Over 4th of July weekend, I decided to explore the coast of Texas. I did some research to see where we should go and ended up with a route from Houston - Surf Side Beach - Port Lavaca - Tivoli - Matagorda - Rockport - Corpus Christi - Victoria - Wharton - Houston. I made my five-day journey into one where I hunted for Pyrex during the road trip and stopped to eat when I was tired from searching for the perfect Texas beach or Pyrex. Some of the highlights to me were:

All the chemical plants in the Surf Side Beach area
How brown the beaches of Texas are
The Kemp Ridley turtles of Malaquite Beach (I hope to witness the release of hatchlings someday!)
The miles upon miles of beach sand you can drive upon on Padre Island
Selena's memorial statue in Corpus Christi

Along the way I stopped at these treasure troves:

Bohemian Rhapsody
134 W Milam St, Wharton, TX

J T's This & That
228 W Milam St, Wharton, TX

Grump-Pa's
4316 E. Houston Hwy, Victoria, TX

Laurent Street Antique Mall
1602 N Laurent St Ste D, Victoria, TX

Grapevine
105 Main St Tivoli, TX

Palacios Antiques and Resale
501 1st St, Palacios, TX

Sand & C Emporium Antiques
1017 E Concho St Rockport, TX

Betty's Trash To Treasures Too
4315 S Alameda St, Corpus Christi, TX

I particularly enjoyed these restaurants:

River Bend Restaurant and Tavern
1427 Fm 2031, Matagorda, TX

I really liked the large portions, sea food and the ability to watch crazy wild boars across the river feed the entire time we were enjoying our late lunch.

JJ's Little Bay Cafe
302 Hwy 35 N, Rockport, TX

I needed vegetables! And there was a very affordable soup and salad bar. The owner, Gary, was particularly friendly and his family is from Minnesota!

Ginger Cafe
7009 S Staples, 103, Corpus Christi, TX

I sought out this place for veggies and had the mezze platter to start. The baba ganouj was really good! I also liked the beef shawarma...excellent spices and the beef was juicy and delicious!

Hester's Cafe (Six Points Location)
1714 S. Alameda St., Corpus Christi, TX

Healthy brunch options and bottomless coffee. I liked the location that Chef Yadi chose (seemed to be in a more historic area) although later I spotted Hester's by the Museum and that's really good too. Then you'd be in close proximity to the USS Lexington and the Selena statute.

Atomic Omelette and Grill
6313 Wooldridge Rd #10, Corpus Christi, TX

Of course I was a fan of the Hawaiian French Toast. You should try it - it's sweet enough that you don't even really need syrup! I also liked that somehow they managed to coat it with a bit of cornflakes.

I was hoping that Texas would offer some turquoise water and white sand beaches...but this didn't exist on our journey. The closest was probably Malaquite Beach where there was a bit of emerald beyond the brown waves that kicked on shore. It is nice to know that there are beach towns only one hour away from Houston where you can see colorful pastel houses and beach themed decor without getting on a plane.

Maybe nothing ever comes close to Hawaii. Until I return to Obamaland, check out the Pyrex turquoise 024 I found on my next blog post. It's the closest thing to paradise :)