Lots to see, just a drive away
Alice's Tejano museum, trees near Rockport among attractions

By Dan Parker, Caller-Times

  

Day Trips Tarpon Inn The Tarpon Inn in Port Aransas is a historic inn where generations of fishermen - including former President Franklin D. Roosevelt - have left their marks.     In the lobby of the two-story hotel, each fisherman who has caught a tarpon has taken a scale from the gamefish and written on it his name, home city, size of the catch and the date. Several thousand scales, some more than 60 years old, cover the wall.   FDR, who visited Port Aransas in 1937, was one of the lucky anglers. His scale is framed on the wall.      The 23-room hotel’s origins date to 1886. Rooms are graced by refinished hardwood floors and antique furniture. For peace and quiet, and to retain the feel of old-time Port Aransas, no rooms have phones or televisions.     Prices range from $55 to $125 a night and vary only slightly by season.     The inn is at 200 E. Cotter St. Information: (361) 749-5555. Behind the inn is Beulah’s, considered by many to be one of the best restaurants in a town that boasts many good restaurants. (361) 749-4888. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge A 35-minute drive north of Fulton is Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, winter home of the celebrated whooping crane.     The whooping crane - at 5 feet tall, the tallest bird in North America - is an endangered species. Some 174 whoopers visited the refuge last year. After spending summers in Canada, the cranes migrate south and begin arriving at the refuge in mid-October each year. They generally begin leaving in April.    Visitors also can see alligators, raccoons, white-tail deer, javelinas and nearly 400 species of birds.     Guided van tours at the refuge are conducted on the third Saturday of each month, October through March. Sixteen miles of paved roads and about five miles of walking trails are available for self-guided tours.     Admission is $3 per vehicle, $5 if more than one person is in the car. Refuge information: (361) 286-3559.    Refuge Day Celebration on Oct. 12 features fishing and hunting demonstrations, wildlife photography lessons, educational exhibits for children and more.

