Coastal Texas Archives | Funky Texas Traveler

Aug 02 2018

Five Ways to Do Port Aransas Right | One Year After Hurricane Harvey

Port Aransas has mostly recovered after the worst hurricane season in U.S. history. I was down on the island recently and did a little scouting. Based on that visit, it’s time to put out an update with five ways to do Port Aransas right… a year after Hurricane Harvey.

Sadly, some beloved spaces are only sweet memories. Yet other hangouts seem comfortably the same with just a little evidence of storm-related upgrades. Like when your grandma changes her lipstick color. And the Key West of Texas vibe is still strong. [Read more…]

Apr 03 2018

Port Aransas Wooden Boat Festival

Port Aransas is clawing back from Hurricane Harvey. How better to celebrate her recovery than with the Port Aransas Wooden Boat Festival, April 6-8? After all, wooden fishing boats, tall wooden ships and stubby wooden hauling scows put Port Aranasas on the map. The Port Aransas Wooden Boat Festival touches on all of those.

Admire the Texas Butthead

Maybe you read my post about the Texas Scow Schooner, called a “Texas Butthead” by more refined naval architects. Check out the loving reconstruction of the Lydia Ann, a scow schooner that was rescued by the wooden-boat loving folks in Port Aransas. With the shoals and sandbars all along the Texas Coast, vessels like the Lydia Ann brought the goods inland to early Texans. [Read more…]

Mar 14 2018

Big Ass Crawfish Bash

In 2017, the Bigass Crawfish Bash grabbed the Guinness World Record for the most crawfish served in an 8-hour period. Almost 15,000 people consumed nearly 60,000 pounds of crawfish served up by 87 boiling teams. The Bash also raised a record $124,000 for charities, including Camp Hope, a place that helps veterans and their families cope with combat PTSD.

When the 4th Annual Bigass Crawfish Bash returns to Gulf Greyhound Park on March 24, you’re going to want to be there. After all, how can they possibly top last year?

Better logistics for one thing. This year, I-45 South won’t be in the middle construction and Bash organizers have set up a shuttle ($5 RT) at Mall of the Mainland. Still, expect to see huge flocks of seagulls circling Gulf Greyhound Park that day.

If the Bigass Crawfish Bash is unfamiliar to you, don’t feel left out. I’d never heard of it either until a friend started talking about it, a few months before the 2017 Bash. The fact this now-giant event exists is because a couple of guys were drinking beer and trying to get out of cooking. When you hear this story, you’ll appreciate the Bash even more.

[Read more…]

Dec 14 2017

Lower Rio Grande Valley

You know you are almost to the very tip of Texas and South Padre Island when see “Little Graceland” painted on a small stucco house that fronts Highway 100 in Los Fresnos. Only thirty minutes to go to the island and I’m usually stir crazy from hours on the road. For that reason I’ve always passed by this quaint curiosity.

I should have made myself pull over and and explore what lies behind the elaborate wrought iron gates that replicate the music themed ones at the original Graceland.

This king has left Little Graceland

I stopped this time but didn’t go past the gates because Little Graceland’s king had died just a few days before. Simon Hinojosa Vega had passed away at 81 from respiratory failure. In fact, the reason his passing merited an article in the Valley Morning Star was his devotion to the King of Rock and Roll.

You see, Simon served in the US Army with Elvis from 1958 to 1960 in Freiburg, Germany. Presley made a lasting impression on Vega. Simon returned to his hometown and worked as a teacher, bus driver, school janitor, barber and founder of the Los Fresnos Softball League. But his claim to fame was the path he took based on his years in Germany with Elvis.

Little Graceland, one man’s tribute

He not only turned his house into an Elvis Presley museum generations ago, he organized an annual and sometime semi-annual Elvis Fest. Vega filled it with Elvis mementos, clothing, clocks and more. According to his daughter Rosie, Simon had also written a book called “Service with the King”. This book is now with a publisher.

Vega was definitely hands-on with Little Graceland. Rosie told the paper that “somebody would come every day and he would come out and do like a 20-minute speech and walk around and explain everything. He was his own tour guide.”

Will Little Graceland Survive?

No one knows what is to become of Little Graceland, but even if it survives, I deeply regret not going by while Simon was still around to take me through it.

How many other small towns contain a wonderful off-beat monument to someone’s enduring passion? Simon Hinojosa Vegas lets us know there is always time to spend a few minutes checking it out.

Go slow in Los Fresnos

A side note: If you visit, be aware of this. Los Fresnos is in the lower Rio Grande Valley and has some serious policing when it comes to enforcing the speed limit. The town is located less than thirty minutes from the Queen Isabella Causeway and good times on South Padre Island. Just don’t ignore the speed limit signs or you’ll have an unexpected vacation expenditure.

Oct 31 2017

Port Aransas post Harvey

POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS- READ DISCLOSURE FOR INFO.

I drove south this past Wednesday with Joe Holley from the Houston Chronicle to see how Port Aransas post Harvey was faring.

Admittedly antsy as I rode the ferry, I worried about my friends and favorite places in this beloved Texas town. My anxiety ratcheted up when I heard from a very good friend who didn’t want me to post on social media that I was headed down there.

“Please delete your facebook post. The last thing the poor island needs right now is people down here who aren’t part of the clean up.” If I could have reversed direction in the ferry line, I might have done so but I am so glad I didn’t.

My friend’s frustrated reaction was completely understandable. I should know. My home in Houston flooded a few days before when Harvey paid us an unwelcome visit. But I was compelled to come down. Port A has always felt special. As Dan Solomon said on a recent Texas Monthly blog, “People from all over Texas have strong, tender feelings toward the town, and have long used the place as a getaway from their day-to-day reality. “

[Read more…]