Port Aransas

Corpus Christi Camping and a Bday Celebration in Port Aransas

Spot the dolphin! 🐬

After all the hustle and bustle of city life and running around, we planned for a restful week of boondock camping on the Gulf Coast. Corpus Christi is an easy drive from SA/Austin so that was our logical choice. Mustang Island is a State Park along the chain of islands that allows primitive beach camping for $10/night so we registered for a handful to start out our beach week.

In the meantime, we had a birthday to plan a celebration for, Natalie turned 15 on Groundhog’s Day. Our bestest friend Sara and I conspired to have her show up as a surprise for the bday girl. (Fully vaccinated) Sara made her travel plans and and Airbnb rental that coincided with our beach timing. When we got to camp on Friday I made an excuse to run to the store but really drove to the airport to pick her up. We got back and saw the fam had finished setting up camp and were strolling down the beach. We ditched our shoes and started walking their way and when we got close enough the kids realized who was with me. Big hugs ensued all around and we were astonished that we pulled this off with relative ease despite being in close confines with the kids basically all the time. easily

Three nights of camping directly on the beach was sufficient for us, sand was literally everywhere and when the coastal winds pick up it leaves a salty/sandy film on every single surface (my mentor Becca calls this “special sand” and boy is she right!). It was a little daunting considering how we might go about cleaning all of this up but with Sara nearby in Port Aransas and with her Airbnb host’s approval we moved inland and moved into the house so we could give Flossie a deep clean. What a marvelous reset for all of us. We made meals together, celebrated the birthday girl with homemade BBQ and cake, walked to the port for dolphin viewing, to the beach for more sand that we could then clean off in an outdoor shower before returning home, and we scrubbed every last inch of our little trailer while it was semi-empty in the Airbnb driveway. Sara – you’ll never fully know how much this break was needed and how it restored us so that we could get back on the road with fresh everything – perspectives, energy, sheets and towels, appreciation…

Homemade Tres leches with what candles the Airbnb had on hand

How many miles did we walk barefoot on the sand? Countless (actually around 50). And writing this a week later while hunkered down during a polar vortex makes the memory seem like a mirage, or at least like it was a really really long time ago.

We moved further south down the coast for a few days near Brownsville where we had our first sketchy hipcamp experience (saved in my review and not worth repeating), but also geeked out at Space X, which was super cool. We ate some very delicious and authentic Mexican food – I’m loving these border towns the more time we spend near Mexico. Then we spent two nights in Laredo, Tx so I could see a chiropractor and we could get more supplies before moving on to Del Rio. We ate all the Latin foods for very little dollars and everyone in Laredo wondered what some gringos from Denver would be doing passing through their corner of Texas. Seriously, the chiropractor questioned it, a fellow RV park guest asked, as well as the Salvadoran man we ordered our dinner from on our final night. Despite their lack of enthusiasm for Laredo, it was far better than El Paso and everyone treated us with kind Texas hospitality we’ve come to know and love.