Tag: Views of the Neighborhood

Views of the Neighborhood – Holiday Parade

~ John W. Howell ~ 60 Comments

There was a parade yesterday in Port Aransas. It was the annual holiday parade to benefit the EMS toy roundup. There were so many who came to participate that to take photo’s of the parade itself would have made selecting which carts to show here an impossible task. So I went to the staging area and took some shots. Hopefully, you’ll get an idea of the festive nature of this parade.

Santa in an Aloha shirt

Folks decorate their golf carts and make a voluntary donation to the EMS toy roundup. Here is a number of carts arriving at the staging area.

The staging area is getting quite crowded.

Love the nose.

Gifts under the Christmas Palm tree

Quite a decorating job.

The kids love it.

The dogs love it.

Santa’s elves

EMS will lead the parade

Holiday dog.

A common sentiment here.

A jeep  to enforce the Don’t mess with Texas mantra.

Tree on a cart.

Holiday parade

Snowmen on a cart.

Old faithful.

Merry participants.

More participants.

Boat float.

Santa on a cart.

Views of the Neighborhood – A Fund Raising Event

~ John W. Howell ~ 69 Comments

This is the poster announcing the event to raise money for the EMS Toy Roundup and The Port Aransas animal shelter. PALL stands for Port A Low Life one of the sponsors.

Be a pall holiday party

The sign at the Civic Center

The fire department was there.

The EMS was there.

Bud Light was there.

Look a signpost up ahead

It is Santa and not the Twilight Zone.

Th e room is ready for the party.

Silent auction is ready.

The bar is ready.

The food will be ready.

The bounce house is ready

The bandstand is set up.

Close up of a table.

 

As a result of this event, no child in Port Aransas goes without a Christmas. Also, needed funds are raised for the Port Aransas animal shelter. Those attending have a great time while contributing to a worthy cause.

Views of the Neighborhood – Pools . . .Yes Pools

~ John W. Howell ~ 73 Comments

First, a note of appreciation to our veterans. Thank you so much for your service and sacrifice

Memorial day
 

I have to admit there was nothing going on in Port Aransas this week. I have wanted to do a pool feature for a while. Could I do it in the summer when the water is blue, the temperatures in the 90s, and there are tons of happy people around the pool? No, of course not. Needed to wait for a rainy, cloudy, and in the 50’s. Put on your overcoat and come with me.

Views of the Neighborhood

Here is the entrance to the pool at Cinnamon Shores the biggest community in the area.

This is an infinity pool. There is a pond in the background.

Views of the Neighborhood

Mustang Royale is a community next to where I live.

The pool is a little smaller than the last.

Views of the Neighborhood

Another community in Port Aransas.

The entrance to their pool.

The pool.

Views of the neighborhood

Pioneer Park is the largest RV resort in Port Aransas.

The pool entrance.

The pool has a lot of decking tiles.

Views of the Neighborhood

Sunflower resort.

Sunflower Resort pool.

 

The Palmilla Beach Resort.

This is one of the prettiest in the area.

The Port Aransas Community Pool

The community pool. There is actually someone in the 83-degree water.

This is our community.

Our community pool.

Views of the Neighborhood – Fall Camping

~ John W. Howell ~ 59 Comments

A slow week in the neighborhood so I thought I would go out on the beach and take a look at the different kinds of equipment folks are using for fall camping.  It was a beautiful day, and I hope you enjoy the trip.

 

Not too many people at the beach.

Views of the Neighborhood

An abandoned tent. I guess these people have enough money to avoid packing it up.

A pickup camper.

A towed camper with supplementary tents.

An RV camper.

A van camper. (A very dirty one at that.)

If you are a member of the polar bear club, you can use these showers.

I thought this was a nice shot of a resort beach set up.

A bus type camper with car towed behind.

Threw in a freighter leaving Port Aransas.

A larger tent.

A tiny trailer.

A parting shot of the morning Gulf.

