Padre Island, Mustang Island, Port Aransas TX

Before we set out on our sightseeing on the Island today, I took a few pictures on NAS-CCAD otherwise known as Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. It's an Army Depot, Coast Guard Station, and also has Homeland Security within its perimeters. This is the fishing pier in Shields RV Park.

Birds along Sunfish beach.

There are also several birding and wildlife areas along the bay near the RV Park.

Once off the station, we headed toward Padre Island.

There is a big bridge across Laguna Madre....remember that from my visit to South Padre Island. Well, it stretches all the way down.  There are no roads from the north end of Padre Island to South Padre.

Couldn't get a good picture of the bridge but here we are on the other side.

There are a lot of beautiful homes on Padre Island close to the bridge area and many people commute into Corpus Christi to work.

Of course, you will also find the areas for tourists.

If you go about 10 miles down the road, you will end up at Padre Island National Seashore. It's very interesting but not on our agenda for today.

Newly developed beach area homes.

Lots of interesting places for people who want to stay on the Island.

We are heading north to Mustang Island.....you can really tell when you leave one Island and are on the other.  The sand dunes are protected by lots of beach vegetation.

You can drive out onto the beach in a number of areas.

It's windy so there is some surf today.

We are definitely not driving out there although a motorcycle and a car whiz past me.

 This is Mustang Island State Park....you can see the RVs. It's almost like a large parking lot with RV sites along two sides. You back in and have a little covered picnic table between each site. There is a bathhouse and access to the beach which is on the other side of the dunes.

There is lots of open area as you drive further north and you will see people pulled off into areas for birding and fishing.  You will also see large hotels/resorts every once in a while. This is the Mayan Princess.

As you get closer to the north end of the Island, you will see more beach housing before you reach the town of Port Aransas.

I didn't take any pictures in the town area of Port Aransas this time but you will find everything you need there including lots of RV parks and places where you can go out on the ocean on a charter to fish.  Lots of interesting restaurants, a grocery store, etc. There are also some birding areas.

There is also camping in a county park on the beach.

This is where you check in for camping, the bath house, etc.

The is camping in more of a park like area behind the building and behind the dunes. There are hookups here.

Some people prefer to boondock right on the beach.  This end of the beach is pretty hard packed sand.

You will find others parked here to fish or just walk out on the jetty or on the beach.

Next we headed down to the park by the ferry.

We saw several boats pushing big barges through the canal.

This is a good size boat pushing the barge. To the left, you can see one of the ferries.

It's a very nice park with a playground and picnic tables.

And people fishing......

Or watching a sightseeing cruise boat go by.

We are getting lined up to go on one of the ferries.

Since we just had the truck, we were loaded onto one of the smaller ferries. But these ferries also haul motorhomes, big 5th wheels, and semi-trucks across to the mainland as well.

We had to wait for this big ocean freighter to go past into Corpus Christi Bay.

Another one of the smaller ferries going across at the same time we did.  I think there are four or five ferries that go back and forth. The crews working the ferry lines know exactly what they are doing and keep things moving right along. This is a highway that uses ferry crossing rather than a bridge so there is no charge. If you are lucky, you can sometimes see dolphins swimming along. Alas, this was not our lucky day.

More harbor traffic.

Once we were across the water, we saw people fishing along the bay.

Some were in boats and some were in waders standing in the water.

We went through Ingleside and passed the U.S.S. Lexington as we came back across another bridge into Corpus Christi. You can tour the ship. The Texas Aquarium is in the same area.

We had a great day and arrived back home in time for a walk around the park before dinner.

Blowing In The Wind

Yesterday I was doing this at Citrus Valley RV Park in McAllen TX.

And last night I was at a Chili Dinner at the same park with my friends Birdie, Sue, and Shirley (three Pink FlaminGoes friends) and new friend Sandy.  It was great.....we had dinner with over 200 other RVers and it was the absolutely the best chili I have ever eaten.  Sandy was in charge of the dinner and, as a former caterer, she really knows her stuff.

Today, we were on the road heading north to Corpus Christi for some more fun.

This is how the longdogs travel.  Willy and Harley are snoozing on the back seat of the truck.

Gretchen prefers to snooze on the floor in the backseat.  Sometimes they trade places. Sometimes they get up long enough to look out the window when we slow down in a town.

But they never, never ask me "are we there yet?"   "How much further?"  They are just happy to ride along wherever I want to go.

Today we headed north and take a look at this......F250 pulling 31 foot 5th wheel.  Can you read that MPH number?

 Okay, okay......so I had a tailwind, a 25 MPH tailwind but I just had to take a picture of 16.0 AVG MPH.  There were only a few times we got broadsided with wind but this rig is really solid on the road so it wasn't bad at all.

I arrived at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station (CCNAS), my next destination, without any hitches other than having to set my GPS for Padre Island National Seashore. The GPS simply would not recognize the NAS but I knew the National Seashore was just across the bridge to Padre Island so no problem.

