Camping on the Beach: Crystal Beach, TX - July 22, 2019
From San Antonio, we headed for the Gulf of Mexico. Our plan was to camp on Bolivar Peninsula in Texas that night. Along the way we visited Galveston and got an ice cream before taking the ferry to Bolivar Peninsula.
The first thing we did as we were leaving San Antonio was to stop at a Buc-ee’s travel plaza in Luling, Texas. We wanted to see for ourselves what all the hype is about. It is easy to see why the drum corps love these travel plazas. The travel plazas can handle large crowds of people, from the number of gas pumps, to the large restrooms, to the large store with lots of cashiers. Drum corps can get their fleet of vehicles gassed up at once and get the 200 members and staff through the restrooms in a timely manner. The members like it because they have time to buy food and Buc-ee’s has such a variety of food to choose from. From a deli, BBQ, jerky bar, fudge station, and hot food kiosk to the largest selection of snack food we have ever seen before. Everything IS bigger in Texas. However, we were not looking for prepared food, snacks or merchandise. We got a couple of drinks and gas. Left Buddy (LB) was not impressed since none of the many gas pumps had windshield cleaning supplies (and didn't look like they ever did or would). Right Buddy (RB) was not impressed because we needed groceries like vegetables, not prepared food. We are not traveling with 200 people, only the two of us, so we will probably not stop at a Buc-ee’s again as we prefer to stay away from crowds of people.
Since we still needed groceries, we stopped at a little local grocery store in Flatonia, Texas called "The Market". It was much more our style. Although it did not have large selections of items, it had everything we needed. It was also nice to be able to carry on a conversation with the employees. After getting some meat and cheeses sliced for us at their deli and picking out some fresh, local vegetables that we needed, we spent a little bit of time just browsing what items they had for sale. A much more relaxing atmosphere than Buc-ee’s. Sorry, Buc-ee’s fans!
When we reached Galveston, we headed straight for the Seawall Boulevard along the beach. Instead of pulling into one of the pay parking lots, we just parked for free along a side street and walked to the beach. It was time for ice cream. We saw the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier and headed towards that. However, there was an entrance fee to go onto the pier which we were not willing to pay just to find ice cream. If we were spending more time in Galveston, especially if we had kids with us, we probably would have gone onto the pier as it looked like a fun place with amusement rides and carnival games. Not seeing any interesting ice cream shops along the few blocks of Seawall Boulevard that we walked down, we decided to head back to the van and drive over to the historic downtown area of Galveston on the bay side of Galveston Island.
Again, we opted to walk a few blocks instead of paying for parking. It was a long driving day, so we didn’t mind stretching our legs. RB really enjoyed the old architecture of the downtown area. Most of the activity seemed to be on Strand Street. We walked up and down Strand Street and RB found her ice cream, but the place we stopped did not have milkshakes, so LB opted not to have anything. Then we walked over to Pier 21 to catch a glimpse of ELISSA, the 1877 tall ship at the Texas Seaport Museum, before heading back to the van to get in line for the ferry.
The Galveston - Port Bolivar Ferry is a free service to transport vehicles on State Highway 87 between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. One ferry is running all the time and they may add up to four more depending on the amount of traffic. There are size restrictions, but we did not look them up ahead of time, so we were a little concerned with our van height. However, we were relieved when we saw a ferry pulling in with a Class A RV on it. The size restrictions are quite generous - 80,000 pounds, max length of 65 feet, max height of 13.5 feet and maximum width of 8.5 feet. Our wait time to get on a ferry was only about 15 to 20 minutes. While the ferry was in motion, people are allowed to get out of their vehicles and walk around. The ride is about 18 minutes long. You need to get back in your vehicle as the ferry approaches the other port so you are ready to drive off the ferry when it docks.
Our plan was to camp on the section of beach that was free, a small section east of Rettilon Road, but our van needed gas and RB needed a restroom and there were no gas stations or stores between where we got off the ferry and Rettilon Road, so we kept driving along SH 87 until we found a gas station, about another six miles further. LB was able to fill up the van, but the bathroom inside the gas station was out of order. There was a port-a-potty outside, but RB stepped right out after the first step inside it. She has used quite a few port-a-potties in her lifetime, but this was the most disgusting one she’s ever seen. There was no toilet seat, no toilet paper and there was “stuff” everywhere. It was time to get to the beach and pull out our camping toilet. Since we decided not to drive back six miles to the free beach, especially since we were not sure it was free and the cashier at the gas station didn’t seem to know what we were talking about when we asked, we opted to buy the $10 annual beach pass at the gas station to allow us to camp anywhere along the beach on Bolivar Peninsula. The Crystal Beach website does confirm that there is a free beach section east of Rettilon Road.
It was dinner time by the time we pulled out onto Crystal Beach. The beach was parked pretty full, but we found a spot and started dinner, after RB found relief in the camping toilet. We were a little concerned that it may be a noisy night with so many neighbors, but most of the people parked on the beach were there for the day. As the sun started to set, the beach emptied out. There were only a handful of others who camped along the beach that we could see. As people cleared out, we moved our van to a better spot and felt like we pretty much had the beach to ourselves, except for those driving up and down the beach in their ATV’s. But even those stopped going by as it got closer to our bedtime.
The beach was still pretty deserted in the morning. We left before the crowds started to show up again.
Check out our related video on our YouTube channel: Galveston - Bolivar Ferry.
(RB)