Where:  Quilly's Big Fish RV Park (Rockport, Texas) (Site #23)
Cost:  $380/month plus electric for full hook-ups ($150 deposit for electric)
Bucket List:  Birding (Whooping Crane alert!) at Goose Island State Park
Beer:  Doggone Brewery (Rockport, Texas)

We spent our first winter at full-time RVers in Rockport, Texas— just a few miles from the coast. The mainland area consists of several small towns (Fulton, Rockport, Ingleside, and Aransas Pass) dotted with hundreds of RV parks.  Corpus Christi is the nearest city about a half-hour to the south and Mustang Island (Port Aransas) is accessible by a ferry ride to the east.  The locals call folks like us “Winter Texans” and really put out the welcome mat. Our stay was relaxing, welcoming, and just what we needed.

If you are headed to the Rockport area, here are some things to think about:

1. Where to Stay: Quilly's RV Park

2. Where to Go Birding

   • Top Pick: Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

   • Goose Island State Park (Whooping Cranes!)

   • Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center

   • Other Birding Locations Near Rockport, Texas

3. Where to Drink Beer Near Rockport

4. How to Travel: The Port Aransas Ferry

5. Day Trips to Corpus Christi

Quilly’s RV Park is a small family-owned RV park with 51 sites, all of which either back-into a stocked fishing pond, or a pasture mowed with several trails.  The sites are gravel with a concrete pad, but are decently spaced apart.   Other amenities include a small laundry building ($1.50/load) and decent wi-fi.  Residents can also rent some on-site storage units.   The park has cleared some land to build a community center and in-ground swimming pool.  

Campground managers Keith and Danelle greeted us with a goodie bag filled with information about the area, a souvenire keychain/bottle opener, and some Quilly’s-branded fish food.   As we chatted, they told us about the “Winter Texan Appreciation” even that the local chamber of commerce would be hosting later that month.   The RV Park would also host a pot-luck later that month, where residents would show off their faborite soup recipe. “Let us know if ya’all needed anything else,” Keith said.   

Turns out, the only thing we ended up needing during our stay was a new fishing pole and some good binoculars for bird watching.   The temperatures were a little chilly (usually in the 70s) for beach bumming so that’s what a lot of the Winter Texans do in the area:  fish and bird watch.

Quilly’s was a perfect place to do both.  Quilly’s is home to four fishing ponds, and our site backed up to a small fishing pond about 30 yards away.  We bought a cheap fishing pole from Walmart and spent several hours by the side of “our” pond.  We spotted a few egrets, turtles, and birds as well.  I picked up a new causal hobby during our stay – birding – and have much more to say on that below.   Several trails snaked around our pond, and those trails were a great place to walk the dogs and stretch our legs.

My only complaint about Quilly’s is are the two bumpy gravel roads that lead from the highway into the park. Even though going slow, our rig took a pretty good beating on the way into the park because of all of the bumps and holes in the road. We literally traveled at 1-2 mph as we were leaving the park with our RV, and that helped a little. A little maintenance to those roads would be welcome.

Overall, I absolutely loved our time at Quilly’s RV park in Rockport, Texas!  Thank you to owners Leo and Katie (and managers Keith and Danelle) for a wonderful first time in the area as Winter Texans!

One of the big draws to to the Rockport area is the numerous birds that call it home during all or part of the year. Birders flock to the year to watch and count the birds. We decided to give “birding” a try, and by the end of our stay in Rockport, I’m proud to call myself an amateur “birder.” Here are some of the places that we explored on our birding adventures.

Our first birding expedition was to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. a protected area in Texas that is home to a diverse array of plant and animal life, including many species of birds and alligators. The refuge is located on the coast of Texas and is known for its wetlands, which provide habitat for a wide range of species.  Within a few minutes, we spotted our first alligator swimming across a marshy area just off a pier near the Visitor’s Center.

