PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS

While I was in San Antonio, someone suggested that I go the Port Aransas just outside Corpus Christie and so I did. I have found some of the best spots by following others suggestions and this one was great. I stayed at an RV Resort that is strata so the RVers own their sites. Some own more that one and many rent out their sites when they are not using them. There is a private boardwalk to the beach right on the Gulf of Mexico. The beach is very wide so you can drive on the beach by access it at several different points. I decided to drive the beach one afternoon and it was marvellous. After about 30 minutes I was ready to get back onto the road but was having trouble finding the access. I asked a woman and she said that the next access was about 3 miles so I drove and almost missed the road. I made a sharp right hand turn and promptly got stuck in about 8 inches of soft sand. No big deal! Even though the truck is only two wheel drive, I have driven in snow and how hard can it be to get out of some sand. It wasn’t so much the sand that was the immediate problem but the incoming tide that caused my heart to skip a beat. But I persevered and was able to get unstuck. Didn’t want to try that access road so I drove back down the beach the way I had come (although less beach due to the incoming tide) and got back on to blacktop. So much for think I was sixteen and cruising Daytona Beach for cute guys.

A little history of Port Aransas
Karankawa Indians played a key role in the early development of the Texas Gulf Coast.[3] The Karankawa Indians inhabited the Gulf Coast of Texas from Galveston Bay all the way to Corpus Christi Bay. The Karankawa Indians led a nomadic existence, migrating from the mainland to the coast. One of the places they lived in on the coast was a small fishing village known as "Sand Point" on what Europeans called "Wild Horse Island", later known as "Mustang Island".
The 1916 Texas Hurricane destroyed Port Aransas except for a very few buildings. The docks, wharf and warehouses were now on the mainland and the entire island was flooded and infested with rattlesnakes. The rebuilding would be hard and long, as most towns in the region were bestowed the same fate. Building materials would become increasingly hard to find and transport as well, so many residents did not return. The destruction of the 1916 Texas Hurricane did not discourage the people of Port Aransas for very long. The Tarpon Inn was rebuilt and, the docks, wharves, and warehouses were replaced. After the city was rebuilt, it became a popular destination for anglers, tourists, surfers, and vacationers.
Port Aransas has now become a multi-million dollar fishing, beach, and resort village, with summer populations sometimes swelling to 60,000 or more, as well as a college spring-break destination.