HANGING AROUND ROCKPORT

Thursday, November 11 – We took a trip to Corpus Christi today. They are painting the big bridge over to Corpus Christi. Marsha was not happy to see this.

We walked along the Gulf Coast on the Pier area and in Cole Park.

Shore line

Water was a little rough.

Downtown Seawall

 

They have a bit of erosion going on.

Nina – This ship is a replicas of Christopher Columbus ship Nina. It is one of three ships build built in Spain. All three ships toured America in 1992 before coming to their permanent home in Corpus Christi in 1993.

Corpus Christi Marina – a little bit of money here.

We were a little disappointed in the lack of touristy stuff. Really not much to see or do. We will probably return to tour the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier docked permanently at the pier.

We stopped at Home Depot for a couple bolts for Paul and then to the grocery store. We returned home to relax the rest of the day. We did spend about an hour in the hot tub this evening to massage our weary bones!

Friday, November 12 - Laundry day for Marsha, and Paul serviced the batteries. We also had a guy come out and look at our furnace because it won't come on......hmmmmm. Found out we need a new thermostat. That's one of those jobs Paul could have done in our former Sticks and Bricks (home), but being new to the MH Life he wasn't sure how to do it. Easy, so next time he'll do it himself.

Saturday, November 13 – Nice slooooooow day. Got our fill of college football. We were a bit nervous at the way Ohio State and Virginia Tech played the first half but they both came on second half to win BIG.

We have been watching some men down the road work on what we think is the sewer system. What is with all the red flex-pipe every two feet?  Paul believes it is something on the surface (a temporary line) hooked to a buried pipe.  Never saw anything like this???? Marsha’s dad was a Master Pipefitter. Dad…can you figure it out?

Sunday, November 14 – Went to First Baptist Church in Rockport. There is a Lutheran Church here in Rockport but their service wasn’t until 10:30. We like to go early, so we hit the 8:30 service at FBC.

Hooray…the first time we get to see the Cleveland Browns on TV. We have Direct TV and get a New York channel that carried the game. The Browns, with Colt McCoy a former Texas Longhorn, look pretty good! BUT they lost in overtime….BOOOOOO!

The Park had an ice cream social tonight. We had some good Texan Bluebell Ice Cream and met several new people. Everyone there will be staying in the Park until about April. They all were very nice.

Marsha has done it again. She volunteered to get the library in order. She stayed after ice cream and began organizing the books. She said it will be a bit difficult to make it look nice since the shelves are all different shapes and sizes. Her ultimate goal is just to get them alphabetized. She missed her calling as a Librarian!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

BEACH, TREE AND GATORS

Tuesday, November 9 – We headed to Blue Wave Beach today only to be driven back.  Blue Wave Beach is clean, managed responsibly and has a focus on the protection of human health and the environment. Blue Wave Beaches are litter free, have handicap accessibility, public restroom facilities and swimmable waters. it is the one of a kind, Saltwater, swimming lagoon!

It was a nice and sunny morning, and we had the beach all to ourselves.

 

Nice to sit, read, and nap.

Paul checked out the water temperature....no way was he going in there!

After about an hour it clouded up....darn, no long relaxing day at the beach this time.

We decided to head up to Lamar and see the “Big Tree” aka The Bishop's Tree aka The Lamar Oak aka Goose Island Oak. It is located on Goose Island State Park. The giant Live Oak measures 35 feet in circumference, 44 feet in height and has a crown spread of 89 feet. The Texas Forest Service estimates the tree to be over 1000 years old. It is said to have been a council tree for the Carancahua Indians and for the white men who came after them.

This is the second “big tree” we've seen in Texas. About a year ago, we saw what was called the oldest tree in Texas, located in Historic Columbus, TX.

We then head to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, the Whooping Crane stronghold. The Refuge Complex is comprised of over 115,000 acres. From late October to mid-April, crane families feed in the marshes of this area. Only at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge do North America's tallest birds find an enduring winter stronghold.

The marsh land in the Refuge is beautiful.

 

They have an observation tower for viewing the Whooping Cranes. You are way above the trees.

The view from the top.

We weren’t able to get close enough to get a good shot of the Whooping Cranes. This is the best we could do for the Sandhill Crane.

Here too, pelicans, herons, egrets, spoonbills, ducks, and geese settle. On shore, javelinas, bobcats, and deer wander the oak woodlands. Alligators peer from still water of ponds.

We saw just about all of these including several HUGE Alligators.....in the 16 foot range! Awesome!

Here is a mother with her baby.

We saw a group of gators near where we walked.

 

There's about a 30 mile driving route through the park with numerous hiking trails. The only Texas wildlife Paul still has on his “I gotta' see” list is a big Rattlesnake.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya’ll back real soon. Have a great day!

ON TO ROCKPORT, TEXAS

Monday, November 8 – Today we headed down the road for Rockport, TX. We are going to a little site seeing and lots of R and R. The ride was a very pleasant one. It took us four hours to get there. At one point, we saw hundreds of wind turbines. It is such an amazing site.

We are staying in Coastal Oaks RV Resort. It just opened last year. They have standard and premium sites. The premium sites are huge. They put us in one of those at no extra cost. We are in Site 404. All sites are paved with paved roads.

Just about every site has trees but just enough to give a nice mixture of sun and shade. Our host, John, is really nice. When we went to back in, he didn’t like how some of the limbs looked so he and his wife, Linda, got the backhoe out, he climbed in it and up he went and trimmed the limbs for us. The roads are very wide.

The clubhouse is open with a laundry room. They have many activities that include everyone.

 

Pool and hot tub.

There is a pond and a paddle boat.

Bella enjoys it here…lots of trees and water.

We both agree that this is the friendliest park we have been in!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all real soon. Have a great day!