Around the Area

This morning was 64F (18C), cloudy and humid with some small patches of rain. After breakfast, I went out to get groceries and look around Bealls for the last time on this trip. I saw a pretty little electric blue suit but other than weddings, can’t imagine where I’d wear it with this lifestyle. It had some bling on the collar and around the bottom of the skirt and it was on sale. In a former life I probably would have bought it. On to Walmart for groceries, then home for lunch.

This is the horse I see almost every morning on my walk

This afternoon we took a drive to Bayside via our sandhill crane route but only saw three sandhills and not much else. When we came back we stopped at Rockport Harbor and walked around there taking some photos then on to Fulton Harbor where I took some photos of the oyster boats unloading their booty and the Skimmer arriving back from its Whooping Crane Tour. We stopped at Driftwood RV Haven on the way back to see what it was like but the roads are too narrow and the sites are too small.

Sandhill cranes

Great Egret under the dock at Rockport Harbor

Live oak trees along the Beach Road in Rockport - this is where some of the birds sleep at night

We both have mixed feelings about leaving Rockport. I think we’d both be content to stay for another month but Florida calls so tomorrow we’ll be getting things ready to leave on Sunday.

Fulton Mansion & Other Things

The day started out foggy and damp again but 62F (17C). I didn’t take my camera with me as I took enough fog photos yesterday. Lo and behold when I got to the ranch down the street there was the steer and the burro. I haven’t seen them for two weeks and the one time I don’t have my camera….. So back to the RV, got my camera and walked back but with the fog the photos aren’t that good and also because she had her butt facing us.

We relaxed for the morning and this afternoon went to see Fulton Mansion which was on our list of things to do in the area. George Fulton was a big cattle baron in the late 1800’s and his home is now a museum. I posted photos of the mansion a couple of weeks ago. It was interesting to see the furniture and items but history is not my thing. After that we drove to Goose Island State Park and St. Charles Bay just going to see our favorite sites as it won’t be long before we’re leaving the area.

This is Fulton Mansion from the back garden

This great blue heron had just caught his dinner and he did eat it - taken at the fishing pier at Goose Island State Park

Back to Corpus Christi

We had some rain again overnight and this morning was damp and foggy but 62F (17C). When I got back from my walk the back of my hair was damp from the heavy fog.

I took this photo of the fog in the trees this morning

We spent most of the day around the RV, Gordon went out once as the fog was burning off to get some photos but I stayed around and read both inside and out.

Late this afternoon we headed back to Corpus Christi to take our photos of downtown and get some twilight photos as well. We also had dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack on one of the T-Heads in the Corpus Christi Marina. A T-Head is basically a street that runs off the Shoreline Drive and runs between the slips for the boats ending on the far side of the slips. There are some restaurants there which is where Joe’s Crab Shack is located. We sat on “Joe’s Big Deck” and enjoyed being outside on the water. I had crawfish etouffe which was excellent. Gordon said his burger was excellent as well and I don’t hear that too often about burgers. His usual comment is that they aren’t 100% beef. This one passed the ‘where’s the beef’ test!

This is me in the Historic District

We came across a couple of beautiful rose trees in the Historic District

This is me sitting on the promenade that runs all along Corpus Christi Bay and the marina

This is where we had dinner and below is the Joe's Big Deck sign

This is my little red purse I bought this week. It's really cute and little but still holds everything I need. I've never had a red purse!

Once the fog burned off it was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze and our high was 83F (28C).

Nothing Doing Today!

These dogs are sitting outside someone's park model here at Fulton Oaks

We had some rain overnight but I woke up to 62F (17C) and mostly cloudy. Today Gordon went with me on my walk so we did the usual walk around Farmers Circle and up to the end of Lone Star’s paved road as well as around the park.

The day was mostly cloudy with some sunny breaks with a high of 73F (23C). I sat outside and read a bit, then moved inside, read some more and napped. I’ve read almost a whole book today as of writing this blog. I went for another walk around the park this afternoon where I photographed the turkey vulture below sitting on top of the swing by the pond in the park.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll do something interesting, then again, maybe not!

We Visit the Texas State Aquarium

It was much warmer this morning 58F (14C) and sunny but not the bright sun that we’ve had the last few days. It was 63F (17F) by the time I returned to the RV about 35 minutes later.

