Our Day - From Sunrise to Sunset

This morning it was 62F (17C) again but really windy. Gordon had left early to go on the bird walk that is offered here Wednesday to Sunday. He's learning what all the miscellaneous brown birds are. We've just been calling them MBBs. I again went to the forested campground and decided to do all of Turk's Cap trail. It was a nice walk, I saw no one which is nice. It was so peaceful. I stopped to take a photo of a mangolia tree and heard some scurrying around and out from under it popped a raccoon. As soon as he saw me he beat a hasty retreat but he was a cute little guy.

A sunrise photo


Magnolia tree
This is a really lousy photo of my raccoon but it's the only one I had a chance to get before he turned tail and ran.

The trail

Once back at the RV, I had my breakfast and took advantage of Gordon still being out to get the vacuuming done. When he got back we both went up to the campground showers. The new showers here are great!

This afternoon we decided to drive over to Bayside which is across Copano Bay from us. We went over there quite a bit last time we were in the area and it's the first place we saw roseate spoonbills. That was not to happen today, however.

In preparation for going to a new place I listed a few geocaches, just in case. When I got in the truck I put them manually into Miss Pinky.

On our way out we drove north on 35 to see if the whooping cranes were at the feeders. They were! This photo isn't a great one but at least it shows that I saw them!

It was so windy over there you could hardly stand up, no chance for wearing a hat, it was off your head in no time. We tried to find a geocache but I almost got blown off the top of the picnic table I was standing on so we decided it wasn't a nice day for geocaching and came back to Rockport. We stopped at a couple of birding places that we know from being here before but didn't see anything. There are more birds along the Beach Road which was our next stopping area. We saw lots of birds here!

This is the pier at Bayside on Copano Bay


From there we continued along Fulton Beach Road till it joins up with 35 and then headed north to Goose Island State Park. We stopped at Pop's, a local restaurant on the way to look at their menu. The parking lot is always packed. Don't know if we'll get to eat there or not but it's a possibility at some point.

American Avocets in Little Bay in Rockport

We reached a high today of 77F (25C). If it wasn't for the wind, it would have been wonderful, even with the wind it was pretty nice. We're not talking a breeze here, we're talking wind, the kind that makes trees look like this one.
And another beautiful sunset to end a great day!

Geocaching 9 for 6!

It was 62F (17C) and sunny when I got up at 7:30 this morning. I had opened both windows last night but closed one when I heard some rain on the roof. It was so nice to hear the waves lapping right behind our fifth wheel.

I took a different route this morning walking to the other end of the bayside sites and then back to the wooded area but only as far as the first place I saw deer last week then back home. After breakfast, I sat outside for a while but it was starting to get windy so didn't stay out for long. Gordon went out for a drive over to the Big Tree area and along St. Charles Bay as I was taking the truck this afternoon.

I saw this female cardinal on my morning walk

Today was the day that Ellie, Dortha, Deb (all from the rv-dreams chatroom and fellow fulltime RVers) and I were getting together to go geocaching. We had decided on six geocaches. They picked me up at an agreed upon spot just before 1 p.m. and away we went. We found the six geocaches quite quickly. Ellie had found some others previously so we found those as well, in total we found nine today so it was a good day. It was getting very windy this afternoon and although the thermometer was registering 74F (23C), the wind was making it feel cooler so I was glad I had taken my jean jacket along.

Deb found the first one (and most of the others)!

The Geocaching Team
Brown pigeon at the Rockport Beach

Long billed curlew in Little Bay

Great blue heron closeup

This is one of the smallest geocaches we found

Ellie finds one of the Geoduck caches

The ladies dropped me at the truck around 3:30 p.m. and I ran into Bealls as they had a Clinique special and I was almost out of moisturizer. It's about half the price here that it is at home. I also stopped at one of the T-shirt places along the Beach Road as I had never been in it before. I looked at some baseball caps as I want to replace my Florida one that didn't fare so well in the wash but didn't like the one they had. So I'll keep looking.

It will be a quiet night tonight. Our satellite has been very slow at night lately so it's taking me ages to upload my blog. I usually have to do one photo at a time. They must have put too many people on our satellite as it's not too bad in the mornings. The perils of being on the road!

Sunset complete with sunrays

Plans Foiled

When I got up at 7:30 a.m. it was already 57F (14C) and sunny. I had expected fog and cloud. Chalk up another one for the weather forecasters. Away I went to the forested area again for my walk. I met Gordon when I was almost there. Still no deer today. I walked around the complete Lantana Loop and stopped and watched the squirrels around the bird feeders. There's rarely any birds around this early in the morning at the feeders.

A pretty old tree - this is just the top part of it as it's very tall

This little squirrel stood up to take a look at me photographing him

Dewdrops on a flower


Gordon had told me yesterday that he was going to meet the pbase photographer he had been talking about at Jalisco's in Rockport for lunch. I thought I would have the day to myself and had planned a bunch of things to do however that's where my plan got foiled. Turns out Tom was bringing his wife, Miriam along so I got ready and went to lunch as well. We haven't been in a restaurant for ages, usually just Taco Bell so it was a nice treat and the food was really good. Tom and Miriam are lovely people from Spokane, WA and we spent an enjoyable 1 1/2 hours or so chatting with them.

Pretty tile on the outside of Jalisco's restaurant in Rockport

At lunch - Miriam, Tom and Gordon

We parted company and Gordon and I drove around Rockport a bit to our favourite birding spots.

Fluffy clouds over the Rockport harbour

Black skimmers in Little Bay at Rockport


It was a lovely sunny day with some cloudy periods and a high of 72F (22C).

Shopping and a Photography Workshop

Today was another beautiful sunny day, low 44F (7C), high 66F (19C). The wind came up this afternoon but it wasn't too bad.

