On our way to Louisiana

We left Port Arthur Walmart, heading towards Louisiana. On the way as we were heading South toward the 82 in Louisiana and spotted another playground while crossing a huge bridge. This playground looked amazing from the distance but when we got out we soon realized it isn't really the best of areas. We ran into school on a class trip and the teachers were like, "why'd you come here?" The playground smelled like...pardone me... urine so we only played for a few minutes and got out of there. It's too bad as from the distance it looked like it was another amazing playground like the one we found HERE.

 

Around lunchtime we were passing by Lake Charles Louisiana and stopped into Darrell's to have a Shrimp Po Boy. I had heard these were amazing and they were delisious! I'd recomend a stop here if you are near Lake Charles. We had a hard time finding parking for our trailer but we found a shop on the street directly behind Darrell's that let us park there while we walked over for lunch.The restaurant doesn't look like much inside or out but the food was yummy!

We drove until Gozales and found the Cabela's.

 The girls enjoyed all the taxidermied animals and the fish tank!

And we enjoyed our lakefront...yes I said lakefront spot for the night at Cabela's. They use the lake as a test launching site so people can try out the boats before they buy them. We were the only RV there. There were a couple of trucks when we arrived but they left shortly after we arrived so we had the lot all to ourselves.

We have never stayed at a Cabela's before so I am not sure if they all do this or not, but this Cabela's had dog kennels and horse corrals for animals, as well as a free RV dump. We really needed the dump so this was a great surprise.

Sierra and Aayla both enjoyed pretending to be puppies in the kennels.

 Our Cabela's sunset was beautiful!

Tomorrow we arrive in New Orleans.

Hermit crabs, Galveston, and debris filled beach sends us to Walmart for the night

This morning we said goodbye to our marine Hermit crabs. We enjoyed them as pets for a couple days but since we are leaving the beach we must say goodbye.

Bye bye Hermit Crabs and bye bye Magnolia Beach. Off we go in search of more beach camping. We drove to Surfside but all the beaches there said NO Camping, we drove through Galveston and again No Camping signs. We did however stop in Galveston at yet another Rainforest Cafe.

This one had a River Ride which looked like fun... Really it was an expensive 10 minute ride along a river. The girls really enjoyed it but I think it should have been free or 1/2 price with a paid meal. It did only cost $5.99 each but still that adds up when you times it by 4! Two years and under are FREE. Everyone else pays the same price.

The ride was decorated much like the restaurant and like a mini Disney ride floating down a river.

After lunch we headed towards the Galveston Ferry. We were surprised that it was a FREE ferry

 since coming onto Galveston Island we had to pay a $2.00 toll.

This FREE ferry was only about 18 minutes but we had fun on it :)





Us parked on the ferry











The ferry actually announces to go to the back of the ferry to "feed the seagulls". There is no way they would promote that at home on our ferries. The girls had a lot of fun. We were told there is actually a store on the dock that sells bread you can buy but we didn't have time when we arrived. The gulls didn't mind our whole wheat!

And we got to see more dolphins :)

We left Galveston (they do NOT allow overnight RVing at Walmart) in search of a beach to spend one night at on our way to New Orleans. The public beaches here in Texas are FREE to camp on and we found a spot just South of a little town called High Island (right at the junction of 87 and 124 just East of Galveston).
We pulled in and parked right on the water again...however we were not impressed with this beach very much. We have found this to be the case with MOST of the beaches we have seen in Texas.

There were also oil wells right behind us.

The girls played for a few minutes and we were going to stay but the longer we stayed the more we wanted to leave so we decided to leave and head to Walmart in Port Arthur for the night instead. A VERY sad state when you choose to sleep at Walmart instead of at the beach due to garbage. The thing that is even more sad is all the beaches here are lined with garbage cans. Sure some garbage washes ashore, some is perhaps Hurricane debris... but we have spent time on many beaches...in hurricane paths like Jamaica and Antigua but we have never seen such dirty beaches. Take some pride people and follow these simple steps...



