Greetings from Port Lavaca, TX!

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
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Our campground is about 15 miles from PL in the middle of no freaking where, right on Carancahua Bay (don't ask me how to pronounce that). Not sure what's going on in PL but they have an historic downtown and things we'll need for happiness like a nice HEB and other basic retail things.

And this campground is AMAZING. Right on the bay with a private beach and a nice fishing pier, with every recreation thing you can imagine. They rent all sorts of watercraft - AquaCycles, paddleboards, kayaks, circular tub things that I've never seen before; plus they have beach volleyball, pickleball, elevated decks that overlook the water, and tons of other stuff. The clubhouse is open and they have planned activities for both kids and adults. We will spend a happy week here.

This is the view from our campsite, we are right across the street from the beach and all the action:

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Port Lavaca is a destination - you don't go through here on your way to anywhere unless you're seriously lost. The only reason we're here is.....just because. We like to get off the beaten path and see things nobody's ever heard of before. The only reason I knew it existed is because they called and offered me a job, but I was already committed to SPI KOA. We'll see how the week goes and perhaps I might consider a gig here in the future.

This is definitely a vacation spot and there are tons of families with kiddos running around. Because of the school closings we had a bunch of kids at SPI, too, whereas usually the winter is almost exclusively adults. So the news people can faint in the streets about kids going back to in person school all they want, but I know dozens of families who are liking this online classroom business. At SPI the kids would take a break when I brought the ice cream truck through, run out and get a treat, and back to "class". They'd come out in the mornings when I'd do breakfast on the deck, grab a bunch of food and take it back to "school". They weren't depressed or suicidal or any of those things the news people are assuring me they are. If parents can swing it workwise it's definitely the way to go.

So since they rent paddleboards here, and the beach is right across the street from me, and there's nothing else to do within miles and miles of here, there's no reason not to FINALLY learn to paddleboard, right?
 

UglyBear

Well-Known Member
Vrai, you just put this place on the map. For the next decade the locals will wonder at the crowds of rednecks from some place called “Somd” that will flood this place, telling stories of how they were summoned by prophets “Vray” and “Money-lo”, and complaining about lack of crab cakes and stuffed ham.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Yeah, nothing to see in Port Lavaca unless you like rundown homes and former businesses that need to be demolished.

Which is too bad and always makes me irritated. Here's this great location, and you can tell that at one point they had a thriving community and prosperous downtown.....and they let it go to chit. PL has Alcoa, Formosa, and DuPont plants here and they are what's keeping the economy and town alive at all.

Now, we have seen small towns that came back from the dead to become a legit tourist destination where people come from all over the country, if not the world, to drop their disposable income and make the locals prosperous, so I know it can be done. All it takes is some want-to from the community and their town government. Towns with a lot less to offer than Port Lavaca are thriving and raking in that tourist dough, plus it creates civic pride and makes the locals take care of things instead of letting them fall into decay.

But whatever - not my problem. This KOA is still really nice and we went grocery shopping today while Apollo was at the groomer, so we really don't need to leave this campground for the next week if we don't want to. Although we'll probably go see Palacios just to poke around because you never know until you look.....
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Had a cold front come in last night. Morning temps in the 50s. It is suppose to creep up into the 70s later today. I jinxed us because I put our electric heater away last week. At least the sun is shining brightly. I doubt any kiddies will be in the unheated pool today.

We are in the middle of the street here with rigs on both sides of us. We have a view of the bay. It's showing white caps on the water. But inside you would never know it's windy. All our neighbors were nice to block the wind for us.

Mentioning weather, about this time 3 years ago our water hose froze overnight when we were in Kerrville, TX. In the last 5 years I only remember our hoses freezing 2 times. The other time was either December or January in Mt. Pleasant, SC. I've camped in the winter over at Solomons and 1 season in Indiana. Heat tape keeps the hoses frost free. I got rid of the heat tape since we try to stay somewhere warm all winter.

The plan today is go see the town of Palacios, TX. It's another bayside town north of us. Not sure what there is to see there. I know 1 way to find out.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
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The chilly active water is going to preclude me from paddleboarding, so I'm kind of annoyed by that. We'll see what happens in the next few days.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Today we roadtripped to Palacios TX about 20 miles down the road. You can tell that at one point it was a lovely little town but those days are gone. They bill themselves as the Shrimp Capital of Texas and a large portion of their shoreline is dedicated to the shrimping industry.

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The Point is a catch-all store with bait and sundries, but its claim to fame is that Anthony Bourdain ate Vietnamese and Mexican in the restaurant in the back of the store and dedicated a segment on Parts Unknown to it.

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There is a large Vietnamese population in Palacios and the restaurant choices reflect that.

Probably everyone in town owns a fishing pole....

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This is Omar's Bar, where we stopped for a cold one. The outside looks like this:

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But the inside is a really nice sports bar:

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This area is seriously blue collar and like something out of a movie - the one that comes to mind is "The Perfect Storm". Also the bar reminds me of the one the dock workers all hung out in on "The Wire" except our bartender was a young adorable girl, not some crabby old person.

There's something to like about almost everywhere. I mean, you might not like it enough to want it all the time but it's still worth seeing.
 

Bann

Doris Day meets Lady Gaga
PREMO Member
When you posted the pics on FB of Omar's - I said "I just started hearing the Farmer in the Dell" :jameo:
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
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When you posted the pics on FB of Omar's - I said "I just started hearing the Farmer in the Dell" :jameo:

OMG :whack: When you posted that I was like, ???? And just now the light came on.... :lmao:

I scare me sometimes.....
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Tonight we had a wine & cheese social at the campground - 3 couples showed up.

That's kind of amazing because when I do booze events at SPI they come a-running. I'm guessing because here it's a lot of families with kids, whereas SPI is older people, 55+.

Anyway, I'm stealing the box wine buffet idea because that will be a big hit. And I'll get credit for being a genius even though it wasn't my original idea. So that's your lesson for today: you don't have to know everything, you just have to know people who do.
 
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