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Archive for the ‘Gulf of Mexico Beaches’ Category

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Simple Seaside Safety Suggestions for Spot

Posted by Jody on April 29, 2013

Quintana Beach County Park

Quintana Beach County Park

My family and I recently enjoyed another lovely day trip to Quintana Beach County Park, one of our absolute favorite Texas coastal recreation areas. This 51-acre natural beachfront playground  is the ultimate dog-friendly family choice in the Lone Star State. Located in Freeport, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, it’s a wonderfully scenic and a relatively quick (1 ½ hour) drive south of Houston. Quintana Beach County Park is a much more laid back alternative to the city and beaches of Galveston, which have all of the hustle and bustle you would expect from a typical seaside tourist mecca.

Quintana Beach County Park on the Upper Gulf Coast of Texas

Quintana Beach County Park on the Upper Gulf Coast of Texas

You can feel free to bring Spot along for your day at the beach. At Quintana Beach County Park our tail-wagging companions are welcome.

“Pet Safety on the Beach” as posted at Quintana Beach County Park:

  • If the sand is too hot for your bare feet, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws.
  • Keep fresh water available for your dog, drinking salt water will make him sick.
  • Use pet-friendly sunscreen on short hair, ears and nose.
  • Provide shade for your dog to rest.

~All very good safety tips~ Please remember that pets need to be restrained (at this beach) at all times and, of course, picking up after Spot is a must!

Quintana Beach County Park, Texas

Quintana Beach County Park, Texas

A while back we published a post on the many reasons to visit this lovely beach park: Quintana Beach County Park on the Texas Gulf Coast – So Many Reasons to Visit. The list includes camp sites (tents, RVs, and vacation cabins), picnic tables, modern restrooms and showers, kayaking, surfing, beachcombing, fishing… and the list goes on.  Being dog-friendly simply adds one more great reason for families to plan the perfect fun-filled trip to Quintana Beach County Park!

Do you have a favorite dog-friendly beach? Please share it with us. We’d love to know!

Here are a few more helpful links:

Quintana Beach County Park

Cesar’s Tips for Your Dog’s Day at the Beach

Doggie Heaven! Muir Beach, California

Have a great day at the beach!

~~~

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Posted in Beach Safety Tips, Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Monday Miscellaneous | Tagged: , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Surfside Jetty County Park (Upper Texas Gulf Coast)

Posted by Jody on April 9, 2013

Surfside Jetty County Park, Texas

Surfside Jetty County Park, Texas

Surfside Jetty County Park is the perfect day-trip destination on the Texas Gulf Coast! Two of my top reasons for heading to this particular family friendly beach park are 1) the ample paved parking available right up close to the beach and 2) the well maintained permanent restrooms (both are very hard to come by on this part of the upper Texas Gulf Coast). The park offers so much more, though: a grassy lawn for flying kites and a play area for the kids to romp, covered picnic tables, a sandy beach, and a .6 mile long jetty jutting out into the Gulf of Mexico that’s just right for a leisurely stroll.

Surfside Jetty County Park on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast

Surfside Jetty County Park on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast

The Surfside Jetty was packed with folks fishing from its protective riprap on the sunny spring day we visited, but there was always room for us to pass.

Surfside Jetty, Texas

Surfside Jetty, Texas

The adjacent sandy beach is a wonderful place to beachcomb for seashells. According to the Village of Surfside Beach website, “600 known shell species found among our 27 miles of sandy beaches of Brazoria County.”

It’s also the perfect place for children of all ages to build sand castles, watch the surfers, and swim or splash in the water. *Note: No lifeguards are stationed at Surfside’s beaches.*

Beaches Full of Treasures at Surfside, Texas

Beaches Full of Treasures at Surfside, Texas

Lots of families came  much better prepared than we were – with camping tents, shade shelters, furnishings of all sorts, well-stocked coolers, and enough packaged food to stock a couple of small convenience stores… I do believe I’ve heard these super organized, ultra-ready people referred to as “beach contractors.” Next time, and there will definitely be a next time, we’ll come better outfitted (with own big top and plenty of provisions) to sit back, relax, and spend the whole day having fun on the sand and shore.

Beach Contractors at Surfside, Texas

Beach Contractors at Surfside, Texas

~~~

 Here’s a peek at some of the beach treasures we found at Surfside Jetty County Park beach!

