A New Camera & RVs on Padre Island

 

I find it amazing how we can lose so many things in a motorhome.  This time I’ve lost the charger for my camera’s batteries. Once the juice was gone out of all three of my batteries, the camera was dead and my iPhone had to take over with the picture taking.

  Yep – camera or no camera, we’re still at the beach!

My first thought was to run out and buy a new battery charger.  However, I knew just as soon as I  spent the $40 for it, I’d find the old one.   I had been talking about upgrading my camera to one with a larger optical zoom anyway so this looked like a good time to do it.  Now I even had an extra $40 to apply to the purchase because I didn’t buy the battery charger!  See how we can justify anything.

   

The camera I actually wanted did not exist in Corpus Christi so I started looking at other small compact cameras.  My options were quite limited.  I ended up buying a Nikon P520 but returned it.  It was a great camera but so were a few others.  However, most cameras I found locally didn’t have all the features on my “must-have” list.  One by one I eliminated  them.   You know how it is.  We all want something different  and that's why there are so many choices for us.

In 2010 I sold my Canon dSLR and all the equipment I had.  I was tired of lugging around a heavy camera and lenses.  I didn’t want to go back to a big camera.  As far as I was concerned, the smaller the better but I also knew I couldn’t have every feature a dSLR had so I worked on a ‘must-have’ list. There were quite a few features on that "must-have" list but it began with a Sony, Nikon or Canon.
 
The second thing on the list was a good zoom.  At that time I ended up with the Sony DSC-HX5V and the next year upgraded to the Sony DSC-HX9V with a 16x optical zoom. The list is still about the same with a few new features added.  Last year an upgrade to that camera came out.  I decided if I was going to upgrade now, it had to be the Sony DSC-HX50V but it was not to be found on a shelf in Corpus. 

There are some features I wish it had like RAW format, wider aperture  but overall  it has most of the features I use often including a 30x zoom, panorama, fast shutter and bracketing capabilities. Quite a bit is packed into that small camera and I’m glad I didn’t settle for something else.  Now I just have to wait for it to arrive. 

We always seem to be looking for the perfect place to park our RV for a few nights.  Some of us may prefer the seclusion of the desert, the mountains or the beach.  My perfect place is always the beach.  Absolutely nothing beats being at the beach in my book and our time in Corpus has been amazing.  Our site as pictured on this topper is at Marvin Shields RV park which is part of the NAS facility in Corpus …. but, wait, this park is open to the public as are several other NAS facilities.  As long as you have a DOD, military or MWR card, you can use this RV park.  How do you get a MWR card?  You visit one of their facilities, get a form and apply to use their facilities.   That’s it..

 

There are many other places to park in this area right along the beach.  I mentioned a couple of them in a recent post. You can boondock on Padre Island with nothing but the ocean and sand out your windows.  The initial fee is $12 a year.  At the Padre Island National Seashore there is an entrance fee of $10.  For that fee you can boondock in many places along the beach or you can pull into one of their campgrounds with partial hookups. It’s amazing the options that are available around here.

The wind began to howl on Tuesday and it howled and it howled.  It meant no beach on Wednesday because the wind was still out there and it was making quite a ruckus with gusts up to 40mph. Actually, it wasn’t just the wind that kept us off the beach, it was also Sandi’s sunburn.  Hindsight is wonderful as she now she regrets not using the sunblock I had suggested she plaster herself with. 

Instead of the beach we visited a couple book stores and went to another barbecue restaurant.  This time it wasn’t for the brisket but for ribs.  Sandi wanted ribs.  You know how much we love barbecue so that wasn’t a difficult request.  We went to a local chain, Bill Miller BBQ. Terry said the brisket was pretty good but Sandi and I were terribly disappointed with the ribs.  They were under seasoned and the meat wasn’t so tender it fell off the bone.  You had to gnaw it off the bone instead.

Now a little space for Grandma

 

Sandi received great news today via a text from Aunt Sabrina.  The college she attends as a high school student posted their Dean’s List and she was on it!!  Kudos to Sandi!

 

 

Kudos to Justin for his recent medal too! Picture was posted on his ship’s Facebook page.

 

 

 

It's now Thursday morning and the winds are still howling but not as much as the day before.  We're on the road today but have no idea where we will land tonight.  Hopefully, something will open up for us and hopefully it will be more than a Wal-Mart!

‘Tis life on the road.