Texas

Wed, Nov.22.

Arrived Bayview RV Resort in Rockport Texas, (30 Minutes from Corpus Christie on the Gulf of Mexico) very sunny 80 F (27c) weather. We are "Winter Texans now", in Florida we would be "Snow Birds" and they have "skeeters" year round here to. (Mosquitoes)

Thurs, Nov.23, U.S. Thanksgiving.

Everything closed for Thanksgiving and was a nice day to tour, no traffic. Along Fulton Beach Rd. into Rockport. This was a beautiful drive along the coast. Nice homes, piers everywhere, great beaches and fresh seafood available from the fishing boats.

Friday, BLACK FRIDAY

This is what they call the biggest shopping day of the year, much like our Canadian Boxing day sales. Some stores open at Midnight and people lining up at 4:00am. The reason it is called Black Friday is that ALL the stores operate in the Black today. Nobody operates in the red.

Went for drive to Port Aransas on Mustang Island. Driving a long causeway with beaches and fishing spots on both sides, people fishing everywhere. Then take free ferryboats to Island. 4 boats operating, (barges) holding about 25 cars and short trip(about 5 minutes). This a very scenic place with 18 miles of beach to drive along. A $12.00 annual permit is required to park on the beach and allow free dry camping (no hookups). What a deal we have to do it! Then back home to socialize with neighbours from Alberta and Trenton Ontario.

Saturday

We drove over the causeway to Goose Island State Park to check out the “Big Tree”. This tree is over 1,000 years old and has a circumference of more than 35 feet. It was really quite a site to see. Beside the causeway is a lighted fishing pier (the original bridge) about 2 miles long with many people fishing on it. Swimming in the very warm pool and hot tub in the afternoon was a treat. And enjoying free Internet service provided by a fellow camper from Florida.

Click on Link below for some pics

http://picasaweb.google.com/gtyates/RockPortTexas

Sunday

Went for a tour of Fulton Mansion. Built in 1874 on the seashore with running hot and cold water, 3 inside bathrooms, central heating and gas lighting, very rare in these times. It was a beautiful French Second Empire style of house with a slate shingled mansard roof built to with stand hurricane force winds, and it did. From there to the seashore in front with a large number of Pelicans right by the shore. These are very large birds with a wingspan up to 55 inches. Then on to Goose Island State Park to check out their campsites on the beach, very windy here, each site has a cement block pavilion for shelter and electric and water hookups. The odor is not too pleasant, it is known as Stinky Beach, because of roting vegetation that the birds and turtles feed on. Don't think we will stay here. Click here for More Pictures Monday, We went to Corpus Christie to tour a WWII aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington. Wow what a huge ship!!! There is 4 self guided tours to most areas of the ship and an Imax movie , Fighter Pilot,awesome. This tour took us 4 hrs and we could have taken longer but were getting hungry. From there we went to Catfish Charlies for supper and had a sampler of seafood gumbo,catfish, shrimp, oysters, fries ,chili, coleslaw, gravy, hush puppies and chicken fried steak! (a steak deep fried in a chicken batter) that we shared, very reasonable and more than we could eat. Then return home via Padre Island and the ferryboat. To go later with our neighbors to the clubhouse for 3 hours of Karaoke, busy day. Thursday Couple of quiet relaxing days enjoying the weather until this morning, temperature at 9:00am was 75 degrees F, and quickly dropped to 45 degrees F by 10:00 am, wow what a change, very windy, good day to do more trip planning and laundry. Friday Starting the return of nice weather, sunny 62 degrees, nice drive thru Rockport to Key Allegro, an impressive community of Huge homes on small lots with a road on one side and water not 10 feet behind, canals everywhere with huge yachts. And 1 House in particular with a roof made from seashells! Click for more Pics Saturday Again nice day, craft sale at clubhouse, explore more campground and take in the nighttime Christmas Parade in downtown Rockport, very nice and not too cold. While planning more of our trip, leaving here Wed. and going to camp on Beach , Mustang Island (if nice enough) then San Antonio for a couple days. On our way to Arizona.Which is another 1,100 miles (Texas is a big State) . Tuesday, Dec. 5 The weather is much nicer off to Mustang Island (Port Aransas) to camp on the beach. The small ferryboat was a treat. We were guided on one side taking up 2 lanes and front and centre. Wow what a view. Front bumper on RV was about 1 foot from front of boat. Really felt like we were driving the RV across the channel!! Once off the boat went to the Beach and purchased a camping permit to camp overnight on the beach. Awesome scenery, hearing the waves, walking the beach and the pier, need to do more of this. In the morning was very mild and no wind just the surf in right there. Now off to San Antonio. Click here for pictures

Wed, Dec. 6

Reluctantly we left the Beach at Mustang Island and had a nice drive to San Antonio, such a beautiful sunny, warm day. We found a campsite with free wifi, then proceeded to The Alamo and Riverwalk, downtown San Antonio. Everyone here was very friendly wanting to give us maps and directions.

The Alamo was amazing being in the middle of the city, just steeped with American history and was quite impressive.

Two blocks from the Alamo was the famous Riverwalk. One level below the main streets we found this absolutely wonderful world of canals, walkways and bridges, This area was beautifully landscaped ,and decorated. Just lined with restaurants and shops of all kinds, Hotels, a Hospital, Riverwalk Centre a shopping mall and an outdoor theatre with seating for 900 people. We took a Narrated Riverboat ride, for about 1 hour to see the sites and find out more information, an absolute must.

Later we dined at the side of the river enjoying the sites, sounds, food and each others company all in one. Wonderful! Then as it got dark we were able view some of the sparkling Christmas lights and decorations as they were lit up.

Thurs. Dec 7 .

We traveled thru Texas along I-10 a great Highway, nice drive rolling hills and beautiful scenery. Such a good road the speed limit was posted 80 mph for cars, 70 mph for trucks. That night we stayed at one of the many Texas Rest areas, very nice, secure, washrooms and free wifi. Some even had waste and fill stations for RV’s.

Fri. Dec 8.

We traveled some more relaxing I-10 into the mountains and El Paso Texas into New Mexico. Enjoying the sites huge windmills on the hilltops, mountain views, dry land, sage bush, dry river beds, even some wild pigs grazing at the side of the highway, spending the night at the New Mexico welcome centre and rest area, which was an absolutely beautiful picnic area with breathtaking scenery.

click here forMore Pictures.