Hmmm what to do today? Lots of choices. We still want to walk by the Bay in the downtown area and photograph some live oak trees where the great blue herons sleep at night and photograph the Corpus Christi skyline and the downtown lights.

Gordon outside the Aquarium

Well the choice was made to go to Corpus Christi but to go to the Texas State Aquarium. We arrived there around 12:30 p.m. and got our tickets. The dolphin show was set for 1:00 p.m. so we got our seats. It was 72F (22C) but windy so was fairly cool. As expected, the dolphin show was really good. They had four dolphins performing. After the show we did a tour of the rest of the aquarium skipping the snakes. We both hate snakes! They had some birds there as well as fish, snakes, alligators, stingrays and frogs. Check out the pictures.

The Dolphin Show

Other Fish Tanks & Stuff

Sea Horse

Royal Gramma or Fairy Basslet

Miscellaneous Fish

Sea Nettle

We arrived home via Ingleside, TX (not very picturesque) at around 3:30 p.m. deciding not to stay for the evening as Gordon’s photo cards were full. We’ll have to go back another day or another time.

Nice Day Today!

Although it was only 47F (8C) when I went for my walk this morning it was sunny and bright and you could feel the warm sun unlike other days when it's just been sunny but cold. When I got back to the RV it was already 51F (11C).

After breakfast I decided it was time to sit outside and enjoy it so I sat out and read for a while.

I was to call both of my sisters today but since I couldn't get a cell signal at the RV park (we're in a dead zone) and I had to go out for some groceries anyway I stopped on my way to the store and called both of them but got no answer so on to HEB and then to Walmart. When I came out from Walmart I managed to reach my younger sister and spoke to her and Danica, her daughter for a bit and got their news. I had hoped that my nephew, Nick would be at his Mom's today but his wife was sick so they didn't go over.

We went to Goose Island State Park for sunset and also so I could call my older sister. This time I was able to reach her. We're making arrangements to start our trek to Fort Myers to see them next Sunday. While we were at the park there was a glorious sunset, photo above!

Stay at Home Saturday

The guys are building a new fence around the new part of the park where people are putting in park models.

This morning was 45F (7C) and sunny with little wind for my walk around the neighborhood.

Gordon went out for sunrise but other than that we just stayed home today. I got the laundry done and used my new external hard drive to get my back up done. I also updated our expenses into my spreadsheet.

It reached 68F (20C) today and was bright and sunny all day although the wind did pick up a bit during the day. That’s it for our day!

Family Photo, Truck Service and Sandhill Cranes

I was up at 6:15 a.m. today and it was 31F! Gordon had turned the water off overnight and was gone to take sunrise photos.

We had an appointment in Aransas Pass at the local Dodge dealer for our regular truck service. This is about the first time that we reached the three months before we reached the required mileage. We were back around 11:00 a.m. taking the scenic route and saw three sandhill cranes but we didn’t stop as Gordon didn’t have his camera.

After lunch, a nap and my walk that pretty much ate up the afternoon. It was 50F (10C) at the high point today but very bright and sunny all day.

Late this afternoon we headed over to FM1069 (Farm Market 1069) which is the road where we see the sandhill cranes. We took this route back from Aransas Pass this morning. We saw lots of cranes both on 1069 and 188 on our way to Bayside where we DIDN’T see any roseate spoonbills. All the birds are still hiding from the cold.

When I say the pavement ends on Lone Star Road, it really ends!

Sandhill cranes

Sandhill cranes in flight

Gordon's sister, Carol (left) sent this photo today. Beside Carol is Gordon's daughter, Michelle and in the background his son, Ian and Ian's daugher, Lilly

We Have a New Microwave!

The wind in the palm(s) at Rockport

Driving through the live oaks at Lamar

Late afternoon sun in the live oaks at Lamar

I was up before 6:00 a.m. today having been awake since about 4:00 a.m. I don’t know if it was because I knew we had to be at Camping Clinic for 8:00 a.m. or if it was because I heard the rain start. It was 32F (0C)! Gordon had unhooked the water around 5:00 a.m.

