April 1st - April 2nd, 2017
Since we moved to Texas I have been wanted to go camping on the beach which I read about being able to do here at Mustang Island. In early April we finally decided to go! Before heading down we decided to go the Scottish Festival that was going on not far from us. As usual, when we go to Scottish Festivals it was a pretty rainy day (at this point we should have just nixed the camping idea, but it seemed that every time we wanted to go camping, the weather wasn't ideal, but we continued on....) We had some really yummy Scottish food, I got a banger with cabbage, and Dave enjoyed some of the best haggis he has ever had. We got some kettle corn and went home to get Rex, load up the car and hit the road.
Luckily it's not too far of a drive, just shy of 3 hours. It was pretty gloomy upon arrival, very cloudy. We were both surprised at how barren it was. It wasn't like any sort of beach town we had been to before and was honestly pretty ugly. It was pretty much a ghost town (another red flag that the weather wasn't ideal!). We found a cute little shop to get some dinner. Since we had Rex we had to sit outside. The food was out pretty quickly because we were literally the only customers there. I got shrimp tacos and Dave had Ruben, both were really yummy. They had a huge menu, I'd love to try them again!
It was really windy and things kept trying to blow away, we had to keep a tight hold on our napkins. The restaurant was at the end of a strip mall with a few other places. A bar next door was getting ready to open, employees were walking past us from the parking lot. One girl was walking in and I wasn't really paying attention to what happened but I saw she started looking around on the ground near the parking lot, talking on the phone, sounding very panicked. She went into the restaurant and came back out with a few coworkers, at this point she was very emotional and distressed.
From what she said to her coworkers, we gathered that she had $500 and it had slipped out of her hand and blown away. I sat there debating what to do. Should we go help? Should I ask to pray with them? I decided to just say a prayer to myself. Not even 30 seconds later, she exclaimed saying she had found the money! Dave then said, "That's some divine intervention right there." And I said, "Yeah, I literally just finished saying a prayer." I have often thought back on that moment in times when I'm not sure what to do, I am reminded, did I think to pray? How blessed we are to have that connection to our Father in Heaven who is always ready and willing to help us!
We went back to the state park to get our tent set up. It was so crazy and a little scary to drive on the beach! I'm so glad we didn't get stuck! You can just drive along and find a place you would like to camp, there are not assigned places really. We went down so it was pretty secluded and began to work on setting up our tent. And here is where the disaster really began... It was SO WINDY the tent basically turned into a kite! It was such a struggle to set up our tent, which is normally the easiest tent to set up. Luckily we had enough stuff, between our sleeping bags, our clothes, and Rex's bed, the tent was weighed down it didn't try to take flight once it was set up.
Rex wasn't a fan of the water so we tied him up and went swimming, staying close so we could keep an eye on him. The waves were really fun. The waves in VA were huge and I always felt like I never had any control. In Florida, where we went, there wasn't really any waves, so this was a happy medium.
We forgot to buy wood so we couldn't do a bonfire (*sobbing*) so once the sun set we just went to bed. Rex was not very happy once the sun was gone. I don't think he likes not being able to see what is around him, so any noises in the brush made him freak out a bit and he had to stay super close to us.
It was a pretty rough night, it was so windy the tent was flapping around the entire time, I feel like I just checked my phone every hour, seeing how long it was until sunrise. I got up just at sunrise and hoped to get a pretty time-lapse, but unfortunately, it was still really foggy, so there wasn't much of a sunrise.
We cleaned up our tent, which was now very salty and sandy from the ocean spray all night, such a mess! We went to a little German bakery for breakfast, they had great reviews and were really busy. We shared a couple danishes and got a couple omelets, but the omelets were super overcooked.
We drove around a little more and explored a few other areas. But it was so strange how barren and honestly ugly it was! The weather wasn't helping, but I think it was honestly the ugliest place I have ever been hahaha! Honestly, my editing of the photos makes it look much nicer.
And then, upon getting home, we had the joy of trying to clean all the sand out of the tent, off the dog and out of the car. Such a mess! Who knows if I will ever convince Dave to give camping on the beach another try.... hahaha! Oh well, good or bad, it's always an adventure!
