Port Aransas Texas – Beach Week

Sometimes it is just a beach week. Sometimes it is more. Just a few miles south of the city of Corpus Christi lies a long narrow barrier island that protects the mainland from storms and includes some beautiful, wide beaches. We selected a great park on Mustang Island that was just off the beach. A couple of minutes walk over the sand dunes via the boardwalk and we were at the Gulf of Mexico.

Our drive from San Antonio was smooth and uneventful at 170 miles toward the southwest. This weeklong stop would be the midway point to our final winter destination in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). I was really looking forward to three months of downtime.

Last winter, we stayed at four different RV parks in Florida and had many opportunities for beach time. This year our stop here at Port Aransas (known locally as Port A), would have to suffice for our annual beach visits.

To make this week extra special we hosted a visit from Pat’s brother Tom and his wife Ginny. They flew in from Cleveland into the Corpus Christi airport, where we picked them up on a Monday morning. It was great to see them again! We spent some time catching up on the ride back to Port Aransas, stopping off for lunch at Doc’s Seafood, located under the JFK bridge on Padre Island. Some good fried oysters.

Our RV Resort

Our RV park was the Pioneer Beach RV Resort located on Mustang Island, near Port Aransas. This is a rural setting with long open sandy expanses with a few housing developments strewn between. This area is nothing like the highly developed beach areas in Florida that are wall to wall condos and hotels. Even without the difference due to buildings, the landscape looks different as well with lots of brush and wild cacti growing everywhere.

The RV resort was quite nice with fully paved roads and concrete pads for each site that were the normal close spacing. They also had a swimming pool with hot tub, a rec hall, exercise room, and laundry. The amenity we found most useful was the nice wooden boardwalk to the beach. We took many long walks along this picturesque beach along the Gulf of Mexico.

Having Family Stay in RV

We have had each of our kids come to spend a few nights in the RV as we have been traveling. This is the first time that we have had family stay for almost a week and it worked out great! We had prepped them ahead of time what to expect living in a small space, (even though we have a large 41 foot RV), and their bed would be a queen sized pull-out couch that takes up most of the living room (and put away every morning).

When you have four people living in a small space, everyone has to synchronize their schedules. There’s no good way to have a sleep in day! So, we all had to accomodate a little for times to wake up and go to bed at night.

After a short orientation about where to store luggage, taking off shoes inside, and how to flush the RV toilet we were off exploring the island and seeing some local sights.

The Big Tree

The “Big Tree”, near the town of Rockport, Texas, is one of the most famous live oaks in the world after being named “Texas State Champion Virginia Live Oak” (Quercus virginiana) in 1969. (Wikipedia)

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Port Aransas Ferry

This state of Texas ferry system is free to users, operates 24 hours a day, using from 2-6 boats at a time to minimize wait times. This ferry connects Mustang Island and Port A to the mainland. We took it across and then back again later that day. Something fun to do once or twice, although it would be a real pain to have this become a daily wait. I’m not real patient. Link HERE.

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Beach Walks

I believe we took daily walks on the beach up to 3-4 miles a day. Picking up a combo of shells and trash each day. This beach does not have many people on it at all. Just some people fishing and some walking. Kind of nice.

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USS Lexington

USS Lexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16), nicknamed “The Blue Ghost”, is an Essex-class aircraft carrier built during World War II for the United States Navy. Originally intended to be named Cabot, word arrived during construction that USS Lexington (CV-2) had been lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The new aircraft carrier was renamed while under construction to commemorate the earlier ship[4] She was the fifth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name in honor of the Revolutionary War Battle of Lexington. Since 1992, the ship has been docked in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she operates as a museum. (Wikipedia)

We all toured this massive aircraft carrier on a cool and windy day. A little challenge to walk on the flight deck due to the wind. I really enjoy exploring any old military ship to learn its history as well as how it functioned.

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Yes, sometimes a week at the beach becomes something special when you can share the good times with family. We did some sightseeing, walked the beach, found some happy hours, played a lot of card games, had some great meals, and shared many laughs. It was a good week.

We are now at the Llano Grande RV Resort in the Rio Grande Valley, our three-month winter destination. The blog is running a few weeks behind as we are enjoying the vast amenities this resort offers as well as having some plain old downtime. A blog update will be coming up on Llano.

Take care and God Bless.