Ever been deep sea fishing in Texas? Yeah, me neither.

Port Aransas is a small island off the coast of Southern Texas, near Corpus Christi. Even though I spent a couple of years in the Lone Star state, I never made it out to any of the beaches.  It was a great experience being able to experience beaches outside of Florida – I was pleasantly surprised by what it had to offer!

Middle of nowhere, TX.

Happy this pretty girl was able to come on the trip! 🙂

After a good night’s rest in Fort Worth (thank you Brian and Kim for hosting us and sharing the weekend with us!) we were on the open road southward.

The road trip was a long and fun one.  While Texas is as flat as Florida in many places, it was cool to travel through the Hill Country in the center of the state. While they are no mountains, it is a nice change of pace to see rolling green hills in contrast to the general flat ‘brown-ness’ found elsewhere throughout the state.  Oh, there were also plenty of fun places we travelled through. Places like Luling (fun to say 5 times in a row), Gonzales (that’s a great name, isn’t it?), and Refugio (pronounced ‘ri-FYOOR-ee-oh‘) kept things entertaining.

The next morning it was up bright and early (very bright and early!) to make it to the fishing boat! Watching the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico was incredible.

Now let me just say this: it wasn’t a good fishing day.  Not much was caught and the overall sentiment on the boat was one of frustration by the end of trip. There were quite a few Bonnethead sharks caught early in the trip (fantastic photo below, not my catch), but the afternoon didn’t prove to yield as many fish as the morning did. The captain did the best he could to get us close to the oil derricks which are where fish congregate at, but that unfortunately didn’t help.  Oh well, better luck next time I suppose.

Our last tourist-y stop was the USS Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi. It actually wasn’t a planned stop until the last minute but I’m glad we visited – what a great place! I grew up a Navy-brat, so naturally this kind of stuff fascinates me.  It was so interesting to  be aboard a vessel that at one point housed thousands of young soldiers so far away from the U.S. mainland (my dad included!).  I’d definitely recommend it to anyone with a few hours to blow in Corpus Christi!

Welcome aboard!

Blue Angel on the flight deck!

Overall we had a blast and I can’t wait to return soon! *Don’t mess with Texas*

This was truly a dream trip.  I got to do and see so much over the course of a couple of days.

Not to sound too cliché, but the weather was truly to die for. Clear, sunny skies and highs in the low 70’s. We are finally getting ‘cooler’ back home in Florida, but at the time it was in the mid to high 80’s back home. Needless to say I didn’t spend too much time indoors.

One of my dreams has always to been to ride the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and the Golden Gate area of the Bay Area. I can officially cross this of my bucket list – I did it on this gal’:

Such a great experience riding this bike  – I couldn’t have asked for more. Some of my other stops include Santa Cruz Beach, beautiful Yosemite National Park, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, Muir Woods, and of course, the Golden Gate Bridge Recreation area.

This view alone made this trip worth it.

I had blast – San Fran is a cool city and definitely lived up to the hype. I’ll definitely be visiting again!

This was the best picture of the day, in my opinion. Taken from Tunnel View Point.

Typical SF residential view.

Yosemite. Stunning.

Have never seen an Apple Store like this – the inside was equally as modern.

Entrance to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

To think Al Capone once walked these halls.

Obligatory Double-Double – a must when visiting the Western U.S.

Living the dream.

Driving to Yosemite – not used to these kinds of views.