Step 1 Open drink





Step 2 Enjoy your drink



 





Step 3 Enjoy your time at the beach



Step 4 Finish your drink



Step 5 walk over to the garbage can







Step 6 Place TRASH in the provided
garbage cans or take it home with you!

Sorry to sound so rude about it but come on...these beaches are gross. No wonder they are FREE! Lets have some pride people...no matter if you are living here, or visiting here...do your part. Maybe there would be an excuse if there were no garbage cans around but we have seen more garbage cans on Texas beaches then anywhere else we have been in the world so there is no excuse!

Put your garbage where it belongs so we can all enjoy the beaches! And if you head here and it's still gross...continue on to Port Arthur. The Walmart there allows overnight RVing. Customer Service was unsure but when they tracked down the manager they said it was up to Security and Security said' "of course they can!" We have a very nice sequrity lady keep an eye out on us all night and had no problems what so ever...(except the street cleaner around midnight was a bit loud)

WANT TO WIN an RV COVER? Go take a look at Travels with Kevin and Ruth's post HERE for all the details. Blogger won't let me comment at the moment but I will be sure to keep checking in to enter!

Boondocking REVIEW Magnolia Beach, Texas, FREE Camping

This is a great little beach and not busy at all (at least not when we were here). We had a few neighbours but they were well spaced, quiet and it felt like we had the beach to ourselves.

Directions:
Heading to Port Lavaca from Chorpus Christi on the 35 turn right on 87 and immediately turn right on Alcoa Dr. Turn Right onto 238. This continues straight and turns into 316. Turn left onto farm rd 2760. This ends at the beach but you have to continue left and then right to get down to Beach drive. The beach is 8 miles long and there are a few different places you can pull off and camp.

Value 5/5
FREE and no time limit so we were told. There are no signs posting anything differently.

Site Quality 5/5
Amazing crushed shell beach which is perfectly flat. No services but a boondocking gem!

Facility Fun 4/5
8 miles of shell beach...mostly crushed shells but there are beauties to be found and we found 5 large hermit crabs as well. Right beside us are covered picnis tables with garbage and recycling bins, and a barbeque pit. Washrooms, a playground, a public boat launch and RV dump site are near by so we are told. However we loved the beach so much we didn't venture further down to find them. Many birds and nearby bird watching trails and did I mention the fabulous beach you can park for FREE on!

Natural Surroundings 4.5/5
If you love beaches you will love it here. There is a constant breeze but it is so refreshing. The water is warm and not much seaweed so you can enjoy a swim and the beaches are CLEAN. Most beaches we have seen in Texas have been full of debris) It is fairly deep and not much beach area before a small drop and then it gradually gets deeper, fairly quickly (My 4 1/2 year old was fine, my 3 year old was a bit timid of the drop). The water seems a bit murky but the small waves are constantly rolling against the drop off and stirring up the water. Shells galore as well as various bird and nearby bird watching trails. Fishing and crabbing right on the beach.
Bathrooms ???

Staff N/A

Location 4/5
A beautiful beach only 12 miles SE of Port lavaca where you have all your basic needs. This beach is fairly unknown and therefore very quiet.

Overal 4.5/5
Amazing FREE camping on the BEACH. Each morning I awoke and was still amazed that this is FREE and no time limit! A stroll along the 8 mile beach lands you handfulls of beautiful shells when you search. The beach is made up of broken shells but there are good shells to be found. Many variety of shore birds present, few people nearby. We enjoyed a few peaceful, quiet, sun, surf and sand filled days. We didn't do any exploring other then strolling along the beach. We enjoyed our time on this wonderful beach and will make this a stop for sure on any trip back to the Texas coast!

Our site right on the beach with no near by neighbours



The Picnic table areas...this one had a tent camper beside it
but RV's have to park off on the side on the beach



Some of our Hermit Crab friends

A sea gull on the close up of the crush shell beach

The beach at dusk