Rockport, TX...

I took a drive down to Rockport about a month ago, and am just getting around to posting on it. Rockport is right on the coast and sits about 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi and about 200 miles southwest of Galveston...and is about 170 miles from where I live. I've been to Galveston and Corpus...as well as South Padre Island...so I figured it was time to check out something new. Before I get to that, I passed a farm of these along the way...

(By the way, that's sorghum in the field below.) I think wind turbines are pretty cool, and will never forget the time I was visiting a friend in San Francisco, and we drove over a hill and there were literally thousands of these things blanketing the countryside. It was a pretty awesome sight. There weren't nearly as many off Highway 181 in Texas, but they were still impressive. I got outside of my car to take the above picture, and could only hear the "swoosh-swoosh" as the fins circled around in the wind. While impressive at a distance, they're pretty overwhelming when you're standing close to one. And you can appreciate their size when you see one of the fins being transported by truck like in this picture I took on a trip back from Corpus.

Okay, so on to Rockport. As I approached the coast, I saw this little area where people were stopping to fish, so I stopped to check it out.

Did you ever wonder where sea gulls would sit if there weren't posts in the water?

Here's a view of the very long bridge you have to go over to get into Rockport. Actually, you get to Fulton first...it's kind of a hyphenated Rockport-Fulton deal because the two towns are right next to each other.

So here I am looking at that sand (actually, more like coarse rock) bar out there and I'm thinking I'll walk over there through the water.

Between where I parked my car and the above picture, this is what I found along the way. Eeewww...

Double eeewwww...

Oh, wow...major eeewww! (I can't look at one of these anymore without thinking of Steve Irwin...sad.) I'm digressing.

But, you know me...I'm always ready for a little adventure and have trekked across rocky beaches in Akumal infested with flesh-eating vines (well, I'm not absolutely sure they were flesh-eating). So, here I am with my toes in the sand (coarse rock), wading out to the sand (coarse rock) bar. The whole time, I am scanning the area for jellyfish and stingrays.

Well, I didn't make it out to the sand bar because it took about a foot-and-a-half dip right at the end and I didn't want to get my pants all wet. Call me a woos, but I hadn't brought along a change of clothing.

So, here I am back on the road driving towards Rockport. They have these long piers all along this drive...obviously a big boating area.

Close-up of the above picture...

The houses were cute and of course I liked the colors...


Then you have the pricier ones that sit alongside the water...

These were some cute condos that sat right across the road from the water. One was for sale and the information sheet on the sign said it was around $250,000.

Speaking of home prices, here are some others for sale. A steal-of-a-deal at $595,000...AND it has room for my horses...

A little pricier at $2,250,000...and it's not even on the water. I'd rather be on the water than on the golf course.

And, finally...a Texas ranch with 2,747 acres. You, too, can own a little part of Texas for only $9,632,200.

So, I'm driving around and I see this sign to a little community of homes. "Bahia" is the Spanish word for "bay". So, would this be like "Bay Bay"? Kind of redundant, if you ask me.

Do you think the trees are affected by the coastal winds here? Just asking...


I was really surprised when I actually arrived in Rockport to find that it's a quaint little town without the large hotel chains and restaurants. It has more of a "New England" feeling with the fishing boats and smaller hotels. There are some places along the docks where you can get fresh shrimp and bait...



I walked out on this very lengthy pier...

Here's looking back the other way...

Whoa! I suddenly felt like I was in Mexico!

Rockport has a little downtown area that consists of the typical gift shops and galleries...

They never want you to take photographs in these places, but I always manage to take a few on the sly. Strange...not really my style.

Okay...nice colors. You'd probably find these in the $595,000 house for sale previously mentioned with the horse features.

And photography. Oh, look! They've used the "catching the sun" feature. I've never seen that before...haha! I DO like the colorful sun over the photographs, however.

One of the things I liked best about Rockport was the fact that 90% of the hotels were just little "mom and pop" places you'd find along roads like Route 66. (Sidebar: One bad thing about that is that some of them looked like probably hadn't been updated since they were built back in the 1950s.) Anyway, there was definitely a nostalgia about it, and considering that all of these places had "No Vacancy" signs out front, they were obviously still popular.




This was one of the more upscale hotels which was right on the water and runs over $200 a night.

And a pretty posh little resort. The sign says, "You Deserve Some R&R." I googled the place and couldn't find anything on it other than that it's for sale. Maybe someone is trying to turn it into a kind of spa. And even though I always think I could use some R&R, I think I'd rather spend it in Mexico.

When I'm on the coast, I always try to look for a restaurant that overlooks the water. This is not easy in Texas. Between Galveston, Corpus, South Padre Island and now Rockport, almost NO restaurants sit close enough so that you can look out on the Gulf of Mexico. To me, that is part of the charm of a coastal town. This is the only one I could find while I was in Rockport.

And here was my view. Kind of a generic canal view, but definitely better than nothing.

My Dos Equis...as I wait for my...

...shrimp. When I asked, the waitress said they were humongous (her actual words), but when they came, I wasn't impressed.

As a close-up, they look a little more humongous.

So, that was Rockport, Texas. I'd definitely go back to spend a few days in one of those cute little motels. They do have a beach area where you have to pay $4 a day, but I didn't check it out.

On my way back, I saw this sign in someone's yard. I guess whoever lives there decided nothing else needed to be said?