NAVAL AIR STATION
CORPUS CHRISTI
The road temporarily ends where your car is loaded aboard a ferry boat for a five minute free trip to Port Aransas. (In peak tourist season, the wait can be up to an hour, so enjoy the view and pack a lunch or snacks for kids). Port Aransas, a small fishing village, is experiencing a building boom, with many new vacation homes, retirement communities, and high rise condominiums under construction. Now on the north tip of the barrier island, State Road 361 travels south along Mustang Island, named for the wild horses brought there by the Spanish in the 1800s. Today, it is home for Mustang Island State Park, which offers camping, picnicking, fishing, swimming, hiking and mountain biking on five miles of open beach. One more small bridge, and you're back on Padre Island. A right turn, cross the causeway bridge, and you have returned to Corpus Christi Naval Air Station.
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But if the sea is still calling, turn left and travel a few miles to the Padre Island National Seashore. Take your shoes off, and sink your toes into the sand. Listen to the surf, and solitude, as the sun sets over this South Texas outdoor paradise.
Things to Do in Corpus Christi Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History 1900 North Chaparral Street Corpus Christi, TX 78402 Phone: (361) 826-4667 www.ccmuseum.com Featuring History, Archeology, and Nat ural History Exhibits, the Corpus Christi Museum offers hours of fun for everyone in the family. Take a journey back in time on a tour of the replica of Columbus's ship, Pinta. Discover alligators, snakes, and turtles in our live animal exhibits. Explore guns and gold from the oldest scientifically excavated shipwreck in the Western Hemisphere.
With all this and so much more, you never know what you'll find around the corner. South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center 8545 South Staples Street Corpus Christi, TX 78413 Phone: (361) 852-2100 www.stxbot.org One of the Coastal Bend's major visitor destinations and leading nature