Views of the Neighborhood – Harvest Moon Regatta

~ John W. Howell ~ 63 Comments

This weekend was the annual Harvest Moon Regatta. This is a sailing race from Galveston to Port Aransas. The distance covered is about 150 miles. The race used to begin on Friday and end on Saturday, but this year it began on Thursday. Some captains asked if they could use their motors. Here is the answer. “No.  This is a sailboat race.  In the past, the race started on Friday, and some motoring was allowed in case the winds were light, and people were not able to finish in time to make it to the awards ceremony.  The race now starts on Thursday; motoring is not allowed, except for emergency purposes.  (Note: While you may disagree, the Race Committee does not consider getting to Port Aransas in time to party Friday night, to be an emergency!)

I hope you enjoy the photos.

harvest moon regatta

Here is a shot of the sponsor’s sign

Harvest Moon Regatta

T-shirt concession.

Check-in desk.

A vendor tent with equipment like generators and radar units.

This one is for Dan Antion. Big ole ship.

This is not a participant but looked good navigating the channel.

Like the fact this boat has a Sugarland home. (there is no salt water near Sugarland.)

A shot of some of the boats that took part.

Another boat from a landlocked city.

I liked this shot for the flag.

This Marilyn Monroe flag caught my eye.

A boat from Annapolis Maryland.

A group of catamarans

The Producer says this is her kind of boat.

This crew was a little puzzled since there were a few lines out of place.

Lots of flags

These were displayed at a booth selling boat photos of participants.

This is the tent where the victory party took place Saturday night. Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Views of the Neighborhood – Old Town Festival

~ John W. Howell ~ 53 Comments

Each year Port Aransas celebrates its roots with an Old Town Festival. This year due to the rain the popular parade had to be canceled. Also, the sand pumpkin carving contest was postponed  Other events went on as scheduled. Here is a photo review of the goings-on.

The sign points the way.

The first stop is The eighth annual Expression Session Surfing Contest. Here you seem some boards waiting for surfers.

The Texas Gulf Surfing Association is here.

A big tent with hot dogs and T-shirts and loud music.

A surfer coming in from the cold under the Horace Caldwell Pier. The Gulf  temperature is in the low 70’s

More contestants going out.

A shot of the surfers using the iPhone zoom.

Wading into the cold water.

Have to have a VW camper which doubles as a kissing booth.

Here is the kisser. A little too stiff for my taste. (a manikin)

Type A surfers.

Some young folks getting ready to surf.

An old folk pretty much done for the day.

There is also The Pawesome Doggie Surfing Contest but it had not begun yet. Here are a trio of spectators.

The next stop is the Port Aransas Hurricane Tree Recovery Campaign.

Native Texas tree plantings are free.

Some of the varieties.

More.

All you do is sign in and pick out which trees you would like.

Here is a shot of the Museum where a special surfing exhibit is on display. The sign points to the community center where storytellers are relating Wild Sea Stories which are tales of Port Aransas’ past.

Here is a shot of the community center where the stories are being told and a lunch is being served.

Farley Boat Works

Here is a photo of the Farley Boat Works which was the location for the Barn Dance Saturday night. In addition to a band, there was red or white clams linguine served.

All in all the rain did not put a damper of the Festival.

 

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Views of the Neighborhood – 1st Annual Trash Dash

~ John W. Howell ~ 63 Comments

Port Aransas held its First Annual Trash Dash yesterday. Although a brief downpour made everything wet, it did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants

Here is a shot of the registration table. All participants got a T-shirt and a collection bag. The idea is to go out and for one hour collect trash on the beach. The most trash collected wins first prize.

A photo of one of the volunteers Angie Huckabay will give you an idea of the front of the shirt.

The back shows the sponsors and the plea to Keep Texas Beaches Clean.

Here is a mom and her children signing up to participate.

Here is a French Bulldog in the mud and mugging for the camera.

Here is a shot of the trophies. There are awards for the first, second, and third place.

First place

Second Place.

Third place.

Trash Dash

Ready, set, go. And they are off

Another group.

A couple of boys headed for the dune.

A group photo of participants.  Photo by Shannon Solimine

Some of the  Eighty bags picked up. Photo by Shannon Solimine

First Place. Photo by Shannon Solimine

 

Second Place. Photo by Shannon Solimine

On the way home, we spotted that the missing sea captain (from Hurricane Harvey) is being replaced. I will bring you an after shot when he is complete.

