I stayed up way past my bedtime to watch the election results come trickling in. It’s our tradition each election year. I remember the first time I voted in an election, and I’ve made it a point to vote in person at the polls in every election since. We aren’t too far removed from when women didn’t have the ability to vote, and I’m happy to exercise my right.
Rockport, Texas
This is part II of our four-year anniversary getaway to Rockport. You can read Part I here. It’s no secret that Aaron and I are pretty active people. When we vacation, it’s never super relaxing because we like to pack our itinerary full of various activities.
On the third day of our anniversary getaway, we decided we wanted to explore the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I had never been, and it was about half an hour away from where we were staying in Rockport. We like to get out and explore parts of our country that might be a little off the beaten path.
The Aransas Wildlife Refuge was no exception. There is a paved road that you can drive to view the park by car, and it has some trailheads along the way so you can get out of the car to explore. But – the mosquitoes! They were so bad. And I didn’t pack any bug spray for this trip, because it was mainly a beach getaway.
Instead, we opted to drive the beginning part of the trail, and once it warmed up a bit, the mosquitoes disappeared, so we were able to do a bit of hiking along the way.
This was a really unique refuge in the sense that it lies behind Matagorda Island, which is part of a chain of barrier islands that extends down the Texas coastline. It’s made up of land, water and a saltmarsh habitat. It has tons of birds, some gators and lots of places to fish!
Also, the views! One spot along the driving trail that has 20′ and 40′ observation towers. If you go, you need to get out and climb to the top for the views, and it’s all paved!
There were tons of deer, some huge egrets and other birds and some of that beautiful Texas coastline.
We made it back to our airbnb right after lunch, grabbed a sno-cone and headed back down to the beach to spend the rest of the day under the palapas!
Then, we headed back to our airbnb to get ready for our dinner. We made reservations at a local steak and seafood restaurant: The Groove. It was raining, so we got a table to ourselves inside. I ordered us the cheese board, some wine, and we decided to split a pizza.
Rockport, Texas Eats
While this trip isn’t exactly what we had planned at the beginning of 2020, four years of marriage is worth celebrating no matter how you do it! Rockport was the perfect, relaxing getaway. It was a new (to me) place, and I know that we will definitely be back (next time, we are bringing the kayaks).
