Hangin' Around the Area

Low-62F (17C)

High-72F (22C)

It was a beautiful, mild morning but no sun and looked very much like rain so I dressed appropriately just in case. I didn't take the camera either. I can get wet but getting the camera wet would not be a good thing.

I chatted with Karon for a bit this morning on Yahoo Messenger as well as a friend of mine who just returned home to Ottawa from a motorcycle trip to Mexico and Florida.

Then I got busy and finally entered in our expenses for February. I hadn't even started yet so it was a bit of a daunting task. Then I set about going through the templates on blogspot to try and find a new look for my blog site. So, how do you like it?

We had a nice little shower this morning and clouds and sprinkles with a bit of sun mixed in on and off during the day. Mid afternoon we went down to the beach and took some photos. The sky was pretty dark then.

Sky blends with water

Rain dots in the sand

Swimmers in the ocean

Ruddy turnstone
Willets

White dune flower

After that we went to Padre Island where the beach shops are and had a look around there. I didn't buy anything for myself.....

One of the beach stores - some of these have amazingly decorative on the front

I thought these little houses were so pretty - there was a whole row of them and each was painted a different colour


Just as we got back to the RV a car drove up and it was Gale and Anna. Anna is often on rv-dreams chat. It was nice to meet them. I'm glad we were here!

I talked with my sister who is spending two months on Siesta Key in Florida. She and her husband are loving it there. My niece visited them for a few days this week to get out of the cold in Ottawa since she had the week off university for reading week.

That's our day!

Laundry, Groceries, Corpus Christi

Low-64F (18C)

High-70F (21C)

It was a decent day today. We had a bit of sunshine, a bit of cloud and a bit of wind but not much of any of it. I had my beach walk this morning as usual.

You find some unusual stuff on the beach


Portuguese Man O'War

After breakfast I changed the bed and got the laundry ready. Then in to Port Aransas to the laundromat there. It's a nice clean laundromat, a bit on the expensive side at $2.00 for a regular load of wash but very nice with lots of carts, machines, dryers and tables for folding. They also have a book exchange so I took all my books in that I had read and picked up a few. I then stopped at the grocery store, filled up the water jugs and picked up a few items then headed home to have some lunch and a nap.

We decided to go in to Corpus Christi tonight so Gordon can take some photos so we headed over to the dreaded campground showers to come clean (so to speak) and to spruce ourselves up a bit to go to 'the city'.

We left around 4 p.m. for Corpus, made a wrong turn so wound up at Indian Point Park at Portland. You can see the city skyline from there.

Skyline from Indian Point Park

Marina at sunset


Two years ago when we were here we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and I had Crawfish Etouffe. I loved it so we went back tonight so I could have it again. So far it hasn't bothered my reflux but the jury's out until tomorrow.

Joe's Crab Shack



My dinner- Half N Half Crawfish & Crawfish Etouffe


Our waiter, Ryan - note the cute saying on his shirt. All the waiters have different ones.

Some photos I took experimenting with my new camera. These are the first real night shots I've taken.


We had a fun evening! My camera took some fairly decent photos without a tripod. My Sony definitely wouldn't have been able to handle these.

The Padre Island National Seashore

Low-64F (18C)
High-72F (22C)

I opened the windows again last night before going to bed but closed them half way through the night as it was foggy and I could see the condensation on the screens.

It was still cloudy when I got up and a little cooler than it has been. It was also very windy and it was a north wind so I prepared for my walk knowing that I'd be walking into it along the beach. I did take my camera this morning so here are some photos taken after sunrise but still in golden light.

The dune flowers are coming out

The sun shining on the rippled water

Just after sunrise - I like the extra band of light just where the water ends


We had planned to go to the Padre Island National Seashore today. The cloud started to clear up around 10:30 a.m. so I packed a lunch and we headed out. Since Gordon now has his "America the Beautiful" card we didn't have to pay the $10.00 fee to get in.

Padre Island National Seashore sign

We stopped at the Grasslands trail and walked part of it. I thought the dunes here looked like the dirty snow piled up at LeBreton Flats. Gordon didn't agree with me. LOL! It was a nice walk but would have been nicer if it wasn't so windy!

Dunes

Grasslands Trail


More dunes

Before we got to the Malachite Visitor Center which is at the beach, we drove along all the side roads that go to the beach. We didn't drive far as although we have 4 wheel drive, Gordon doesn't enjoy driving on the beach very much.

We drove into a couple of the camping areas. They are all boondocking sites. Some of them were so close together I can't imagine why you'd want to boondock there.

Boondocking side by side


The second campground we drove into was better and each site had a picnic table.

Nicer boondocking area

We stopped at the Malachite Pavilion (Visitor Center) and had a look around. The paved road stops at the beach, then you can drive about 60 miles along the beach. We drove about 2 miles maybe. It looks much the same as it does here at Mustang Island State Park. There were boondockers along this beach too. It must be hard getting some of the rigs through all the loose sand.