Our luck did not stop there. We decided to visit on a Saturday and also lucked out because Bob Showler, a longtime park ranger-turned-volunteer and bird expert, was giving a guided tour of the area.   Bob lent us each a pair of binoculars, and we joined about a dozen other folks of varying levels of birding expertise for a driving caravan that lasted about 2.5 hours.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the Aransas National Wildlife Preserve has resulted in an astounding 405 species of waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds.  Visitors can obtain a checklist of those birds with delineations that outline whether a bird is common, uncommon, occasional, rare, or there is no record of the bird during each season (spring, summer, fall, winter).  The checklists also lets birders know whether the bird’s habitat is aquatic, brushland, forest/woodland, grassland, or marsh. 

It was amazing to see Bob and the other experienced birders point out and name a particular bird.  In some cases, they would hear a bird and immediately call out the species.  At the conclusion of the tour, Bob graciously volunteered to email us a list of what he saw that day.  The list is definitely “what he saw” because I didn’t see half of what Bob saw.  Here’s the list though:

1.     Blue-winged Teal (6)
2.     Gadwall (2)
3.     American Wigeon (2)
4.     Least Grebe (1)
5.     Pied-billed Grebe (3)
6.     Eurasian Collared-Dove (2)
7.     Common Gallinule (4)
8.     American Coot (1)
9.     Killdeer (3)
10.  Wilson's Snipe (1)
11.  Greater Yellowlegs (2)
12.  Willet (1)
13.  Forster's Tern (1)

14.  Neotropic Cormorant (2)
15.  American White Pelican (15)
16.  Brown Pelican (2)
17.  Great Blue Heron (5)
18.  Great Egret (1)
19.  Little Blue Heron (2)
20.  Tricolored Heron (1)
21.  Reddish Egret (1)
22.  Green Heron (1)
23.  White Ibis (5)
24.  Roseate Spoonbill (6)
25.  Black Vulture (4)
26.  Turkey Vulture (2)

27.  Northern Harrier (1)
28.  Red-shouldered Hawk (1)
29.  American Kestrel (3)
30.  Eastern Phoebe (1)
31.  Couch's Kingbird (3)
32.  Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
33.  House Wren (1)
34.  Gray Catbird (1)
35.  Northern Mockingbird (2)
36.  Common Grackle (250)
37.  Great-tailed Grackle (2)
38.  Yellow-rumped Warbler (25)
39.  Northern Cardinal (1)

This was our first time birding, and it was amazing! Our experience with Bob at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge really got my feathers preened to see more birds. 

Goose Island State Park is a small, beautiful, but oddly-shaped, coastal park located in Rockport, Texas.   Part of the park is on Goose Island, including 44 RV sites (water/electric) that face Aransas Bay, fishing pier, and kayak launch station where visitors can rent from a self-serve kayak station.   Another part of the park is located on the mainland, which features a picnic area located by a native plant and butterfly attraction area and a 1.1-mile hiking and birdwatching trail (Turks Cap Loop) nestled between another 57 RV campsites.   A final part of the park is located just along State Park Road 13 as it goes north along Palmetto Street and then east to one of the main attractions, the Big Tree.

Spoiler alert: The area near the Big Tree is the BIG and BEST THING to do at Goose Island State Park.

The Big Tree is a massive live oak tree that is over 1,000 years old and with a circumference of over 35 feet and height of over 45 feet, the tree is the largest of its kind in the state of Texas.  The tree is a designated Texas State Champion and is a popular spot for visitors to take pictures and admire its grandeur.  Although the Big Tree is part of the state park, visitors don’t have to pay the $5/person admission fee to the park to see it. 

Perhaps the best part of Goose Island State Park wasn’t actually in the state part itself.  Just across from the Big Tree (between State Park Road 13 and 8th Street) is a pond where six whooping cranes made their home.  If there was anything that fed my birding interest, seeing one of these rare creatures in person was it!   According to The Cornell Lab:

In 1941 there were only 21 Whooping Cranes left: 15 were migrants between Canada and Texas while the rest lived year-round in Louisiana. The Louisiana population went extinct, and all 600 of today’s Whooping Cranes (about 440 in the wild and 160 in captivity) are descended from the small flock that breeds in Texas.

