Keeping Entertained On The Beach

Life is a beach, or life is grand on the beach.

I picked up a paint by numbers kit last weekend when we went into town (Corpus Christi). It was time for us to leave the beach for 48 hours. Those are the rules, only 14 days at a time, then you have to leave for 2 days. So, we went into Corpus Christi, camping at the Walmart and restocking. We also took in a movie at the theatre next door. We saw the new Tarantino movie, Django Unchained. Great flick, Tarantino's version of the Spagetti Western. Blood and guts galore, need I say more!

We also took a ride down to the beach at Corpus Christi. They have a boardwalk as well as a huge aircraft carrier docked there as a museum. It is the USS Lexington. We took a walk up the pier to the entrance and just had a look at the outside of the ship. It is huge.

Ward and I hit the local shopping center and the hobby store. I got my paint by numbers kit, and Ward picked up a model car kit, a 1955 Nomad. We also picked up a game book which has instructions for every card game imaginable in it, as well as dominos, billiards, cricket, and pin the tail on the donkey. Neither Ward nor I can remember the rules for several card games we used to play. Altzeimers, I can feel it coming on. I have Ward talked into paying cards and dominos with me, as we lack a pool table and Ward keeps running from me every time I get the tail and pointy nail out, and I get that look in my eye as I peek from behind my blindfold.

I've spent a few days already working on my painting. It actually comes with two paintings, one practice version printed on the inside of the cardboard packaging, and the other on a thicker, more professional stock. It's the practice version I am working on, using the outside of the RV as my easel. I also picked up a book on water color painting, with a few stencil pictures and instructions on how to paint. Soon I will be a regular Rembrandt.

You can only collect so many shells. At some point another hobby had to appear, or the RV would be completely over-run with sand dollar segments, shells, and pink barnacles. Ward continues to converse with visitors to 'our' beach. Did I mention he talked to some folks from St Vital, and another couple from Elmwood? I mean really, who would have thought.

We also took a day trip up Island to Mustang Island and Port Aransas. While driving up the island, we stopped in at a few of the access roads to check on other possible areas where we could camp. Most areas are much more populated than the beach we are at, and most of the accesses have a lot of loose sand where I would not feel comfortable driving on the beach. I think we found an ideal location where we are. It is higher up on the island, a little more secluded, and the sand is not as torn up from vehicles.

At Mustang Island State Park we stopped for a picnic lunch on the beach and of course took advantage of the showers. I've said it before, and I will say it again, I love my State Park Pass.

Then we were off to Port Aransas, or Port A as the locals call it. Neither Ward nor I had any pre-conceptions of the town. But we were told by many that we should check it out, so we did. It is a nice sea side tourist town, filled with many brightly colored condos and large homes between the highway and seashore. Once we got right into town, we found many small shops and restaurants.

We stopped at one restaurant for a snack. It was located right next to a private dock filled with expensive private fishing boats.

We took a walk along the dock behind the restaurant and found a group of pelicans each perched on their own post. They seemed to blend in to the scenery. We almost missed them until one moved.

Today we drove the motorcycle down the beach to the Bob Hall Pier (about 8 miles), then into town to look around at the t-shirt shops and hook up with the all-important internet.
That's it for now. Ward is getting bored waiting for me to finish with my internet thing.