There was a peaceful town called Rockport...
Daddy is a sincere reader of Texas Monthly, and when it ran a recent story extolling the virtues of Rockport as a delightful seaside getaway, he sprang into action.
"Shall we drive to Rockport for Mommy's birthday?" he asked. It wasn't really a question.
"It's the middle of winter..." Mommy hesitated. "I'm afraid it might be too cold for Lyra."
Lyra could barely contain her enthusiasm. "Yay Rockport! And don't worry, Mommy -- I'm a four seasons beach girl! You can bring your windbreaker. And your scarf.."
On the way to Rockport, Lyra insisted on a stop at Prasek's Hillje Smokehouse for some of their famous jerky and sausages. The jerky was delicious, but too chewy for a baby with no molars. Good thing they also had sausage kolaches! "It's good to be a Texan," says Lyra.
At Prasek's, Lyra found it difficult to eat with the animal heads looking at her.
We arrived Rockport at around 2:00pm on a breezy, sunny Sunday afternoon. Stomachs growling, we stopped at Captain Benny's for some fried oysters. But it was closed. Closed! On a weekend! "What kind of business plan is that?" asked Lyra. Daddy had no answer. As a consolation, we went across the street to Charlotte Plummer's, which has a lovely upstairs patio with a view of the harbor and the bay. The food - meh. But the view!
Mommy opened up Lyra's bag of Cheerios, but Lyra was so not having that. "Cereal? At a seafood place? Puh-lease. Let me see the menu."
"This menu is gibberish!"
Lyra delegates the ordering. "Just get me something I can sip through a straw, Daddy-o."
After lunch, we checked in at the Angel Rose Bed and Breakfast, a beautiful restored Victorian and one of the few houses in Rockport to survive the 1919 hurricane. So many rooms for Lyra to explore! And such shiny wooden floors! Lyra paused and thought for a moment. She hadn't driven four hours to stay inside. "To the beach!" she cried.
"Strollers on the beach! What'll they think of next?"
Lyra closes her eyes and makes a wish.
The sun is out, the sky is blue ... is it really winter? Just a few days earlier, the mercury was below freezing, but that was then. Today, Zeus has decreed a postcard-perfect day for baby Lyra.
Lyra rushes the quarterback. (Did we mention it was also Super Bowl Sunday?)
"Could I possibly be cuter? Hmm. Is that a rhetorical question?"
Lyra and Mommy on the beach. Yes, those are tire tracks. In Texas, you can drive on the beach.
"WHAT?!? Nobody told me there was a swing at the beach! Best. Park. Ever."
Lyra holds up a twig to see which way the wind is blowing. Stay tuned for her next literal interpretation of a Dylan song!
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