The whooping cranes strutted about in two groups of three, completely oblivious the human onlookers, two dozen cattle, throngs of redwing blackbirds, and pair of sandhill cranes nearby.  Hearing the “whoop” was a true bucket list experience.

Let me just give a WHOOP! WHOOP! for Goose Island State Park!

The Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas also ranks high on our birding list. The place is really a series of boardwalks and trails; there are not any buildings on site, and a public restroom is located just across the street. 

The birding center offers a variety of programs and activities for visitors of all ages, including bird watching tours, bird identification classes, and conservation workshops. We took advantage of a 9 am bird watching tour, and spent about three hours at the center. 

Thanks to our experiences at the Aransas National Wildlife Preserve and Goose Island State Park, we were now getting serious about birding.   By the time we visited the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, we each had a pair of 20x binoculars and had download a couple of birding mobile apps to help us identify and track bird species:  eBird and Merlin – both of which were created by Cornell Labs.  At the center, we spotted 30+ different shore birds, including the largest flock of pelicans I’ve ever seen in my life!   Our birding guide also spotted a couple of whooping cranes with his huge telescope in the far distance!

When our birding guide pointed to a “Wilson’s Snipe,” we both thought he was joking.  For us, a “snipe hunt” was all about being duped into trying to find a non-existent animal called a snipe.  But it turns out that there is a family of birds called snipes!

Our birding adventures took us to Corpus Christi for a day, where we first visited the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve.   Our 9 am “Winter Birding 101” tour included several talkative Boy Scouts so we ultimately left the large group and explored the preserve on our own.   We didn’t have the best luck and saw only a handful of common shore birds.

We drove a short distance to the Hans and Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge, which also backs up to Oso Bay in Corpus Christi.  We took a the 1-mile nature trail and 800-foot boardwalk for good views of Oso Bay, grassy marshes, woodlands and mudflats.   While the signs there looked promising, we didn’t spot many birds.

Our big birding find that day was a pair of yellow crowned night herons at the Hans and Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge.

Dog’Gone Brewery

Rockport is a sleepy coastal town, but there is one craft brewery that people wake up for, especially on Thursday.  Once a week, the Dog'Gone Brewery is packed with tourists and locals for BINGO.  Two BINGO cards cost $15, but that also comes with two drink tokens.  The brewery serves a number of house craft beers (try the Chester’s Coffee stout) and wines since the location also doubles as Winery on the Bay. 

The brewery/winery supports a number of local pet rescues, and dogs are abundant both inside and outside the venue.  That’s another reason to sing “B-I-N-G-O….and BINGO was his name-o.”

Nueces Brewing 

Take a 25-minute drive to Corpus Christi to check out Nueces Brewing and also sample some of the brewery’s amazing barbeque!   The BBQ brisket taco had generous helpings of meat and other goodness.

As far as beers go, we both fell in love with the Horchata Beeronga – a sweet vanilla cinnamon blonde with a cinnamon-sugar rim.   We even bought growler to take home, which we opened a few weeks later in celebration of the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs Superbowl win. The Horchata Beergona tasted even better with that victory.

There’s a huge taproom and outdoor space at Nueces so the brewery is a great place for gatherings with friends. 

As someone who grew up in land-locked Kansas, I find the whole concept of traveling by ferry quite fascinating.  During our stay in Rockport Texas, we wanted to visit nearby Port Aransas located in Mustang Island to see the beaches and do some more birding.  While we could get to Mustang Island by traveling south to Corpus Christi and the over the JFK Causeway, a much more direct and quicker route involved taking Highway 361 until it terminated to a short 10-minute quarter-mile ferry ride.  Today, the ferry is one of the main ways for residents and vehicles to travel between Mustang Island and the mainland. 

