Lone Star PET

[campinfool]

Getting so tired of the drama that BTPCF is turning into and with Texas leading the way of being assholes, I am really only excited in one thing these day, camping. Started off as a kid in a tent, moved up to my own family with a popup, and now we go in style. Here is some stuff to either bore you or pique an interest in Texas getways. These are all from a 3 week roadie we took this summer. We started in San Antonio cause the kids wanted Sea World. Fuck, you've seen a whale jump in a pool once, why go again? I lost that arguement, but we did go upscale trailer trash and stayed here...


Even with pretty much a statewide burn ban, we made a camping staple anyway...


Decent park that was patrolled nightly by a mini batman


We then traveled to Goliad, Texas where there is a lot of Texas history. they say it is more important than the Alamo, except John Wayne didn't make a movie about it.


Stayed in a state park that had an old Spanish Mission as the centerpiece. It is called Mission Espíritu Santo .


We checked out some nice trails in the area which mostly ran along the San Antonio River. And yes I am fat, I dip snuff, and wear jorts. So what?


Ate lunch on the courthouse square and my kids were amused to find this to be the only car parked at the courthouse


Down the street we checked out Presidio La Bahia, old old Spanish fort


Inside the Fort is the oldest operating Catholic Church in the United States


We then hit the road to Mathis, Texas which is just outside Corpus Christi


Setup and breakdown was taking a toll on my hungover body so I enlisted my son to help out


Took a day trip to Corpus to visit the State Aquarium


And tour the USS Lexington


On our last day at the lake we met a road runner who followed us all afternoon and tried to break into my car.


We then traveled to my wife's neck of the woods, deep South Texas. Her home town of Port Isabel


Home to the famous Point Isabel Lighthouse


We drove through town and crossed over the Queen Isabella Causeway


And entered the real destination, South Padre Island


Texas beaches are not the greatest, but SPI is definitley the nicest


We set up base at the KOA, which are normally not my first choice since they pack you in like sardines


Good thing we liked the neighbors


The sunsets were beautiful at the trailer park


Even got to teach my son the art of public urination into the Gulf Of Mexico


While on the island we checked out a popular birding center


Only saw one really cool bird cause he looked like he was sporting a toupe


We then headed north and settled at a lake near College Station, picking up a couple of more peeps along the way.


Out of 80 campsites only 2 were occupied as most were scared off by the triple digit heat. We picked this site with a nice path to the lake.


But then we realized East Texas lakes are nasty mudholes and the only ones who seemed to like it were the buzzards.


From Lake Somerville, we took a day trip to Brenham, home of Blinn Jr College made famous by Cam Newton


It is home to Blue Bell Ice Cream so of course we had to take a tour


We then headed to Washington of the Brazos, which is considered the birthplace of Texas Independence. We started at the Barrington Living History Museum where my son learned to live live a slave


Inside the main museum, I had all the kids in my party dress the part of our fore fathers. They were none too happy.


Last thing in the area to see was Independence Hall, where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed.




Our last week we headed over to Kemah Texas and stayed at another upscale trailer park


They gave us our own pool on the edge of a bayou


Kemah is famous for their boardwalk which has a lot of eateries and an amuesment park




We also used Kemah as a point to complete our Texas History tour so we headed to La Porte to check out Battleship Texas


And the San Jacinto Monument


Leaving La Porte I started to wonder why the hell would anyone want to live near Houston?


Anyway we said goodbye to Kemah. It was worth a couple days visit


Our final leg of the journey led us to Galvestion


Definitely not as nice as the lower Texas coast, even the surf was worse


We ended up staying south of town at a so-so trailer park


We went to the pyramids of Moody Gardens where of all the souveniers my son had to pick a pump action shotgun


And the last night we went to the Rainforest Cafe to celebrate 3 weeks on the road and no casualties


By this time our manners were starting to escape us


An the final night all the kids decided to turn their bunk area into their own private hippy pad


We finally made it home after 3weeks on the road and just a little over 3 thousand combined miles. And just to piss off the environmentalists, I must proclaim we averaged 7.4 miles per gallon traveling the Lone Star State. Now if the University of Texas would stop acting like assholes I could get back into normalcy.

[War Wagon]

Nice PET - I'll try not to delete this one.

[campinfool]

European hand bag I mean camera bag

[Go Coogs']

Rack the PET, c-fool. Nice pic of that flare in La Porte. You caught footage of an upset at a refinery. Either that, or they were burning off some excess propane from a refigeration unit.

[Left Seater]

Rack the PET!

I always tell people not to judge Texas based on the stretch from Orange to Brownsville and within 50 miles of that line. Mediocre beaches at the closed end of the gulf and lots of refining. Rather I suggest they start in Austin and visit the Hill Country and rivers in said area.

[M Club]

And yes I am fat, I dip snuff, and wear jorts. So what?

nice pet, though i always assumed you were a man.

[PSUFAN]

Rack the PET. I know next to nothing about this part of the country.

[The Seer]

Things will start looking better for you beginning next Saturday against the overmatched neuheisels...

My son-in-law is from some hole-in-the-wall called Needville.

[campinfool]

No worries, the Bruins are in the same league as K-State in that the Longhorns will shit themselves and lose to a team who they should own on paper. I've also cruised through Needville a couple of times heading to Brazos Bend State Park. Only real highlight is the Subway we stopped to eat at.

[Left Seater]

lived about 10 miles from Brazos Bend State Park. I don't know of any other place where you can be 5 feet from a 10 foot gator that isn't behind a wall or wire, etc.

needville HS was burned by a student a few years ago by the way. Hope that isn't your son in law.