Monday, April 9, 2007

4/6/07 Let's See Port Arthur

When we crossed the Texas state line we stopped at the Welcome Center and picked up lots of brochures for area attractions. One of them was for a driving tour of Port Arthur.

Today we went there to take the tour but we had one stop on the way to make. My cell died again. We found another Verizon store and after explaining that this happened two days in a row and that taking the battery out and putting it back in was no longer an acceptable fix, they replaced my phone. Same model but that's OK with me, I don't have to learn how to use a new one.

We were surprised to find the area still in bad shape after Hurricane Rita. Houses with blue tarps over them to keep the rain out. Many with just shreds of blue tarps left, standing empty. Huge buildings with the windows blown out and no roof to speak of. You know these were once large employers for the town's people. Gone now, just shells left after the devastation of this forceful hurricane. A dying town to say the least.

We couldn't find the places listed in the brochure so we stopped at a small market to ask questions. The lady behind the counter took the brochure and started reading down the list of places of interest. One by one she said, "That ones no longer there, that ones closed and on and on down the list she went. We then noticed the publishing date of June, 2003. Rita came through in 2005. That explained a lot.

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