I spent Christmas Eve, Christmas and the weekend at Staybridge Suites just about 8 miles away. Nice room with a full kitchen that was stocked with dishware and pots and pans. so it seems to be set up for people using it as an apartment if necessary.

So I loaded in my suitcase, my groceries, my litter box, my cat food, my two cats, my computer, my jackets, did I forget anything??!!😛 Good grief. Gumble is so easy to transfer and Bandit I have to drag out of the closet. Poor guy. He hates these transfers. but each of them I can carry in my arms and they don’t panic and try to get away.

Since this is a pet friendly motel, the women behind the desk went bonkers over Gumble. They could not get over how he would just close his eyes and lean into their stroking. Yeah he knows how to play it up!! He’d leave me in a minute for anybody else that offered him more. 😅 And knows how to make himself at home!

Bandit slept under the bed during the daytime but then he was out and about from supper on. He’s been adapting pretty well considering how skittish he used to be. 👍 And Gumble definitely helps calm him.

Since nothing was going to be done over this 4-day break, until Monday, I did have the opportunity to explore some of the beaches in the area. Corpus Christi is all about beaches and the Padre Island and I am happy with that!! And fishing piers! Long fishing piers, everywhere. Some are an actual quarter mile long! Got that info from a local concerning the one I was on. 👍 I imagine this is pretty common on a lot of ocean frontage in a lot of states.

The weather was really nice. Sunny and in the 60s and 70s. I looked at the map and decided to make a circle route to the Padre Islands. I had always heard about them and I was anxious to see them as they are a Barrier Island for the coast. I also knew that a ferry was needed to continue the highway into the port so I thought that would be fun to do as well, and it was.

Once on the other side I was able to find a spur road onto the beach. and you literally drive right onto the beach! I love that! The tide was out, the beach was huge and you could drive and park anywhere and people were!! And so did I. I love exploring areas and discovering what is common practice in these places.

I found a place to park and tried to enjoy being there. The beaches have very few shells or anything. Very little debris as well which is nice. Just sand, sand, sand! The water was cold. About the temperature of Lake Michigan.. what I did finds though, were these strings of tiny shells. I have no idea how they formed themselves like that. But I did have a clue of a few shells beginning to adhere to a type of ocean reed. So that must be how they form. I thought that was really interesting.

The middle of the beach was devoted to campers which I was excited to see! And there were a lot of them. They do have a method to keep it from becoming a place for squatters. You do have to have a permit to camp on the beach and there is a $500 fine if you don’t have one!!

My brother and sister-in-law usually go to Florida for the winter. I wonder if they have beaches down there on which campers can park? And thank goodness for porta potties!!

Moving on….

Moving on I drove into Rockport, Texas. The old City along the beach was just so quaint and pretty! A lot of nice shops that were charmingly dated .

The best part is I found ice cream! And I was tired! So this was the perfect stop, with the best ice cream and the perfect chair!!

Remember that quarter mile Pier? That was in Rockport. And there was a bed and breakfast type of resort nearby. It had this awesome mailbox decorated so attractively with shells I had to take a picture!!

Moving on… I found Rockport Beach. Now this beach you would have to pay $5 to enter but since I have the Texas state park pass, it was free. They offer quite an upgrade in beach facilities available. I Loved these tree shelters all the way down the beach. 👍 They had a big enclosed area with bathrooms and shelter. And another area had picnic tables. Really nice place. I would like to come back here and spend the day with my lunch and reading. The problem is, I just can’t stay put very long! There’s so much to see here!! The water is warmer here and there were kids playing in the water.

What I discovered last time I was in this area at Goose Island State Park is their use of mollusk shells. They use them here to fill holes like we would gravel. They are unbelievably strong. It takes a while for them to break down! Very practical and creative use for them.

After this I was ready to go home. Being out in the fresh air and breeze all day and hiking on the beaches does take it out of you after a while. When I returned home, the cats had been frantic! They missed me so badly they ran to meet me at the door!

I have one more interesting experience to share that took place over the Christmas weekend. I went to Indian Point which is a good lookout for birds and a big fishing area of course! A very big fishing Pier that is very popular. Nobody was catching anything and I was just about to go when this teenage girl caught a fish. It was so ugly it was beautiful! They allowed me to take pictures and it was identified as a puffer fish. This fish is poisonous and you don’t want to touch it! Two to three people offered to cut it off the line for her. but she took it back down the pier to where her dad and the other kids were fishing. He took care of it from there and returned it to the water with the hook intact as it would dissolve eventually.

I was fortunate in that I had nice areas to explore while waiting to hear about my RV. So info on RV will come next time.

I am writing this on New Year’s Eve back in my RV on a site at the RV dealership. The staff is really welcoming here! I got lots of ideas from them today on places to see over this next 3-day layover and it’s a nice varied list! I also have a safe place to take in the fireworks tonight!! Indian Point.

This morning the temperature started out at 47 that felt like 38°,! Gradually warming up. We had a storm system come through last night with lots of rain.

Corpus Christi is going to shoot off fireworks tonight for the New Year’s.

It’s cloudy but here’s hoping the fireworks will get off a nice show. 👍

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! 💖

Talk to you next year 🤗💕