"We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, Bay City. The room we had was wonderful,
extremely large, new furnishings and carpet. It had a fridge and microwave,
a sitting area with couch, coffee table and desk and had two telephones.
It was a pleasant surprise."
-------------------------------------------
"We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. We thought it was very reasonable
for the cost. I also liked that it felt very secure for a woman traveling
alone with a child (access to the rooms was through a front lobby and not
individual doors opening out to a parking lot like most motels). The room
had a microwave oven, refrigerator, cable TV, coffeemaker, hairdryer, and
I think an ironing board too. (+iron). There was a complimentary breakfast
too. The hotel also had a very small pool and a work-out room. My only complaint
was that the ice machine was empty so we were unable to put ice in our cooler
for our lunches. We booked our room over the internet so I think we got
a very good rate.
The drive to Matagorda took almost 30 minutes from the hotel. The drive
from Austin took a little over 3 and 1/2 hours. That time includes two
brief pit stops-once to refuel the car and once to buy a cup of coffee for
the road.
The only restaurant we ate at in Bay City was the Mr. Gatti's. It was the
buffet style restaurant if you are familiar with Mr. Gatti's. My daughter's
choice and she was very happy."
----------------------------
"We stayed at the Fisherman's Motel - it was really clean and nice and very
family oriented, and right across from the marina.
The people who run it are wonderful. You can have a kitchenette. All rooms
have a small microwave and small refrigerator.
Fisherman's Motel also did not have phones in the rooms.
TAKE FOOD or eat at Stanley's market unless you're vegetarian - they have
pigs in blankets, beans (with fatback) and cornbread... boogie boards,
buckets and nets for beach and surf combing...
Do climb around on the granite jetty by the shore when the tide is out...
and walk to the end of the pier but that part of the granite jetty was too
scary... the waves literally CRASH against the granite blocks with great
force.
We also walked around the beach to where the river meets the bay - and did
some water tests for salinity, and made note of changes in shore formation
and shell deposits and plant location...
The floating school on shore activities were fab!
You can cook-out at either Carla's or Fisherman's.
There is NO place to get GOOD COFFEE - however, there is a great coffee bar
in Bay City - turn right on the northish side of the town square and go a
block - it's on the right. This may be very important to some of you. When
I walked in to this coffee bar
after three days of no coffee, I almost keeled over. The aroma was divine.
The coffee was even better! "
------------------------------
Cattleman's Hotel on 60 in Bay City:
PROS: clean (yet old) room. quiet. non-smoking rooms avail. Huge frig
(about 36" tall), and a microwave. TV. Room stay includes a hot
breakfast at the Cattleman's Rest next door. That consisted of 1 egg, bacon,
hash brown patty, and toast. Beverages were extra.
CONS: it is an older motel, but again, it was clean. it offers a pool,
wh/ we laughed at when we saw it. It's about the size of two hot tubs,
w/ markings for 4 to 5 ft deep.
EconoLodge on 35 in Bay City - newer, rooms clean, close to Taco Bell and
other fast food.
------------------------------
We stayed at CARLA'S COURTS, which is a fisherman's hangout. Compared to
modern corporate hotels, it would rate pretty poorly. But we liked it!
The rooms were small, and the decor was dated. (It was like staying in
my grandmother's home, with the same sort of landscape pictures on the wall,
the same cheap panelling, and the same worn-thin towels.) No phones in
the room, but there was a refrigerator and cable TV, and a microwave on
the porch. I found it clean. The owners were very nice.
At Carla's, there is a big porch (the "living room") where the fishermen
and owners sat out and chatted in the evenings. I had hoped the homeschooling
families would do the same, but they stayed in their rooms. Behind the
motel was a pier, bench, and fish-cleaning station. One hs family did some
night fishing, another family found dozens of hermit crabs to play with,
and my teenager captured a bunch of comb jellies washing in, including a
brilliant red-orange variety.
