Young Snowbirds » RV Parks

Days 56 to 61 – Sea Breeze RV and Goliad

Darlene — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:53:39 +0000

We arrived at Sea Breeze RV in Portland, Texas on Monday February 8th. Portland is across Nueces Bay from Corpus Christi. We can see the city skyline from the RV park. I researched a LOT of RV parks in the area and tried to find us one on Padre Island, facing the ocean. But, they were all either full, or really pricey (over $700/month). We settled on Sea Breeze based on cost, location right on the water, and a the fact there’s a gym 5 minutes away for Rob.

We immediately took notice of the many social activities here, including a potluck dinner Thursday night. We signed up for it so we could meet some people and that we did! Betty came to sit at our table that night and we learned she is a friend of the owners and the unofficial social convener for the park. She insisted that we had to come to the Valentines dinner on Saturday. It was only $15 each, so we agreed.

I found out about an arts and crafts market in a town about 80 miles away, but it’s only on every second Saturday monthly. This was my only chance to go, so I headed out on my own for Goliad, Texas while Rob stayed behind to do some things around the RV park.

It was an interesting drive. I saw Texas longhorns (cattle), sheep, and a whole lotta nothin’ in between little towns. Again I noticed signs that Texas is just a little a little different. There’s gun shops and signs of “guns for sale” everywhere, and road signs that say “Don’t mess with Texas“. It refers to littering on the roads, but I think it’s a broader statement than that, or at least that’s how I read it. I wish I had stopped to take photos of the longhorns and signs, cause I never did get these later.

An old house I saw while driving through Refugio, TX

Driving along, I remember thinking, “this better be worth it” cause it was a long way to go by myself. Once I got there though, it was well worth it. Goliad is full of history. There’s a Spanish mission, an old fort, and lots of great old architecture in the town including a fabulous courthouse in the town square, I’d learn more about later.

Goliad Arts and Crafts Market

I wandered around and checked out the vendors’ wares, which were spread out around the courthouse. There were several stalls selling knives – for hunting, fighting, or . . . I don’t know what and I don’t want to know. There were also a lots of art pieces with stars, the Texas state flag, or Texas map on them. I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not, but Texans often fly the state flag either instead of, or alongside the American one. More than I’ve noticed ever in other states. I’m ashamed to admit, I don’t think I even know what our Alberta flag looks like.

Texas Lone Stars, Flags and State Symbols Everywhere

Food for sale was pretty much all junk. Cotton candy, corn dogs, popcorn, fries, etc but there also a couple interesting offerings. Giant BBQ’ed turkey legs were $5 and trash can fries which were cooked in the big metal trash can full of hot oil (see photo below). The fries were very different. The guy making them put a whole potato into a machine that sort of peeled it into one big long ruffle looking thing. So kind of like kettle chips, but not cut into single chips. I got a bowl of chili because I wanted to try real Texas style stuff. That and I only had $3 left after buying a few things and chili was $3 – so there you go. It was disappointing though, just meat, no beans, no peppers, no onions, nothing. It was like eating spaghetti meat sauce by itself and it wasn’t even spicy either.

After I ate I walked around the square and took photos. I met a couple of old guys who were also winter Texans. They told me about the “hanging tree” in front of the Goliad courthouse that was actually used for just that purpose, back in the day. They also told me that just about every town in Texas has a fancy courthouse dating back over 100 years. Apparently they competed with each other to make theirs bigger and better than the last. It is a stunning looking building.

Goliad Courthouse

Goliad County Courthouse built in 1894

Here’s some other photos from around Goliad:

Goliad Mission Espiritu Santu

Next up was Mission Espiritu Santo. I didn’t stoop to read about it much but it’s another of Texas’ historic Spanish missions dating back to the late 1700’s or earlier. This one is pretty well preserved, and the Spanish influence is obvious on the architecture style.

You’re going to want to see all the photos of Mission Espiritu Santu and Presidio La Bahia in Goliad.

On the way back to Portland, I saw this little plane doing crop dusting. He’d do one row, pop up over the road and wires, turn around and make another pass. It was neat to watch but I wondered what sort of noxious crap he was putting into the air.

The Valentine’s dinner was pretty good and we sat with Rick and Linda from Ontario. Rob made a new friend in George (who lives across from us) as he supplied sangria to those that wanted it all night, and George willingly partook. Betty even introduced us and any other new comers to the park, and we met Dora and Otto (the Seabreeze RV Park owners) for the first time. Everyone else left by about 7:30pm, but we stayed until after 9 talking about wine, travels, and RV stuff with Rick and Linda. She convinced us we needed to play in the RV Olympics next week – so we agreed to that too. We decided we really liked it here. Great location, great price, and really friendly “folk”.

Days 49-51 – Drama upon arriving in San Antonio, Texas

Darlene — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:55:45 +0000

So, I’ve been to Texas only once before and that was Austin. Which, I’ve learned really isn’t at all like the rest of Texas – now I know why. Austin is like Edmonton actually, no one is from Texas there, and no one speaks with an accent.