We got our new microwave installed and were headed back to Fulton Oaks RV Park by 9:50 a.m. having cost us only an hour’s labor. We were set up again by 11:15 a.m. and headed to Taco Bell for a celebration lunch. We then drove around the Bay in town but although the sun was now shining brightly, most of the birds had elected to find a warmer spot so we headed back to the RV and had a nap. I had a horrible dream. I dreamed that State Farm Claims in Texas needed help and I went in to help them. For those of you that don’t know I spent 26 years as a Claims Adjuster at State Farm in Ottawa and hated pretty much every second of it!

After I woke up from my nap, I took my morning walk since I hadn’t taken it this morning. Again, nothing to see except a cardinal and the guinea hens that we saw a couple of weeks back.

Late this afternoon we took a trip over to Lamar and Goose Island State Park but again although the sun was shining brightly there wasn’t much around but it was a nice drive. The high today was 50F (10C).

Happy Valentine's Day!

YUK! Back to 40F (4C) weather and cloudy although there were a few sunny breaks here and there.

After breakfast, I made a trip to Walmart and got a roast of beef to cook in the crockpot for our Valentine’s Day dinner. There was a Valentine’s Day dinner dance here at the campground for tonight but I didn’t sign us up as we have to be up very early tomorrow to pack up and go to Camping Clinic for them to install our new microwave. Since we don’t have a fan above the stove right now, Gordon seared the roast on the barbecue – it worked really well! I expect this won’t be news to our brother-in-law, John who bakes on the barbecue.

We got some outside things done today in preparation for going to Camping Clinic tomorrow – tanks dumped, awning up etc. After that we went for a drive to Bayside taking the route where we usually see the sandhill cranes and again we saw quite a few but they were quite far away. Gordon got some of them flying, I think. There weren’t any birds at Bayside as it was so cold. We did see some on the way there and back but they were quite far away. When we got back to Rockport we walked along Water Street which runs along the Bay. We hadn’t walked there before. It was cold! Our high today was 50F (10C) but with the wind it felt colder. I walked a bit around the park when we got back to the RV. About all I saw were some black bellied whistling ducks.

Oh, and my camera is okay. It just needed to be charged!

This is an osprey that we saw on our way to Bayside today

A fishing pier along Water Street

We saw this mailbox on our walk along Water Street this afternoon

An egret and a fishing pier along Water Street

This display is outside an RV from people from Orillia, Ontario here in our park

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Short Trip to Port Aransas

This morning was bright and sunny and 56F (13C). I set out for my walk with my camera but when I went to use it, it wouldn’t work so I cut my walk short and returned home to read the Troubleshooting manual. I had also started charging the battery. The manual said to take the battery out for one minute and then put it back in so I took it out of the charger and put it into the camera and it worked.

Since it was a nice sunny day, after lunch we headed over to Port Aransas. We tried to find a sunset dolphin watch cruise but no luck so on to the Leonabelle Turnbull Bird Sanctuary where I took a couple of photos and my camera failed again. Gordon said that he thought it sounded like the battery was dead so I put the camera away and just enjoyed the day. I have lots of bird photos anyway. We went to the beach, the jetty and Roberts Point Park and then headed home. My battery is charging. Sure hope that’s all it is! So, no photos today.

We reached a high of 70F (21C) today, tomorrow’s high is supposed to be only 49F (9C) and rainy!!

New Hair Do and Some Walking

It rained a bit during the night last night and this morning was much warmer – 58F (14C) and partly sunny. I got up a little earlier as I had a hair appointment this morning. While I was getting up, Gordon was leaving to go and take photos as it’s the first bit of sun we’ve seen in three days.

I arrived early for my hair appointment and was taken right away. The salon is actually closed today but Melissa came in for me and a couple of other people so it was nice and quiet. I got my hair colored, cut and styled and this time after about 1 ½ years of procrastinating, I had her give me bangs! It will take a while to get used to having something on my forehead again!

I stopped at Bealls on my way home to see if they had any new sandals in but everything looked the same as it did last time I was in.

After having lunch at home, Gordon and I headed out to do some walking. We stopped at Connie Hagar’s Cottage Sanctuary and walked a bit around there but it had gotten warmer today and more humid so the mosquitoes were out in force. We also didn’t see any birds, the wrong time of day, I expect so instead we headed over to Rockport Beach and walked along the Bay side on the way to the fishing pier and on the beach side on the way back so I think we’ve gotten our exercise for today!

