Edna, TX - El Campo, TX - Wharton, TX Travels

While inland we traveled 30 minutes to Edna, TX so we'd have closer access to explore Edna, El Campo  and Wharton. We stayed at Lake Texana, in the Texana Park & Campground for 3 nights from Wed through Sat. While there, we took a day trip to both El Campo, 30 minutes from Edna and to Wharton another 10 minutes from El Campo to explore. Another day we went to lunch in El Campo  then down to the coastline 30 minutes to see those coastal areas. 

Edna, TX - - 

Edna is a tiny little town of 5,700 people but that still has amenities such as a grocery store, post office, auto parts store, gas station, they even have  a hospital and medical  facilities building which we thought was neat for such a tiny town. Our campground spot in the tiny town of Edna was truly amazing. A huge 11,000 acre lake, tons of wildlife and privacy in the camping spaces. It really makes you feel like you are all alone in nature. We saw tons of deer right in our  campsite, our first armadillo sighting and the first time the kids and I have ever seen fireflies. We bbq'd hamburgers and hot dogs one night and also bbq'd salmon and brussel sprouts and of course ate s'mores again! Campfire time with the family. We would definitely come back to this park again.

Edna traces its history to the settlement of the Texana town site in 1824.
Edna became the "Flag City" in 1968, when the City Council passed a resolution stating that inasmuch as our sons were risking their lives in a conflict on foreign soil; and knowing the draft card burning, protest marches, and anti-war demonstrations aided and comforted the enemy and prolonged the war; the City of Edna condemned all such un-American activities, and wished to show its support of the government of the United States, and decreed that the flag of the United States be flown along city streets until an honorable peace had been secured in Vietnam.
A patriotic, no-nonsense attitude still exists in Edna and is symbolized by the ongoing use of the Flag City motto and the daily display of American flags in downtown Edna.

https://www.brackenridgepark.com/p/about/lake-texana

 

El Campo, TX - - 

El Campo is quite a bit larger than Edna at 11,467 people and has even more amenities such as a Walmart and more restaurants, stores and facilities. They have a large community center with aquatic park, lots of public parks with playgrounds, skate parks, and tennis courts. 

What is El Campo known for? The little camp was first called "Prairie Switch" because it served as a switching point on the Houston-Victoria Railroad and a shipping point on the New York, Texas and Mexican Railroad. In fact, during the mid-1880s, El Campo was the largest prairie hay shipping point in the entire United States.

We ate at Pincher's Restaurant in El Campo - https://www.pinchersrestaurants.com/

They did not disappoint! After reading such great reviews we had to try it. We ordered crawfish nacho's and the family platter to all share.

    After we had already dug in! Shrimp, alligator, crawfish, catfish, stuffed crab, fries, hush puppies, cole slaw, gumbo, etouffee, red beans and rice - -  We all had never eaten alligator and our son and I had never eaten crawfish. Everything was good but I could pass on the alligator next time!

 

Wharton, TX - - 

Wharton is a small town of 8,832 people just 10 minutes outside  of El Campo. It's also only 1 hour outside of Houston, TX. The town borders the Colorado River. The area has a community college, grocery store, feed store. There's a lot of amenities here for such a small place. They have fishing, boating, and a lot of parks and open spaces.

The area now known as Wharton was part of the Caney Run mail route established in 1838 by the Republic of Texas. The community was named after two leaders in the Anglo-American struggle for Texas independence, brothers John and William Wharton. What developed as a plantation community along the Colorado River was first settled in 1846 by some of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists. A post office was established the next year in 1847. Wharton is known now as the Gateway to the Texas Gulf Coast. The Wharton County Historical Museum features exhibits on notable residents: broadcast journalist Dan Rather and Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez, as well as a wildlife collection. 

This was by far our favorite town thus far- the town square, the friendly people we met, the sense of such a tight knit community. They have community parades, events, farmers markets.

Bridge over the Colorado River - -

The Texas Gulf Coast - Rockport - Palacios - Port Lavaca

 From Kerrville, TX we drove down to the coast to Rockport, TX area to stay at Goose Island State Park. We wanted to spend time fishing and seeing the Gulf. We visited the beach area, the pier. The boys were able to fish one day before down pouring rain came and with the potential of flooding in the area we decided to cut our time short by two days to head inland. While inland we went back down to the coast a week later just on a day trip to visit Palacios and Port Lavaca, their beaches, piers and nature wetland areas. We wanted to see as much of the area as possible both inland and coastal. Towards the end of the month we'll again go stay coast side but down in South Padre Island which we are told is a completely different world than mid Texas Gulf Coast, so we're excited to experience that area as well.

Rockport, TX / Goose Island State Park - - 

Goose Island has both wooded spaces and beach front water spaces, unfortunately due to weather our beach front water space for 2 days was cancelled. But we still got to have a campfire, do smores with the kids, go fish on the Gulf at the pier one day and experience tons of deer and wildlife. The mosquitos were especially bad in the wooded area and people have told us due to the enormous amount of rain in a short time, they are worse than they've ever been- oh lucky us! But we found some home remedies that keep them at bay for us and the pup so its do able!  Also before leaving Goose Island we visited 'Big Tree' - one of  the largest living oak trees in the US. We are astounded by the beauty of all the wild flowers in Texas - so many different kinds and colors everywhere.

 https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/goose-island

 

Day Trip to Palacios, TX & Port Lavaca, TX - - 

We spent several weeks inland but wanted to see additional  areas of the coast since there are SO many. So we took a short day trip to both Palacios Bay Beach and Pier and also Port Lavaca to Lighthouse beach and the Bird Sanctuary and Bird Tower to view  the wetlands. 

Palacios - - 

Port Lavaca - - 

The coast line we noticed differs in all the places we've visited, even just slightly. We somehow managed to only visit the coast during the clouded rainy time, hoping for a little peak of sunshine on our next time down to the water!