Lonestar visit

[johnnyv]

Staying at The Palms Rv Park for 5 weeks, in Aransas Pass Tx. First visit to Texas, any and all tips appreciated.

Thanks and Happy New Year !

[Keith3]

Originally Posted by johnnyv

Staying at The Palms Rv Park for 5 weeks, in Aransas Pass Tx. First visit to Texas, any and all tips appreciated.

Thanks and Happy New Year !

Depends on the time of year. It can be hot as hades in the summer, but a breeze off the ocean makes it bearable.

Probably gorgeous right now.

I haven’t spent time in that area for over a decade, but the restaurants in Rockport were typically quite good. I’m sure they are different, but still good.

There is a lot to explore from that location. May want to see if the museums in Corpus Christi have reopened. My kids loved the old naval ship they had there.

[Viajante]

Farley Boat Works and Port A museum both in Port A. And Irie’s Cafe. If you like motor sports check out the belt sander races at the Gaff.

[johnnyv]

Sorry, going next week. Thx !

[Padre]

Just south of there is padre island. Dry camping, free, on the sand. We spent 5 nights there last year. If you like that type of camping, might be worth a try.

[Centex]

Welcome to Texas, I hope you enjoy your visit!

The TX State Aquarium in adjacent Corpus Christi is great for an 'off-weather day' indoors, IMO a very enjoyable place.

About a 3-hrs (one-way) drive from your Aransas Pass base camp but perhaps inbound or outbound you could manage a day or more in San Antonio with a great variety of things to see and do there. A personal favorite in S.A. for eating is Mi Tierra Cafe y Panaderia (restaurant and bakery) on produce row near the River Walk, don't miss the huge and intricately carved bar-back if you make it there.

Safe Travels and Have Fun!

[johnnyv]

Thx Padre and Centex, actually would like to check out Austin too. Can't wait to get down there. Getting hit with first snow storm here in SE Iowa. Hope to leave on 5th.

[Centex]

Austin is my hometown, though now I barely recognize it and strive to avoid its outrageous traffic as much as possible (while I live in a rural area 30-miles east, my mother still lives in central Austin so I can't avoid it entirely). I would not / do not recommend towing an RV in that city at all - bypass it on one of the several loop tollways, find a base camp, and venture back into the urban morass sans trailer is my suggestion.

But, like San Antonio there's much to see in Austin, just depends on your interests, there's no shortage of online tourist info.

I will say that the often-overlooked LBJ Presidential Library adjacent to the UT campus is a truly amazing place if you are into such. The Bullock Texas State History Museum near the capital complex is another interesting place.

A personal favorite on the eating side in Austin is Matts El Rancho's Chile Relleno dinner (yep, I'm into my Tex-Mex food; at previously mentioned Mi Tierra in San Antonio it's the Monterrey Plate of finger-licking good tender cabrito).

Yes, there's famous BBQ in Austin but IME it's notoriously difficult to deal with the lines and crowds. Personally, when I have a yen for BBQ I head to nearby Elgin or Lockhart, google will yield hits for BBQ in those nearby-to-Austin smaller towns.

Edit - If your travels take you through the Dallas-Ft Worth metroplex, the Ft Worth museum district with the Kimble Art Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and others is a must see in my book. Days can easily be enjoyed there; I'd rank the Kimble first and the Amon Carter second for a 'limited engagement'. The Kimble is a stunning example of Architect Louis Kahn's functional management of space and natural light, a truly amazing and tranquil bit of world-class architecture to experience.

[johnnyv]

Wichita first night, Walker Honey Farm in Rogers Texas for 2nd stop.( Boondockers Welcome ). Aransas Pass day 3 or 4. At least a month at The Palms Rv Park.

[johnnyv]

Thx Centex, good stuff.

[Iowa Dave]

Lots of Alligator Gar in the Aransas River. Not much to look at but a great fighter. I feel a kinship. Hope you’re having fun Johnny, snowing pretty good up here. Watching the football game and contemplating having a toddy.
Iowa Dave

[Centex]

One pleasant route from Walker Honey Farm to Aransas Pass will take you through the tiny town of Lexington, home of Snow's BBQ.

Only open on Saturday and yes there's usually a line, but it's not at all as frenetic as the situation at the Austin hot-spots and well worth it IMO.

Shiner, TX, home of the Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner Bock Beer) is also on that route and has brewery tours / tasting room.

[WillyB]

Don't miss the Stevie Ray Vaughn Memorial in Austin.

[johnnyv]

Had a chance to see Stevie Ray the year of his unfortunate death. Warm up bands Greg Allman Band and Steppenwolf in Davenport Ia. Yes it was great !

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by johnnyv

Had a chance to see Stevie Ray the year of his unfortunate death. Warm up bands Greg Allman Band and Steppenwolf in Davenport Ia. Yes it was great !

I saw him and Jeff Beck in St. Louis at the Fox Theater during their Fire Meets Fury tour. He and Beck swapped who would open on that tour.

On this night Beck opened and SRV tore the roof off the joint.

[johnnyv]

Wow , Jeff Beck . awesome !

[ColoradoSwany]

We are considering an April trip to Palo Duro SP and San Angelo. Worth seeing? Other and/or nearby recommendations?

[CharlesinGA]

Two suggestions for information on Texas that may be of some use traveling.

First, the Grand Adventure Youtube channel finished up last fall doing a number of videos from Texas, and stayed in the Port Aransas area in one of them. You can either go to Marc's youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/GrandAdventure/videos and work your way thru about ten Texas videos, or you can go to his web site, Interactive Episode Map – Grand Adventure and scroll down to the map and click on the location icons for information on and links to the videos.

The second thing you can do is go to a Youtube channel Secrets of Texas

Now, he doesn't have a map, but for some strange reason, I wanted to learn how to make a Google interactive map, so I created one with the location of every video on the Secrets of Texas channel. This is a map I created and here is a link to it. It will give you the link to each of the videos. I have posted this in his Youtube comments but he has removed it from the comments and does not reply, not sure why. I hope you might find the map useful, as I intend to use it on a tour of Texas in the next coming years (which is why I created it).

Secrets of Texas Youtube channel UN-official map of video locations

When one video covers more than one location, town, etc, I have the computer monitor symbol on a primary location and on the other locations the marker is a blue place pin, with the video link and the video title just like the primary one.

Please post if this map does not work or there is something that needs correcting on it, as I have not tried it from a different computer to see how the share link works. You can look at it but not edit it, however.

Charles

[Oldtimer]

Charles, it works great. Embers from outside of Texas will benefit form this.if you visit Glenrose make sure you check out the wildlife park near there.

David

[MVA]

Your un-official interactive map is excellent! We also plan a trip through TX and this will be very helpful in formulating our plans.