Rockport & Fulton, Texas

From the top, I will just say that our Rockport stay was too short.  There was too much left undone for my satisfaction, but that will give me something to look forward to should we get to return.

Our first night there we drove down to the Fulton Harbor just as the fishing boats were coming in for the day. These are not the yachts and pleasure craft of the last post, but rugged working vessels, rusty and grimy. We watched them unload their wares as the fog began to roll in.

Mere steps from where I took these photos was the Moondog Seaside Eatery.

We asked to be seated on the patio, but asked to by moved inside before we ordered since the heavy fog was getting chilly.

We enjoyed our meal much better without the shivering.

Our server assured me the crab cakes were good and she was right--fat, well seasoned with bits of sauted celery and onion, topped with a nice dill sauce.  I had a side of sweet potato fries.  Bobby had shrimp--see a pattern starting to develop?  Unfortunately it was too dark and the pictures did not look appetizing, which is a shame, because it was delicious.  Most of the clientele seemed to be local which are the kind of places we seek out.  The service was fair--we could have used more tea refills.

I had an afternoon to kill while Bobby was working that I spent at Rockport Harbor.

Only in Texas

The aquarium is closed just one day a week.  Guess what day I was there.

Now we're talking crab cakes!

Funny side story:

Years ago when I was still a kid at home we were on a family vacation and stayed a day or two at Rockport.  It was there that we experienced our worst restaurant ever. The Rusty Anchor has gone down in history and family lore as the symbol of dining at its lowest.  It looked innocuous enough going in--tables, chairs......And you would think, right there at the coast you could expect real seafood, right? Wrong.  In hindsight, our first clue came when the waitress seated us, waved nonchalantly behind her as she departed and said the now infamous words: "Help yourself to the salad bar."  She was using that term loosely.  There was a bowl of wilted lettuce, some other bits and pieces, and all this proudly displayed sans a sneeze guard. That was the defining moment we should have kept walking past it and right out the door.  We didn't.  We ordered fish dinners--I don't remember the make or model--but will never forget, some long while later, she brought to our table......fish sticks!  Burnt, tough fish sticks!  I can say that disastrous meal has provided us more laughter and jokes through the years that it almost made up for the crime that it was!

When we were headed to Rockport this time, I told my folks I would look up the Rusty Anchor for them, full well knowing it had to have gone out of business days after we left it years ago!  On the afternoon of my walk-about, this cafe caught my eye:

My apologies to Crazy Rusty for any dubious associations of horrors past.

"Help yourself to the salad bar" = code for "Get the heck outta here!"

Port Aransas & Mustang Island

While in Corpus Christi we spent a delightful afternoon at Port Aransas and Mustang Island riding the ferries, dolphin-watching, strolling the marina, and splashing in the surf.

Pier at Roberts Point Park

Port Aransas Ferries
source

Let me insert here that it was after this trip I invested in a zoom lens!

Roberts Point Park
source

Mustang Island

USS Lexington - Corpus Christi

We stayed an extra day in Corpus Christi so we could tour the USS Lexington.

I won't lie, when Bobby said he wanted to see it, I was less than thrilled.  I went along willingly to be a good sport.  We were on that aircraft carrier for almost 4 hours and I can honestly say I enjoyed about 3 1/2 hours of it, which is the inverse of what I expected.

We covered the ship from top to bottom There are 5 self-guided tours. .  Being on the expansive flight deck and inside that huge vessel, I became enthralled with its history. I came away with a new respect for the thousands of men (and later, women) that served on her.

 We encountered this sobering display on the gangplank on the way in:

On the placard:

On the aft side of the island  (the multi-story structure where air-traffic control and the bridge are located) you see a Japanese Rising Sun flag with a black border. This flag indicates the exact loction where on November 5, 1944 a Japanese kamikaze plane, Code name Zeke, crashed into USS Lexintgon, killing 50 of her crew and injuring 132. His mission was a success.

I like how they use mannequins through out the ship to make the scenes really come alive.

From the USS Lexington website:

Commissioned in 1943, she set more records than any other Essex Class carrier in the history of naval aviation.The ship was the oldest working carrier in the United States Navy when decommissioned in 1991

During World War II, the carrier participated in nearly every major operation in the Pacific Theater

The Japanese reported LEXINGTON sunk no less than four times! Yet, each time she returned to fight again, leading the propagandist Tokyo Rose to nickname her “The Blue Ghost.” The name is a tribute to the ship and the crew and air groups that served aboard her.

In 1962, she sailed into Pensacola, Florida, and began training operations, eventually being officially designated CVT-16, Navy Training Carrier until she was decommissioned in 1991.

Let me know if you are intrigued and read more about her.

 

When we got our land legs back, we went just around the corner for a wonderful lunch at Pier 99 where we dined on the open-air deck with the Lexington just across the bay.

At the recommendation of our server we tried the seafood gumbo. Oh. My. Goodness.

Best gumbo ever, topped with jumbo shrimp, grilled fish, and crab legs!

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We enjoyed thsee guys hopping around.

I would love to try more from Pier 99, if business sends us back that way.

Another spectacular view of the Lexington from the dining porch.

Corpus Christi

 We found  La Playa Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in a city directory in our hotel room. We were not disappointed.  The atmosphere was nice: authentic, with soft mood lighting and subtle Spanish background music.  The staff was friendly, the service was good and the food was excellent.

La Playa's signature entree is the deep-fried stuffed avocado. It gave me pause, but I gave it a try and was so glad I did! Just goes to show you can deep fry anything! I choose the shrimp (over chicken or beef) served with a grilled fish taco, which was good, and tortilla soup which was fantastic! 

Cheesy and delicious!

The next afternoon we hunted down a little local establishment, King Seafood, the proverbial 

hole-in-the-wall type place. Inside is crowded, tables are scarce. 

The menu, displayed on a big board inside the door, is simple. 

The food is served in paper baskets.  We had shrimp, flounder and oyster with fries and hushpuppies. The sides were nothing special, but the seafood was hot, crispy and tasted fresh. It fit the bill for quick supper.

The Brewster Street Ice House is a casual restaurant in Corpus Christi's entertainment district. We happened to be there during the week so there was no live music, but we were probably there too early for that sort of thing anyway.  

I had crab cakes, Bobby had grilled shrimp; both were tasty.  The grilled vegetables were good, the garlic mashed potatoes were just average. Our main complaint was that the servings/plates seemed a bit small. The decor was fun which is about all I can say for atmosphere.  I can imagine it comes alive on the weekends.

Of these three, we would definitely go back to La Playa.  It ticked all the boxes.