Things Are Different In Texas

Once we crossed over into Texas (the real Texas) we started noticing little things that were different like road signs, ads on TV, etc. Guns are a big thing down here. Everyone’s got some and they know how to use them – at least if they take all the shooting classes available on TV they certainly do. There’s also a lot of border patrol going on to make sure no illegal immigrants are getting through from the Mexican side. They also display their state flag and the Lone Star everywhere! More state loyalty than I’ve seen anywhere else. Rob wrote a little travel though on Texans being VERY serious about being Texan.

Here’s a few examples of road signs and Texas patriotism. Notice the “no guns” sign on the bridge”.

I had researched a few RV parks in San Antonio and because we pushed extra hard yesterday I was looking forward to an extra day before I went to my Photoshop seminar in the city. I had planned on using it to catch up on my homework for my Editorial class and some blog photos. NOT!

I use a site that has reviews from people who’ve actually stayed there to help pick which parks we stay in. I didn’t find Hidden Valley RV Park as an oversight because it isn’t actually listed in San Antonio, it’s in Von Ormy out in the southwest countryside of the city and I didn’t think to look for it there. So I used my gut and booked it on the phone. Their web site talks about the creek, rustic location, birds, in amongst the trees, etc. Sounded really quiet and quaint.

Hidden Valley RV Park in San Antonio

We arrived about 6pm and another RV had just pulled in before us. We should have taken a clue about the state of the “park” by the fact the check in area is a little 3 walled shack outside the lady’s house. She had given the other guy his choice of two stalls so we had to take whichever he didn’t use which was likely a back-in stall. We prefer pull through as you just drive in and leave the car dolly attached at the back. Back in is more work unhooking everything.

She didn’t take visa so I wrote her a check, which she wasn’t sure her bank could cash as it’s a Canadian one. Then we drove down the hill (which is quite steep and is a dirt road of partly mud and clay). It was raining a little bit so we wanted to get set up and have dinner as quickly as possible. The other guy had attempted to get into the pull through, which required entering the RV area (which is really a big open dirt field) and coming around from the back side. Only he went the wrong way around and ended up getting his rig stuck in the mud. We took the back-in stall.

We watched the drama unfold as we hooked up

They had to bring a small tractor down to pull the RV out of the muck. The tractor stopped at one point, the RV didn’t and CRUNCH! Ouch – we later ran into the same couple in town and found out they had over $3500 worth of damages on the back of their RV.

Rob’s comment: I learned from growing up in Saskatchewan, that when pulling a vehicle out, the vehicle being towed has to ride the break actually and be the one stopping the motion when finally pulled out. What we saw happen in front of us was classic “how not to tow a vehicle out of the mud”

After we got set up we tried to get internet, no luck. Teri, the park owner, said the router was 3 trailers over so maybe the ones in between were blocking the signal to us. We decided that if they other guy left in the morning, we’d move over and take the pull-through to have clearer internet access. We’d avoid the mud and go round the other way.

Where the other RV was stuck in the mud

Stalls at Hidden Valley RV - it's just an open field at the bottom of a dirt hill really. Only stalls for about 25 or so RV's many of which are there full time.

Stalls at Hidden Valley RV in the trees

In the morning Rob talked to another couple that were bugging out entirely. Apparently some heavy rain was coming and they didn’t want to get stuck there, not being able to get up that slippery hill. Good point! We had also learned that there were no bathrooms or showers here at all. One thing I hadn’t thought to ask for, as every park at least has them – what state they’re in is another thing – but no park we’ve stayed in so far has not had bathrooms.

So the combination of rain coming, possibility of getting stuck, iffy internet at best, and no showers prompted us to make the same decision. I called our second choice and they had a spot for us so we pulled anchor.

We ended up having to pay her cash (gave her $20 instead of the $14 we actually owed) because she said she couldn’t cash our check. We explained why we were leaving and thanked her.

Truth be told, Hidden Valley RV Park is not that bad of a place IF – and I say IF – it is not raining! If you want rustic, you’re literally in the forest. If you want quiet, you’re certainly away from it all. Yes it’s only a 25 minute drive right to the downtown area. The lady was super nice and we felt bad but as we are still relative RV newbies, we didn’t want to take a chance getting flooded out in the valley there, or stuck trying to get out once the water came.

Trepidatiously, we headed for Braunig Lake RV Park, crossing our fingers. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of that park but it was much drier and solid internet and showers! We were very happy with our move. It’s a damn good thing we arrived a day early, otherwise we’d not have had time for moving – or Rob would have been doing it by himself while I was in class.

Photoshop Workshop With Ben Willmore

The class I attended on February 2nd was a Photoshop class by Ben Willmore. Ben travels around in an RV as well, photographs, and lectures. I talked to him about RVing and got a photo of us together. No this is NOT his RV. You can see Ben’s travels and photography at www.whereisben.com. He was very inspirational and I got lots of good tips and ideas.

Dar and Ben Willmore

Things To Do in San Antonio

Over the week we stayed in San Antonio, we spent a day visiting The Alamo and then discovered the Riverwalk. We ran out of light the first day after taking the riverwalk boat ride, so we went back a second time to walk it and get more photographs.