1 Beach, 2 Beach, 3 Beach, Parking Lot

Goal: Spend November working our way down to the Tip o’ Texas via the Gulf Coast, camping right on the beach wherever we can.

Reality: Spend November sitting in our tiny trailer listening to a space drama podcast, when not driving around wondering where the heck we’re going to park for the night.

I would say, “I hate to complain,” but you know I love to complain!

1 Beach

We had one glorious afternoon and evening at Bolivar Flats. The memory of that warm evening all by ourselves on the beach, margaritas in hand, is worth all the bummer.

This beach’s bummer was weather that kept us inside all the other days and nights, then drove us off the beach a day early because the wind was blowing the high tide too far up to the trailer for our peace of mind.  No one wants to float in an Airstream. 

2 Beach

Galveston Island State Park gave us one perfect-weather day, as well.  Which I spent near the trailer for reasons I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about. 

3 Beach

Brazoria Beach was the next goal, but the first spot we stopped was on sand that seemed a little too soft for us to safely pull out in a hurry if we had to.  

So I got my bike off the truck rack and rode up to the next access point, where campers showed me exactly where the tide had come the night before.  Yikes. 

So back on my bike to the entrance we’d come in on, and the beach looked wider there.

Okay, pack up the trailer (second time today), drive up the beach, off to the road, back down to the beach entrance we came in on, and park on the beach there.  

Except the beach isn’t wider.  The sand isn’t firmer. It sucks.  Pack up for the third time in one day. 

We ended up staying at an inland regional park for the weekend, which had Christmas lights on the live oaks plus a laundromat, so win win. But not the beach.

Parking Lot

Final beach attempt: Padre Island National Seashore, which is the largest stretch of barrier island that’s undeveloped—in the world. And there are spots where you can camp on the beach.

First, we pull into a campground right next to the beach for the night so Tracy can scope out the situation.

The situation is not good. High winds, high tides. Again. So we’re staying put for Thanksgiving week here, in this parking lot. Which is basically everything you don’t like about a campground (pavement, neighbors) along with nothing you get in a campground (water, electric).

You get the beach, though: very, very nearby.

Note that all the photos in this post (except the live oaks) I took on our first day here on Padre Island. It’s been a hit or miss month so far, but the beach is so flat and wide that the light reflects off it beautifully, and the waves break so far out, and the sand blows from the dunes across the beach so beautifully, that I think I’m going to like it here, even in a parking lot.

In fact, I’m repeating this photo from the top because it’s so damned lovely. I believe that if you click on it (and most photos in this post) it will expand.