Texas

I’ve never thought much about East Texas so when a friend invited me to visit her in Longview, Texas I wasn’t too excited but was curious enough to take her up on her offer. After all, with the pandemic still ongoing I didn’t think it was a bad idea to continue my Texas explorations. If you haven’t seen my Texas trips series you can check out my Fredericksburg, Conroe, Dripping Springs, Marble Falls, Waco, Fort Worth, and Galveston trips right on this blog. A lot of people ask me what there is to do in these smaller Texas towns and they often fear that their trip will be boring since naturally there isn’t as much to do as a bigger city. However, I think its good to remember that a weekend is actually very short. It doesn’t take much to fill up a short 2 day weekend! East Texas ended up surprising me by all its hidden gems and I truly enjoyed my weekend here. And if you know me, you know I’m already plotting a return to the area…

Silver Grizzly Espresso

No trip can ever be started without the proper amount of caffeine! I had my doubts on the quality of coffee shops in Longview, but Silver Grizzly lattes were great. I also enjoyed the casual vibes at the cafe!

Shivers Natural Snow

Wow, I can’t believe this adorable silver shaved ice truck is located basically in the middle of nowhere? The owners are a couple who are pillars of the Longview community and their shaved ice is some of the tastiest I’ve every had. Natural ingredients are used in their ice and corn syrup doesn’t ever make an appearance. I loved their unique flavors- the Raindance is the best!

Tuscan Pig Italian Kitchen

I’m often not impressed by small town food (just read my Waco post), but the Longview food scene was actually pretty great. This Italian restaurant had so many pork themed dishes from ravioli to mac and cheese to past that I honestly couldn’t decide what to order. Its easy to get a table (aka no 2 hour wait like New York Italian restaurants usually have), which makes the food all the better.

Red Bus Cupcakes

Cupcakes on a real double decker bus! It doesn’t get any more exciting than that in a small town. Red Bus Cupcakes has a huge assortment of cupcakes (so many different varieties that it took me a solid 5 minutes to decide), but the best part is that it lets customers bring their sweet treats up to the second floor of their bus to eat! The Bus travels around, but I was able to find it on Main Street Jefferson that Saturday afternoon.

Jefferson Main Street

If you’re looking for a quintessential small Texas town, look no further than Jefferson, Texas. Their bustling main street looks like it came out of an old Western movie and is filled with plenty of nostalgic vintage shops and delicious local eateries. We spent a fabulous afternoon wandering in and out of boutiques and stopped by a delicious bbq restaurant for a bite to eat. Jefferson’s residents are all open and friendly (although don’t expect many masks here some come vaccinated) and our afternoon here was so nice and quaint.

Uncertain, Texas

I had heard about Uncertain, Texas on Instagram where the story was told that the founder of the town didn’t know what to name it, hence the name Uncertain. The town only consists of a few run down streets and a rather large flea market, but I still had to sop by and take a picture with the sign because how often do you come across a town named Uncertain?

Caddo Lake

The real highlight of our trip was kayaking on Caddo Lake. I can’t believe this beautiful lake is in Texas! I later learned that it is the largest collection of cypress forests in the country. Although, that fact shouldn’t have surprised me because there were so many large gorgeous trees everywhere we rowed. Kayaking on the lake is a popular activity so kayak rentals are a bit overpriced at $40 for half day. They are contact free though so the kayaks are left on the river bank with your name on them for you to pick up. I loved exploring the dense forest by rowing through them- definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. Beware though, rowing upstream is extremely hard!

Enoch Stomp Vineyard

I feel like this entire blog has been just me gushing about how great East Texas is, but everything was truly great! The single best thing I discovered about Longview though was this winery. I’ve been to wineries in Napa Valley, upstate New York, the Hamptons, Virginia, and Fredericksburg and I have to say that Enoch’s has some of the best wine I’ve ever drank. I’m usually not a fan of red wine, but their Potter’s Hand bottle was beyond delicious. It was the right amount of sweet and I really felt like I was drinking grapes. Highly recommend this winery if you're ever in the area!

Evergreen Coffee and Dessert

No trip can ever end without local bubble tea! If you’ve been following Toast and Travel, you know that I LOVE bubble tea and I love to try the drink in the various places that I travel to. I was shocked that even a small town like Longview had its own bubble tea shop and knew that I had to try it before leaving town. Evergreen is owned by a local Korean family and on top of solid bubble tea and coffee, it also serves a variety of korean shaved ice (bingsoo) and french pastries (macarons and madeleines). The wait was slightly long (there were a ton of people waiting), but seeing as how this is basically the only cafe open on Sunday mornings I can’t really blame them for being slow.

If you can’t tell already, I loved East Texas. I’ve been a Texan basically all my life and I’m so mad at myself that I didn’t explore this area of my home state earlier because it is so great!