Rockport, TX Fishing 2007

While Judy was in Paraguay, Geof, Joey and David went to Texas for fun and fishing. Here we are in Houston the first night in our hotel room.

Goofing around in Houston. We are waiting until later in the afternoon for a baseball game, so we had some time to kill.

We looked for some seafood for lunch. This is gumbo.

Dad had a crabmeat salad.

We were at Goode Company Seafood. Geof frequented Goode Company barbecue when he was in Houston going to graduate school. Goode Company barbecue is right around the corner from the newer seafood restaurant.

House of Pies was closed the day we were there. Bummer!

Downtown Houston has lots of nice high rise buildings. We are going downton to Minute Maid Park to see the Astros play.

A cool car parked downtown.

There's the park.

Having a snack waiting for the game to start.

A great ball park.

View from the center field area.

Some of the Astros warming up.

We were there near the time when they held Jeff Bagwell's retirement celebration.

Lance Berkman.

This guy protecting the field was HUGE!

We went extra innings. The Astros took the lead...

The Astros brought on Brad Lidge for lights out and won the game.

Now we are on the road again headed for Rockport Texas. It is not too far from Victoria, almost down as far south as Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico.

We are crossing the bridge over Capano bay heading into Fulton, Texas then we have only 5 or so miles to Rockport.

Gas was about 30 cents cheaper than in Tulsa at the time.

Jerry wasn't with us. He went to Baton Rouge instead.

In our room in the Laguna Reef Hotel. That couch looks just like the one we used to have in Baton Rouge!

The view of Aransas Bay from our balcony.

The vacation homes can be fabulous.

The proprietor at Mom's bait shop was a tiny asian lady, about Judy's size - but not Judy. I don't know why she's called Mom.

"pech" is "perch" without the "r". Think about how an asian lady would say "perch".

Our hotel from the outside.

Lunch! Popeye's!

Fishing off the pier behind the hotel. Dave has a hardhead catfish.

Joey has a piggy or sometimes called piggy perch or occassionally, pech :>). The next day, we were fishing with these things as bait.

We are on the boat now, and Joey shows off a nice redfish.

Geof's big redfish was 29". We needed a tag for it because you can only keep two larger than 28" for the whole year. It turns out that Geof and Joey had the wrong license, and no tags. David saved the day because he had a youth exempt license with a tag.

Another nice one for Joey.

This was the first day's catch.

This was the second day's catch.

Now we are back at the dock. Time to clean the fish.

Here come the pelicans for their daily feeding.

David Hentress was our guide.

Cleaning the fish.

There were a number of goofy things we noticed as we left the boat launch area.

Joey like the confederate flag with a bass on it.

The homes on the Gulf coast are often built on stilts.

Softshell crab for dinner.

Headed home.

It was really hot.

Gotta get the bugs off the windshield.

Geof and the boys had such a good time in Rockport over the summer, they decided to take Judy while the boys were on Fall break in October. We flew down to San Antonio, rented a car, and drove 3 hours south to get to the little city of Rockport. We met a guide the next morning for some fishing fun.

Headed out into Aransas Pass in the wildlife areas where the whooping cranes migrate every year.

The water is beautiful at daybreak.

It was windy the first day, so some of the waters were choppy.

Judy can't wait for a big one.

She's hooked something now and is struggling to reel it in.

Not a bad redfish, but this one still has to go back. Redfish have to be 20" to keep.

Maybe this one is bigger.

Yes, a keeper! Judy poses with our guide, Robert Brooks.

This is a small sheepshead. It has to go back.

Too small! Throw him back.

This one isn't too small. A keeper sheepshead.

Dave is having fun.

For the second fishing trip in a row, Geof comes up with a stingray. His high school mascot was the stingray. Does this have anything to do with it?

Judy has another something. Dave says part of the fun is not knowing what you have until you get it in.

Not so fast, Judy. This one still has some fight.

Another keeper redfish. Judy won't touch it. She says, "That's why we pay the guide!"

Our keepers from the first day. Three redfish, four sheepshead, and a drum.

The pelicans know when to show up for the entrails.

The fishing crew watches the fight the pelicans have.

Ready for day 2 fishing.

Judy's at it again.

Joey too.

This one's a keeper.

Joey with a really big sheepshead.

In the box with the keepers.

Another red for Judy. This one ought to measure up.

Our second day's keepers. Three reds, a drum, a speckled trout, and three sheepshead.

We left Rockport to go back to San Antonio for our return flight. We had time to go to the Alamo and the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

A big cactus inside the Alamo grounds.

How come Mom is so short now?

We headed to the Riverwalk for lunch.

We looked everywhere for mosaics in the Riverwalk area. We remember a picture from when the boys were very small when we visited San Antonio before. It might be this one, but we couldn't remember.