Autumn is just around the corner, and so are all the fun things to do this Fall in Corpus Christi! Cooler temperatures mean you can actually get out and do some of the things that just didn’t seem worthy of getting out of the water during the Summer! The mild temperature makes even late November in Corpus Christi a great time to visit! While sure, we could sit around and lament the cancellation of some of our favorite fall festivals this year, there are so many other wonderful things to do in our Sparkling City by the Sea!
The Beach No matter the season, the beach will always be at the top of my favorite things to do in Corpus Christi! However, I think Fall is the very best time of year for a day on the beach! You’ll find a lot less people on the beach, the waves are usually great, shelling is better, the water is cooler and you can sit back and relax a little bit more because you didn’t just pay peak season pricing for your hotel room! Spend a day playing on the bay on North Beach, cross the causeway and play in the surf on Whitecap Beach or drive down to the Padre Island National Seashore to explore the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world!
Lock Down on the U.S.S. Lexington Not only can you tour the Corpus Christi’s own Blue Ghost, but did you know that they also have an incredible Escape Room? Beat the clock at this fun and exciting adventure after a tour of Texas’ only Essex Class Aircraft Carrier! In October, they have a haunted house through the dimly-lit corridors in the interior of the ship! The Lexington was commissioned in 1943, and sent to Pearl Harbor in 1944, where “during World War II she participated in nearly every major operation in the Pacific Theater.” She is now permanently docked in Corpus Christi Bay on North Beach.
Watch the sunset on horseback! Horses on the Beach offers sunset tours out on the beach! Play with your horse in the surf and sand, then experience the beauty of a Gulf Coast sunset atop your friendly new friend! It’s a perfect date night or family adventure!
Fall Fishing Anglers from around the world come to Corpus Christi for it’s excellent fishing opportunities! The Fall Redfish Run makes for an exciting day fishing, and there are proven guides to take you out for a day, or you can fish the packery channels or wade fish in the bay. The flounder in Fall are always fun, and a guide will get you down to learn the ropes of gigging from the boat, or catching on a rod and reel, the only option in November. Surf Fishing is always exciting, and you never know what you might pull out beyond the second sandbar. Kayak and paddleboard fishing in the Bird Island Basin is one of my personal favorites. August – October is the best time of year for catching trophy tarpon. For the biggest thrill, take a Water Safari 3-day Tuna trip out to the oil rigs with one of the local outfitters!
Bob Hall Pier, one of the best fishing piers in the Gulf, sustained serious damage in July, 2020 during Hurricane Hanna, and it and Bali Park are closed for the foreseeable future.
Get Lost in a Maze Rockin’ K Farms is open weekends from September 26 – November 8th, and in addition to fun on the farm with a sunflower field, pumpkin patch, farm animals, games and hay rides, their huge 6-acre maze is one of the largest in the state!
Visit the King Ranch for their annual Ranch Hand Breakfast! One of the largest and most historic ranches in Texas, the King Ranch offers an annual breakfast and Ranch Hand Weekend the weekend before Thanksgiving, with roping demonstrations, storytelling, camp cooking demonstrations and live music.
Take a Ghost Tour of Downtown Corpus Christi Corpus Christi Ghost Tours offers tours nightly during late September and October, with enough chilling stories of the deadly departed in Corpus to thrill and delight you! This is a family-friendly experience and suitable for the whole family!
Surftoberfest at the Texas Surf Museum This annual tradition is still on for 2020, although it will look a little different than years past. The FREE Texas Surf Museum is always a neat place to visit and get you stoked for your next wave!
Feed a Stingray at the Texas State Aquarium The Texas State Aquarium continues to be open, with guidelines for safety, such as online ticket purchases, one way lanes and while some of the more frequently touched displays are closed, you can still catch Keeper Talks and feed a friendly stingray!
Say “cheese” at the Original Whataburger Whataburger is a really big deal in Corpus Christi, where the burger franchise first started! The original whataburger had been gone for a few decades, but Whataburger heard how fans wanted to visit the original, and built a replica onsite at 4126 S. Staples, in the back of the new Whataburger restaurant. While you can’t buy a burger, it’s a great place for a selfie!
