Saturday, May 4, 2013

It's another sing-a-long, ready???

Saturday, May 4, 2013
Pioneer RV Resort
Mustang Island, TX (near Corpus Christi)
Beautiful sunny day, 70* early am

Combined blog from the past couple days.


All together, now:  Oh what a night, May second, South Padre Island, It was windy and it wasn't fun, It was scary, what a night. . . Yes, the chilly storm from the North swung down and hit the South.  It was so windy at the KOA in South Padre Island that we finally pulled in all our slides (the little room extensions that slide out from the trailers to give more room, for anybody who might not know).  The trailer was rockin' but it was only the wind knockin'.  We knew we were expecting to leave Friday morning sometime, but there was no hurry, as we had a short day to Corpus Christi, TX.
We were all hooked up, ready to go and this wind hit and it really hit hard.  The trailer really was rocking and reeling, with even worse gusts.  We finished packing up and pulled in the slides and just slept the night through with the slides closed up.  Although you can't use the living space in our particular Fifth Wheel with the slides closed, the bedroom, bed, and bathroom facilities are still available.  I did have to crawl over Mr. C to use said facilities, and that was crazy, too, in the dark, with my vertigo and the trailer rocking and rolling, LOLOL.  I even got a bit motion sick.  We didn't get much sleep, to say the least.  

Good Bye KOA, South Padre Island
The next morning, we checked the weather report and found it was supposed to be the same all the way up the coast.  So we had a dilemma, do we stay an extra day and wait it out or do we hit the road with the chance that the wind will knock us around on the road.  My biggest concern was going over the big bridge getting off South Padre Island.  We finally decided, this is a lost day, we can't do anything or leave the bedroom as long as the trailer is closed up, so we might as well hit the road, which we did.  It was an interesting drive for the first hour or so.  
The sky was even tan from the blowing sand and the visibility in places was horrible.  There was sand everywhere, even grit between our teeth.  Although the wind blew steadily all day and all the way to Corpus Christi it did, finally, calm down a bit.  


Look on the sides of the road for the "black sand"
We did have an interesting sight, just outside Corpus Christi, when we saw a road grader doing U-turns in front of us.  As we got closer we realized he was "plowing the sand" from one side of the road, doing a U-turn and "plowing" the other side, over and over and over again.  I missed the picture of him plowing, but got this picture of the "sand".  It was black.  I'm not sure why they have black sand in this area, but it was, and it was only in an area about a mile long.  Otherwise our drive was fairly uneventful, and we arrived safely on Mustang Island, TX, but more about that later, I have to back up, now and let you know the bits and pieces (nothing really exciting) from the day before.
So, Thursday, May 2, during the day, we made an "emergency" run into Brownsville looking for some white and orange polymer clay I needed to complete some canes I've started.

We also wanted to pick up some post cards for the grand kids.  This is one of the pretty gift shops (souvenir shops) we stopped at.  We were surprised to find that there aren't many "kid friendly" post cards in the shops around South Padre Island.  We went to 4 shops before we found any.
I don't know if it was the couple days of rain or what, but the Prickly Pear Cactus were blooming all over the place and we saw some new (to us) colors, of orange, peach, and even red.



We returned to the Big Sky (Fifth Wheel) and started getting ready for traveling to Corpus Christi the next day and found Coco (our Chocolate Straight Haired variant of a Selkirk Rex) in an unusual place.  Yes, here she is on the top edge of the slide above our bed.

  . . . and now, we return to our regular schedule, since we stuck May 2 in the middle of this blog, LOL, back to May 3-4.


Our first glimpse of Corpus Christi, as usual, Highway traffic, LOL.  Followed by water views, and then, a surprise sign above us. . .





Laguna Madre access?  We just left Laguna Madre in South Padre Island, didn't we?  Rememer, we took a squall ridden boat ride looking for dolphins on Laguna Madre?   Quickly, I dragged out the maps and quickly came to realize that it's the SAME Laguna Madre.   Obviously, somewhere it had escaped my knowledge that South Padre Island, Padre Island, and on up the coast there are a bunch of Islands that run along, one right after the other.  I do not know if there is a road that goes from one to the other, but after our turn around trip looking at the sand across the road at the North End of South Padre Island, I don't think we'd want to try to take it if there was one.


Next, came an unexpected sight, another scary long bridge. . . I obviously didn't check out our vacation plans very carefully, just let Mr. C run with the idea of the Gulf Coast of Texas and trusted him to get it right, and get it right, he did!!!  Once again, he put us not right in Corpus Christi, but on Mustang Island, right on the beach again.  Maybe not quite as "on the beach" as in Galveston, as you can't see the water from our campground, but it's right there, on the other side of the protective sand dunes.




Then, there were the ultra cool houses with their own boats on the various lagoons and canals, we passed.


And, although I didn't take pictures, we passed Hobby Lobby, Michael's, JoAnne's, Walmart, and. . . you guessed it, Golden Corral.  Let's see, now, water and the above stores.  Water is "out in the country" so to speak, about 20 minutes from the "big city" which is what we're used to and prefer. . . yep, let's see how this week goes, but so far, I'm likin' "Corpus Christi".

