When Bloggers Meet, Walk, Talk, Eat - Sun., Jan. 12

Anticipation was high as Bob and I drove 75 mph (that's the speed limit on I-37 in south Texas) to Corpus Christi to meet with fellow bloggers: Erin and Mui of Two to Travel's Phaeton Journey, and Faye (Dave couldn't make it) of The Wandering Camels. All of us were going on a walk together, then out to lunch.

As we drove south, the sunny day that was predicted didn't look promising. A sky full of rain-type clouds was moving in from the southwest. Lines of showers showed across the sky. I came prepared with umbrella and warm, waterproof coat.

Everyone met at the hotel start point at 10 a.m. From there, the five of us walked Corpus Christi city sidewalks through downtown and along the waterfront. The sun became our walking friend as well, but deserted us at lunch time.

On our itinerary, we walked through Heritage Park, past a waterfall, museums, a fountain, sculptures, historical markers, the solar system (wait, back up, the solar system? Yes, I'll explain in a minute), the waterfront, marinas and a cathedral.

On the way to Heritage Park, we passed some restored houses painted in a rainbow of colors. There goes the neighborhood. Actually, I liked them.

Heritage Park consists of 12 historic Corpus Christi homes which have been restored, most are recorded as Texas Historical Landmarks. The oldest of the homes dates back to 1851. The park also has a Cultural Center (in the 100-year-old Galvan house), courtyard, Central Plaza, old clock, many historic markers, and rose garden. The last time Bob and I visited this park, a wedding ceremony was being held in one of the grand old homes.

Simon Gugenheim house (not New York Guggenheim's)

Clock from 1852.

From Heritage Park it was only a couple of city blocks to the Water Garden, one of our favorite places in Corpus Christi. The Water Garden holds the center position of the area housing the Art Museum of South Texas and the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.

Mui and Bob at the Water Garden

Water Garden in front of Art Museum of South Texas

As we turned the corner around the art museum, Corpus Christi Bay and the USS Lexington came into view. We then walked along the seawall of Shoreline Blvd., past the Selena Memorial, and walked both "T-heads" of the marinas. The weather was sunny and 73 degrees. We were loving it.

USS Lexington, Corpus Christi Bay

Gazebos housed history markers.

Along the sidewalk we walked through our solar system. Each planet had its own signage with interesting factoids. The distance between the signs is to scale (a much reduced scale) with the distance between the planets.

Extra(terrestrial?) sign about asteroids and comets

Bob letting out his inner child.

Jet sculpture or fancy antenna?

View from one of the gazebos.

Marina reflections

Taking the long way down to the marina dock...

Faye, Erin, Mui, Bob

"You eyeballin' me, girl?" (Brown pelican)

White-winged terns and royal tern.

One of the T-head marinas.

Downtown from the marina.

Memorial to Selena

Faye and Erin

Erin capturing Selena memorial in a digital pic.

On the second of the marina T-heads, we saw this life-sized replica of the Niña. Can you imagine 24 people crossing the ocean on this?

Bob and Mui showing the size of the Niña.

Another interesting "event" we saw at marina was a large group of people standing at the railing while a priest was conducting a ceremony. My first impression was someone's ashes were being spread in the bay. However, upon looking at the group of people, some in our group noticed children standing on the edge in swimsuits. We can only speculate that maybe the children were getting baptized. I wish I had taken a photo of the stiletto heels a number of women were wearing. Yowzers!

The last portion of our walk was through a neighborhood, past a cathedral, then back to our start point at the hotel. Faye, Mui and Erin saw the place where I fell. It was strange revisiting the site.

During our walk the skies clouded over but it was reasonably warm. When we finished walking, lunch was on our minds. We chose to eat at Harrison's Landing at one of marinas and asked to sit outside.

Faye, Erin, Mui, Susan, Bob with our food.

As we ate and conversed, the wind picked up considerably and the skies spritzed us with a few droplets. I was cold so Bob went to the car and brought back my coat and a second coat in case Faye was cold. Bob's middle name is thoughtful.

We had the nicest lunch. Everyone had a chance to talk, so we learned a lot about each other and how we spend our time. No one left hungry after a lunch of nachos, salads and brownie fudge sundaes for dessert. Erin, Mui, Faye, thanks for walking, talking and eating with us today. Let's do it again!

When lunch was over, we hugged "see ya laters," and moved on to afternoon activities. You can click to link to Erin's blog about today: 10K Volksmarching in Corpus Christi.

See my second blog post to go with us to Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center and Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie's Pasture.

To be continued...