Port O'Connor, TX

We arrived in Port O'Connor and were greeted by three wonderful people, Sam, her husband Mike and another crafty friend Karen, who drove down to spend time with us. We parked our camper in the camper spot they had in front of their shop/museum. The name of the spot is Sam's Place. We were also given the screened in porch to use as well as the washer and dryer. 

Us with our hosts Sam and Mike

The Three Crafty Friends: Karen, Me and Sam

Our spot at Sam's Place

The view across the street from our spot. Their property is on the Intra-coastal Waterway, which we found out runs from Main to Brownsville, TX. We saw lot of barges traveling on this body of water. We saw a lot of wild life such as Brown and White Pelicans, Dolphins, Roseate Spoonbills, Seagulls, Terns, a slew of other birds. Found out that Brown Pelicans dive for their food while White Pelicans dip for their food just like ducks. We also missed the Whooping Cranes. 

Mike's Museum is amazing. It is filled with all the wonderful stuff he has found on the beaches in the area. Things like sea beans, coral, drift wood, floats, propellers, golf balls, and dolls just to name a few. 

One of the reasons for our visit was so that Karen, Sam and I could get together and craft is Sam's wonderful new craft space. One needs to take a lift to get to the room and it has plenty of room that all three of us could craft without feeling crowded. I did manage to get some cards made in between our visiting and having fun. 

The dining was very fine as well. The first night Sam treated us to a home cooked dinner and then we went out to eat at Cathy's and had fried shrimp. Another night we went to Loco Greengo for BBQ. The next morning Jim and I went back for breakfast of Sausage Gravy and Biscuits. It was all so tasty. Sam and Mike took us on a tour further south on the Gulf to Maverick Island and Padre Island. Most people have heard of South Padre Island but we went to North Padre Island or Padre Island. At one time it was one Island but it was cut in two when  a channel was built to allow ships to go through instead of going around the island. They took us to eat at Snoopy's and then for dessert at Scoopy's in Corpus Christi.

Our tour with Sam and Mike was wonderful and we saw many interesting sites. One of them was the Big Tree on Goose Island State Park. It is a Southern Live Oak. 

Saw a floating Oil Rig and a cargo ship called the Cypress Arrow while sitting in line waiting to get on the ferry to take us over on to Mustang Island. We also saw parts of wind turbines on the dock waiting to be loaded on the cargo ship. Since ships have the right of way, we had a longer wait for our ferry ride because another ship was passing through. The name of our ferry was The Phil Wilson. 

We visited Padre Island National Seashore. We stopped at the Malaquite Pavilion in the park that lead down to the beach. Mike, Jim and myself took a walk on the beach looking for treasures. We were fortunate to have found a couple hamburger beans, a fishing lure, some shells, along with other treasures. Some of them will be coming home with us and some will stay in Mike's museum. 

On our way to go beach combing with Mike to see what treasures we could discover. Mike help us find some colorful shells, sea beans, and other items. He is very knowledgeable about all the things that was up on shore. 

A dead Man-o-War jelly fish on the beach

The next day Sam took me on a more detailed tour of her craft room and I picked up some great ideas for when I begin setting up my new space. 

We had a wonderful visit with Mike and Sam and we learned so many new things.