Washed Out of Texas!

After nearly three weeks in Rockport, we headed north for a few days just west of Houston in hopes of meeting up with our good friend, Majid Alsayegh.  He and his wife, Mary, were in Houston from their home in Philadelphia for a family wedding.  We had a wonderful visit one morning, and Majid got to meet the new member of the family!

The RV park we were at was named Houston West, but was located in the town of Brookshire - thus the hotel bearing Brooke's name!

Brookshire is 7 miles west of Katy, Texas, a beautiful little city that is the fastest growing city in the U.S.!  Interesting that Texas is the home of Katy, and the home of Brownsville, the poorest city in the U.S.  Katy  has a wonderful city park that we took the dogs to one day.

This is the fishing bridge.  There is a great trail all the way around the park and a dog park.

The black vultures were enjoying the sunshine.

This one was really enjoying it!

Seesta loved the bridges in the agility course!

She's getting bigger - really!

 

As you can see in the park photos, there was a lot of standing water in the area.  We had downpours of up to a foot of rain on some areas.  We didn't realize it at the time, but it was causing major problems upstream at the Toledo Bend Dam on the Sabine River.  The water rushing out of the dam was at historic levels and would cause catastrophic flooding in Deweyville and Orange.  But, luck was with us.  The day after we drove across the Texas/Louisiana border, I-10 was closed due to flooding!  And, we did get to see the beautiful Blue Bonnets of Texas start to bloom.

Rockport, Texas- a Hidden Treasure

Rockport's Blue Crab

We booked our reservation in Rockport because we had to have some warranty work done on our trailer and there was an RV shop in town that could do the work on it.  Rockport is about 45 minutes north of Corpus Christi on the gulf. 

It is a nice size, with a beautiful harbor and beach area.

The blue building is an old home that houses the Rockport Center for the Arts. They have rotating collections, studio areas, classes and a nice gift shop.  Outside is a small, but impressive sculpture garden.

This sculpture had water cascading down its sides -

the gulls were loving their private spa!

We also visited the Aquarium.

This is Harley, the Moray eel - he is the star of the aquarium.  He is about 4-5 feet long and they were constructing a new aquarium for him that was going to cost over $10,0000!

this guy loved to follow me back & forth

It was fun to see all of the unusual (and usual) fish that live in the area. The volunteers at the aquarium were very knowledgeable and the aquarium was pet friendly!

It was fun to wander the harbor - there is so much I don't know about that kind of life.

We met a couple who lives on their boat and travel from port to port seeing the country.

Only in Texas do you see a longhorn skull on a boat!

Rockport's sister city is Fulton - another pretty little town.

Shrimping boats in the Fulton harbor.

The pier in Fulton

 

Ron & the dogs on the beach.

Fulton was having its annual Oyster Fest while we were there.  They had music, lots of arts & crafts, oyster eating contests and a huge beer tent.  We had to try the oysters fresh out of the gulf - they were unique....

We had a great time in Rockport/Fulton - it is one of our favorite surprise find

 

 

Introducing.....

One of the sad things we've seen in the south is the abundance of abandoned dogs.  Many of the houses we walk by have numerous dogs either in fenced yards or chained - I don't think many of them ever see the inside of a house.  And, unfortunately, most of them are not neutered or spayed.  Many RVers have adopted dogs found wandering their parks, or Walmart parking lots.  We talked about adopting another dog, specifically a young adult, about Guido's size, to keep him company - yeah -but then I lost my heart.

Meet Seesta - Guido's new little sister.

(Although, he isn't sure he likes her all that much.)

She's eight weeks old and 3.1 pounds, loves her

toys and has quite a personality.

I forgot how much work a puppy is!  Like having a baby again.

Her first bath.

A day at the beach. Needless to say, we are enjoying

her.  She learns something new every day and keeps us

entertained with her antics.