2019-01-28 Monday Galveston TX to Port Aransas TX

A day late posting this so I hope I remember everything. Spent the night in Galveston in a really nice hotel with a bathroom you could play handball in. We went to the place our friendly barkeep recommended last night for breakfast and it was great, way friendly host that gave us more info, where to go, etc.
Galveston is a pretty clean city and is the perfect place to spend a few nights hitting the beaches by day and clubs at night. Not many people this time of year, but since it is so close to Houston, it sounds like it gets swamped with overheated Texas folks in the summer. Nice city.
We stopped at a castle place Deb had heard about and then drove all the way down the end of the island past Mustang Island and turned inland at

Surfside Beach to head toward Corpus Christi. The entire Texas coast must be public land because there are tons of access points where you can drive onto the sand road that runs all along the backside of the beach. Some folks told us yesterday that you can park your camper or RV for three days right on the beach. Everything was very tidy so folks seem to keep things picked up.
Once you head inland, things get more rustic and a bit more gritty. We took the closest road to the coast that Google could find and got a snapshot of how normal folks live. Kinda like Florida back roads. And ever present off in the distance are the refineries. This morning at breakfast we could see all the oil tankers off shore which I suppose are bringing oil in, but maybe taking oil out?
We ended up taking the short (really short, not sure why they didn't build a bridge?) ferry over to Port Aransas. Another huge surprise at what a beach town this is and how much of resort town it is. Not glitzy, but very clean and well kept. No chain places but lots of beach houses and local places to eat.

This reminds me of the Outer Banks in North Carolina with endless houses on the beach built on stilts, mostly empty this time of year. We chatted with a lot of folks as we walked down the beach and this time of year the snowbirds come down to escape the cold. They all have their own angles on how they manage it. Some do the RV thing (big ones and small ones), some rent condos for a few months at a time. The motel we stayed in had some retired folks that just rent a block of rooms at the motel (big discount) and then entertain all their friends and families from up north for 3 or 4 months. Pretty happy bunch!
We hit the local popular restaurant (the retired folks know them all) and hit the shrimp night specials.
Back to the motel and crashed from the three mile walk on the beach and long day drive. Another great day with great weather. Tomorrow we go to San Antonio!!