Hey friends, welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'm your host Marc Guido,
and as they say in real estate it's all about three things: location, location, and location!
We're here in Surfside Beach, Texas. Come along for the ride, stay tuned!
This episode of Grand Adventure is sponsored by The Dyrt PRO! Find the campsite that's right for
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So when we last came to the Texas Gulf Coast in 2019 we had plans to boondock right on the beach,
but it turned out to be much too hot overnight that week, for the majority of that week to
boondock on the beach without air conditioning. So we ended up in a campground with hookups for
the majority of that week, and then when a cold front came through over the weekend
we were able to move to boondocking on the beach. It's the exact same weather pattern this week.
The majority of this week the temperatures, overnight the lows were 75 to 80 degrees -- much,
much, much too warm to try to sleep without air conditioning, at least for us. So we ended up
at the very last minute booking a site at the Beachfront RV Resort in Surfside Beach, and
frankly this is the next best thing. We've got the closest site they've got to the beach. We're about
hundred yards back from ... not even 100 yards, 100 feet back from the surf at high tide and we
have an unobstructed view of the Gulf of Mexico. So this is the next best thing to boondocking
right on the beach; however, we have hookups to be able to live in comfort during the hot
temperatures that occupied most of this week. Now the exact same weather pattern prevailed, a cold
front came through on Friday night and we could have moved to the beach for the last night or two,
but this is the next best thing so why move? We've just stayed here. Now they've been busy
this week rebuilding the entire campground and I really can't fault them for that. They had
Hurricane Nicholas come through a few weeks ago, and if you look at Google Satellite you can see
that there were actually vegetated dunes right here separating the campground from the beach
that actually got washed out by the hurricane. They're gone! So they're manually rebuilding the
dunes. The dunes that were there got washed across the entire campground so they've had a sandy mess
to deal with. They've been restoring the pads with fresh gravel, re-grading everything, and
getting ready to re-sod everything. This is going to be a beautiful place when they get it done.
It's been a little busy around here with the work underway but again, I can't fault them for that,
and it seems like we're paying a reduced price this week. We paid $53 per night to stay here
for the week, which has been a great price considering the spot we are right on the beach.
There's a great little bar and restaurant right on site at the RV park, with live music on the
weekends, great cocktails and tasty food just a 75-yard stumble from our campsite.
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If you're looking for the typical touristy beach experience, you're better off at Galveston,
25 miles away on the next island to the east, and connected via a short toll bridge.
By contrast, Surfside Beach is the perfect place to just kick back and relax
as we're doing this week.
Surfside Beach is situated on Follett's Island, a barrier island along the Gulf
Coast of southeastern Texas roughly 60 miles south of Houston, separated from the mainland
by the Intracoastal Waterway. It's a small town that fewer than 500 permanent residents call home.
You'll find only a handful of restaurants and convenience stores here, although virtually any
business imaginable is located about 20 minutes away on the mainland in the city of Lake Jackson.
Like most ocean beaches in Texas, you can drive up and down the beach here.
Driving on the beach within the city of Surfside Beach requires an annual pass that costs $12,
whereas the county beach just east of Stanek Drive at the town line is free to access,
and boondocking with a campfire is permitted there for free as well.
On the advice of our viewer Eugene who lives nearby,
we're checking out Brazos Bend State Park, about 45 minutes north of Surfside. I mean,
who doesn't enjoy hiking where they're not at the top of the food chain? Besides, Eugene says
that the 300 adult alligators that inhabit the park haven't attacked a visitor since the 1990s.
Brazos Bend covers nearly 5,000 acres, much of it thick swamp but also coastal prairie
and bottomland forest. The park is a haven for a diverse mix of native wildlife and plants
including over 300 species of resident and migratory birds, white-tailed deer, armadillo,
raccoon, and river otter. The low-lying wet areas are left over from the previous meanderings of the
Brazos River, which borders the park. Most trails are open to both hiking and biking.
We lived in Florida for eight years, so we know alligators. But wouldn't you know it, 300 adult
alligators and we couldn't find a single one of them. I'm blaming it on the weather, for a cold
front overnight dropped temperatures by 15 degrees and I'm guessing those cold-blooded reptiles
are hunkered down somewhere to stay warm. We've nevertheless seen a diverse abundance of bird and
plant life, and this is a beautiful place to enjoy an easy hike or bike ride on a fall afternoon.
So we truly hope that you've enjoyed visiting Surfside Beach, Texas with us!
Coming up next week we're going to travel a few hours down the coast to reconnect with a few
more of our friends, so if you're not yet a Grand Adventurer this is the perfect time go smash that
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