The Texas Coastal Bend

Since I last updated the blog we've been to Biloxi, Missippi, to visit a friend and to New Ibera, LA, to visit my brother and sister-in-law for awhile--they have a great place to park the RV and we always enjoy spending some time with them. When we left there, we stopped for a night at Galveston Island State Park. When the girls were young, we'd stayed at the park for several weeks, but Hurricane Ike wiped out most of the campsites three years ago. It looks a lot different now!


February 3 we moved to Enchanted Oaks RV Park in Rockport, TX, where our friends Bobby and Melba were already settled in. While the weather here hasn't been GREAT, it's been much better than all the snow (and single-digit temps) they've had in Fort Smith! Well, we did have a little ICE one night, but it only lasted a few hours:
Last Sunday was nice enough that we all took the Jetty Boat from Port Aransas over to the uninhabited St. Jo Island for a few hours.It's different on every trip we make there, but this time the tiny Sand Dollars (more like Sand Dimes and Nickels!) were scattered all along the beach. I think I found over 80, but a lot of them got broken before I got home with them.
I was glad I'd fixed my cheese ball to take to the Super Bowl Party at the clubhouse the night before we went, because I was certainly too tired after walking for four hours (and bending over hundreds of times) to have fixed anything when we got back!

We looked at the weather and the tide chart and decided that the last day for a couple of weeks or more that we MIGHT be able to drive to the end of Padre Island was going to be Tuesday. So we took Melba and Bobby in the TrailBlazer and another couple in the park, Pat and Dave, took their Grand Cherokee and we headed out early for the Padre Island National Seashore. We're always amazed at how different the island and the beach is from year to year--we never know if we'll be able to make it the entire 60 miles to the cut or if the sand conditions will make us turn around before we get past the 20-mile mark. But the trip presents a challenging adventure and a sense of accomplishment when you DO make it to the end! Here's what it looks like at the end of North Padre and looking across the cut to South Padre:


This year the "soft stretch" seemed a bit longer than in the past, but both vehicles made it through without a problem. We were glad there were two vehicles this time because we were the first (and ONLY) ones to go the last 30 miles or so. Pat said seeing the end of the island was on her "Bucket List" so we were happy she got to mark it off the list! We spent about an hour eating our picnic lunch and shelling at the jetty, then headed back to civilization. It's always exciting to be racing the high tide and this trip was no exception! The tide had completely covered the beach and we were left with only the soft sand and seaweed for a "road".

It was a nice day to be on the beach that day, but it turned cold that night so our entertainment those cold days has been going out to lunch! One day we went to China A in Rockport for a fantastic Chinese buffet, another day it was the home-cookin' buffet at the Butter Churn in Aransas Pass, the Big Fisherman in Rockport (but NOT on their $2.25 Tuesday!) and Pepito's for Mexican food in Aransas Pass. Saturday there was a Chuckwagon BBQ and music show in the clubhouse here at the park--the BBQ was really good and the Springer Family is a very talented group! We enjoyed the entertainment and as you can see, we're not going hungry while we're here! In fact, it's a beautiful day today, so I must stop so I can get this update FINALLY published then get ready to go to lunch AND the beach!