The RV park on the NAS is right on the bay and I've been there a number of times but it has been quite a few years. Just one little glitch in checking in, yes.....they had room for me. And, yes, I did have the vaccination paperwork for the Traveling Longdogs.  Oops......it expired a couple months ago.  You must have that.  Fortunately, the very nice young man at the check-in desk was able to give me directions to a Vet Clinic not much more than a mile from the gate to the NAS. And, equally fortuitous, there was plenty of on street parking out in front of the Vet Clinic.

The Animal Clinic of Flour Bluff was a nice place housed in a new building with a doggie spa and doggie boarding. Willy, Gretchen, and Harley were surprised to see all the dogs out playing in their play yard. It looked nice. Luckily for us, the Vet was not busy and agreed to take care of us right away. The dogs were weighed and had their temps taken. Harley is happy to report that they had modern thermometers which took the temps in their ears just like kids instead of the old fashioned way.

Willy - 12.5 pounds

Harley - 11 pounds

Gretchen - 10.4 pounds

Unlike their pack leaders, the Traveling Longdogs are slim and trim. 

Check-in took quite a while because the computer was giving the nice young man fits but we eventually got it all done and headed over to the "B" section. Nice big concrete pads with full hookups.  This is a look past my RV spot on the outer road with the Leguna Madre in the background. 

I was glad that I didn't have to drive over the bridge to Padre Island with Mustang Island State Park as my destination because it was still blowing really hard.

After setting up, taking the dogs for a walk around the RV park, and giving them their dinner, I took myself to Cheddar's for a Birthday Dinner celebration.  It was delicious!

Wish you were here!

Vibrant Downtown McAllen TX

McAllen has tons of nice places to shop in shopping centers and malls scattered throughout the city. But McAllen also has something you don't see that often anymore, a vibrant downtown area. In so many cities, the downtown areas dry up as the shopping centers and malls spring up with their free parking lots. Or the downtown area is saved via conversion to a business/office area rather than a shopping area.  I was told that was not the case here in McAllen.

So I set out to visit Historic Downtown McAllen on Sunday afternoon. 

It wasn't hard to find.....just look for Main St. not too far north of Hwy 83.  It's one-way going north with angle parking. I knew that angle parking in a crowded area was probably not the best place for my big F-250 longbed truck so I did a preliminary drive through to just get the flavor and see how extensive the downtown actually was.  It stretched for a number of blocks before opening out into a more residential area. I made a left turn and then another left to travel down the parallel street, more shopping.  The angle parking on this street ended after two blocks and converted to parallel parking and a wider street and I found a convenient place to pull in.....bonus, metered parking on Sunday is free. Actually it's a double bonus as you don't have to pay but you also don't have to worry about going back to feed the meter!  This is indeed an old-fashioned downtown with one story buildings. There were lots of people strolling along checking out the shops, old and young, families in tow. My friend Sue told me there were bargains to be found in the several fabric shops. Prices looked great.

This is definitely an Hispanic jewel, similar to shopping across the border in Mexico; however, there are no street vendors. Most of the stores seemed geared to the party scene.  There were many perfume stores and stores to buy quinceanera dresses, party gowns, and wedding dresses. Dresses are every color of the rainbow. I took this photo in a store before I was approached by an Asian clerk who said pictures were not allowed.  I apologized and didn't take any more inside although there were no signs anywhere.  I also noticed that a man and teenaged boy were told to wait outside (no loitering) although they were obviously with a woman and daughter who were shopping in the store.

There were also a number of stores like Michael's only these were jam-packed with merchandise for parties of every kind and artificial flowers.  Remember all the flowers in the cemetery?

There also a number of stores buying gold. On the left of this photo, you can see Boot Jack. This was one of the upscale kind of stores you would find in an expensive mall.

I tried to get photos between groups of shoppers and cars but there really were a lot of people out and about.

I sat on a bench in the shade next to La Placita, a Museum of History and Culture to do some people watching. Unfortunately, it was closed. I was joined by a mother and four of her six children while her husband and two of the oldest boys went into the perfume shop next door.  The oldest three were boys, each with their own unique haircut, and the three youngest were girls all with long hair. Two had curls. The youngest was about three and just adorable. She came over several times to get quite close and give me a big smile.  All the kids were really well behaved and polite. Most of the talk on the streets was in Spanish or Spanglish but I never heard this young family use anything but English.

This building almost looked like it was transplanted from New Orleans.  This multi-colored building next door is more typical.

I parked in front of this store which was closed. I don't imagine the young lady wearing the beautiful puffy gown on the right would ever get to sit down.

All in all, it was a fun experience and a big part of life and culture in the Rio Grande Valley. Winter Texans really are welcomed down here. Many even have little decals or signs on their cars or trucks. You will find visitors from every part of Canada and state in the U.S. that call this area home in the cold winter months up north. Some have been coming for many years, traveling in their RVs to get here. Others leave their RVs here or have park model homes in the hundreds and hundreds of RV parks.

On a parting note, the Traveling Longdogs are quite comfortable in their RV. Willy pulled a pillow down, and covered himself with a blanket, and is clearly telling me to go away, he needs a nap.