Howdy Texas! Day 17 Gulf of Mexico and Corpus Christi

[CrispyA]

The stormy weather continued through the night and we heard quite a bit of thunder. In the morning, a peek outside revealed that the weather was grey, wet and windy. Marvellous.

Feeling mopey, we headed for breakfast. The spread was okay, and the Texas shaped waffles were fun, but it was pretty much all sugary carbs and the coffee was unimpressive. We returned to the room afterwards and everyone sat moping about the weather. The problem with seaside places is that there isn't a whole lot to do if it rains, as the whole point of being by the sea is to be outside.

Eventually, I decided that we were made of tougher stuff and we weren't going to let a little bit of bad weather beat us - we were going to the beach anyway! We found a spot you could park without a permit (didn't seem much point in buying one if you were only going to be there for an hour or so) and braced ourselves to go in the sea. At least the rain had stopped and it wasn't cold.

The sea itself was a bit warmer than we expected and the wind had created some bigger waves than usual. We all had fun, despite the funny looks from the few other people around, and as we swam, the clouds started to move and there was a bit of blue sky.

After the sun came out, we decided to nip back and get some drinks and snacks, before having another hour on the beach. The weather was really nice by now and we enjoyed it. We spotted fish jumping around in the waves with us and as we were sitting down, we could see little crabs popping in and out of their tunnels.

The silver lining of the disappointing weather was that we could spend a bit longer on the beach without getting the sunburn that always seem to happen when we don't realise how hot our skin is getting.

Eventually we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to Corpus Christi. It was weird that housekeeping hadn't been yet - the hotel isn't big and they should have been able to get round the rooms by mid-afternoon.

Dad put his Hawaiian shirt on, much to the amusement of the kids, and we set off for Corpus. We had discovered that the minor league baseball team, the Corpus Christi Hooks, were playing the Arkansas Naturals at the wonderfully named Whataburger Field.

It was a nice drive and we got to go over a couple of huge bridges. We stopped for barbecue at the Silverado Smokehouse - there were a group of pensioners coming out as we went in and they assured us it was a good place. They tend to know a bargain and it certainly was. The food was good even if the ordering system did throw us - you order here by the plateful rather than the pound. It was great value though.

Then we headed for Whataburger Field. When we got to the ticket window, Paul was particularly pleased to find that his shirt choice had earned us a discount on our tickets as it was Hawaiian Night and shirt wearers were being rewarded! They also agreed that my top was Hawaiian enough for another discount. See kids - the shirt was worth a few laughs!

We watched the Hawaiian dancers for a bit and then went in, being given Leis as we went through the gates. I love the random celebrations at sporting events!

We had gone for the cheap seats, which were actually grassy slopes opposite the home plate. We had a great view and a good chance of catching any home run balls (or being horribly injured by them!).

The game was great fun and there were plenty of runs. We waved to the Hooks mascot, a hook called Rusty (!), but didn't manage to get a t-shirt unfortunately.

There was some fun entertainment in between innings, including a prize for the dirtiest truck in the lot, which appeared on the big screen! We didn't win any of the raffle prizes, which were linked to the numbers on our leis, but being as the prizes were generally things like windsurfing lessons, we weren't missing out all that much!

We moved to some empty seats near the end and were pleased to see the Hooks get a win. The fireworks at the end were pretty impressive.

It was a long drive back and we got the ferry again, getting back to the hotel at around 11.30. As we went into the room, we could hear a very loud party from the room next door and rang down to reception to ask them to do something about it. They promised they would sort it out but did absolutely nothing.

The noise went on until at least 2.00 am with shouting, music, moving furniture and general annoyance. Added to that, we could hear really loud snoring from the room the other side. Spotting cockroaches in the bathroom didn't help me get much sleep either.

Worst hotel we had stayed in - ever. :angry:

[Melbatb]

Sounds like a good day - advantage of being British is that we don't let a bit of rain get in the way

The hotel sounds terrible - what a shame.

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Sounds like a good day - advantage of being British is that we don't let a bit of rain get in the way

The hotel sounds terrible - what a shame.

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The hotel was rubbish but at least we've only ever had somewhere like that once.

[katiebaz]

The baseball sounded brilliant and hooray for Hawaiian shirts! Also loved the fact that you went in the sea anyway - I would have done the same. Shame about the hotel though, not a great way to treat guests and they should have done something about the noise.

[WileyCoyote]

go you braving that sea , so pleased the weather picked up and what a great time at the game.
Not such a good night though at the hotel - thats a real downer.

[Skittl1321]

I absolutely love that it turned out to be Hawaiian day at the ballpark. What a fun twist!

[i love jack]

Glad you made the most of the beach, sounds like it was good fun.
A nice evening but a disappointing end in the hotel 😡