Vacation at Corpus Christi

For one of very last weekends of the summer, our family took a little vacation! We had blueberries for breakfast in the car to start off the 7 some hour drive, went down through Austin, slept as we drove (the passengers, not the driver!), cruised through San Antonio, had lunch somewhere in between at Polak's Sawsage Farm, and made it to Corpus Christi.

Some of our journey was documented by what Ella (the elephant), Little Bear (the bear), and Mucho (the monkey) ate, saw, and generally did. This original trio accompanied Ellie and Clara on adventures for much of the childhood, particularly road trips. 

Blueberries for breakfast.

Ice cream sandwiches as a gas-station treat on the journey. 

There are a lot of bridges down there by the bay, so then we drove over one, and then went under the overpass and through some little streets to a seaside-looking area, and then to the beach. We walked along the shore, got sand between our toes, and tangley windblown hair.

On the Corpus Christi Beach

Along for the ride

After we had dinner in Portland with some friends, we embarked for the drive back to our hotel... and as we drove, we saw fireworks! They were being shot off the water near one of the big bridges, and it was so fun to drive up to them and then next to them.  

Traditional sandcastle crew

Touring the castle

We spent Saturday morning on Magee Beach, where we made a sandcastle, played in the waves, and a very kind gentleman took our family photo. 

We had seafood for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack on Saturday night, and along the bay we saw a replica of the Niña that came to America with Columbus. For this group photo, I set my camera on a flat surface and used self timer instead of asking a fellow tourist.

On Sunday morning we went to Calvary Chapel Coastlands, (and after catching part of an old Gary Cooper movie and eating lunch) we went to visit the USS Lexington. It's a 1940s aircraft carrier that is now an awesome museum on the bay. 

Airplanes, on an aircraft carrier, no less

I loved hearing Dad's stories from the Navy. He explained many different areas and functions of the ship and its parts, and it was so fun to hear navy history from his perspective. 

On the aircraft carrier

A partial family photo from Melissa's Instagram.

Mom and Dad and the Gulf of Mexico, from Mustang Island

Slowly we'll get used to autumn, with cooler weather, school starting again, the pool being closed, and... hatch chiles! That post will be coming soon.