One of the trails at the Cottage Sanctuary

Birds all in a row at the beach

A snowy egret showing off his plumage at the fishing pier at the beach

The temperature got to somewhere around 70F (21C) today but it was mostly cloudy with only a few sunny breaks. At one point when we were walking on the beach it looked like we might get some rain but we were home by the time we got any rain.

More Clouds Today

This morning Gordon decided today that it was too boring to walk around here so we drove to Rockport Beach. He headed to the harbor to take photos and I headed down the beach to walk. It was cold – 49F (9C) but I was dressed for it. I walked along the beach side for a ways then walked on the Bay side. It was quite a good walk. There weren’t a lot of birds out but I did see a heron and all kinds of gulls and terns and a few oyster catchers. The photo is of Rockport Beach.

This afternoon I headed over to Walmart to pick up a few things then drove back along Fulton Beach Road. There were a lot of waves crashing against the shore but it didn’t seem that windy.

Our high today was 57F (14C) and it was cloudy all day again. The only good thing about the temperature is that it’s only 23F (-5C) in Ottawa.

When I got back I went for another walk around the park but that’s about it for today!

Another Cloudy Day

This morning was 47F and cloudy again. Gordon joined me on my walk so we walked toward the Lone Star dead end. He walked as far as the horses and took pictures while I continued. The only photo I took today was of a cardinal in a tree just outside the park which you will see here. Yesterday when we were out we got him a pedometer too. By the way, last week I averaged 9540 steps per day. They recommend that you keep track by week rather than by day. So I think I did pretty well.

There was a garage sale in the park today to benefit cancer. I had donated my old dishes. It seemed like it was well attended.

I started to read this morning laying on the couch and fell asleep early this afternoon and slept all afternoon. Neither of us slept very well last night so I was really tired. When I got up we both went for a walk around the park.

Not much happened today! For some reason it felt like Sunday to both of us.

A Very Gray Day!

This morning was only 56F (13C) and our high only got to 59F (15C). It was very cloudy all day. I had my morning walk around the neighborhood out Lone Star and south on Tenth and back. I sure miss the scenic walks I had at Goose Island and Mustang Island State Parks. Also Port Aransas was pretty scenic.

I’m running out of room on my hard drive on my computer. I still have the photos that I took at the beginning of our RV Odyssey on it so today we went in search of an external hard drive. Gordon has been backing up my photos on DVD but they aren’t easily accessible for me. We wound up at Radio Shack in Aransas Pass where I got a 200 GB for $99.99. Amazing! I remember when I got my first computer, a little Mac SE. I got a 80 MB hard drive when I went to visit Gordon in Dayton for $600+ U.S. and that was a good deal. This would have been in 1989. Now I have to get the files transferred.

So while we were in a spending mood, I also got a back up photo card for my camera and a card reader. Toys, toys, toys!

On our way back we stopped at Palm Harbor RV Park and Ancient Oaks campground (a former KOA) and had a look around. We’ve gotten spoiled here the sites are so large. Palm Harbor was dumpy but was right on the water. Ancient Oaks was better but not up to the standards that we have here for less money. They do have a pool and a hot tub that we don’t have here (but we don’t usually use them anyway) and it’s closer to the water but not that much closer.

Then we stopped at downtown Rockport and walked around a bit and I made a hair appointment for Monday.

Also today we made an appointment at Camping Clinic to take the RV in for the new microwave next Thursday and a truck appointment for its service for next Friday. Whew! Too busy!

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck we saw at Ancient Oaks RV Park pond

Colorful rocking chairs in front of a store in downtown Rockport

Housework

Just for comparison, here's the stamp that I refer to at the end of this blog.

It was 64F (18C) and cloudy this morning for my walk around the neighboring streets. We had some glimpses of sun during the day but they were few.

This morning I got the vacuuming done and the floors washed and prepared the laundry to get that taken care of. After showers and lunch, I got the laundry done.

As I didn’t have my 10,000 steps yesterday due to our cruise, I decided to go for another walk late this afternoon as the sun had come out and it was beautiful. We reached a high today of 73F (23C) although it was fairly humid compared to what we’ve had for a long while.

I didn’t take any photos today so I’m borrowing one of the flying whooping cranes that Gordon took yesterday. It’s such a beautiful photo! This particular photo reminds me a lot of a stamp that my Dad had. I think it was a 5 cent. He had cancellations of the stamp from every post office in Canada at the time and I remember that he sold the album (I think in 1968) and took a trip to England.