Witte Museum

  This museum has a little of everything, focusing mostly on Texas natural history, but also including an exhibit with a mummy and galleries of visiting exhibits. In the outside area, Witte Backyard, there are historic buildings which have been relocated and the Science Treehouse, a science learning center for kids.

  Most areas  are accessible. A few of the exhibits have signs that are placed too high to read. The log cabin in the outside section is a reconstruction and it has a ramp. The cabin outbuildings are not accessible.The other buildings are authentic but aren’t opened to the public. The paths are stone slabs and are not very even.The Treehouse is accessible but the observation deck has railings and fencing blocking most of the view.

  Parking is limited. Part of the parking lot was closed when we visited because of construction which limited parking even more. We could back in and hang over a grassy area but that may not be possible with a larger RV.  Witte Museum
29.4613, -98.46689

Taking a Break

    To my four followers   and all of the nice people who have come by to read some of my blog- We  took a fast trip across the Gulf states,bypassing some good attractions because we had a set date to be in San Antonio for a visit with family. We’ll be here for a couple of weeks so I won’t be doing many posts but after that-back on the road. Our plan is travel up to Seattle and then onto Alaska. I’m not sure what route we’ll be taking and our trips don’t always materialize as planned but we’ll be going somewhere. So check back in a couple of weeks!

Texas State Parks Pass

               

    We decided to get a Texas State Park Pass. All of our other passes have saved us money but I’m not sure about this one yet. Texas,like many states,has a daily entrance fee for most of it’s state parks but unlike the other states,the fee is not waived for campers. Plus each person is charged a fee and they are charged every day. All these extra charges can make camping really expensive.

    The pass is $60.00 for a year. As an added bonus,two coupons are loaded onto the card-pay for one night and get the second night for half price. The problem is that there isn’t any standard fee for camping or for the daily fees. Sometimes there isn’t a daily fee and sometimes it is waived. Campsites can be relatively cheap or pretty expensive. The only way to find all the fee information is to look each one up individually. On top of this many west Texas towns have free campgrounds. Texas also allows 24 hour stops at their numerous picnic table rest areas. These are along most rural roads and are usually small but some are like miniature campgrounds.

  We saved $6.00 on one night’s stay so it shouldn’t take long for it to least pay for itself.  Texas State Parks Pass

Lake Texana State Park

    Six campsites in this campground are considered handicapped accessible but most of them are inadequate. The tables are on elevated concrete platforms so in the handicapped sites,concrete ramps have been built up to the platform. The paved parking pads have not been widened and there isn’t any pavement leading to the tables. Some of the sites have a drop off from the parking pad ,slopes down to the table , rough ground leading to the table and ramp front edges that are not even with the ground. Only one has easy access to the restroom.  The tables do have a long overhang on one end.

   We didn’t use a handicapped site. The site pictured above is in the non-electric section which is only suitable for shorter RVs. If you can fit and don’t need electricity ,I’d recommend the non-electric section because it isn’t very popular. We had it almost all to ourselves with a nice lake view too.  Check around first rather than taking a handicapped site. Some of the regular ones have fairly level ground,the parking pads are flush with the ground and the concrete table platforms are flush to the ground too. The only thing that you won’t have is the table overhang.  Lake Texana State Park Campground

Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site

    This is the main house of a rather large sugar cane plantation. It was built in 1834 with slave labor and local materials, mainly handmade bricks using clay from the Brazos River. It was owned by the same family for 34 years but sold after the Civil War. In 1901 it was bought by former Texas Governor Hogg. His daughter donated it to the state in1958.

    The only part of the site that is accessible is the admissions building. The house has a short step up to the porch and a few short steps up into the house. A couple of movable ramps could be used to provide access to the first floor and the kitchen annex but they do not have any available. You can view the house from the outside and look around the grounds for just $1.00. The house tour is $6.00.

   RV parking is along the road beside the house. Varner-Hogg Plantation
29.16224, -95.6401

Rollover Pass Fishing Area

   

No Longer Free! The area has been rebuilt.