We made a little vlog of the trip so feel free to check that out!
Since we moved to Texas I have been wanted to go camping on the beach which I read about being able to do here at Mustang Island. In early April we finally decided to go! Before heading down we decided to go the Scottish Festival that was going on not far from us. As usual, when we go to Scottish Festivals it was a pretty rainy day (at this point we should have just nixed the camping idea, but it seemed that every time we wanted to go camping, the weather wasn't ideal, but we continued on....) We had some really yummy Scottish food, I got a banger with cabbage, and Dave enjoyed some of the best haggis he has ever had. We got some kettle corn and went home to get Rex, load up the car and hit the road.
Luckily it's not too far of a drive, just shy of 3 hours. It was pretty gloomy upon arrival, very cloudy. We were both surprised at how barren it was. It wasn't like any sort of beach town we had been to before and was honestly pretty ugly. It was pretty much a ghost town (another red flag that the weather wasn't ideal!). We found a cute little shop to get some dinner. Since we had Rex we had to sit outside. The food was out pretty quickly because we were literally the only customers there. I got shrimp tacos and Dave had Ruben, both were really yummy. They had a huge menu, I'd love to try them again!
It was really windy and things kept trying to blow away, we had to keep a tight hold on our napkins. The restaurant was at the end of a strip mall with a few other places. A bar next door was getting ready to open, employees were walking past us from the parking lot. One girl was walking in and I wasn't really paying attention to what happened but I saw she started looking around on the ground near the parking lot, talking on the phone, sounding very panicked. She went into the restaurant and came back out with a few coworkers, at this point she was very emotional and distressed.
From what she said to her coworkers, we gathered that she had $500 and it had slipped out of her hand and blown away. I sat there debating what to do. Should we go help? Should I ask to pray with them? I decided to just say a prayer to myself. Not even 30 seconds later, she exclaimed saying she had found the money! Dave then said, "That's some divine intervention right there." And I said, "Yeah, I literally just finished saying a prayer." I have often thought back on that moment in times when I'm not sure what to do, I am reminded, did I think to pray? How blessed we are to have that connection to our Father in Heaven who is always ready and willing to help us!
We went back to the state park to get our tent set up. It was so crazy and a little scary to drive on the beach! I'm so glad we didn't get stuck! You can just drive along and find a place you would like to camp, there are not assigned places really. We went down so it was pretty secluded and began to work on setting up our tent. And here is where the disaster really began... It was SO WINDY the tent basically turned into a kite! It was such a struggle to set up our tent, which is normally the easiest tent to set up. Luckily we had enough stuff, between our sleeping bags, our clothes, and Rex's bed, the tent was weighed down it didn't try to take flight once it was set up.
We forgot to buy wood so we couldn't do a bonfire (*sobbing*) so once the sun set we just went to bed. Rex was not very happy once the sun was gone. I don't think he likes not being able to see what is around him, so any noises in the brush made him freak out a bit and he had to stay super close to us.
It was a pretty rough night, it was so windy the tent was flapping around the entire time, I feel like I just checked my phone every hour, seeing how long it was until sunrise. I got up just at sunrise and hoped to get a pretty time-lapse, but unfortunately, it was still really foggy, so there wasn't much of a sunrise.
We cleaned up our tent, which was now very salty and sandy from the ocean spray all night, such a mess! We went to a little German bakery for breakfast, they had great reviews and were really busy. We shared a couple danishes and got a couple omelets, but the omelets were super overcooked.
We drove around a little more and explored a few other areas. But it was so strange how barren and honestly ugly it was! The weather wasn't helping, but I think it was honestly the ugliest place I have ever been hahaha! Honestly, my editing of the photos makes it look much nicer.
And then, upon getting home, we had the joy of trying to clean all the sand out of the tent, off the dog and out of the car. Such a mess! Who knows if I will ever convince Dave to give camping on the beach another try.... hahaha! Oh well, good or bad, it's always an adventure!
We made a little vlog of the trip so feel free to check that out!
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