Fiesta Texas

After picking up our fish from overnight freezing at Dolphin Docks, we headed across to Aransas Pass via the ferry. It was a very short ferry ride, but it put us on the north side of Corpus Christi Bay. From there we traveled west through Ingleside and then back across the bay into Corpus Christi. The bridge crossing the ship channel into Corpus Christi gave us a great view of the USS Lexington. Several year ago we were here and took the tour of the Lexington. It was very interesting. It is amazing how large an aircraft carrier actually is. There are many in use today that are much larger than the Lexington. We could also see numerous barges and other ships in the channel -- either docked at some of the many factories and warehouses, or moving up or down the channel.

We headed west from Corpus Christi on Interstate Highway 10 to San Antonio where we grabbed a quick lunch at WhattaBurger before heading to Fiesta Texas (a Six Flags Amusement Park). We should have realized how bad the crowds would be when we exited the Interstate to find traffic being diverted about 4 miles out of the way before being allowed to enter the park. Once we were able to enter the drive to the park, we had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to go through the automobile entry gate into the parking area. It was only the first of the many interminable seeming lines.

There seemed to be a direct correlation between the length of wait and the length of the ride. A 30 minute waiting line terminated in a 30 second ride. A 2-hour line led to a 2 minute ride. It was crazy. The best part of the park was the great weather. It was a perfect mid-70's day.

After spending about 7 hours to ride 5 rides, we decided it was time to leave. We were wet and hungry and getting cold from being wet. So, we headed into Boerne (pronounced burn-ee) to check into the motel and eat. After checking in, we quickly changed into dry clothes and went to Chili's for supper. It was very good.

Tomorrow we are heading back into San Antonio for a while -- probably to El Mercado and the River Walk -- possibly to the zoo -- and then heading back toward home. We may drive all the way, or we may stop somewhere before we get there and spend the night. It depends on how long we decide to stay in San Antonio.

Deep Sea Fishing

We left Dolphin Docks this morning at 7:30 a.m. on the "Dolphin Express" for our 8-hour fishing trip. It was very foggy. The 2 1/2 hours out were a little rough and a lot of people suffered. However, the fishing was good. We all caught our limit of King Fish and there were many other fish caught. My son and I ended up with a little over 75 lbs. of fish! He seemed to enjoy the trip a lot. In a few days I will attempt to post a few pictures from the trip.

As we started out of Corpus Christi Bay we were accompanied by 3 Dolphins (porpoises). They stayed with us only a short distance, but it was fun to see them darting back-and-forth in front of the bow of the boat.

I think I would really enjoy staying down here through the winters. Probably from about the 1st of November through April. The rest of the year is probably too hot for my tastes. Right now is just about perfect. The high today in Corpus Christi was supposed to be 81F but I suspect that it never got above 75F on the water.

When we returned to port we were craving Mexican Food, so we ate at La Playa Restaurant. It was very good. I would recommend it.

Tomorrow we head for San Antonio and Fiesta Texas and possibly the River Walk tomorrow night. It's only about a 2 1/2 hour drive from here to San Antonio. I hope the weather is as nice tomorrow as it was here today.

To Port Aransas

Today was a day of travel. We crossed a large portion of the state -- from Amarillo to Port Aransas, Texas. The terrain around Port Aransas is similar to that around Amarillo (very flat), only much wetter. However, there was a lot of variety in between -- over 600 miles worth of variety.

I generally prefer to take a little time as I travel to stop and see at least a few of the sites along the way. Today, however, was focused on just getting here.

I really like the coast. I would love to be able to live in the Corpus Christi area in the winter and in the Mountains of New Mexico in the summer. I doubt that will ever happen, but I can dream can't I? To me, the only real drawback of the coast is the humidity. I'm used to a relative humidity that rarely gets above 30% in the Panhandle. I think it must be well over 85% here in Port Aransas.

There have been very heavy rains here in the last few days. The farmland approaching Corpus Christi was standing in water. The corn is 4-6 inches high and coming along nicely. The oat crop looks healthy, but most of it looks to be destined for grazing. They will be planting cotton soon.

There has been a lot of construction here on Mustang Island since the last time that I was here. There are many more condominiums and resort hotels than I remembered. However, there are still long stretches of beach and barrier dunes that are undeveloped.

I enjoy seeing the coastal waterfowl in the tidal flats. There were large numbers of white pelicans as well as herons, egrets, and of course, seagulls. Tomorrow, as we go out in the Gulf of Mexico fishing, we will certainly see other waterfowl.

We are scheduled to take an 8-hour trip out of Dolphin Docks tomorrow. Check-in time is 6:30 a.m. and we depart at 7:00. I think we will be fishing for Red Snapper and Amber Jack primarily. However, we'll find out for certain when we get there.

I have had the opportunity to go deep-sea fishing several times. This will be my son's first trip out. I hope that he enjoys it. He seems to be excited about it. We both have patches to wear to hopefully prevent seasickness. I don't want to take the chance of being miserable and ruining the trip so we're taking the "wimpy" way out.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to let you know how the trip went.