corpus christ, texas

i really enjoyed my visit to corpus christi, texas.  it was warm, windy, and mostly cloudy for the two days i spent there.  i spent a lot of one day at barnes & noble to use the wifi internet access.

in the evening i drove along the bayfront and was pleased to see so much of it was setup for recreational activities.  i randomly pulled into the lot of one of the parks (swantner park) and took some night-time shots.

i spent the night in a walmart parking lot (yet again!).  for the first time on my trip, it was actually warm enough that i needed to open a window.   and guess what, i didn't even need to get out of bed to do that. one of the most convenient features of my van just came into play:  whereas the front and rear windows are powered electrically, the middle windows flair manually!  that means i have both the convenience of powered windows while driving, but also have a way to open and close the middle windows while sleeping without having to climb to the front of the van to turn the key in the ignition, etc....  awesome!!

the next day i spent mostly at the beach.  once again, driving on the beach is permitted.  fun!

because of the strong and steady wind, i grabbed my frisbee and threw it to myself against the wind for two hours straight!  i think that's the most full body exercise i've had in months.  it was so much fun.  hard to believe, but it's the first time i've used my frisbee on this trip.  oh how i love and miss playing frisbee.

i also sat and watched crabs and birds do their thing.
little crab in middle left of photo.

it was glorious being in bare feet and shirtless.  however, i later discovered my foot took a beating from sprinting around so much on the sand.  ewwww.

padre island boasts about 60 miles of beautiful protected seashore.  i was happy to discover it was actually a national seashore, meaning i got the $10 entrance fee waived with my parks pass.  yes!

AND they allow camping on the beach.  cool!  but because of an approaching major storm system, several rangers recommended i play it safe and not camp on the beach...

the waters were tumultuous, the wind strong, and the tides higher than usual...

other camper rvs were already on the beach, so i would have had company there.  i thought i'd be fine if i was close enough to the dunes, but my family and friends sided with the rangers and didn't like my idea either.  i finally decided to go sleep at a walmart instead.  the deciding factor was actually the relentless salty spray blowing in the air, coating my van - what a mess.   so walmart it was - for the eighth consecutive night.