Next we find a purple house (no way can any of us afford said purple house, but at least there is one) for "sister, G" to look at, LOL.
Then we see the campground or more accurately the RV resort ahead of us.  I have to be more accurate about it being an RV facility, as I've figured out there is a huge difference between a campground and an RV facility (often called a resort, which seems a bit far fetched on some of them).   For more "conversation" about this subject, see my April 21, 2012 blog post What is Camping?  Camping sure isn't what it used to be when we went "down by the river" with our pop-up trailer back in the 90s.

Finally we arrived:  Pioneer Beach Resort, Port Aransas, on Mustang Island, TX.  Their brochure says:  Welcome to Pioneer Beach Resort/Port Aransas RV Resort and Cottages.  the coastal Bend's finest Luxury RV Resort.  So far, we like it.  It had nice long level sites that are easy to get into.  We had no problem getting the pull-thru site we prefer.  It has full hook-ups, with back-in, premium, pull-thru, and premium pull-thru sites, as well as cabins.  It has Cable available, Wi-Fi (that has been a bit hit and miss so far, it keeps dropping us) and mail services.  It has a swampy pond birding area, a recreational center, a family pool and a smaller pool and spa for adults, a dump station, office and store, they pick up your trash at your site for you, have a K-9 dog run area with seats for the dog owners and a boardwalk over the dunes right to the Gulf of Mexico (that is big enough to drive your golf cart over it--if you happen to own a golf cart, LOL).    You can stay here up to 8 months at a time.  This more than meets our needs.


This is a picture of the RV Resort from the board walk, followed by a picture from the beginning of the boardwalk over the sand dunes and then one from the top of the dunes (on the boardwalk, of course) looking down at the beach and Gulf of Mexico.


















There are many pretty flowers blooming along the boardwalk on the dunes.  I don't know what they are, but they look pretty.  I'm pretty sure the pinkish/purple ones are a creeping phlox of some kind, and the prickly pear cactus is pretty obvious, but I'm not sure what the white ones are.








The first night we were at the campground, of course, we had to take our beach walk.  We figured out it is 1/3 of a mile from our Big Sky to the water.  Then there are markers that are roughly a 10th of a mile apart above the beach, so you can see how far you've walked.  Actually, they're probably so you can give your exact location in case you need to call for emergency services while on the beach.
You can drive, park, and even camp right on the beach, if you want, but there are no hook-ups of any kind, no dump or water or electricity, but if you like to "boon dock" it's the perfect set-up to be camping on the beach.  We saw this trailer and some tents.
The first thing we noticed, after the cars, trucks, and trailers, was the water and this pretty fellow (or gal?).  It's obviously some kind of heron, but we aren't sure which one, and it was too dark to tell for sure.


















Then I saw this guy looking for some shells (for me, of course).  Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the right beach for shell hunting, but it's a pretty beach, clean with pretty water.  Unfortunately, it also has lots of these.  While not Portuguese Man of War's, these Jelly Fish can still give a nasty sting, and having seen 4 in our short walk last night and another 8 or so of various sizes this morning, Mr. C and I are glad it's still a bit cool to get in the water, LOL.  




This morning, we got up early to catch the low tide (the supposed best time to go shelling) and still, no full sized or whole shells to be found.  Lots of broken sand dollars and little bitty bits of broken shells.  It was still a beautiful morning and we walked about 1/2 mile down the beach and then back, so with the walk from our fiver thrown in, we took a mile and 2/3 walk this morning.  It was a bit chilly, if you noticed my long sleeves.  We also took wind breakers (tied around my waist) but didn't need them.  The water is chilly, but not freezing.


We did see something interesting out on the water:  From a paper we got at the office we think it was the Chevron Jack St. Malo rig,  "one of the largest ever to go through Port Aransas".  It was expected to be moved on Saturday morning and that's today, and the silhouette matches the picture posted in the paper.  This was from a long way away, so it was obviously huge.  We assume that "rig" refers to an Oil Rig, but the paper obviously assumes all readers will know what they are talking about and the above quote is all that was given.

Our friend, the heron was also back at the beach fishin' this morning:
There were also tons of these little teeny tiny birds rushing in and out of the waves digging in the sand for their little crustacean breakfasts:

Last night as we returned from the beach, some kind of "canine" type creature ran across the dunes.  It was too dark to be sure, but it sure looked like a coyote of some kind.

This morning as we returned to the Big Sky, from the beach, we saw this pretty white bird.
At the Resort end of the board walk there is this huge driftwood log set there for you to put on or change shoes or just to take a rest.  There are also a couple of benches along the board walk to take a rest if needed (or to get out of the way of the golf carts, as the boardwalk is only wide enough for the carts, not carts with people beside them, LOL).  I am very pleased to report that neither of us needed a rest during the whole 1 2/3 mile walk today.

We just missed a beach festival with a sand sculpture contest last week, darn it. . . oh well, can't do it all.

That's all for the past couple days.  I didn't think I had much to tell about, but guess I did, after all.

We plan to spend the weekend in camp, as we figure weekends are always busy at activity spots with families out of school.  So not much will go on for Saturday or Sunday.  Next week, though, we aren't sure what we'll be doing.  Hope you'll check back to see what we decided on.  Smiles, Sue C.

























1 comment:

  1. Glad you like the RV resort. It looks nice. Now if the weather will just cooperate...I like all the birds and flowers, but don't like the jelly fish, well, they were interesting, but...LY!

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