Surfside Beach Treasures: Oysters, Scallops, Cockles, and Ark Shells

Surfside Beach Treasures

~Oysters, Scallops, Cockles, and Ark Shells!

~~~

Have a great day at the beach!

Posted in Beach Treasures - Beachcombing, Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Seashells | Tagged: , , , , | 14 Comments »

Travel Theme: Roads

Posted by Jody on March 3, 2013

Where the rubber meets the sand…

Long-Dun Beach, Cameron Parish, Louisiana

Long-Dun Beach, Cameron Parish, Louisiana

Seeing vehicles driving on the sandy beaches along the Gulf of Mexico is nothing out of the ordinary. Long-Dun Beach in Cameron Parish is a fine example of a rustic beach (no facilities) on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast where beach goers happily drive right onto the sandy shoreline and proceed to pick the perfect parking spot for a day brimming with sun and fun at the beach. These drivable coastlines are treated as byways and standard rules of the road apply.

Long-Dun Beach is a lovely stretch of sand located along the 180 mile long Creole Nature Trail in far southwestern Louisiana. With 26 miles of blissful beachcombing heaven to choose from, the natural beaches of the Creole Nature Trail are perfect for finding driftwood, whelks, oysters, angel wings, and moon snails. With a little luck, you may even find a sea bean or two!

Beach treasures collected along the shores of Louisiana's Creole Nature Trail

These colorful beach treasures collected along the shores of Louisiana’s Creole Nature Trail.

Enjoy the ride and have a great day at the beach!

This week’s Travel Theme topic is “Roads.”

More about the Creole Nature Trail and Louisiana’s Gulf Coast beaches:

A Wealth of Wildlife on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast: The Creole Nature Trail

Waves and Welcomes at Mae’s Beach, Louisiana

~~~

Posted in Beach Treasures - Beachcombing, Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Sand and Shoreline | Tagged: , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

Weekend’s Rock!

Posted by Jody on February 24, 2013

Rip Rap Along the Galveston Seawall

Riprap along the Galveston Seawall and beach, Texas Gulf Coast

I simply love  learning about beachy things! Just a few weeks ago, I came across a new-to-me shoreline term: riprap! Riprap, riprap. Isn’t that a fun word to say? Somehow it makes me think of the nick-nack-paddy-wack song.

~So sorry for the Sunday morning earworm! Really, I am!

“What exactly is riprap?” you ask. Also known as rubble, shot rock, rock armour and often spelled rip rap or rip-rap, it’s the permanent cover of rocky material (frequently granite or limestone) used to defend shorelines and shoreline structures against erosion. On the Texas Gulf Coast you can find riprap protecting seawalls, jetties, and bridge supports.  It’s designed so that the rocks absorb, deflect, and/or dissipate the impact energy of waves (think tropical storms and hurricanes). The spaces between the stones are useful in trapping and slowing the flow of water, thereby reducing its ability to wash away coastal soil and structures. Alternative rock at its best!

Rip Rap along the Quintana Jetty, Texas Gulf Coast

Riprap along the Quintana Jetty (Quintana Beach County Park in the background), Texas Gulf Coast

A closer look at the Quintana Jetty Riprap

A closer look at the Quintana Jetty riprap

Everybody sing!

♫ With a rip-rap-paddy-wack

Waves against the stone

This old gal came strolling home! ♫

~~~~~

Posted in Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Weekend's Rock | Tagged: , , , , , | 17 Comments »

A Sea Glass Treasure Trove – Surfside Beach (Texas Gulf Coast)

Posted by Jody on February 7, 2013

Surfside Beach, Texas

Surfside Beach, Texas

The Village of Surfside Beach, Texas, is a little bitty seaside hamlet located on the Gulf of Mexico. Fishing, birding, picnicking and kayaking are just a few of the choices beachgoers have when they visit the shores of this little coastal community.

This stretch of sandy beach on the Texas Coastal Bend is already well known for its wonderful shelling. In fact, according to Surfside’s website, there are 600 known shell species that can be found along the  27 miles of Brazoria County’s beaches. Our family searched and searched for those hundreds of types of seashells and did find many a fine specimen, but, sadly, quite a few had been broken to bits by the trucks and cars that are allowed on so much of this section of  Texas’s coastal beaches.

Surfside Beach, Texas

Surfside Beach, Texas

Never fear, though! All is certainly not lost. (It never is on a day at the beach!) In my book, Surfside Beach is one of the absolute best strands that I’ve ever come across for collecting sea glass!

Beach Treasures from Surfside Beach, Texas Gulf Coast

Beach Treasures from Surfside Beach, Texas Gulf Coast

Greens and blues, pinks and browns, lettered and patterned and smooth; all types of glass in every stage of sea-tumbledness can be found on the sands of Surfside Beach. I won’t share how I think the wave-worn beach glass originates, but I will site rule #11 from the village’s Beach Rules web page, which states: “NO GLASS CONTAINERS ON THE BEACH” (all caps). *This is a great place to caution you to wear shoes on this stretch of shoreline.* The vehicle traffic that easily crushes those 600 species of seashells also breaks glass into pieces which can result in some very sharp edges. Discrimination is the key. It can be very hard for kids of all ages to resist picking every beautiful, glittering, colorful beach treasure they see, so little ones need to be closely supervised here!

Evening Picnic at Surfside Beach, Texas

Evening Picnic at Surfside Beach, Texas

Before or after you’ve filled up your buckets and bags with sea glass and shells, you may want visit Surfside Beach’s Jetty Park which runs along the Freeport Jetties.  It has picnic areas, restrooms, a playground and fantastic views of the gulf and ship channel. You can walk the jetty, fish from the rocks, or simply settle in and watch the huge container ships come and go through the jetty channel.

Surfside Beach is located in Brazoria County, 15 minutes southeast of Lake Jackson, Texas where TX-332 meets TX-257 (Bluewater Highway).

Have a great day at the beach!

