Monday, November 15 – We drove down to Port Aransas this morning and took the ferry over to the island. Port A is on Mustang Island.
Port Aransas was a favorite of pirates in the early 19th century. Capt. Jean Lafitte and many other pirates used Mustang Island and Port Aransas as a place to make camp and, according to legend, a place to hide their treasure.
The 1916 Texas Hurricane destroyed Port Aransas except for a very few buildings. The docks, wharf and warehouses were now on the mainland and the entire island was flooded and infested with rattlesnakes. After the city was rebuilt, it became a popular destination for anglers, tourists, surfers, and vacationers.
It was a gray, drizzly kind of day, which wasn't the best for sightseeing. We weren't too impressed with the island. Maybe it would have been better on a nice summer day, but not too great today!
We did visit a famous historical Inn, The Tarpon Inn.
The Tarpon Inn was built in 1886 with surplus lumber from Civil War barracks. It was built to house workers for local jetty construction. It has been a hotel ever since the jetty was completed. After the 1919 hurricane destroyed the main structure, the inn was sold and rebuilt in 1923.
Two of the walls of the Tarpon Inn are covered with tarpon scales.
Each of the scales has the signature and hometown of the angler who caught the tarpon as well as the size, weight and date of the catch.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed there and fished the coastal waters in 1937.
The lady that runs the Inn suggested we have some thing to drink and a bake good at their famous bakery. After describing the delicious pies and pastries, we said…Let’s do it! The Bakery was just in back of the Inn, so we drove back, jumped out of the car and were greeted with a…CLOSED ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY sign. Oh My…this wasn’t good. We jumped back into the car and agreed that we saved our selves at least a couple hundred empty calories. Always got to look on the bright side of things.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all again real soon. Have a great day.