Warning: Sitting in a car on a ferry ride can feel odd because you are moving but the car isn’t. Just ask Kasie, who I teased about feeling a little seasick.

One of the best things about the Port Aransas ferry ride is that it is free. The first commercial ferry dates back to 1911.  By the 1950s, Neuces County took over the ferry operations, and then when the Texas Department of Transportation assumed ownership of the ferry system in 1968, it eliminated all tolls. 

Today, the ferry is a modern, efficient way to cross the ship channel.  The ferry ride usually takes about 10-15 minutes but delays up to an hour can occur in the case of channel dredging, fog, or other inclement weather.  The Texas DOT twitter feed is a great way to check for delays. 

The port runs between 2-6 ferries at a time, each of which can accommodate up to regular 20 vehicles at a time.  There are size and weight limitations, but we saw several RVs, including our a Jayco Seneca (the “twin sister” to our Entegra Accolade) on board.   Pedestrians and bikers can also ride the ferry. 

I wondered why the state didn’t just build a causeway or bridge because Texas spends millions of dollars each year on ferry operations.   Because the distance to Port Aransas is so small, only a draw bridge would work because of the height needed to provide clearance to the large ships passing through the channel. 

Because yhe Port Aransas ferry ride is so short and the waterways are fairly busy, there isn’t much to see or do on the ferry ride other than maybe gawk at a few pelicans or other shore birds.  A much more entertaining ferry ride is the Galveston-Port Bolivar ferry just a few hours to the north, where we saw dolphins an great views of the ports and island.     

Corpus Christi is only about a half-hour from Rockport so we decided to take a few day trips to the big city. Corpus Christi is probably best known for its great beaches. We aren’t really “beach people” so we decided to check out some other things to do there.

#1: Visit the Home of the Whataburger

Say WHAT?  One of my favorite fast food restaurants – Whataburger -- was launched in Corpus Christi, Texas by Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton.   Back in 1950, Dobson wanted the business to feature a big burger unlike any other on the market:  ¼ pound of fresh beef, fresh lettuce, three slices of tomato, four dill pickles, chopped onions, mustard, and catsup – all on a specially commissioned 5” bun.  The thing would be so big that it would take two hands to hold, and so good that after biting into it, the customer would explain “What a burger!”

Within a year, the partnership would end when Dobson wanted to raise the price of the hamburger to thirty cents and Burton did not.   Burton got the franchise rights to San Antonio, and Dobson would have the rights to everything else.  In 2001, the 77th Texas Legislature officially designated Whataburger as a "Texas Treasure."  Today, there are over 850 Whataburgers throughout the South and Midwest.

The original Whataburger shack where this famous burger got started is is gone, but there’s a replica located at the 4126 S Staples Street location in Corpus Christi.  We just had to check it out….

Fun Facts about Whataburger:

1. The first neon sign flash in four stages: What…A…Burger…Whataburger.

2. Whataburger founder Harmon Dobson was an avid pilot, and his aviation experiences inspired the orange-and-white A-frame building, which was first used at Whataburger #24 in Odessa Texas in 1961.

3. Astronauts were sent Whataburger cookies on Space Shuttle Columbia.

4. There’s a What-A-Burger chain of burger joints in Virginia and the South Carolina are not related to the Whataburger franchise.  After a trademark dispute, the two entities entered into a co-existence agreement. 

5. Whataburger was the first fast food restaurant to sell a ¼-pound burger. 

6. Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes co-owns several Whataburger franchises.   That’s who turned me on to the chain. #chiefs #superbowlchampions

#2: Hop Aboard the USS Lexington

The USS Lexington is hard to miss.  From Highway 181, visitors can see the hulking ship with about 20 aircraft aboard on the flight deck.   Since 1992, the USS Lexington Museum has been a popular tourist destination, attracting over 200,000 visitors annually. The museum offers guided tours of the ship, as well as exhibits and displays that showcase the ship's history and the technology used during its service. It’s the #1 Thing to Do in the Corpus Christi area on Trip Advisor.