~~~~

Posted in Beach Treasures - Beachcombing, Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Seashells | Tagged: , , , , , | 18 Comments »

Travel Theme: Shadows

Posted by Jody on February 2, 2013

Evening Shadows at the Shore

“I could never stay long enough on the shore. The tang of the untainted, fresh and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought, and the shells and pebbles and the seaweed with tiny living creatures attached to it never lost their fascination for me.”

~Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

Travel Theme: Shadows

~~~

Posted in Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Sand and Shoreline, Today's Special | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Travel Theme: Walls

Posted by Jody on January 26, 2013

The Galveston Seawall

 Every beach has a history!

On September 8, 1900, Galveston (Texas) suffered a devastating blow from a powerful hurricane. The storm surge washed over the entire island, knocking buildings off their foundations and taking the lives of  thousands of Galveston’s citizens.

Galveston Seawall, Galveston Island, Texas

Galveston Seawall, Galveston Island, Texas

On September 7, 1901, in an attempt to prevent future storms from causing such massive destruction and catastrophic loss of life, the Texas State Legislature approved an act providing for the construction of a seawall for Galveston’s Gulf of Mexico coastline. The initial 3.3 mile long segment of the new Galveston Seawall was completed on July 29, 1904. Standing approximately 17 feet high, the concrete barrier was engineered to be 5 feet wide on the top and 16 feet wide at its base.  The outer face of the Seawall was curved to carry waves upwards. Riprap was deposited along the base of the Seawall facing the Gulf Of Mexico in order to disrupt wave action and prevent the wall’s foundation from being undercut.

After the Seawall was completed, dredged sand and slush from the seabed were pumped into the city of Galveston to raise the ground by as much as 17 feet above its previous elevation! Isn’t that amazing?

Galveston Seawall Beach, Galveston Island, Texas

Galveston Seawall and Seawall Beach, Galveston Island, Texas

In 1977,  the Galveston Seawall was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2001, the Galveston Seawall and the regrading of the City of Galveston were jointly named a National Historical Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Today, the pedestrian friendly, mural-painted Galveston Seawall runs for 10.4  miles along Galveston Island’s beautiful, sandy Gulf Coast beaches. It’s a lovely place to take a leisurely walk and enjoy the beachy views!

Galveston Seawall & Grade Raise – Texas Parks & Wildlife [Official Video]:

Additional reference: The 1900 Storm

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Posted in Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Sand and Shoreline | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 17 Comments »

For Liam

Posted by Jody on January 16, 2013

Happy Birthday, Liam!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
~Dr. Seuss, “Happy Birthday to You!”

~~~

Posted in Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Today's Special | Tagged: , , , | 14 Comments »

From our Rivers to the Oceans

Posted by Jody on January 3, 2013

Albuquerque Bio Park, Albuquerque Aquarium

Albuquerque Bio Park, Albuquerque Aquarium

Even on a cold winter’s day in the American Southwest, there’s plenty to learn about our world’s rivers, lakes, oceans, rugged shorelines, and sandy beaches. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, we have a wonderful BioPark which includes the Albuquerque Aquarium. As you enter the aquarium building, the first exhibit relates to our own Rio Grande, the river that flows from southwestern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico.

Sign at the entrance of the Albuquerque Aquarium

Sign at the entrance of the Albuquerque Aquarium

As romantic as it might sound to say that a person could send a message in a bottle down a river in New Mexico to be found by someone on an ocean beach, that really is the case, and that is not actually a good thing if one stops to think of that bottle as a piece of trash.  We desert dwellers might not think about the ocean on a daily basis (well, perhaps in our daydreams), but our behaviors upstream do have an impact on the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. Taking the kiddos to this aquarium is a great way to teach them (and ourselves) about the importance of keeping our waters clean. As we say in The Land of Enchantment, “Toss no mas!”

Rio Grande Exhibit, Albuquerque Aquarium

Rio Grande Exhibit, Albuquerque Aquarium

"Oh the Mighty Rio Grande, Flowing to the Gulf." - Gulf of Mexico Beach, Texas

“Oh the Mighty Rio Grande, Flowing to the Gulf.” – Gulf of Mexico Beach, Texas

You never know!  Maybe that piece of beach glass you found on a beach in Alabama found its way there from farther inland than you imagined.  In the end, there is no way to know, but it is interesting to think about, and the more people we can educate about keeping trash out of our waterways, the better, even if trash can be turned into a beachcomber’s treasure.

So, happy beach combing, everyone!  Do you think that those of us who like to collect beach glass, driftwood, and beach pottery pieces are really clearing upstream litter off the beach?  Wouldn’t that be a nice and unexpected perk!

~~~~~~~

Posted in Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Inland Shores | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Twas the Night Before Christmas!

Posted by Jody on December 23, 2012

“Now splash away! Splash away! Splash away all!”

Santa's Sanibel Island Sleigh

Santa’s Sanibel Island Sleigh

A Santa Claus sighting on Florida’s Gulf Coast!

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

~Twas the Night  Before Christmas, Clement Clarke Moore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted in Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Today's Special | Tagged: , , , , , | 13 Comments »

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