Bay View RV Resort, Rockport, Texas - April 7-13

What a week of beautiful weather! Sunshine...warm temps...low humidity for the most part...light breeze. Sigh...  Here are more wildflowers we see on our walks.

Granite Spiderwort

White Prickly Poppies

 Monday was spent doing chores, like laundry, wash truck, grocery shopping; and we walked along the water seeing a heron fishing, egrets, and a seldom seen tri-colored heron. As it was too nice to be inside, we spent a good part of the day sitting outside reading. That evening after dinner we went to Moondogs with Dick's "boss," Paul, for a discussion of Bay View's IT/Web needs. We shared a plate of shrimp nachos. Yum!

Egret

Snowy Egret

These 2 photos are of a rarely seen
tri-colored heron. Cool!

We also said farewell to Chuck and Sharon (New Hampshire), who headed north to their home. Sure hope they don't have much snow, if any, on the ground when they get there. It is April, after all!

Tuesday we bade farewell to Eugene and Margery, as they headed north to their home in South Dakota. They had a good day to travel, and thought it would take them a good couple of weeks to arrive there as they take their time.

After an hour at my weekly "stitch and b...", we spent a good part of the day at the beach in Port Aransas with Ron and Kathryn. What a wonderful day! We set up our chairs, watched the birds and waves, walked a bit, and read a bit...just enjoying the day. As we were sitting there, friends Jim and Connie from Bay View walked by with their granddaughters (visiting from Washington State) so we visited with them for a while. (Can't go anywhere without seeing folks we know!) Ron and Kathryn waded  into the surf for a while; she really got into it!

Dick enjoying the beach; he covered up part-way
through our stay, to avoid sunburn and
sun poisoning.

Kathryn getting into the surf thing.

Dick, Kathryn, Ron and me at Port Aransas beach

As we were about to leave, we stopped at the fishing jetty at one of the entrances to I.B.McGee Beach Park to watch an oil tanker along the intracoastal waterway, folks fishing, and a brown pelican that was watching for fish. I also met a couple from Lindstrom, Minnesota, who were down for the winter, staying near to our park.

Oh, and we did a bit of shopping before we left Port Aransas on the ferries. These photos were taken at the entrance to one of the t-shirt shops.

Ron and Kathryn

Dick and me

These are just 2 of the 7 car ferries from Port Aransas to Aransas Pass;
they operate 24/7

Another beautiful day greeted us on Wednesday. While Dick walked, I had my hair cut by one of our fellow RVers, who had owned a couple of hair salons in California and Arkansas. (Thank you, Carole!) That afternoon we met Bill and Carole, and Ron and Kathryn for a few games of Pegs and Jokers. Men: 3, women:2. Sad...

That evening we joined 8 couples for dinner at a local winery, Wine of Mine, in Aransas Pass. We dined on broasted chicken with all the fixin's, and sampled a variety of wines: white, red and blush; from dry to fruity, A Wine of Mine Winery is a boutique winery, with wines produced using the finest grapes from vineyards around the world. Their wines are fermented and produced on site, and you also have the option of creating your own wines right there. Fermenting can take up to 8 weeks, depending on the wine chosen. They'll provide a kit with bottles, corks, caps, labels and use of the winery equipment, as well as guidance from their staff. Sounds like fun to us!

Thursday was spent around the camper, but we did walk along Fulton Beach Road. After happy hour at neighbor Art's, we had dinner and then met Bill and Carole, Art, Alice, Jim and Patsy, John and Sarah for a few games of Pegs and Jokers.We played 2 tables that evening. A combined outcome was men: 3, women 2. (C'mon gals!)

Art gave us some rhubarb from his freezer so I spent Friday morning making rhubarb torte (thanks to my mom for the recipe; it's one of my favorites!). We shared some with Art, Ron and Kathryn and Margaret; they all loved it. Dick had a luncheon meeting with his boss and Ida (office manager at the park) so I spent the day outside reading and knitting. Happy hour at the clubhouse was the last one with friends Bonnie and Jerry (Sandpoint, Idaho) who leave Tuesday morning for home.

Saturday was another lovely day. That evening we enjoyed the Easter cantata, "Two Crowns," at the First Baptist Church of Rockport, following dinner at Panjo's Pizza. What a humbling reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary. Here's one of the solos from this performance:
Jesus, We Crown You With Praise

Pastor Scott Jones, First Baptist Church of Rockport

That was a wonderful ending to a wonderful week, but wait--there's more!

The cantata was also performed Sunday morning in lieu of the regular church service, so we took the opportunity to head to Port Aransas for the annual Sandfest.

Sandfest is a Texas Sand Sculpture competition and is one of the largest beach festivals in Texas, taking place on beautiful Port Aransas Beach. Master sculptors from around the world, as well as many local children and amateurs put their creative skills to work to create fabulous works of art. Along with the sand sculptures there was live music entertainment, vendors, and lots of food! There were also sand sculpting lessons so you could try your creative hand. This non-profit event brings 100,000+ visitors to Port Aransas and Mustang Island during this 3-day festival, and benefits the local community sharing profits with local organizations like the Helping Hands Food Pantry, Community Theater, Rotary Club, and the Port Aransas Art Center. We were mightily impressed!

Welcome to Sandfest sand sculpture

Sand sculpture of the sponsors of the 2014 event

Sandfest tribute to the military

These following are some of the sculptures done by participating amateurs.

Tequila and Crown Royal

Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil sculptures

My favorite: entitled the
Department of "Gnome-land" Security...ha!

Poseidon

3 kittens

Turtle tribute

What Mouse?

 These are done by the participating professionals:

These 3 photos are of the "Horned Toads"...get it?

We then visited "Rock the Dock" boat show in Aransas Pass. Held at Redfish Willie's on Conn Brown Harbor. Adjacent to Redfish Bay Boat House, we walked among about a hundred mostly flat-bottomed boats. Boats were also on display along the docks.

Redfish Willie's Grill

These are just a few of the boats that caught our attention:

A bit of history about Conn Brown Harbor in Aransas Pass: Aransas Pass used to be known at the shrimping capital of the world, and there were some 300 commercial shrimping boats in Conn Brown Harbor. As hard times fell on the industry, many folks quit the business and simply left their boats behind, turning the harbor into a dumping ground for abandoned and sunken boats. At one point there were upwards of 47 boats left behind in the harbor. The City of Aransas Pass has spent nearly $1M over the past several years cleaning up Conn Brown Harbor, and they're not done yet. The City said there's still a lot of work to do, and still a lot of contamination on certain properties lining the harbor, but they're working on funding to clean it up, and is proud of the progress already made. They're optimistic about its future. One key example of that is the Redfish Bay Boat House that opened last November and already houses about 125 boats. And, there's the new restaurant, Red Fish Willie's Waterfront Grill, right next door.

Redfish Bay boat storage

Boat storage at Redfish Bay 

Upon our return to Bay View, we took our spoons and bowls to the clubhouse for the ice cream social followed by a few games of Pegs and Jokers with Bill and Carole and Jim and Patsy. Men: 2, women 1. Then...we taught them the card game "Golf." We're not too sure if they liked that game or not; they probably prefer Pegs and Jokers.

That's it for this week. We have about 2 weeks left here before we head out, so stay with us for more exciting news.

Hugs,
RJ and Gail