Camping at Grand Isle State Park
Written by Kristy Christiansen
Sleeping under the stars and other grand adventures on a barrier island beach.
The wind was roaring through our open windows as we passed the guard’s gate at Grand Isle State Park and slowly made our way back to the sparsely populated campground.
As some of the earliest campers to arrive on this blustery day, we had free reign to choose the ideal spot for our tent. Circling the loop several times, we debated our options before giving up and letting our four-year-old, Charles, pick his favorite location.
Into the Wild of Grand Isle (Country Roads Magazine)
All kinds of folks—from quiet birders to rowdy rodeo fishermen—enjoy this island outpost
Written by Jyl Benson
Grand Isle State Park is the only state-owned-and-operated beach on the Louisiana Gulf Coast.
Photo by Lucie Monk
Were it not for the sparse, spooky ruins of the 160-room Ocean Club Resort hiding under leaves in the woods, it would be easy to dismiss as fiction the genteel Riviera-like Grand Isle of the Victorian era that Kate Chopin described in her seminal novel The Awakening. The magic and mystery she illustrated so eloquently remain; but the collection of resorts to which the wealthy fled via steamer to escape the unbearable heat and yellow fever plaguing New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century vanished into the fury of a late season hurricane on October 1, 1893, never to be rebuilt. What began as a fishing paradise in its earliest days of use by the Chitimacha tribe returned to just that following the deadly storm.
RETURN TO GRAND ISLE (country roads blog)
It’s amazing how much can change in a year. Last April, we visited Grand Isle for the annual Migratory Bird Festival, an event the whole island embraces as residents open their yards to birding enthusiasts. The island was bustling with activity, but some of the key attractions – such as the state park’s beaches – were closed due to tar balls lingering on the sand after the BP Oil Spill. Fast forward to 2012 and the sand is cleaner than ever and children were even playing in the ocean waters.
JOURNEY TO GRAND ISLE (Louisiana Travel)
Pack your fishing pole and birding binoculars for this simple beach getaway that offers a chance to get away from it all in the splendor of Louisiana’s outdoors.
By Kristy Christiansen
GRAND ISLE – LIFE ON A BARRIER ISLAND
BY CINDY ROSS
PHOTOGRAPHED BY STEVE WEWERKA
Five-year-old Mica takes careful aim, leans into her pitch and tosses the metal washer down the hole in the plywood box 15 feet away. Every night she plays with her dad and a handful of other Grand Islanders here at the pavilion at Bridge Side Marina on Grand Isle.
GRAND ISLE: AN ADVENTURE CLOSE TO HOME
By: Kristy Christiansen
Photos by Jackson Hill
As the parents of two children being raised in the city, we spend our weekends treating the boys to “adventures” across the state—and sometimes across the country. In fact, we travel a lot. Our oldest, who just turned four, has been to California three times and seen the Redwoods, Sequoias, Yosemite and Death Valley. He’s built sand castles on the beautiful, but cold beaches of Oregon and Washington, posed with the dinosaur skeletons in D.C.’s Natural History Museum, and hiked the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.