8 Fun Facts About the USS Lexington

1. The USS Lexington (CV-16) should probably be known as Lexi VII it was the seventh US navy ship to be named in honor of the Battle of Lexington (at least according to wiki).

2. The USS Lexington (CV-16) was originally named Cabot, but was renamed after another USS Lexington (CV-2) was sunk during the Battle of Coral Sea in 1942.

3. The USS Lexington was commissioned in 1943 and served in World War II, participating in several key battles in the Pacific, including the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where the ship was hit by a Japanese Kamikaze.  The strike killed around 50 crew members and injured at least 130 more, but due to Damage Control's heroic firefighters and crew, major blazes were under control and normal flight actions resumed within 20 minutes.

4. The USS Lexington was affectionately known as the "Blue Ghost" by the Japanese because it was believed to have been sunk multiple times but always seemed to reappear.

5. The USS Lexington was involved in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot," which was a major victory for the U.S. Navy and marked the end of Japan's ability to launch large-scale carrier attacks.

6. The USS Lexington became the first aircraft carrier in United States naval history to have women crew members in 1980.

7. The USS Lexington can hold enough gas to drive a car around the world 132 times.

8. The USS Lexington weighs 33,000 tons, has 16 decks, and a flight deck of more than 2 acres.

Touring the USS Lexington Museum

Visitors to the USS Lexington can go on five different self-guided tours: (1) Flight Deck tour, (2) Foc’sle Tour, (3) Gallery Deck Tour, (4) Lower Deck Tour, and (5) Hangar Deck Tour.  There’s a 3D theatre and restrooms located on the Hanger Deck.

The museum’s signs do a great job showing visitors the route for teach tour.  Most of the tours wind through parts of the ship, and it is easy to lose all sense of direction.   In addition, visitors must climb LOTS of narrow steep stairs and hurdle the bottom of the oval openings between ship compartments.  Except for the Flight Deck and Hanger Deck areas, the ship is not wheelchair accessible. 

Of the five tours, the Lower Deck Tour was by far my favorite.  With the galley, dental clinic, sick bay, chapel, and other rooms, we really got a feel for how the crew lived on board the ship.   My other favorite part of the tour was the flight deck, where about 20 planes on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation are on display.  The flight deck can hold 90 aircraft, but standing on the flight deck really gave me perspective about the size of the USS Lexington.  It’s 872 feet long, which comparable to most of today’s cruise ships. 

While we enjoyed our tour of the ship, the way the rooms are staged were confusing to us at times:

• First, because the USS Lexington was in service for so long, the rooms are staged with artifacts that span decades.  For example, the Post Office was staged with a letter from the 1940s and more modern “Express Mail” packages.   T

• Second, we really questioned the authenticity of some of the artifacts. For example, Kasie noticed that right across from the ship’s galley (kitchen) area where some mannequins were preparing a Thanksgiving feast of plastic ham, potatoes, and carrots, there was a large dinner menu sign. BUT the sign said that THANKSGIVING on a Sunday April 1, 1945!

The technology used in the USS Lexington Museum could also use updating.  The interactive exhibits consist mostly of pushing a button to make a creepy mannequin talk behind some plexiglass.  The antiquated “talking” technology basically consists of a film projected onto the mannequin’s face. 

Despite these critiques, at just $18.95/person, the USS Lexington Museum gives visitors ample things to learn about and experience.   We spent about four hours at the museum and barely made it through all five tours.  While we learned a lot, I’d characterize our visit as “superficial” because didn’t spend much time reading or really digging into the exhibits.  There’s enough information on each tour to easily spend 3-4 hours on a single tour alone for people who are history buffs or navy brats.    Overall, I really enjoyed our visit, and think that it was worth the money.