petitefrancaise

Fellow Texans, I want a break for a few days with the kiddoes. Recommendations please? Austin is 4.5 hours from Corpus Christi, which I must admit I wasn't stunned with although the national park was nice.
any ideas?

thanks

scrubbedexpat097

Our go to place is Rockport/Fulton. It is about 45 minutes or less from Corpus. It's fairly quiet but is quaint and relaxing. You can go out to Port Aransas on the shortest ferry ride I have ever been on! Fulton has a hotel called the Lighthouse which is where we usually stay . It's small but has a pool and a fishing pier.

Of course the kids will probably be bored so I would suggest driving further than Corpus and going to South Padre Island. It is touristy but probably more interesting for the kids!

Other than that you could go to Galveston and Kemah . I love Galveston...but only in the winter months

Britexmom

My kids love mustang island, the beach is good for families and the harbor are is great for spotting dolphins and turtles.
Since my dh is retired military we tend to stay on the navy base ( can't beat the price) and drive over to mustangs island each day. We did stay At a beach front condo one year and the kids spent every minute they could on the beach.
Admittedly though my kids just love anywhere there is a body of water and the chance to see ....and maybe touch...the wildlife.

ddsrph

I am retired Navy also and my wife and I stay at military bases whenever possible. They have some outstanding facilities and like you said at very good prices. You probably already know about the Hale Koa hotel in Hawaii.
Set on 65 acres of super valuable real estate in downtown Honolulu , with 1/4 mile of Waikiki beach front. If you ever have plans to visit Hawaii check out their website.

scot47

Veterans can stay at military bases at bargain prices ?

ddsrph

You have to be active duty or retired. To retire with full pension you have to serve 20 years and then receive 1/2 your base pay for life with cost of living raises. A young enlisted person could join at 18 retire at 38 receive a pension from 38 for the rest of his life. If you serve over 20 years you get 2 1/2 % extra for each year served topping out at 75% of your base pay at 30 years of service. A lot of other benefits from being retired like free medical insurance, free space available travel on all DOD aircraft, and as previously mentioned staying in base housing for a good price. The military has a lot of housing devoted to recreation like beach properties and even nice hotels like the Hale Koa, and others I know about in Korea and Tokyo, and probably others I don't know about.

thinbrit

There is a lot to do in the DFW area, a few that spring to mind -
Fort Worth Zoo
Fort Worth Stock Yard National Historic District
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza/Texas School Book Depository
Reunion Tower
Dallas Museum of Art
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
Adventure Landing
Dallas Cattle Drive Sculptures
Step back in time and watch a movie at The Texas Theatre
The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Gardens
Klyde Warren Park (sits over a freeway)
If you can arrange a child minder then blow off some steam at the end of your visit at Billy Bob's Honky Tonk

San Antonio -
River Walk
The Alamo

If you happen to be near College Station on hwy 6, then a quick stop in Calvert for antiques and to wander around the old Victorian style houses is recommended.

It is many years since I took a road trip, but those stand out as memorable.

jkeller

My dad is retired Air Force and they did the space a flights a lot. You need to be near an Air Force base and be going to an overseas base to use it. It's rank based, so you're out of luck if there is only one seat and somebody else outranks you. Also if they are carrying hazmat they won't take you. They can also cancel the flight and the next one won't be until days or more later. That happened to my folks several times. Travis, Lackland, Dover, Tinker, Charleston AFB's have flights to Ramstein, Mildenhall, Naples, Rota, Aviano in Europe. You have to be very flexible with travel dates and be prepared to buy a commercial flight home. But it can be very cool. Once they came back on a refueler 707 and got to go back to rear and watch the boom operator refuel fighter jets over the Atlantic. The downside of that flight was it took them to some base near Syracuse NY and then they had buy their own tickets back to Texas.

The best Texas beaches are definitely South Padre, but it's a longer drive from Austin than Corpus/Mustang Island. Beaches in Galveston proper are not great because of the seawall.

jkeller

Gruene(New Braunfels) would be a nice day trip. Tube down the Guadalupe river. Schlitterbahn water park is also there.

Historic Gruene Texas
Schlitterbahn Water Parks | Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort

petitefrancaise

Thanks guys.

Will take a look at Mustang Island, Britexmom, thanks for the recommendation.

We've done Schlitterbahn and tubing to death. last time after being at schlitterbahn we all got ear infections. Dr took one look at mum and 2 kids all with ear ache and said "schlitterbahn?" without prompting.

Thanks Thinbrit but was wanting seaside stuff. We're ( by that I mean "I") missing the sea and playing in the water. No waves in the Gulf Coast unfortunately and I know everyone moans about the cleanliness but I think it's way cleaner than the Med which I avoided as much as I could when we lived in France.

jkeller

Yikes, sorry to "hear" about that