Gulf Coast Road Trip - June 2009

Hello all! Husband and I (and another couple) are planning a road trip from Houston down along the Gulf Coast and ending at San Antonio, the second week in June. Flying in from Ohio and none of us are very familiar with the area -- although husband spent a summer in Houston nearly 30 years ago ...

His plan is to simply drive until we see somewhere we want to stop, get a hotel/motel there, then go on the next day. What do you all think -- is this a crazy idea and we%26#39;re going to end up sleeping in the car, or is it workable? We have a reservation the first night in Houston and the last two nights in San Antonio, but what about the in-between stops?

Any ideas of good places to stop/things to see along the way would be much appreciated as well!

Gulf Coast Road Trip - June 2009

I would do more planning and make reservations along the way. 2nd week of June will put you into major tourist season and, especially trying to get rooms for 4 people, you may well end up sleeping in the car.

Gulf Coast Road Trip - June 2009

Every time I use that tactic I end up spending too much for a room and being disappointed with the accommodations. I%26#39;m a huge fan of Hotwire and Priceline and (almost) always use them.

Itinerary - first question is what are your interests? You mentioned coast - golf? fishing? relaxing on the beach? sight seeing? boating? shopping? historical? action? etc...

For me - Houston antiques and art galleries, Galveston one day, maybe NASA, Rockport art galleries, Port Aransas beach relaxing drinking beer,

Corpus one day some antiques, shopping, aircraft carrier, SA shopping, live music

Again, with a little more info - we can give you better recommendations.

I agree with poodle and Octoboy that you really should try to book in advance. It does make the trip less spontaneous, but at least you know you%26#39;ll have a place to sleep. It%26#39;s not clear how many nights you have in between, but check out Galveston, Freeport, Matagorda Bay, Rockport, Port Aransas, and Corpus Christi. Galveston and Corpus Christi are larger cities with lots of hotels and also lots of visitors at that time of year, but you should still be able to find loding at both. The others are smaller and have fewer lodging options, lots of people camp or rent beach houses in those areas.

Thanks for your responses! No reservations makes me a little nervous as well, so I%26#39;ll see if I can pin him down a little more. At this point, the plan is fly into Houston on Friday 6/5, Space Center on 6/6 and on to Galveston that evening. Definitely want to hit Corpus and the USS Lexington, then San Antonio on 6/11 and 6/12. Anything in between 6/6 and 6/11 is up in the air.

Beach, beer, seafood and shopping will definitely happen, anything else appears to be dependent on what we trip across. Reptile farms are out, but that%26#39;s about the only thing I wouldn%26#39;t consider.

One other question that may be dumb, but I should ask -- what are the open container laws in Texas?

Here%26#39;s a quote from dwi.austindefense.com

';With few exceptions, it鈥檚 not legal to have an open container of beer or other alcohol in your car in Texas.

The exceptions? (1) passengers in taxis, buses, limos and (2) motor homes and RVs.

Also, it is legal to keep it in a locked glove compartment or trunk. If the car has no trunk, it may be stored in the area behind the last upright seat.';

Hmmm, so if I rented an RV instead of a car, that could solve the lodging problem AND the open container problem all at the same time! Not going to give hubby that idea ... :-)

Open container on the beach is okay, though, correct? I%26#39;ll go read the link you sent me. Thank you!

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