We arrived back in Rockport, TX. the end of December. We were sooo excited to be back, close to the water, the sand, the palm trees. The park that we had made reservations at wasn't as nice as we had remembered it to be. They had a pool that was supposed to be heated which it was freezing cold and the laundry area left a lot to be desired. We stayed there for 1 month and switched parks.
The next park we moved to was very nice, it was an Ex-Nudist Resort!!!!! Obviously the amenities were awesome, heated Outdoor salt water pool with lights that changed color, an outdoor hot tub that also had changing color lights. There were outdoor showers (mainly used for washing off shoes, pets, and other outdoor stuff, no more naked people running around anymore, LOL) There was a sauna, exercise room and club house. There was also a laundry area, but only 2 washers and 2 dryers..(Hence the fact that it was an ex-nudist resort, so there wasn't many clothes to wash).
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THE HEATED OUTDOOR
SALT WATER POOL |
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WE WERE IN SITE 16 IN
THE BACK SECTION |
After being back in Texas for awhile and feeling very much at home in the Resort we were staying in, we made a decision to stay permanently, or so we thought anyway. With making this home, Jim went back to work full time and I stayed home and continued to home school the kids. Jim worked about a half hour away so after awhile and some looking we knew we needed to switch parks yet again. It only made sense to have him closer to work and to cut out some of the drive time.
We found a park that was about 15 minutes closer to his work, and packed up and moved there. The park seemed nice at first, but wore off quickly. We learned almost instantly that it was more of a Mobile Home Park than an RV Park. We had a spot by the office and right across from the laundry room at first, but had to move after 1 month of being there as it was the normal spot for workcampers, which were due to be coming in. So we moved spots...being told we were moving to "The Best Spot in the Park".
This spot was a corner site with a huge yard area and a lot of space in between your neighbors, it seemed great at first....as the first night approached we realized that we were for sure not in "The Best Spot in the Park". We were right on the corner of a very busy intersection, and on the main route for the ambulance going to the hospital. Sooo our nights were filled with sirens, police cars, people blowing through stop signs roaring up their engines and stereo bass loud enough to feel it going straight through your chest.
We had good neighbors, so we were blessed with that. We did a lot of visiting with them and cookouts and some campfires. It helped the time pass. We were in this spot for almost 10 months, which was 10 months too long! The best thing about "The Best Spot in the Park" was that it made us realize that we were born to travel, put on this earth to explore all that God had created, and to do it together as a family. Not to sit the everyday lifestyle in a house or lifetime RV spot and have you and your spouse work your lives away, have your kids grow up right before your eyes leaving you sitting there wondering " What happened??", and not to sit there and die leaving your "Bucket List"sadly unfulfilled, and your dreams to be only that...Dreams.
Now after returning to a permanent spot , I know with a greater degree of certainty that
we made the right decision when we first set out on our new adventure years ago. Here the kids don't want to play outside like they used to. They used to beg to go
outside and play when we were camping. This has helped us realize one thing though: what we thought we wanted, which was
ingrained in us since we were little, was the "American Dream", a large house filled with lots of material things that you could call your own. We now know this isn't "Our" American Dream.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not down on life or what others may have or want for dreams, Everyone is different and different things make them happy and comfortable. As I had written in the start of this blog, we too used to have the "American Dream" a nice big house, a fenced in yard, 2 very good jobs, weekends off, etc.... and I was not unhappy in that life, I just felt like something was missing, and now I have filled that void.
Not all of being in Texas was negative, we did a lot of memory making stuff also, and some memories that we didn't have choices of making. We did all of the tourist stuff like going to the Texas State Aquarium, The USS Lexington Ship. We went to South and North Padre Island and collected shells, played in the sand and jumped in the waves. We took drives, to numerous to count along the beach and watched the birds and the water roll into shore.
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TEXAS STATE
AQUARIUM |
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DOLPHIN AT THE
AQUARIUM
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| USS LEXINGTON |
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| SOUTH PADRE ISLAND |
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| NORTH PADRE ISLAND |
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FULTON BEACH ROAD
ALONG THE BEACH |
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FULTON BEACH ROAD NEXT
TO THE DOCKS |
We took a few trips to San Antonio and the Hill Country. On one weekend trip to San Antonio we had quite the eventful weekend, it was the weekend of our 16 year anniversary being together and we decided to tour the wineries and go to Six Flags for a few days since we had season passes. We were suppose to stay at the KOA, but the cabin was yucky and had dead bugs all over the cabin floor. We cancelled our stay there and rented a room at the Comfort Inn and Suites.
We toured the wineries on the 18th of June, went to Six Flags on the 19th, and were going to be going back to Six Flags on the 20th. Much to our surprise we woke up the morning of the 20th to find that our truck had been stolen out of the Hotel parking lot. Everything was caught on video tape but almost impossible to identify the guy. He popped the lock on our truck so professionally that on camera it looked like he had a set of keys, and hot wired it and was gone in under 2 minutes.
We had left a lot of stuff in the truck, nothing was in visible sight. By thinking this would never happen to us (having our vehicle stolen), we lost our GPS system, the kids' Nintendo DS's, games, and carry bag. Also in the backseat was our down comforter, pillows, small fan, some clothes and some shoes (all stuff for being in the cabin). We called the police and filed a report and then got a car from Enterprise and drove home to figure out what was next.
It was awful being in Texas in the middle of hurricane season with no truck to hook up our camper if something were to happen weather wise. About a month later we got the check from our Insurance Company and went and bought a new truck. A F350 Extended Cab Diesel. We were very happy to have a truck again.
One of our San Antonio experiences was Big Lou's Pizza, this place was amazing and definitely earned an instant spot on our Blog. There you can order a 42 inch pizza (The pan alone is bigger than an average 3 year old, height wise) This was a very fun memory, it was only the 4 of us and this huge pizza on our table.
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| 42 INCH PIZZA AT BIG LOU'S |
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| ONE SLICE OF PIZZA |
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CASS AND COLLIN WITH
EMPTY PIZZA PAN |
Some of the pictures from the Vineyard and the grape stomping.
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| GRAPES AT THE VINEYARD |
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MINE AND COLLIN'S FOOTPRINTS
FROM THE GRAPE STOMPING |
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| THE VINEYARDS |
Below is a place that we went out to eat at in Corpus Christi, TX. We are kinda Foodies, so we love the eating establishments that offer the more than ordinary dining experience and/or menu selection. This was at Wallbangers and it was a 3 pound burger, all 4 of us shared this. It was also a great memory for us!!!
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| WALLBANGERS IN CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS |
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| CASS AND 3 LB. BURGER |
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| COLLIN AND 3 LB. BURGER |
We will always have a lot of good memories of being in Texas, and the friends we met there. But we are very excited for what the future holds and the roads we yet have to travel. We will leave the Coastal Bend Area (Corpus Christi) on the 19th of March, 2012 (tomorrow) to start our adventures again. Once again....off to the unknown and loving every minute of it!!!!!!
~Gourmet Gypsy A.K.A. Tanya
