About two hours south of San Antonio is Lake Corpus Christi, another very nice Texas State park. We were only able to book one night here (state parks are getting busier as more and more people camp during the pandemic) but we enjoyed it. With our TX state park pass we had free entry (the entrance fee is $5 per person) and only paid $25 for our night at the campsite. If we had been able to stay multiple nights our second night would have been half off!
This is an artificial lake, actually a reservoir, owned by the city of Corpus Christi which provides drinking water for the city of Corpus Christi. “This area is an important stopover for Neotropical migrant birds. We’ve identified more than 200 bird species in the park.” – Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.
This campground had plenty of room between campsites, which we prefer, and was very quiet at night. We have been sleeping so well in campgrounds like this.
We drove almost three hours from Lake Corpus Christi State Park along the gulf coast. I expected to see beautiful views like in California, instead, we were surprised by how many oil refineries there were out here.
There is a different kind of beauty in this part of the country. Much of the time we saw bays instead of the gulf.
We stayed at the Matagorda Bay Nature Park. This park is run by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). “The Lower Colorado River Authority is a nonprofit public utility created in November 1934 by the Texas Legislature. LCRA’s mission is to enhance the lives of the Texans it serves through water stewardship, energy and community service.” – Wikipedia
“LCRA owns more than 40 public parks, recreation areas and river access sites along the Highland Lakes and lower Colorado River. LCRA’s McKinney Roughs and Matagorda Bay nature parks have natural science centers that offer outdoor educational and recreational programs for youths and adults.” – Wikipedia
Adjacent to the RV park was a beach, picnic area and really long fishing pier which extended out over the waters of the gulf coast.
Each picnic table here had its own concrete shelter. They were really unique.
There is a weathered hand-painted sign by the picnic tables. You can either walk out to the beach or on to the pier.
We chose to walk out on the pier and walk back along the beach.
While walking along the pier we noticed an RV on the beach. Then we noticed more cars and trucks driving on the beach. We didn’t realize this was one of the (few) beaches that you can drive on in the US.
It was a very windy day which created these great waves in the sand.
Our second day here we decided to take a longer walk on the beach. It was still quite cool, not quite shorts and flip flop weather here yet.
After two nights here it was time to move on. This was a good stop for us to rest and recharge. We had planned to spend more time exploring the area along the gulf coast, however, the Governor of Texas announced that he was lifting both the mask mandate and any Covid restrictions on businesses. Since we have not yet had our vaccines, and since spring break was right around the corner, we decided it would be better to leave for now and come back to explore this area another time.
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