Rockport, TX

We've been in Rockport since the middle of December. We had planned on leaving over a week ago but the weather kept us here. The travel conditions along I-10 were pretty bleak last week. Even here we had a stretch of several days where the high temperature barely reached 40 degrees. Not too bad if you live up north, but around here it was very unusual and harsh. Heck, there are palm trees all over the place here and that just doesn't go with 40 degrees! But things are finally getting better so tomorrow we should be on the road.

Just to be official we're actually in Fulton, TX. The area is refered to as Rockport/Fulton. We've enjoyed our stay here. The people are very friendly for the most part. There are a lot of folks from up north here. In other places they (and us, I guess) are refered to as "snowbirds." Here they are called "Winter Texans." It's basically a small town but it does have everything one needs - gas stations, restaurants and even a Super WalMart. And for the big city experience Corpus Christi is only about 30 minutes away. We've spent a lot of time riding our bikes around here. Once you get about a mile south (towards Rockport) there are sidewalks that take you all the way to the downtown area. It's in that area that we found a real gem. The Rockport Beach Park is a peninsula about 1 mile long. There is a beach that runs almost the entire length of the southern shore. There are lots of picnic tables, fixed shade umbrellas on the beach, a boat launch and many birds. It's just a really nice place to spend some time! The annual pass we purchased was only $10. Things around here are pretty inexpensive for the most part. That's probably one reason there are so many RV parks in the area. Dozens of them! In parking lots you often see more out of state license plates than Texas plates. We stayed at the Driftwood RV Haven. People here are very friendly and made us immediately feel at home. We had community meals in the club house on Christmas eve, Christmas day, new year's eve and at a couple of pot luck dinners. Rockport/Fulton is somewhere we'd definitely visit again!

	Entrance sign at the Rockport Beach Park. Note the lovely palm trees - not exactly a scene we picture when we think of Texas!
	Pelicans at the Rockport Beach Park. Dixon Lanire Merrith wrote a poem called "The Pelican" (1910): "A wonderful bird is the pelican His bill will hold more that his belican. He can take in his beak Food enough for a week, But I'm damned if I can see how the helican."
	The local movie theater. We saw several movies here during some not so nice weather. Like most things around here it's pretty cheap. First run movies for only $4 for a matinee!
	Regional hamburger chain - Whataburger. The food was good but the name was even better.
	We took a day trip down to Padre Island National Seashore. The beach runs about 60 miles down the island. After the first 5 miles it's for 4X4 vehicles only. We rode our bikes down the beach about 4 miles before turning back.