Views of the Neighborhood – Texas Chiefs Compete for World Food Championships

~ John W. Howell ~ 50 Comments

Port Aransas & Mustang Island was the culinary gateway for Texas chefs to compete in the World Food Championships, the largest competition in “food sport”. The inaugural event consisted of 33 top chefs competing over three nights at nine different Port Aransas restaurants. Each night a winner was chosen out of those competing. The event culminated in the Grand Tasting on October 6. Texas is the first state franchise of the WFC. Each winner of the competition moves on to the next competition in Orange Beach, Alabama in November. The competing chefs came from all over Texas to compete. Given the space limitation I can’t show you all of the venues but here is a sample of the competition which took place on Thursday. I hope you get a flavor of the event by this coverage.

Texas Chef Throwdown

The first venue I visited was Lisabellas. This shot will give you an idea of the setup. The competing chefs are on the left. Folks attending got a drink and snack and then a sample of the finished product.

Here are the three chef stations. They had thirty minutes to complete their dish. The competition was outside which made it more difficult because of hot plates etc.

The second venue was The Phoenix. Here is a shot of the BeachOctoberfest promotional sign. This is a Chamber of Commerce sponsored six weekends of events. The Chef Throwdown was one of these events.

Here is a photo of one of the chefs. Notice the building behind which is a Hurricane Harvey replacement.

This photo is of Christopher Beasley in grey to the left. He becomes the Thursday winner of the ticket to Orange Beach.

This shot gives you an idea of the number of people attending the Phoenix event.

We now move to The Black Marlin. Here we have the executive chef of The Black Marlin providing the audience with how the competition is judged and a general statement of the rules. The chefs are located to the right.

Another shot of the crowd attending.

The three chefs at their stations waiting for the start signal.

A sculpture of a Black Marlin. Notice the new palm trees which were replaced after Hurricane Harvey.

Christopher Beasley

Here is a shot of Christopher Beasley accepting his ticket to Orange Beach. Christopher is the executive chef at The Bluewater Cowboy Saloon and Mercantile right here in Port Aransas.

I hope you enjoyed the event.

 

Views of the Neighborhood – Port A Music Fest

~ John W. Howell ~ 43 Comments

Port Aransas Music Fest was held this weekend. Since most of the performances were after my bedtime, I thought you would enjoy meeting the artists virtually and seeing the places where the artists performed. Well, that’s the hope anyway.

Port A Musicfest

Bron’s Beach Carts

Jerry WardArtist: Jerry Ward

Splendiferous & Fire Dance Performances by Stella Moon
Artist: Splendiferous & Fire Dance Performances by Stella Moon

Shorty’s

Ty Dietz Band

Artist: Ty Dietz Band

Selfie
Artist: Selfie

Bernie’s Beach House

Tumble Dry Low

Artist: Tumble Dry Low 

Giggity’s

Michael Milligan & Texiana Bluez

Treasure Island

The Jon Mikael Mrez BandArtist: The Jon Mikael Mrez Band Hyde After Nine

Artist: Hyde After Nine

The Back Porch

Chris Saucedo BandArtist: Chris Saucedo Band

Thomas Michael Riley
Artist: Thomas Michael Riley

Island Wine

Billy Joe’s Crafthouse

John Baumann

Artist: John Baumann

Pamillia Resort and Golf Club

Debra Watson and the Smokin’ Aces
Artist: Debra Watson and the Smokin’ Aces

Cinnamon Shore

Ray Johnston Band

Views of the Neighborhood – Fishing in Port A

~ John W. Howell ~ 59 Comments

I have to admit the activity list was a little sparse this week. There was one event worth noting. It was the Hook ’em and Book ’em Bay and Surf Fishing Tournament. This one benefits the Port Aransas Police Foundation and the Police Department.

Here is a shot of the trophies for the winners.

Views of the Neighborhood

There is also a sponsor list.

At first, I thought maybe I could win a police pick-up truck, but found out it was a display only.

This tournament has fisher folks out in the bays and along the beaches. The participants were not due back until way later, and I had a Kansas and WVU football game to watch, so I thought I would take some photos of people fishing off the piers at Robert’s Point Park.

Here is a person contemplating the best time to throw the bait net.

View of the neighborhood

A man and his dog.

Poles placed in the concrete niches.

A boy and his fishing rods.

A dad and his boys fishing next to the pier.