Mansion and Aquarium

Yesterday we visited the Fulton Mansion in Rockport, TX. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but my friend Rita sent me a picture when they toured it in 2006. The mansion reminds me of the big houses on the near west side of Cleveland that were built when the rich people lived near downtown. (Now most of them have been turned into Section 8 housing). The most interesting part of the tour was they way the Fultons got their money. Mrs. Fulton’s father was a powerful politician in Texas. Many soldiers and government workers were paid with land since Texas didn’t have much money after it split from Mexico. The father purchased a lot of land from people that would rather have the money. When he died he left 28,000 acres to his daughter (and Mr. Fulton). Now the interesting part. There were lots of stray cattle in Texas, and the land had a lot of these strays. If it didn’t have a brand on the cattle then it belonged to whoever owned the land it was standing on. Mr. And Mrs Fulton instantly became cattle barons.

Today we went to the Corpus Christi Aquarium. In addition to all the fish, they had some sea turtles that had been injured in the wild. They also had three dolphins that were born in captivity. They put on a show with their trainers. The trainers were able to go through the whole show without getting grabbed by their ponytails and dragged underwater by one of these lovable scamps.

Lunch at a Mexican Restaurant

Today is a cold rainy day in Aransas Pass. To give you an idea of how miserable it is outside, imagine a typical Spring day in Cleveland. Our options for activities were limited by the weather, so we just decided to go out and eat. We went to a Mexican restaurant, Los Camales. I ordered the fish taco, and an avocado, stuffed with shrimp, covered with cheese and batter, and then fried. Rita got the chicken breast, stuffed with shrimp, scallops, and crab. Bob ordered the red snapper covered with scallops and crawfish in a cream sauce. Miss Adventurous ordered the combo plate with a fajita, taco, and enchilada. Unfortunately for her there are no Taco Bells in the area.

USS Lexington tour

Today Nan and I went to the USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier that is on display in Corpus Christi, TX. It was built in 1943 and used in WW II. One picture shows the Japanese flag. That marks where a Japanese kamikaze flew into the ship. About 50 people were killed and 80 injured. The other picture shows a plaque with the number of planes and ships that we shot down or sank. Part of the movie "Pearl Harbor" with Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck was filmed on this ship.

Port Aransas

Today we went to Port Aransas, TX. We had a choice of going around a loop of about 50 miles, or taking the ferry. Sometimes there’s a wait of several hours for the ferry, but today it was less than ½ hour. In Port Aransas you can camp on the beach for only $6.00 per year. There were also some fishing peers. Nan, Bob, Rita, and myself fed the seagulls some bread. We all got through the experience without any of them crapping on our heads.

Corpus Christi, TX

We spent 4 nights in Kerrville, TX at the Sweetheart Rally (for Valentine’s Day). For Valentine’s day I got Nan what every girl wants. A night with me. Nan played the Mexican Train Game, and I played poker. They had a poker table with about 6 players where we each put in $10 and then played a no limit hold em tournament. The first night I got 2nd place. The next night I got first place for both games, so I won about $70. It was nice to leave on a positive note.

We then left for Aransas Pass, TX (by Corpus Christi). We met a couple (Rita and Bob) in Twin Lakes Campground in Bluffton, OH, when I was still working. They found this campground in TX so we decided to come down and visit them. The weekly rate is $200, but the monthly rate is only $400. It’s a new campground so they gave us a monthly rate of only $350. The only catch is you have to pay for electric separate with the monthly rate. That will probably cost $50 to $100 depending on if we have to use the air conditioner much.

I’ve included 2 pictures. One is a windmill that got torn off and imbedded into a tree during a hurricane many many years ago. The tree has now grown around it. The second is of live oak trees. It looks like then wind has caused them to lean over, but that’s not the case. They do not like the salt spray so they tend to lean away from the ocean.

Yesterday was Roxy’s 7th birthday, so that gave us an excuse to buy an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. We were generous enough to give her a piece.

Kerrville, TX RV Rally

Haven’t written in the blog for a while, so I have some catching up to do. We left Biloxi on Saturday. We got a later than usual start. We have a mail service in S. Dakota. People send mail to us there, and then every couple of weeks I call the service and they send a package with our mail to whatever address I tell them. Last Monday they sent our mail to Biloxi, priority mail. By Saturday it hadn’t arrived yet. So we hung around until the mail truck arrived on Saturday to see if he had our mail. He didn’t have it, so we had waited until around 1:00 for nothing. It still hasn’t shown up 11 days later, so our mail service is trying to track it down. On Edit - The mail service called today (12 days after sending the package) and it had been returned to sender. We don't know who actually received it, but at least they sent it back.

After we left Biloxi we spent 3 nights at the Coushatta Indian Casino in Kinder, LA. They have a very nice RV park that is only about $20 per night. I had one winning day in poker and 2 losing days. For those that don’t know poker very well, sometimes it is harder to win against idiot players rather than knowledgeable players. If four of 10 players don’t know basic strategy, it is very likely that one of those 4 will get lucky on the river and win with a hand that they shouldn’t have been playing in the first place. After playing poker I was able to enjoy the buffet. Ironically the best item on the buffet was sour grapes. We’ll be in Vegas for April. I’ve historically done very well there. If I don’t win there then I’m going to start begging for diesel money from my beloved blog readers.

After Coushatta we went to the Houston area for a couple of days to visit my nephew Nathan and his wife Angie, and their two kids. While in Biloxi Nan and I would walk on a sidewalk along the gulf. Like many people in my family, I inherited bad knees. While walking with Nan she asked my how my knees were doing. I told her that hadn’t felt that good in a long time so we walked a little longer than usual. That resulted in me limping around for the next few days. But luckily Roxy was nice enough to eliminate my limp for me yesterday. I was walking her and she lunged at a duck, and I heard and felt my knee pop. So now I would describe it more as a hobble than a limp. In spite of that we still had a very nice visit in Houston.

Today we drove about 5 hours to Kerrville, TX for an RV rally. Someone told Nan that they play the Mexican Train game during this rally. She loves that game so here we are. The rally ends on Sunday, so we’ll take off for Corpus Christi on Monday.

Shrimp Boat Tour

Nan and I took a walk around the Beau Rivage casino. They have a nice marina that happens to be closed right now because of the cold weather, but it looks like it would be a nice place to bring a boat in warm weather. When then drove around Biloxi and found a seafood store. We picked up some shrimp, smoked tuna dip, and I also picked up some hot and spicey quail eggs. Nan refused to try the eggs, but I thought they were great.
Yesterday we went on a 1 hour shrimp boat tour. During the tour they had 2 drags for about 15 minutes each to see what we could get. The net is funnel shaped. You can see the 2 metal plates that are like outriggers that spread the opening of the net open. The narrow end of the net is tied closed with a rope. They use several slip knots. They said if they don’t use several knots, dolphins will come by during the drag and either untie or bite through the knot and dump the catch out so they can have a seafood feast. Shrimp migrate, and we only got a couple shrimp because of the time of year. But we did get several anchovies, a couple crabs, a couple baby trout, and a sheephead.
We then drove a half mile inland and I took a video of some more empty lots as a result of Katrina. The shrimp boat captain told us that many houses on the coast were passed down from past generations. Not all owners at the time of Katrina had the money to rebuild, plus hurricane insurance is about $50,000 per year. So the lots remain empty.
I’ve played the $4/$8 hold em game 3 times so far at the Beau Rivage casino. Finally I had a winning day on day 3. I was starting to think I lost my touch, but it turns out I’m still a poker genius. I plan on going back tonight. If I don’t write how I did tonight then you can figure out the results.