Port Aransas, TX

We've been hanging here at the beach for almost two weeks. With temperatures hovering around 70 most days, we're finally thawing out. If this is what it means to be a Winter Texan, we're definitely ready to sign up!

Our park is located in Port Aransas, a tiny town on Mustang Island, which sits just off the Texas Coastal Bend. Being an island, the routes from the "mainland" are limited. Our GPS wanted us to take this route, which included a three-minute ride on a ferry between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas. Because we were driving our still new 40-foot motorhome to this place, we opted to take the long way around. Driving down to Corpus Christi, across a nice wide bridge and up Padre Island to another rock solid bridge that delivered us on Mustang Island took us at least an extra 30 minutes. But, can you blame us?

On our first afternoon on the island, we wandered down to the ferry landing to see some souls braver than us make the crossing. That's a 40-foot Winnebago that's a lot like ours on that ferry!

We walked closer to watch the Winnie drive off the boat. Just like us, they were pulling a Jeep. They sure made it look easy! Since our arrival we've made the crossing several times in our Jeep. It's a piece of cake in that, of course. Now that we've seen it, we're thinking we could muster the courage to take the moose on this shortcut next time. Maybe.

Our home away from home here is just a short walk to the beach. One of the fun things to do on the island is to drive along the sandy shore. Rocky looks like he's ready to hit the beach, doesn't he? We were just making a quick stop to pick up a geocache here. We're saving our drive down the beach for another sunny day.

One of the highlights of our stay so far was meeting Gale and Anna. They have been traveling fulltime for more than a year, and they love it. They were staying across the bridge in Corpus Christi and came over to join us for lunch. It was great to share stories over some tasty grub at Moby Dick's in Port Aransas.

Another highlight was our afternoon on the water. Our neighbors Maxine and Jerry invited us to join them for a sailboat trip on Redfish Bay. Of course we said yes! Our captain called himself "The Handsome Sailor."

The handsome sailor put everybody to work. The guys worked together to pull up the anchor.

Vicki and I pulled up the sail and we were off! With sunny skies, pleasant temperatures and just enough breeze, it was a perfect day for sailing.

Our captain encouraged everyone to take a turn at the helm. Paul seemed quite comfortable. But, I don't think he's ready to trade in our moose, just yet.

Jerry and Maxine look like a couple of happy Winter Texans, don't they? There aren't too many January afternoons like this back home in Indiana!

Daughter Vicki and son-in-law Dale were the organizers of this wonderful afternoon. They gave Jerry and Maxine the sailing trip as a Christmas gift. What a great idea! (And, thanks again for letting us tag along!) We really enjoyed spending time with them.

Our handsome sailor told us to be on the lookout for birds and dolphins. We didn't see too many birds, but we spotted several dolphins nearby.

Dolphins aren't the easiest things to photograph. With the murky water, it was easy for them to sneak up to the surface and be gone before anybody could click a shutter. This is one of our better images, selected from dozens of really crummy ones.

At last! This is definitely the best shot of the day.

We'll be here in Port Aransas for two more weeks. There's much to see in and around the area. With plans to check out an interesting site or two while we're here, we'll keep ya'll posted. That is, if we can pry ourselves away from the beach. Life for these two newbie Winter Texans is good!