Magee Beach at Port Aransas

After our last excitement we retreated to Padre Island for several days of calm and peace and surf fishing and eventually Doug and Frankie completed their long journey and joined us.

But the weather had cooled the day before they arrived. These winter storms last a few days then back into summer weather again for a few days. Then fronts roll in from the north again, coming down the long open plains of the midwest. This coastal area slides in and out of the fronts depending on how strong they are. After several gray, but warm by northwest standards (68-72) days, we decided to move on and see some more of the coast.
We crossed Packary Channel onto Mustang Island then drove it to the far east end and the town of Port Aransas. This is a small (pop. 3500) beach town that swells in numbers in the summer. Magee Beach is a 167 acre county park that includes a fishing jetty on the main traffic channel for Corpus Christi ports, a 75 site campground, huge parking spaces on the beach for primitive camping, and miles of flat sand for biking. Back into the low 80's for a couple of days and we are basking in it. We spend one day riding the beach until our knees get tired. Then down to the jetty to watch the surfers, fishermen, dolphins, huge sea turtles, pelicans, and the large boats that take on their inter coastal pilots right in front of us. Lots of action. We head out to the local fish market and buy fresh off the boat gulf shrimp and red snapper for a fantastic grilled dinner.
The next day we spend riding the back streets in the small town, out to the ferry dock, poking into the fishing tackle shops, and then chained our bikes to a post and had a late lunch at Beaches Cafe and Bakery where they have 27 microbrews on tap (my favorite-Austin's Live Oaks Brewery, Liberation Ale), Texas BBQ brisket sandwiches, and incredible desserts. A careful ride two blocks back to the camp for long naps and skipping dinner. Phew. Can't do that everyday.

The weather changes again on day 4 and a storm is brewing. Breezy on shore winds in the afternoon drive us indoors for dinner and dice games. Still warm, then a calm. Winds are predicted to shift from the north at 3 am and cool down.We watch on radar as the thunderstorms are forming north of us and running up into Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana, then running into the Pacific northwest storm and hitting Chicago with the upper midwest with snow and blizzards. Hard for us to complain about the weather that our area is making and causing us the inconvenience of 60 degree days when we see the horrible blizzard conditions, tornado warnings, and severe thunderstorms that spin off from where we are. 

Doug and Frankie's Pop Up A-Frame is good to winds of about 40 mph before there is the danger of damage if it gets 'tweaked' out of alignment. So at 3:10 am (these forecasters are so accurate) the wind went from calm to about 30 mph in one fell swoop. And the cool down was spectacular. From 74 degrees to 53 degrees in about 30 minutes. It was a rough night for them as the gusts were over 40, and once the wind starts, taking it down is even more of a problem. take out the supporting side walls and a gust can tear the remaining walls out before you can get them down. By noon the next day the gusts were down to about 20 and Doug managed to time the take down in between big gusts perfectly. So we head out east, down to the dock, take the free tiny ferry across the channel and onto a series of sand barrier islands connected by causeways and bridges and onto a peninsula and Goose Island State Park.