If you’re an outdoor enthusiast, Port Aransas and the surrounding communities offer beautiful landscapes to add to the enjoyment of your pastimes. If you lead a leisurely lifestyle, you can relax along miles of sandy beaches or partake in some birdwatching. For the more adventurous at heart, you can spend your days catching some waves or deep sea fishing.
Port Aransas has something for everyone. If you’re considering a move to the area, feel free to check out our Port Aransas homes and condos for sale.
Mustang Island State Park
Mustang Island State Park is a magnificent gem that sits along the Gulf of Mexico and is a treasure in and of itself. You can spend your days off relaxing on the beach or enjoying one of these activities:

• Birding
• Bonfires
• Camping
• Paddling
• Swimming

Padre Island National Seashore
You can get away from your everyday hustle and bustle at the Padre Island National Seashore. This park stretches along endless miles of the coast, and you can even drive on the beach in some areas. You’ll find activities for everyone to enjoy.

• Birding
• Bookstore
• Canoeing and kayaking
• Seashell collecting
• Swimming

Roberts Point Park
Roberts Point Park is another spectacular site for recreational activities. In addition to normal beach activities, you’ll discover:

• Concerts in the amphitheater
• Observation tower
• Playground
• Soccer fields and volleyball courts

Are You Moving to Port Aransas?

If you’re looking for a home in the beautiful city of Port Aransas, we’d love to help you.
Call us at 361-563-7788 or get in touch with us online to tell us what you want from your next home. We’ll begin searching right away.
While you’re here, check out our:

• All-in-one mortgage calculator
• Free homebuyer handbook
• Free eBooks about buying a home (and more!)

Filed under: Blog, Things to Do by Julie Woodward
No Comments »

For the first time in more than 100 years, the growth in America’s cities is outpacing the growth in its suburbs. 

According to the 2011 estimates of the U.S. Census Bureau, between July 2010 and July 2011, city centers grew faster than their surrounding suburbs in 53% of the nation’s largest housing markets. 

Compare this to just 9.8% during the 10 years prior.

Cities now compete with suburbs on a number of fronts including job availability, housing costs, and access to amenities, a category which includes proximity to public parks.

Parks are important to a city. Studies prove that parks help to attract home buyers, to retain retired homeowners, and to raise home values. And now, with the creation of ParkScore, it’s easy to compare park systems between U.S. cities.

ParkScore is an at-a-glance assessment of a city’s park system. Published by The Trust for Public Land, ParkScore considers “every publicly owned park space” within the nation’s largest cities and assigns an overall score based on total acreage, services provided, and access.

The maximum ParkScore is 100.

According to its publisher, the 10 cities nationwide with the highest ParkScores are :

1. San Francisco, California (74.0)
2. Sacramento, California (73.5)
3. Boston, Massachusetts (72.5)
4. New York, New York (72.5)
5. Washington, D.C. (71.5)
6. Portland, Oregon (69.0)
7. Virginia Beach, Virginia (68.5)
8. San Diego, California (67.5)
9. Seattle, Washington (66.5)
10. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (66.0)

ParkScore rankings place a high premium on the “percentage of city residents living within a 10-minute walk of a public park”. It’s no surprise, therefore, that some of the top-finishers included San Francisco, Boston and New York City — three cities known for their abundance of public parks.

ParkScore bottom-finishers included Fresno, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Louisville, Kentucky.

The complete ParkScore rankings are available at http://parkscore.tpl.org, along with each city’s score and ranking analysis.

Filed under: Rankings by Julie Woodward
No Comments »