Winter Texans

I’m not sure two winters in a row in Texas means we can call ourselves winter Texans but we enjoyed another winter there…well, except for the epic freeze in February! YES…we survived the unprecedented freeze of 2021 in Texas!!
This year we stayed in Rockport, about an hour from Chorpus Christi, on Aransas Bay, right on of the Gulf of Mexico. We had mostly mild weather for outside activities.
We did a lot of walking, kayaking, attended a weekly Bible study and local church service.  Greg has been teaching our oldest granddaughter algebra since last year so that continued through zoom and we really enjoy seeing the grands daily this way. He and Becca both enjoy the math!!

 

We saw lots of these bumper stickers in Texas.

 
January 1st 2021 sunrise.

Our campsite in Rockport Texas for the winter.
 
Walking the fishing pier at the beach in Rockport Texas.

 
The area has many old Live Oak trees. They are very hardy! They’ve survived hurricanes, Texas summer heat and the week long deep freeze we had in February.

 
Kayaking through a canal community that was still recovering from hurricane Harvey 3 years ago.

 
Beach walking.

 
Watching boats and birds in the canal.

 
Beach walking.

 
Oil rigs waiting to be taken to their locations.

 
Foggy walk at the beach.

 

Ice and snow from the epic,  unprecedented,  historic deep freeze in February. How many more overused adjectives can we use?
We had a high temperature of 15 defrees F for 3 days starting on Feb 14 2021. We lost power and then water for most of  the week. Because  of broken pipes in the summer vacation homes it took time for all the water main breaks to be found.  We had our generator and propane for heat and our onboard water tank was full…so we had heat and water.
 
Propane, gas and grocery stores ran out of provisions because of trucks not being able to get to Rockport on the icy roads. The people in the campground pulled together helping each other. Within 2 weeks most things were back to normal.

 

 
Small fish froze and washed up on the banks of Aransas Bay.

 
Tropical plants froze.

 

Hiking along a marsh…we hiked this almost daily. Except during the freeze!

 
Working at the car wash 🎶

 
Beach walking!

 
The campground hosted a day at the beach with lots of out door games. Most of their activities were not happening because of COVID.

 
There was an outdoor market one Saturday a month that was fun to walk around.

 
Watching oyster men working out in the Aransas Bay near Rockport.

  

A turtle pond at a nearby park that we walked almost daily.

 
Windmill pumping water into the pond where we walked.
 
More kayaking.

 
We saw lots of bird migration and nesting.

 
An old Church in down town Rockport.

Ford model T club met one weekend for the public to see.

 
Weather coming!
 
Watching fishermen at the pier.

Fishermen at the jetty.

 
A kite surfer.

 
Tug boat heading out to bring a ship in.

 
Tug boat bringing Dole ship into port.

 
Texas Bluebells…they make springtime beautiful!

 
Beach walking.

 
Wild flowers starting to bloom at Fort Quintana.

 

He quieted the sea with his power