Monday, February 25, 2019 - Spending the Day with my two Besties; Seeing the sights in Corpus Christi, Portland, Aransas Pass, Port Aransas and Rockport
It was a little before 5:30 when I woke up. I went downstairs, started the coffeepot and then turned the alarm on my phone off before it started chirping at me. Once my coffee was done, I finished up yesterday's post so I could publish it to the blog. Today was a busy day and this will be a post with lots of pictures so I hope I can stay on track. We are currently traveling down the road while I work on this towards Katy, TX (outside Houston) to Westlake RV Park where Dean's brother Larry, and sister-in-law Sandi are parked for the winter. I hope to get much of this written in the next 142 miles.
Dean was up not too long after me. It was probably after 8:00 before I finished writing the blog - but I still need to add in the pictures. Dean and I visited a bit and then decided we'd try to find someplace to eat breakfast before driving over to Cheryel's house in Portland, 9 miles away. After getting ready we first stopped at the office to pay for our site but no one was at the office. As we started to leave, someone opened the door, but it was not Barbara or Jim. I told her what we wanted and she said just catch them later, they won't mind. Okay.
We searched Google and decided we would try "The Bakery Cafe". It was located on the main street of Port Aransas. A typical small town cafe with basic breakfasts. Dean had sausage and eggs, hash browns, and homemade rolls---that looked so good! I had a ham and cheese omelet sans the hashbrowns, toast or rolls. It was good and very filling, but wow, those biscuits sure looked good!
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| Breakfast here was quite good! |
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| Loved this city's banner - "Home is Where the Anchor Drops" Aransas Pass |
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| I love water towers - Portland is known for it's birdwatching (notice the bird above and between the n and d). |
When we left I sent Cheryel a text we were having breakfast and then heading her way. We arrived at her house around 10. After visiting for a few minutes, we took a tour of Cheryel's new home. It is beautiful. It's very comfortable, beautiful and elegant too. She has many of her quilts on display and they are just gorgeous.
A short time later we left, first taking a tour of Portland where she lives. Cheryel's youngest daughter and family live here, not too far away and she has enjoyed being near them again. After showing us around some, we stopped at Indian Point, part of Sunset Lake, where we walked a good part of the paved path until it began to rain, and we had to turn around. Sunset Lake and Indian Point are part of North Shore. The rain was never heavy, but our jackets were damp by the time we made it back to Cheryel's car.
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| Yucca Plants blooming |
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| A very interesting story about a 1919 hurricane at Indian Point. |
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| Dean and I - 1 day before our 25th Anniversay! |
From there we backtracked to Corpus Christi where we enjoyed seeing some of the sites, driving along the coast, parks, beautiful waterfront homes, past Corpus Christi A&M College, to the Naval Station,
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| Texas A & M University-Corpus Chrisit |
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| Boats in port |
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| North Beach |
where we turned around and drove back to Pier 99 for lunch. We sat at a table by the water where we had a front row seat to the USS Lexington in the bay.
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| USS Lexington to the left, A tanker coming in to port. |
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| Blue Angel Plane on display at the USS Lexington Air Craft Carrier |
Nearby was the Texas State Aquarium and The Art Museum of South Texas. Lunch was shrimp po boys for Cheryel and Dean, and a grilled chicken salad for me. A salad isn't always the most glamorous or enticing food but I loved they took the time to cut the chicken in to small bite size pieces that made it easy to get a taste of it in every bite. They served it with a wonderful basalmic vineagrette that really enhanced the taste too! Cheryel and Dean loved their po boys.
After our lunch, we drove through Ingleside on our way to Aransas Pass, then took the ferry to Port Aransas where we drove on the beach road in both directions. I think we would love to spend at least a week here right on the beach. Maybe next year? I'm not sure we would want to stay any longer due to the salt spray but a few days would be wonderful. I'd love to listen to the surf and let it lull me to sleep at night.
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| Entering Port Aransas |
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| Port Aransas Water Tower |
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| Oil derricks near shore by the ferry line. |
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| Ferry boat we took on the short ride across the bay. |
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| Our ferry ride |
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| Ferry loading area. |
The ferry ride was interesting and quite uneventful, taking literally a few minutes to load and cross the narrow waterway to arrive in (or leave) Port Aransas. We noticed as we were waiting to board the ferry three large (what looked like) oil derricks nearby. Cheryel asked the attendant what they were and he verified they were oil derricks. Cheryel asked how they got them in to shore. They float them in and then fill the floats with water to hold the derricks where they were sitting. It was very interesting.
The birds (pelicans, seagulls, etc.) were everywhere, following the ferry to and from each stop. It was fun to watch them.
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| Business in Port Aransas |
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| Caricatures along the road in Port Aransas - you think they could fit in their tiny boat? |
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| Jaws - for Jaxson! He loves sharks and whales. |
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| We saw this sand castle. Cheryel stopped so I could get a few pictures. |
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| Cute knitted or crocheted hats for each of these posts. |
Shortly before we left the beach we saw this sandchurch, with a donation box next to it. The man told me he came here to tell others about Him - Jesus. It was a beautiful and a lot of work went into it.
After returning to the mainland, we toured Rockland.
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| Sculpture of Whooping Cranes - Rockport, TX |
The Whooping Crane Festival celebrates the annual return of the cranes to their wintering habitat at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The Texas Coastal Bend is the only place where you can see the world's last naturally-occurring population of Whooping Cranes.
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| Preening Heron Sculpture @ Rockport Art Center |
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| Heron along the water |
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| Heron in flight |
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| Bird |
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| In flight |
Many homes are still damaged, or were wiped out entirely by the hurricane that hit Rockport very hard the end of 2016.
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| I love this house! |
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| Beautiful home |
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| More damaged homesB |
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| Beautiful heron |
After our tour of Rockport we headed back to Cheryel's house. By then it was a little after 6. After hugs, thanks yous and goodbyes, we headed back to our campground. On the way we stopped at Walmart's so Dean could get fuel for tomorrow while I ran in to grab a couple of frozen pot pies. Dean wasn't hungry after his sandwich, but my salad didn't stay with me quite so well. I ate a chicken pot pie - while not on my diet, it was quick, and no mess. I was too tired to fix something else.
We barely made it in the RV, when someone knocked on our door. It was Jim, the manager of the park. He stopped to have us fill out the paperwork they needed and to get our Passport America #. We were glad he had noticed us coming home and stopped by so we didn't have to worry about it in the morning. It's supposed to rain, but we are hoping for the best.
After I had my pot pie and Dean snacked on some nuts, we looked over the route we would take to Katy/Houston, TX tomorrow. Later Dean watched TV while I messed around on the computer - when I could keep my eyes open! Lol!
Finally, at 9:30 we couldn't stay awake any longer.
(I did get 90% of this written on Feb. 26, but it is now February 28 and I just finished cropping and adding in the pictures we took on Monday, February 25.)
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