Our first Christmas while full-timing

Although we have traveled to Clearwater Beach Florida before at this time of the year it sure is a different experience knowing that our stay will last longer than a week or so. But we are sure we will adapt as it is cold and snowing in our old stomping grounds of the Kansas City area right now while it is 72 degrees here. We are still at Watersedge RV Park in Rockport Texas and will be until January 4th and as you can see from the photo we are literally on the waters edge. We only had to walk a few steps to take this photo.

That is not to say that it has not been cold here. A couple of days after we got here the temperatures got to near freezing and we saw some snow flurries during the day. It snowed much more inland but we are so close to the water that it dampened the effect. No matter how much snow you get or don't get it still is very nice to watch it snow all day from the warmth of our new home and not have to worry about going somewhere. All day long we were using the furnace since it was too cold to run the heat pump. About 10p that night we started getting a little chilly and only then realized that the furnace had not run for a while. Bob made sure there was propane and tried a couple of things but it was not to be. For just such an emergency we had brought along a ceramic heater. We brought that heater out of the rear storage area but could not get it to work so we had to make a mad dash to Wal-Mart, by now it is close to midnight, and buy a couple of small heaters. They did the trick and kept us toasty overnight. While putting up the heaters the next day Bob discovered that the heater that we had brought along actually did work, the problem was the timer somehow got engaged and it was set to not work during that time. Once that was corrected it works perfectly. Now we have three heaters for the next furnace emergency. The good news is that the temperature got warmer the next day and we have not needed the furnace since.

For our first Christmas while full-timing there is one area that we already have seen an improvement in and that is we got Christmas cards earlier this year than we have for a long time. We also have decorated indoors for the first time in a while. We are not sure what to do outdoors so we may get ideas from walking around the park and wait till next year.

We will be doing a full blown review of the Rockport area later but we wanted to mention our dining adventures at Alice Faye's on the Bay which is a couple of blocks from our park. Oysters are in season so we have had fresh oyster shooters, not on the half shell here, and they are some of the best oysters we have ever had. So far we have eaten there twice and got the exact same thing both times; dozen oysters, shrimp po boy and oyster po boy. Not only are the oysters good both fresh and fried in a po boy but the shrimp fresh from the gulf is also hard to beat. They have lunch specials we want to try and they serve breakfast, we sense a shrimp omellete in our future.

As we plan what to see and do next in this area we are a tad bit overwhelmed by all that there is to do. We are 30 miles from Corpus Christi so a day trip there to see the USS Lexington (the same class carrier that Bob's dad served on in WWII) and the Texas State Aquarium. Another day trip to Corpus Christi could be for the Museum of Science and Industry and the Marina/Bay Front Park. Right in the immediate Rockport area is the Fulton Mansion and the Texas Maritime Museum. Just north along the coast is a National Wildlife Refuge where the whooping cranes winter. Along with the whooping cranes the area is known for the vast number of bird species that can be spotted since this is along migratory routes. We also like just driving along the coast or driving to a park on the water and sit and read a book, or look at the water and shore birds. At first a month seemed like a long time but a lot of our neighbors here are here for 3-4 months which is something we may consider the next time we are in this area.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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