They're small towns, but they can be big fun.
   Try reeling in a big, fat redfish in Aransas Pass. Or buy a cowboy hat at the King Ranch Saddle Shop in Kingsville. Even watch endangered baby sea turtles crawl into the surf at Padre Island National Seashore.
   Who said small towns are boring?
   Alice
   The place to see all things Tejano is Alice, home of the Tejano R.O.O.T.S. Hall of Fame Museum (213 N. Wright St.) The museum honors Tejano artists, musicians, composers and others who have contributed to the Tejano culture. In case you're wondering, R.O.O.T.S. stands for "Remembering Our Own Tejano Stars."
   Also in Alice is the South Texas Museum in the McGill Brothers Building, a structure that recalls the Alamo, at 66 S. Wright St. Saddles, head mounts, antique firearms, farming tools and other exhibits reflect South Texas culture. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Phone: 361-668-8891.
   Alice also is the home of the tallest concrete water tower in the world, according to the town's chamber of commerce. The tower is 165 feet tall.
   People drive in from out of town to play at the Alice Municipal Golf Course, an 18-hole course. Another play area: Lake Alice, a nice picnic spot.
   Information: Alice Chamber of Commerce, 361-664-3454
   Aransas Pass
   Aransas Pass has been called "Salt Water Heaven," and it's no wonder.
   Anglers can find all kinds of angles for angling in Aransas Pass, with saltwater flats, bay fishing, deep-sea charters and piers all about. Speckled trout, redfish, flounder, black drum and sheepshead abound in Redfish Bay, adjacent to town.
   For some locally caught seafood, drive to The Crab-N, a restaurant just a few miles outside town, on State Highway 35. Dishes include snapper, flounder and amberjack.
   Kayakers enjoy Lighthouse Lakes Kayak Trail Park - 20 miles of saltwater trails just west of State Highway 361 in northeastern Redfish Bay.
   Shrimping is one of the biggest industries in Aransas Pass. Conn Brown Harbor is home to about 75 shrimp boats. The town's Shrimporee festival attracts more than 55,000 people each year with live entertainment and shrimp prepared every way you can imagine. The festival also includes carnival rides, arts and crafts and more.
   Bird watching sites in Aransas Pass are at Newbury Park; Aransas Pass Nature Park at 200 E. Johnson St.; Conn Brown Harbor; and State Highway 361 between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas.
   Information: Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce, (361) 758-2750
   Kingsville
   Kingsville is the gateway to the historic King Ranch, recognized as the birthplace of America's ranching industry.
   The massive King Ranch offers tours explaining the ranch's rich history, huge agricultural operations and diverse wildlife, including javelinas, coyotes and white-tailed deer.
   Speaking of wildlife, birding is really something to crow about around here. More than 350 species of birds inhabit the Kingsville area.
   Downtown Kingsville is an historic area that includes the King Ranch Saddle Shop, where craftsmen make saddles, luggage, handbags and more.
   The John E. Conner Museum at Texas A&M University-Kingsville exhibits South Texas culture with displays on ranching heritage, natural history and a rotating gallery. The museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
   Just a 20-minute drive south of Kingsville, fishermen catch buckets of trout in Baffin Bay.
   At the end of the year, visitors should check out La Posada de Kingsville, a month-long Christmas celebration. It starts with the King Ranch's Ranch Hand Breakfast, featuring more than 200 volunteers who have been known to cook about 18,000 eggs, 5,400 biscuits, 450 pounds of sausage and 1,400 tortillas, all served on the King Ranch.
   Information: Kingsville Chamber of Commerce (361) 592-6438
   Padre Island National Seashore
   This 133,000-acre chunk of beachside real estate is the longest section of undeveloped barrier island left in the world, and a lot of wide-open shoreline goes along with that distinction. With a little driving, it's not hard to find a stretch of beach where you can't see another soul for miles. (Just remember that you can't reach a lot of these beaches without a four-wheel-drive vehicle.)
   Fishing, hiking, bird-watching, camping, kayaking and windsurfing are big at Padre Island National Seashore.
   As far as fishing goes, surf fishermen can find trout, whiting and redfish all year long.
   The seashore offers primitive, semi-primitive camping for RVs and tents for small fees.
   The seashore also offers wonderful waters for windsurfing. An area at Bird Island Basin, on the Laguna Madre, about four miles from the seashore's visitor center, has been called the best flat water sailing site in the continental United States.
   Visitors can find wildlife including kangaroo rats and spotted ground squirrels, plus threatened or endangered birds including the brown pelican, peregrine falcon, reddish egret, least tern, white-tailed hawk, osprey, piping plover, snowy plover and Wilson's plover.
   Sea turtles also are a big part of the wildlife scene at the National Seashore. Researchers at Padre Island National Seashore are working to shore up the numbers of threatened and endangered sea turtle species that visit local beaches, and the public can view some of those efforts.
   Sea turtle eggs found on Coastal Bend beaches often are incubated in a lab at Padre Island National Seashore. When baby sea turtles hatch, researchers release them on the beach so they can crawl to freedom in the gulf's waters.
   Sea turtle species at the National Seashore include the Kemp's ridley - the most critically endangered sea turtle in the world. To hear a hatchling release schedule, call the Hatchling Hotline at 949-7163.
   General information on the seashore: 949-8068
   Port Aransas
   This is a tourist town that boasts small-town charm, miles of beaches and some bodacious fishing.
   Beaches in Port Aransas offer a little something for everyone, with families and young singles camping, surfing, swimming and sunbathing. Remember to buy a beach parking permit for $6 at convenience stores and float rental booths on the beach.
   Port Aransas is jam-packed with great restaurants, many of them locally based and serving locally cooked seafood. Hot spots include Jay's Seafood and Spaghetti Works, Beulah's, Crazy Cajun and Virginia's on the Bay.
   The shopping scene in town is big and getting bigger, with a big dose of retail space devoted to coastal-flavored boutiques and surf shops.
   The Corpus Christi Ship Channel at Port Aransas stands as the Coastal Bend's only outlet to the open Gulf of Mexico. As a result, many deep-sea fishing charters depart for gulf waters from Port Aransas. But landlubbers still can get plenty of fishing in at piers, the south jetty and in the surf at the beach.
   Port Aransas also is home to the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, which offers free self-guided tours at a visitors center that includes aquariums and exhibits on institute scientists' research.
   A 10-minute boat ride from Port Aransas is San Jose Island, an uninhabited strip of land with good fishing at a jetty and some wonderful solitude. (There are no buildings or conveniences, so make sure you bring plenty of water and sunblock.) The jetty boat at Woody's Sport Center makes 10 trips a day to San Jose Island. Cost for a round-trip is $9.95.
   Information: Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce, 749-5919.
   Rockport-Fulton
   Great fishing and eye-catching art are the grabbers in Rockport and its smaller next-door neighbor, Fulton.
   Anglers can go fishing with guides, on piers and aboard rented boats.
   Scores of artists have made homes in Rockport and Fulton, so it's no wonder that art galleries are common around the area. The Rockport Center for the Arts boasts exhibits, theater and musical performances, lectures, children's programs, workshops and classes.
   Not far from the art center is the Texas Maritime Museum, with exhibits including a replica of La Belle, the flagship of Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the French explorer.
   Rockport and Fulton also are dotted with historic homes, including the Fulton Mansion, which is operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and offers tours.
   Trees are tourist attractions in Rockport and Fulton. Check out the wind-sculpted live oaks on scenic Fulton Beach Road. Because of prevailing southeasterly winds, many live oaks have grown in shapes that lean hard to the northwest, even when there's no wind at all. Many of these trees line scenic Fulton Beach Road.
   Another attraction is the Big Tree at Goose Island State Park, north of Fulton. The Big Tree, as it is known, is 44 feet tall, 35 feet in circumference and has a crown that is 90 feet across. The tree is believed to be at least 1,000 years old.
   Tourists flock to the Rockport-Fulton Hummer/Bird Celebration, held in late summer each year, when many hummingbirds pass through the area.
   Tourists also can take boat tours to nearby Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, winter home of the endangered whooping crane.
   Information: Rockport-Fulton Area Chamber of Commerce, (361) 729-6445