Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE COASTAL BEND
The name 'Coastal Bend' can rather amorphously apply to communities from Galveston to
South Padre Island. But its heart is the rural stretch running from the southern tip of Galve-
ston Island to Corpus Christi. Here small towns, many forgotten by time, lie Gulf-side at
the end of long and quiet roads. Many shelter in the profusion of inlets and bays, protected
by more than 100 miles of uninhabited barrier islands. The only visitors to the islands are
birds, which flock here by the score.
The region just south of Galveston, around the Brazos River, doesn't get much respect
despite the clever marketing moniker that has been dreamed up for it: ' Brazospor t.' Or
maybe that's the reason for it. South of here, the countryside is rural and often bucolic. Nat-
ural areas such as Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and Goose Island State Park should be
your focus along with the towns of Fulton and Rockport.
It's more than possible to drive from Galveston south along the confusing maze of roads
to Corpus Christi or Port Aransas in a day and still see the best sights.
DRIVING DISTANCES
Austin-Corpus Christi
192 miles, 3 hours
Brownsville-Laredo
204 miles, 3½ hours
Corpus Christi-Brownsville
159 miles, 2½ hours
Corpus Christi-South Padre Island
172 miles, 3 hours
Houston-Beaumont
86 miles, 90 minutes
Houston-Corpus Christi
211 miles, 3¼ hours
Laredo-San Antonio
154 miles, 2½ hours
TOP OF CHAPTER
Brazosport Area
POP 92,000
Nine towns - Brazoria, Clute, Freeport, Jones Creek, Lake Jackson, Oyster Creek,
Quintana, Richwood and Surfside Beach - are part of a confused hodgepodge crisscrossed