Carla's Courts are smack-dab in the middle of the delta that Mr. Younger
talked about, halfway between the harbor and the beach, which made it very
convenient (5 minutes to either spot). We had plenty of chances to observe
the extensive wetlands, since they were just across the road from us. We
spotted pink flamingos three different times! It was interesting to sit
at the edge of the boat channel that was dredged through the delta, which
ran right behind the motel. We were able to put our new knowledge into
perspective. All in all, my kids decided they had a much better time at
Carla's Courts than they would have at a fancier hotel/motel."
------------------------------
"We went down the night before and stayed at Carla Courts, a very low budget
fisherman's motel on the
Colorado River a couple of miles past the swing bridge (it's a small town,
you can't miss the bridge). Even
though the rooms were "no frills" and musty, the kids loved it because there's
a dock right out the back.
You can fish out the back door. There's also a boat ramp where lots hermit
crabs make their home. My son
caught a 14 inch flounder off the dock.
The other motel in Matagorda is the Fisherman's Motel which is right on the
main highway and just across the
entrance to the bay. Definitely more convenient, but it looks about the
same quality. There are also
swanky motels (read Holiday Inn) in Bay City about a half hour away. "
----------------------------------
Accommodations: We stayed at Carla Courts for two nights.
The advantages were being close to the beach and a very nice fishing dock
with
lights. The motel is situated right along the Colorado river. The first night
there, right
before that cool front, the fish were leaping everywhere! They had outdoor
grills in the covered porch area with plenty of tables. The rooms were very
small, but also very clean with good A/C and a full size refrigerator. There
are no phones in the rooms. If you like to fish and be near a beach, this
place
will work well for you. The owners were also very friendly mom and pop types.
There are only a couple of eating places in Matagorda. We went to the Neon
Pizza place at the intersection in town. They had really good pepperoni
pizza and other offerings of sub sandwiches and Italian entrees. The market
in town had a good selection of staples. I would bring the majority of my
own food if you plan on staying for more than a day.
In Bay City, we ate at K-2 Steakhouse and it was very good. I had chicken
fried steak, a generous serving with a big baked potato and an excellent
salad and soup bar comes with the meal. You will not walk away from there
hungry! The service was just a bit slow for mid afternoon, the appetizer
didn’t arrive till practically the meal, but it wasn’t in the extreme. The
waitress was working mostly on her own.
We also stopped into the Cattlemen’s restaurant on the way out Friday morning
for breakfast. I had a ham and cheese omelet and Jeff had the pancakes.
We thought the food was very good and the service was prompt and courteous.
"We stayed at the Lighthouse RV Park and Campground. It is just 10 minutes
from the FCP harbor.
We got a camper there for $25 a night. The camper has 2 full length bunkbeds,
one child size bed in the same bedroom,. Bathroom with shower, couch that
folds out into bed, table that folds down into bed and a double bed. NO
TV! When we got there and checked in, saw no TV the kids groaned and I was
going YES! We had plenty of towels, washcloths, linens, blankets, etc. 3
air conditioners so was plenty cool! We stopped to get groceries in Bay
City: eggs, milk, bread, lunch meat, etc
We had a refrigerator, small stove with oven, microwave, coffeemaker, dishes,
pots and pans, flatware. No sharp knives tho good thing I brought one from
home. The camp itself was nice but the swimming pool was dirty and it was
very muddy. The manager explained that they had so much rain that they just
couldn't keep the pool clean. There are also showers at the pool. I was
disappointed with the swimming pool and wouldn't let the kids go in it."
--------------------------------------
HEB in Bay City is the only good grocery store in the area, many bait and
fish shops.
Fast foods in Bay City include Hardees, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell/KFC,
Whataburger, Subway, Dominos.
Best sitdown restaurant in Bay City according to the locals - K-2 Steakhouse
in Bay City. Moderate to high, good soup and salad bar, wide range of steak,
chicken and seafood options.
There are several other restaurants in Bay City including chinese, mexican,
etc but had no comments from anyone who ate at them. Bay City has far more
fast food than other eating options.
------------------------------------
Click here to go back to main page for Floating School.
Last updated October 5, 2002 Copyright 2002
Susan Frederick
Copyright 2002
Susan Frederick