Rides Electric Scooters Through the Marina District We have these days down to a science, we start with an early breakfast (usually a Sunday morning when the whole Downtown Marina district is least busy) at the 2-story Whataburger, located at which my youngest insist on each and every visit. Then we walk across Shoreline Blvd, and walk down towards the Selena Statue, and along the way we each pick up one of the electric scooters to ride. If you haven’t rented a scooter like this, you simply find them docked along the walk, and download an app to pay for your use, depending on how long you ride. We then turn and take the scooters down People’s Street, through the T (it’s shaped like a T) and then through downtown. A couple of things to remember anytime you rent a scooter, check the age requirements on the scooters, and know where you can and cannot ride them, generally on any street with a speed limit under 35 mph.
Check out a Local Brewery Craft beer has definitely made a home for itself in Corpus Christi, and there are some amazing local breweries that offer great beer in a fun setting for the whole family! For a laid back day, you must check out Dewey’s Beer Garden, with a great patio, with games and more. Nueces Brewing is named for the Nueces River which spills into Nueces Bay, which then spills into Corpus Christi Bay and is the main river in the city. They are located in one of the coolest buildings in the Downtown Marina district, and are even putting on a social distancing Oktoberfest! We love everything about Railroad Brewing Company at the Railroad Seafood Company, so you can pair up some tasty seafood and beer!
Corpus Christi Museum Science and History Now open with limited capacity and new guidelines in place to lessen the spread of Covid-19, visitors can enjoy the wealth of information and displays at the museum about the Coastal Bend of Texas, it’s wildlife, sealife and history!
Take a wetlands hike Explore the amazing creatures and plants that abound in a wetland ecosystem at the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve! Enjoy the cooler temperatures on a fun, family hike. Due to Covid-19, the Learning Center is currently closed.
Mural, Mural on the Wall. Visit the Welcome to Corpus Christi Mural, located at 120 N. Mesquite St., in the Downtown Marina district, just a block from the 2-story Whataburger. It’s the only way to declare to your social media friends that you are truly here!
Have a crab boil on the beach With smaller crowds on the beach, and cooler nights, it’s the perfect time to spend the day catching crabs, then stay out under the stars with a big fire and boil them for dinner! Check out these tips on how to do it from CorpusChristi.com.
Fly a Kite on the Beach Texas is big in wind farms, so it’s no surprise that the same wind is great for kite flying! Want a big thrill, try kiteboarding! 361KITE offers lessons to get you out and on the water!
Eat Some Oysters! If you live by the adage, Only eat oysters in months that have an R, then you probably don’t start eating oysters until September rolls around. However, farmed oysters, which are sexually sterile, are edible year round. The saying comes from the fact that wild oysters experience spawning during the Summer months, when they become soft and mushy, not very appetizing at all! But in 2020, a law was passed that allows Texas Oyster Farms, so Texas Gulf Oysters will be amazing all year round! Oyster Season for recreational fishers is from November 1st – April 30th, with the proper fishing license. Learn more about oyster restrictions, which can change at any time due to water conditions.
Walk the Harbor Bridge The iconic Corpus Christi Harbor bridge is being replaced with a new bridge in the future (maybe), so your time to walk the bridge is limited! And I’m not talking about dodging cars, either! You can actually walk on the separate walk-way on the top of the bridge! An incredible workout with a views, it’s a Bucket List thing for me, but thinking I may need to be carried down!
Take a Family Bike Ride Fall is the perfect time in Corpus Christi to go bike riding! Bring your own and start in Cole Park, or rent a bike on Whitecap Beach with Joyride Rental Co.
Take a Surfing Lesson My daughter attended Padre Island Surf Camp during the Summer for years, but they offer private lessons in the off season, and occasionally weekend camps and even fun mother-daughter camps.
Go Beach Hiking Pack a backpack with plenty of water, a tent and food, and take off for an experience you will never forget, hiking the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world! You can hike 60 miles down to the Port Mansfield channel, camping along the way, fishing, crabbing and swimming if it’s warm enough, all the while keeping your eyes open for coyotes, rattlesnakes and jellyfish. You’ll also pass the sites of some of the old Spanish ship wrecks. At Port Mansfield, you can have someone drive down to pick you up, or turn around and hike back. It’s something I’ve only dreamed of doing, but a Texas Monthly writer did it, and lived to tell about it, last March as the pandemic was hitting the U.S.. Talk about Social Distancing.
Keep Having Fun in the Texas Sun!
Michelle
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