Beaches and More Beaches

Thursday morning Carolyn had to be on the road home. Mary Jane and I decided to take a little road trip down to the Port Lavaca area. Her family used to have a lot at Alamo Beach where they would go fishing and it isn't far from Port Lavaca.

After seeing the hotels and restaurants along the highway, we headed down closer to the beach area. There is a nice city owned beach park which charges $5 for admission.

There is a place where you can launch boats.

And there is a campground which was pretty full.

The sites are a tight fit....very close together and other RVs were backed in behind these so very little privacy here.

There was also a very nice dock for fishing.

As we left, we saw this lighthouse. I'm assuming that it must have been taller when in use.

Next we drove through downtown Port Lavaca. It didn't take long because there really wasn't anything left there other than a restaurant and one or two restaurants. Then we were off to find Alamo Beach where Mary Jane used to spend most weekends....her husband was a big fisherman.

I didn't really get any pictures of Alamo Beach as there is no central area just cabins and trailers on lots. We did find her old lot after a few false starts. The trailer they used to have there is gone and no one had put anything else on the two lots. Isn't it funny how different things often are after you go back to a place that was once very familiar? I have had that happen a few times too. 

Next we headed down the road to Magnolia Beach. This is the beach where you hear about people boondocking right on the beach. The Pink FlaminGoes had a rally there many years ago before I joined and it was pretty cold that April from what I have heard.

The beach is a crushed shell beach rather than sand so RVers don't worry about getting stuck in the sand. It was pretty empty there in early May although the weather would have been good for boondocking.

We did see one RV parked on the beach.

There are a lot of little covered picnic areas but I'm not sure that you can boondock in this section. We looked for signs but didn't find any.

The water is brown on this part of the beach as the currents keep it churned up. We saw a boat pushing a barge along.

This area was pretty important in early Texas history. Pineda explored here in 1519 and La Salle established a settlement in 1685. The settlement didn't last through a series of misfortunes but the area was an Indian trading point later on. Indianola was a major seaport between 1844 and 1875. A lot of settlers entered the country through here. It was the site of conflict during the Civil War with Confederates trying to hold the area and Union forces sending ships to break through the blockade. Union forces eventually secured the area and held it through the remainder of the war.

This statue is in honor of LaSalle.

Lots of little flowers along the beach area.

We stopped at the Indianola Fishing Marina where they have a little store and restaurant. There are a number of houses and cottages here but no real town is left these days.

Ed Bello was a pretty famous storyteller in this area and there is a state plaque in his honor.

This is all you will find as far as the "town" of Indianola anymore.

Before we left we saw this ship sailing offshore.

It was a very interesting day reliving some old memories and making some new ones. I was really glad we got a chance to visit this area as I have often wondered about Magnolia Beach. If you ever decide to go there, be sure to stock up on supplies as you won't find any close by.  Well, this is the last day of our trip. Mary Jane heads east to Florida and I head home to San Antonio.