 The pass cuts through the Bolivar Peninsula and links the Gulf of Mexico with Rollover Bay and East Bay. It’s a very popular fishing spot with large sandy lots on both sides of Texas Highway 87. In 2008 Hurricane Ike swept over the peninsula and destroyed the small community of Gilchrist. The community association has installed signs stating that the lots are private property but are available for public use. All they ask is that no one litters. There are porti-potties and trash cans. Staying overnight is allowed.

   We don’t fish but this looks like a very good place for wheelchair users to fish. The channel of the pass has concrete or metal walls and the water is about five feet deep.Most spots along the pass don’t have railings and it’s possible to get close to the water. Rollover Pass and Gilchrist
29.50893, -94.50216 

Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum

   The museum is inside a retired drilling rig. There’s a short movie and many models of ships and different types of drilling rigs plus a couple of places where you can go out on the deck. It does a good job of explaining all the processes but since it’s sponsored by the various oil companies the information is slightly slanted–no mention of the big oil spill.

  Access is a little difficult. Most people in wheelchairs will need some help with doors and getting over the thresholds which are metal and higher than normal. Everything inside is accessible except for a display with story boards that have to be turned and may be out of reach.

  Getting to the museum is also a little difficult. RVs can be parked in the lot on the corner of Wharf Road and 21st Street. The entranceway between the curb and the ticket machine is tight. If your RV is wide you might want to find a spot on the street. The lot price is $4.00 an hour no matter what size  RV you have.We didn’t check the street meters. Use the sidewalks on 21st Street to get to the wharf-good condition with a sidewalk level set of train tracks.The entrance to the museum is at the end of the wharf. There’s a ramp up to the building but you must come back down and go through a normally locked gate to get to the ramp for the drilling rig. This ramp is very long with just a slight up grade but it’s wavy which makes pushing a little hard. If you go by yourself make sure that the gate is left unlocked. There isn’t a way to get the attention of the person in the admission building so that they can open the gate for you when you’re finished touring the museum. Drilling Rig Museum
29.31128, -94.79057

Sea Rim State Park

  Free camping - NO LONGER FREE - doesn’t get any better than this - quiet, scenic, beach front property. Sea Rim State Park which has been battered by multiple hurricanes. Everything has been washed away except some of the roads and parking lots where camping is permitted. Camping is also permitted on the beach.

  There’s an accessible boardwalk that wanders through a salt marsh. We saw many birds including some pink spoon bills, the first that we’ve seen in the wild.
         
  Texas Highway 87 used to run from Port Arthur to Galveston but because of  storm damage it’s closed right after the second park entrance. The park website lists a fee but there isn’t a charge now.Sea Rim Park
29.67552, -94.04369

Museum of the Gulf Coast

  One of the best exhibits-Janis Joplin’s Porsche!  The museum has her story along with those of many other famous Gulf Coast residents. It also has a condensed history beginning with the Indians up to the era of the huge oil refineries which still operate today. Other exhibits include collections of glassware and seashells.

   Everything is accessible. The parking lot is large enough for RVs. We parked in the bus parking. It’s never crowded. Gulf Coast Museum 
29.87309, -93.93284

  The city of Port Arthur has fascinated us since our first visit years ago.Something horrible has happened here and we’re not sure what - pollution, hurricanes, businesses defecting, what? The entire downtown area is deserted-multistory buildings, empty and crumbling. Driving through town is eerie.

Spindletop/Gladys City Museum

  Spindletop is the name of the hill where the first Texas oil gusher was located and Gladys City was the town for the oil workers and their families that grew beside it. The original well and the town are long gone but this small re-creation has been built on the campus of Lamar University. There’s a short movie and informative sign boards that explain this short lived oil boom very well.

  There are several accessibility problems. The door to the gift shop/admissions building is very heavy. The town has boardwalks joining all of the buildings. The boardwalks are in good condition but the thresholds on all of the buildings have steep little ramps and the doors are spring loaded making it difficult to enter the buildings.

  The parking lot while not large is still big enough for any size RV.  Spindletop
  30.0327, -94.07871