Malachite Pavilion


The paved road ends at the beach

Then it becomes 60 miles of beach road

The road, the beach, the ocean

Boondocking on the beach


The ocean

Our lunch was eaten at the Visitor Center picnic tables. All in all, I'd have to say we weren't overly thrilled with the National Seashore. I guess it would be different if we weren't camped at the beach here at Mustang Island.

Lunch


When we got out of the park area we drove around Padre Island. There are lots of hotels and condos for rent around. Lots of building has gone on since we were last here.

Sand blowing across the road

Pretty sky

Flowering yucca tree at the entrance to Mustang Island State Park



All that sand and salt air wore me out. I read a few pages when we got back and was asleep in no time.

Another Day at MISP and Area

Low-65F (18C)

High- 72F (22C)

I had the windows open last night and with the high humidity things were very damp this morning so I turned on the air conditioner. It was VERY foggy this morning and didn't burn off till after 10 a.m. when we had some sun then it clouded over.

After my morning walk and breakfast, I vacuumed then had a shower at the campground shower house. I've probably mentioned this before but this is one of the worst shower houses we've seen and to top it off the water is not hot and hardly warm most of the time. I think we've decided that if we come back here it won't be for this long.

We had lunch and then went in to Port Aransas. Gordon was expecting a package from his daughter at the post office. We picked that up then ran some errands including finding a phone book so Gordon could see what was done with his photo on the cover. It takes up the whole cover! It looks great!

Here's the phone book and the photographer

Here is Gordon eating one of the heart-shaped cookies that came in the box. The cookies were a joint venture with all three grandkids contributing.


One of the little boats outside the library

I checked out the local laundromat. It's a nice clean one so I might go there on Friday to do laundry as the one on Padre Island has a very small parking lot and it was full yesterday when we went by. Not a place for 1 ton trucks!

We did some driving around and ended up at Leonabelle Turnbull again which means....more bird photos!

Green winged teal

The tri-colour heron coming in for a landing

The roseates were out and about today

It was cloudy and dreary most of the day again but near time for sunset we had a little bit of watery sun. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful though!

Out and About in Corpus and Mustang Island

Low-65 (18C)
High-77 (25C)

Today started out cloudy and dreary again but warmer. It was still windy but not as bad as it was over the weekend. Not much happening at the beach except it badly needs to be cleaned. Lots of stuff has washed up on shore.

After breakfast Gordon said we needed to go to Walmart as he was out of blank DVDs and DVD sleeves so we drove in to Corpus Christi. We made some detours off the road onto the side roads that run along the bay. Our first stop was Sun Harvest which is a local 'Whole Foods' type place. I got my probiotics that I take and we picked up some gluten free stuff for Gordon. On to Walmart to get his computer stuff and I picked up a few things. It wasn't a Superwalmart though. We were home before 1 p.m. We had a bit of sun while we were out.

Great egret in our pond by the office


Yucca plant in bloom


You see this sign after you leave the welcome booth for the park - some welcome!


We had lunch and then went out exploring around the area as we had some hazy sun. We walked along some tidal flats and took several of the roads to the beach but the sand is too soft for our heavy truck so we didn't drive on the beach.

Para sailing

Path in the tidal flats

Bridge to Corpus Christi

Pretty wildflowers


Other than that, I sat outside and read, spent time on the computer and had a nap. We had stew for dinner, it was yummy!

A Brief Trip to Port Aransas

Low-59F (15C)

High-65F (18C)

It was cloudy, windy and dreary again this morning with northeastern wind that made me eat sand when I was on my walk. The sand was also blowing across the road reminding me of how snow looks at home however it wasn't really cold. We slept with one window open last night and a nice breeze blowing in. Sure makes for a good sleep!

After breakfast and computering we drove into Port Aransas and went to the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center again and then to Roberts Point Park. Here are some photos.

The ever present tri-colour heron

northern shoveler

and our great blue heron in his favourite spot with his feathers blowing in the wind

and this is where all the roseates are - this is only a fraction of them in this photo


Three ferries and a ship

We were trying to get a photo of the dolphins jumping in front of the ship but it was so windy today that I couldn't hold the camera still enough. There were at least two dolphins jumping with the bow wave in front of the ship. I'll be trying again!

Then we stopped at the grocery store as I had decided this is stew weather. After groceries we headed back to the RV park where they were unloaded, put away and the ones put aside for stew.

But first, a nap was in order. I had picked up a copy of the Visitor Guide for the island and by the time I looked through that I was nodding off. I woke up at 3:40 p.m. and got the stew ready. It's not for tonight though, it's better the second day. In fact it's better the day we finish it!


Our neighbours that arrived the same day we did left this morning. This is what they were camping in (photo on left). I would have been claustrophobic for sure!

We were supposed to have some rain this afternoon but I have yet to see any, not even a sprinkle. It's too bad we have to suffer the gray skies and not get anything out of it! They sure need the rain!