Texas Coast Road Trip: Galveston, Corpus Christi and all That In Between

Texas Coast Road Trip: Galveston, Corpus Christi and all That In Between

Well everyone I'm back from a road trip of coastal Texas. It was an interesting experience for all involved. Let me say that it is hot in Texas. Leisurely driving down interstate 1- we got into Texas and our stopped at the first rest stop just inside the state line. A great visitor center with information, maps and brochures on every region and major city in Texas. Walking in I stopped to see why people had crowded over the banister at the entrance. Well the first picture below says it all. Yes Allie the alligator was posing for some shots. I learned the bayou doesn't just stop at the Louisiana border. Out back of the visitor center is a boardwalk that takes you back into the bayou. After a brief break we headed to Galveston our first stop of the trip.

Galveston surprised me. We arrived in the late afternoon to a place that is caught in transition. When visiting this town stop in at the Ashton Villa where the visitor center is located.  This area was hit by hurricane Ike and parts of it looks like post Katrina New Orleans on the island. Now down by the beach area there is a great bike trail that runs the length of the entire beach. The area near the state park is very nice. You have plenty of places up and down the beach front to park or unload your beach gear. Now about the beaches. When we arrived on Monday the first tar balls had started washing up on East Beach area. I must say I was disappointed by the trash on the beaches and they were crowded up until late night. That night we slept in Motel 6 which was modern and most of all clean.

Morning came and with it the desire to head out to the next town. We were disappointed in with Galveston. I can tell it is going to look just nice once it completely gets back on its feet.  Our goal was Port Lavaca and the local state park. With every adventure you have a goal an idea of how the day will go but life is ever happening. Heading out of town we said goodbye to Galveston and I recommend giving it another year or two before it looks like a beach seashore town you desire to go to for the summer.

Taking the back roads of we encountered many small towns and port towns that were cute. After two hours of riding through thunderstorms, passing corn fields with obviously modified corn (see below) we hit Port Lavaca our suppose stop for the day. This sounded great in the brochure. Part of this road trip was not to plan to far in ahead to leave some spontaneity in the trip for a chance to experience things in the moment. We had decided to camp at the Lighthouse Park which also had a long boardwalk into the marsh area for birding and also beaches too. So this was a two for one deal plus we had plenty of time to explore the town. It wasn't even twelve o'clock yet. To be fair the small towns we passed on the way were quaint looking though we did not stop. At the Lighthouse Beach Park the nice woman in the kiosk booth hesitated when we asked about tenting for the night. . She said,Why don't you go down there and check out the tent sites. I for one wouldn't recommend it the mosquitoes are bad. Just check it out." They were the size of dragon flies. I'm not kidding just huge. It had just stormed in the area and puddles of water were breeding pools of more of these dragon mosquitoes we would encounter the rest of our trip. They had a bead on the make and model of our car for sure. It think there is an underground mosquito railroad where they relay ahead of fresh warm blood heading your way.

Well Lisa got out and investigated the bathrooms/showers. She ran back to the car screaming, "drive, drive get us out of here."  We did stop at the birding boardwalk. It is very long. It goes out in the bay and around toward the beach plus it has a fishing pier. Nice I must say. Life keeps happening and the pictures of us taking it in on the board walk salvaged some of the day. We would keep pressing on and in the next two blogs you will get it all  (I will be posting the rest of the pictures for this post separately due to space constrictions.)