The Aircraft carrier Lexington

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March 12 - Monday - After overnighting on the beach at Port Aransas for the night I took the free ferry from Port Aransas to the mainland at Aransas pass. At the HEB at the intersection of loop 90 and Hwy 361 I went straight on Loop 90 to Business 35 (Wheeler St) and went south on Business 35 to the MacDonalds on Business 35 to have a couple of Senior Coffees (60 cents with free refills) and catch up on things on the Internet as well as send out a few emails. Then I went south on Business 35 ( FYI -The SuperWalmart is at the intersection of Business 35 and Hwy 1069, also the Walgreens, Loews, Pizza Hut, etc.) to Corpus Christi. It is about a 28 mile drive from the beach at Port Aransas to Corpus Christi Beach and actually no farther than if I had stayed at Padre Island National Seashore. Other than the “natural” beach Padre Island National Seashore doesn’t have much to offer while Port Aransas is a “beach resort” community with several places to recreational shop, eat etc…The beach at Port Aransas are much better than the gulf beaches near Corpus Christi as well. I drove to the small free beach parking lot for Corpus Christi beach on the end of Golf Street and parked there and walked about 150 yards to the aircraft carrier….When I got to the carrier I rode their free shuttle up to the carrier from the landing…. I would have walked up the ramp but the shuttle was loading up so I figured why not. I spent several hours visiting the carrier and its exhibits. The carrier was massive and I got quite a workout with all the steps I had to climb up and then down, etc. There were some nice views of the harbor and the beach as well. ..After investing most of the day at the carrier I drove back to Aransas Pass and took the ferry to Port Aransas and ate at the pizza buffet at Pizzaria Port A on Avenue G. The pizza was nothing to brag about but ….oh well. After eating I drove back to the beach and this time parked at marker 13 for the night. There were some Spring Breakers nearby but they were well behaved. Pretty much just lit their fires and talked and laughed while listening to music at a reasonable level….Their was a very nice breeze blowing and it was quite nice. I consider if someone wants to enjoy a beach they need to be on the beach, not in a hotel room. A hotel room is a hotel room, they are all the same.

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