Magnolia Beach, Texas
November 3, 2022
Magnolia Beach.
Magnolia Beach was an amazing place to be in an RV, particularly in one that has a deck off the back.
Magnolia Beach is not exactly an amazing beach, however, and definitely not an amazing locale-- especially as compared to more popular tourist beach destinations. But, it had exactly the kind of attributes that worked for us: ocean-front (like, literally, steps from the shore), uncrowded, warm weather (for the most part), easy in and out, and free. As a bonus, the beach was made up of a mixture of sand and packed coarse crushed shells, such that it felt much like hard concrete. Normally, that is not a great feature in a beach, but if you want to drive a heavy RV on it, it is most definitely a prime feature!
How cool is that to park directly on the beach?
Our first day was warm, sunny and gorgeous. Since there were hardly any bugs, we kept the French doors open without using the screen. It felt like our little slice of paradise! It was so nice to hear the surf all night, even though it sounded a bit like we were inside a dishwasher.
Sunset
The next morning we woke up to stormy weather and waves breaking right below our deck. The trailer tires were clear of the encroaching surf, but we figured it would be a good idea to move Phil a few feet away from the shore, just to be safe. The storm wasn't severe, but it was very windy, and it must have been amusing to watch us get the truck hitched up in rain ponchos that were blowing over our heads. (Sorry no pictures of that!)
It rained most of the day and the wind kept the waves roaring. It wasn't very nice to sit outside, but it was sure cozy inside.
The rain finally stopped at the end of the day.
Even the industrial buildings across the bay looked kind of scenic in the last light of the day.
The third day was supposed to be "partly sunny", but we never did get to see any of the sun part. It was still quite windy, but the rain was gone, so we took a bike ride around the area (14 miles). Magnolia Beach is located on Matagorda Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, there used to be a major town and port nearby (Indianola) with quite a lot of history (and even camels!), but after a couple of hurricanes in the latter 1800s, the town and port were decimated and the people moved on. Nowadays, the bay has some industry and a shipping port in Port Lavaca, and the immediate vicinity comprises a mixture of little beach houses (some a bit dilapidated), little mom and pop RV parks, and lots of RVs parked every which way under decks and other shade structures. It was kind of charming in a quirky sort of way.
The scale on altitude is a bit funny - max elevation was only 44 feet!
A bit of a moody day.
We didn't know that camels had been imported to the US during the 1800s.
We rode past some estuaries.
Flowers in November!
That night we made homemade deep dish pizza. This was Rick's first attempt at making the pizza dough without Audrey's supervision. Julie thinks he did a great job!
Not quite Lou Malnati's, but almost!
Our last day we woke up to dense fog and glassy smooth water with no wind whatsoever. It was a bit eerie, but quite pretty. Have to say, though, after spending quite a bit of time in the arid western states, we kind of forgot what humidity was. We figure we'll become re-acquainted with it in Florida this winter! We saw a bunch of sea turtles swimming by in the calm water by the shore as we were having our coffee, but they were pretty elusive, and we didn't get any pictures of them.
The seashore, shrouded in fog...
...and after the fog lifted.
By afternoon, the sun came out and it was gorgeous. We thoroughly appreciated our retired life and pretty much sat on the deck the entire day.
So much better than going to work!
Occasionally, we'd have some excitement and a freighter would float by.
In the late afternoon, we decided to haul our butts out of our deck chairs and do a little walking along the beach.
There was a row of colorful covered picnic tables along the shore.
This was the nicest part of town having the best maintained beach houses.
We saw a lot of interesting structures with RVs parked underneath. This one looks like it has a little cottage (or storage unit) built into it. Is it an RV shelter with a little dwelling attached, or is it a little dwelling with an RV parked under it?
Politeness was not the objective here.
Probably not a good idea to go this way.
These were such cute little birds. They would run so fast their legs were just a blur.
In the interest of full disclosure, lest the reader believe that everything surrounding us was as idyllic as our cropped pictures implied, this was the view behind us. We just didn't look that way.
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