Saturday, May 8, 2010

Old Rockport

Rockport, Texas

Weather: low 72 degrees, high 85 degrees, mostly clear skies, windy

We had trouble sleeping last night, with both of us waking about 0300 hours and not being able to go back to sleep. Eventually, we went back to bed about 0430 hours and slept until almost 0800. I'm glad we didn't have any place important to be this morning.

Once we got up and awake enough and I had gotten my morning walk out of the way, we talked about what we wanted to do today. We like to go to farmers' markets, and had heard about one that's open in Aransas Pass every second and fourth Saturday of the month. Since this is the second Saturday of May, we went down to check it out. Big disappointment, as there were only about six vendors, and none of them were selling vegetables. It may be too early for area produce to be coming to market, but we thought there might be some stuff there from the Valley. Maybe next time.

When we got back from Aransas Pass, I went to the old town part of Rockport to check it out. The old part is what we remember best from our last trip down here, but even it has changed. It has become more tourist oriented, with maybe a touch of yuppie to it. Restaurants, art galleries, souvenirs, book stores, etc.

Next was a stop at the Texas Maritime Museum, located near Rockport Harbor. This is a small museum that shows life as it was many years ago along the Texas coast. The primary exhibits have to do with artifacts recovered from the sunken Spanish ship La Belle, part of Robert de La Salle's expedition to explore the Texas coast and start a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The expedition was composed of four ships, and only one survived the trip. La Belle was sunk when it ran aground in Matagorda Bay in 1685. The ship was discovered again in 1995, and the entire ship as well as over one million artifacts were recovered.

The remainder of the museum has local art and other artifacts of the last 150 years that were important to the history of the area. It is a nice museum, but visitors are asked to not take flash pictures. As a result, I didn't try to take any.

When I left the museum, I noticed a lot of people fishing in and along Little Bay. I stopped and watched for awhile, but didn't see anyone catching fish. There seems to be a lot of people who do wade fishing here.



These folks were fishing from the bank, but again, they didn't have any luck while I was watching.



Everyone I saw was fishing hard. The best thing about fishing is being there in the fresh air, the water, and the sun. Catching fish is a bonus.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Hartselle, Alabama: The City of Southern Hospitality

Not all who wander are lost.

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