MATAGORDA BEACH

School is out and summer has begun.  It was nearly time to leave for summer camp and a busy summer schedule.  My daughter was concerned we wouldn’t have time to go to the beach this year if we didn’t go soon.  I liked the idea, so I looked into the possibilities.  When we lived in central Texas it was feasible to drive by car to some nice beaches in Port Aransas or Padre Island.  Now that we live in East Texas it’s much too far to go there and have time left to enjoy a full day or two at the beach.  The nearest popular coastal beach is Galveston.

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Galveston is convenient and has nice facilities and restaurants and plenty of decent hotels.  However, it’s close proximity to Houston means the beaches are quite crowded when the weather is tolerable.  We like Port Aransas, Mustang Island and Padre Island because the facilities there are as good or better than Galveston and the beaches and water are cleaner and there is less Sargassum on the beaches.  However, now it’s a full day just to drive there. 

There’s a reasonable compromise between these that I am somewhat reluctant to advertise.  That is Matagorda Beach.  Near Matagorda, TX is the Matagorda Bay RV Park.  It’s a small but well designed and maintained park that borders on the coast and includes the mouth of the Colorado River.  The part has a full-time staffed office, a nature center, bath house, RV parking and a beach side picnic area with showers and changing rooms.  For me, it’s main attraction is that it is off the beaten track and only lightly populated with tourists.  The beaches are comparable to Galveston and the water is also murky compared to Port Aransas and points south. The town of Matagorda offers few conveniences beyond a smattering of small restaurants, hotels, shoreline cottages and a supermarket.  They do rate a post office though and have a high per-capita of churches.

View from Intracoastal Waterway Bridge

We drove there from our home in East Texas and arrived late in the morning in the proclaimed “Birding Capital of North America” with over 230 species of birds observed in the area.  My daughter wanted to park on the beach so we had to backtrack to a nearby fish camp to buy the $10 beach parking permit.  Boldly lettered signs at the entrance to the county beach warn visitors that the fine for parking on the beach sans permit ranges from $50-$500.  I presume the range allows for the variations in attitude of those caught parking without permit.  The signs also warn that there is no towing allowed.  I should have paid more attention to this part as I drove slowly down the graded lane on the beach looking for an uncrowded parking spot.

THE CATCH OF THE DAY

The sun was bright, but a partly cloudy sky and a steady on-shore breeze kept things tolerable for the first few hours.  My daughter fished, collected shells, swam and built a small sand castle while I swam and walked up and down the beach.  It was a nice morning.

Around noon it began to get hot and we were getting a little pink so we decided to head in for lunch to escape the hottest and brightest part of the day.  As we started to put out, I heard a familiar and unwelcome sound.  It was a rear wheel spinning futilely in the soft sand.  Unperturbed, I tried all the standard strategies such as rocking back and forth, creeping forward slowly and even soliciting passerby to help push.  I even tried putting seaweed and other flotsam such as a sneaker and some boards under the tires. None of these things worked and the car sank until it’s undercarriage rested comfortably on the damp sand and sargassum. (Note: do not use sneakers for traction.  They melt.)

Some youth in a maroon pickup passed by and laughed derisively without offering any assistance. Sigh! God bless them with more compassion.

Providentially, I found some lengthy 2x6 boards.  Using the shortest as a base, I jacked the car off the sand and dug a shallow trench under each rear tire.  Into the trench I put the other two boards to make a solid surface on which to drive.  Then I lowered the car and stowed the jack back in the trunk.  

STUCK IN THE SAND

All this took more than an hour while we slowly baked in the increasingly intense sun.  Something about being a teenager kept my daughter from seeking shade or using sunscreen to protect her fair skin.

About the time I stowed the jack, another pickup arrived and the two local men in it offered to tow the car out with a handy tow strap they carried.  Remembering the legal prohibition of towing and eager to test my engineering skills, I politely declined and attempted t drive the car out of its sandy resting place without assistance.

A LITTLE IMPROMPTU ENGINEERING

In the driver seat I said a brief prayer, engaged the transmission and slowly depressed the accelerator.  The right rear tire squealed a bit as it fought for traction, but the car slowly advanced and rose out of the sand.  Delighted, I drove onto the graded lane and did a slow and graceful turn about. I waved triumphantly to the kind family that had helped push earlier, blessed the locals with the pickup truck and picked up my sunburnt daughter on the way to the exit.

VIEW FROM RIVERBEND ACROSS RIVER

For dinner we went to the Riverbend Restaurant and Tavern. The menu was a bit sparse and the food ordinary but edible.  The main attraction was a clearing across the Colorado river where we could watch wildlife such as peccaries come out to feed in the late afternoon.  The restaurant staff provides binoculars so the diners can see better.

 

After our dinner we went back to the hotel for a rest.  My dear child was exhausted from watching me extract the car and in pain from her sunburn.  I left her to rest and reflect on the wisdom of acting on parental advice and took a solo driving tour of the nearby town.

Matagorda is small, and the tour lasted less than half an hour.  The primary occupation of the inhabitants after retail, restaurants, hotels and rental cabins appears to be boat storage rental and government work.  There were a large number of churches and little entertainment. Matagorda is the third oldest city in Texas, founded in 1827, but most buildings date after the Great September Hurricane of 1854 which leveled a majority of the town.  It was hit hard again in 1941 with nearly 11’ tides.

St. Peters Baptist Church

Matagorda even has a connection to the Texas War for Independence.  It is the final resting place of Samuel Rhoads Fisher, 1794-1839, signer of Texas Declaration of Independence and Republic of Texas Secretary of the Navy.  Originally from Pennsylvania, he died there as a result of a shooting.  His heirs deeded land on which St. Peter’s Baptist Church was built.  That’s what I know of Matagorda history so far.

HISTORICAL MARKER AT ST. PETERS

After the tour, I too was tired and turned in for the night.

NATURAL SCIENCE CENTER

In the morning we went to the Natural Science Center at Matagorda State Park.   It was a nicely appointed facility with very friendly staff.  The attendant gave us a personal tour or the center and let us feed the live turtles kept in aquariums there. The center has a nice collection of hands-on displays and learning activities as well as classrooms and a small souvenir shop.  As we were leaving, two women arrived with a carload or caged bids for a traveling lecture.  I helped carry some in and had a close up view of fine specimens of great horned owl and barn owl. 

After visiting the science center, we returned to the beach for a last visit, understandably short.  While there I noted three other visitors being towed out of the sand by considerate locals.  That helped me feel better about my adventures the day before. 

Satisfied with our beach trip, we packed up and headed home.  I think we shall return again with sunscreen and a four wheel drive vehicle.