After my usual morning of walking and breakfast, I got ready to go for groceries. I wanted to go to Dollar Tree for some items so instead of shopping in Rockport, I went an extra 12 miles south to Port Aransas. I didn't find everything I wanted at Dollar Tree but I did find some things I wasn't looking for, as usual. Then to Walmart for most of my groceries and then to HEB. The HEB in Port Aransas does have some gluten free products and I was able to get some taco crumbs that I'd been wanting. When I arrived at HEB, the strap on my purse broke so I stopped at the Walmart in Rockport to see if I could find a purse. They had a really lousy selection so it will have to wait till we get to Corpus Christi. If I could find a shoemaker, he might be able to fix it but I need something in the meantime. After unloading groceries, I sat outside and read for a while.

There was a Photography Workshop at 4:30 p.m. at the rec hall so we both went to it. It was a pretty basic course put on by a semi-retired photographer from Arizona. I don't think I learned anything that Gordon hadn't already taught me. I guess I know more about it than I thought I did.

With all that, I didn't take any photos today so have borrowed a photo of the fire that he took last night. This is a nightshot of a prescribed burn in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
on the Blackjack Peninsula of Texas with an oyster reef in the foreground. It looked like it was out of control at one point and I haven't heard anything about it on the news.

Some Visitors and A Quiet Day

I was up at 7:30 a.m. today and it was 43F (6C), bright and sunny. I didn't walk as far today as Ellie had said she'd be here around 10 a.m. or so to bring back my plate that I forgot on Superbowl Sunday. Around 10:30 she called and said they were running late so I went and sat outside and read for a while. Ellie, Jim, Dortha and Mark arrived around 12:15 p.m. or so and the ladies stayed with me while the guys went in search of photos of a fire they had seen on the way in to Goose Island SP. They didn't find it though. While they were gone we planned which geocaches we're going to look for this week. They didn't stay long as they were on their way to Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, sitting outside and reading. Mid afternoon Gordon and I went for a walk in the flats across the road from the campground but only saw this great egret who flew in and perched on top of a tree.

Pathway to the flats

The flats

The great egret on top of the tree

Then we walked on to the boat ramp area where there were lots of brown and white pelicans and a lone great blue heron.

Pelican scrunched down

Synchronized pelicans

Moon over pelican on lamp post

GBH

We reached a high of about 70F (21C) today. It was a beautiful day. We had a little wind come up this afternoon but nothing like we had in Port Lavaca.

End of January Expenses

January Expenses

Expenses for January aren't what I had hoped but we did have to buy a new computer. We also purchased a new camera bag for Gordon's new lens and a backup battery for my new camera. Remember the total is in Canadian funds. Taking an average currency conversation for the month in U.S. dollars we were under $3000.00 for the month.

Campground expenses cover the campground plus electricity for Powderhorn in Port Lavaca and four days at Goose Island State Park. At least we cut down on food expenses from last month!

This morning was sunny and windy and 51F (11C) when I left the RV around 7:45 a.m. I, as usual, headed over to the forested area. Still didn't see any deer and not much else of the critter variety so when I came upon the Turk's Cap trail I decided to walk on part of it. Here are some photos of the trail.


This is what they call a deer bed.

Clouds coming in. Once they started they came in really fast.

Clouds this morning over the pier


I was gone over an hour and did 3.4 miles, 6998 steps and 312.3 calories. I figure I needed it from everything I ate at the Superbowl party yesterday. In fact, I need more!

This morning I also pulled a muscle in my upper back so I lay on the floor for a few minutes, then did my upper back stretch and put some heat on it. Hopefully it will work itself out.

After some reading and a nap this afternoon, I felt well enough to go back and do the rest of Turk's Cap Trail. We also stopped for a while at the bird feeders.



The moon was up this afteroon


Hermit thrush at the bird feeding area



When finished we went and filled up with diesel at 2.09.9/gal then headed north to see if the whooping cranes were out, they weren't so drove back along St. Charles Bay.

This is the road that goes to Big Tree. It's pretty with the live oaks as a canopy over the road.



When I got back to the RV I had gone 9664 steps, 4.7 miles and burned 431.4 calories (for the whole day).

A Gathering

What a beautiful morning! The forecast was for cloud and rain, instead it was sunny and 58F (14C) when I left the RV at 7:40 a.m. I was taking photos at the back of the rig when Gordon came along and he walked with me for a ways toward the forested camp area. I kept going when he stopped to do some camera stuff. There were lots and lots of cardinals all singing this morning. They are such a beautiful bird! Lots of birds out today and a flotilla of white pelicans near the boat ramp.

Pier at sunrise

The pelican flotilla



We just hung around this morning. I had a shower and sat outside in the sun (under my chair awning) to let my hair dry and read my book.

Today is Superbowl Sunday and we had been invited to The Last Resort RV Park to meet up with Jim and Ellie and Mark and Dortha at their place. Debbie and Rod had also been invited. We arrived shortly after 2 p.m. It's a really nice park and the two Phaetons are parked side by side so it was convenient. The TV set up was at Mark and Dortha's and dinner was set up at Jim and Ellie's. They had made corn, sausage, potatoes and boiled shrimp. Debbie brought a fruit salad and I provided Rocky Road bars for dessert. It was all excellent! Thank you to our hosts! It was great to finally meet Dortha and Mark and Debbie and Rod after all this time getting to know the ladies in the rv-dreams chatroom.

Gordon and Jasmine


Superbowl lunner


Watching the Superbowl


We left before it got really dark as we didn't want to get locked out of the campground. They do provide a combination but we didn't want to have to deal with it.

Another great day - sunny and 74F (23C) with very little wind.