Feb 2007

So we pack up and take off for Corpus Christi, TX. We pull over at a rest stop and there are big yellow caution signs on both sides of the road saying "WATCH FOR SNAKES"! I've never seen a rest stop with this type of warning, so I'm taking it seriously! I keep my eyes peeled to the ground as I walk to the restroom. I check the corners of the restroom and of course down the toilet, flushing the toilet in case there are any snakes lurking in the plumbing....I'm not taking any chances. We safely leave the rest area, without seeing any signs of snakes :-)

The rest of the drive to Padre Island National Seashore is uneventful. We arrive around 3pm and it is very foggy, so we decide to camp in the park campground (versus the free camping on the beach).

We grab a late lunch and head over to the Visitors Center, watch their movie and look at the exhibits and then decide to just head back to the campground since it is too foggy to see anything. The campground is next to the beach, seperated from the ocean by some low sand dunes. We walk along the beach at the campground and find piles of Sargassum seaweed along the shore and lots of Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish. The man-of-war are actually very pretty and we spend a lot of time looking at them (Jere and Joe enjoyed popping them with their sticks). We wonder if their tendrils can still sting you if they're on shore (we later found out that they can).

Late dinner, some TV and bedtime.

We desperately need a day to catch up on chores and some R&R, so we spend the morning in the RV doing schoolwork and chores. For the first time this trip, we eat our meals outside on the picnic table. The weather is perfect for it and no bugs, but we find that all the friendly campers feel free to stop by and talk while we're eating. We're not sure what we think about this.

The temp gets up to low 80s today and they have a great pool here so we spend about 2 hours in the afternoon at the pool, before returning to the RV for more schoolwork and chores.

Nothing exciting today, but a very enjoyable day.

We drive to downtown San Antonio. We've heard that the traffic is bad around here; in fact the campground host said to do the "sane" thing and take the bus to avoid the traffic and the parking lot fees ("could be as high as $7 for the day"). I think Texans have been spoiled by all their open space -- traffic is worse in Harrisburg than here and there's tons of parking lots! We park in a lot a block or two from the Alamo and pay $5/day. $5 will only get you two hours of parking in Harrisburg :-)

Anyway, we walk around the Alamo, watch their 15 minute video and look at the exhibits. I'm surprised to find out that it's not administered by the national park service; it's run by the Daughters of Texas (or something like that). The building that you always see pictures of is handled as a "shrine" rather than a historical building, which is a little odd to me (but it's probably just me)...I think it could be better displayed inside. They do have a large TV screen with a movie in the building next to it and a small museum.

We walk over to the Riverwalk for lunch.

I really like this area of Antonio! It's slightly lower than street level and shaded by all the buildings, so it's very comfortable to walk along the canals.

We walk around a little more after lunch and then go back to the RV park for a quick swim in their big pool. Then late dinner and watch another DVD on Texas history.

We pack up and head towards San Antonio. We stop just east of San Antonio and start calling campgrounds to ask if they have availability for the next few nights. The first 2 that we call are full, but we hit paydirt at the third campground -- they have availability and we can use our half-price Passport card to get 3 nights at half-price! The campground is next to SeaWorld and SeaWorld is closed for the season, so about 1/3 of the spots are vacant. Our spot is very close to the units on either side of us, but it's a quiet park and we didn't mind being so close at all.

We decide to try out their large pool quick before darkness sets in. It's heated so we're fine in the pool, but it's chilly when we get out. No one else is in the pool so we have it to ourselves and our somewhat noisy 11-year-old son :-)

Dreary, drizzly morning, so we watch a little TV (Houston has their big rodeo this week, so they have info about that and their parade this morning) and then head to the Houston Space Center. We spend all day there. They have a tram tour that drops you off at the Mission Control Center to see that room and at the astronaut training building to see much of that equipment. They have several movies and shows about space, especially the International Space Station and future plans. Of the three space museums we've seen on the trip, this one was the most interesting, probably because it focuses on what is happening now and the future versus what we've done in the past.