Sunny and 76

First things first. Happy Birthday number one son Chris! His birthday has a 9 on it this year so next year is a new decade. Just think how much smarter you will be with a new first digit in your age.

This egret wanted to pose for me. He came closer and strutted his stuff.

Here are some of his buddies out in the shallows. Folks ask, just how many birds are there? This will give some further perspective.


This pier was covered in birds.


But they are segregated. The pelicans seem to stay by themselves.


We spent the day kicking back! It was quite humid early on in the AM hours. The night dew was all over the ground as I took Brandy the bichon dog out for her morning relief.

As the day warmed, the sun seemed to bake the moisture out of the ground and the surrounding campers. The shower house was a steam bath, so we didn't linger long in there.

By about noon the breeze came up to about nine miles per hour and we put the awning out for some shade. I have been reading the latest John Grisham Novel, "The Appeal" so some awning time with the good book was in order.

By about 2PM we decided that the local quilt shop was calling our name, or at least it was calling Loyce's name, so it was off to get more fabric that we will add to the collection of projects we will start some day.

About that time our mystery guests from Iowa called and informed us they had arrived. We coordinated our locations and they stopped by the quilt shop on their way into town. We have been good friends with this couple for at least ten years now and they will see some of the sights with us in the next few days.

I have not named these folks as I am letting the readers in the Iowa area try to figure out who they might be. So if you are in Iowa and you do not know who is missing, look around and guess who's gone.

We had dinner at the restaurant just up the beach road from Charlotte Plumber's. This place is called Alice Fay's. It is again a sea food joint right on the beach. Loyce had Mahi Mahi and I had a sole white fish. Our guests had crab cakes and shrimp. Man was I stuffed. It was more tasty than Charlotte Plumbers and was all on the main floor.


Dinning Room right on the water.

Check out this areal view of the restaurant.

Tomorrow will be a day out on the beach on Mustang Island. That should be a good time!

Dinner on the Sea

We went to Charlotte Plumber's Restaurant. Its out on the harbor, in Fulton, Tx.


Our table was upstairs along the windows that overlook the fishing boat docks.


It was just dusk as we sat down, so the sun set while we were there. Except these windows face East. So it just got dark. If there was a good sunset, we didn't see it.


Man this place is old. The menu was sea food with a couple of steaks thrown in for good measure. Loyce had flounder that was stuffed and I had the ever present batter fried shrimp. The salad bar was back down stairs. so we went down and got soup and salad. Had to carry it all back up the steep stairs to our table. I took this picture of the stairway just to give the feeling of the age of this building. I asked the bus girl what happened if I spilled my soup. She said she had cleaned up a lot of spilled soup over the years.



They drag for clams here in the bay. They have a basket with tines on one side, that rakes the sandy bottom. The sand goes on thru the basket, and the clams are caught. The catch is bagged in large burlap bags, and loaded on trucks with fork lifts, once it is all back on the dock. This looks to be hard work.

For those of you who read RV-Dreams blog, you will remember that Howard Payne did not feel that the food was up to par in the sea food restaurant that he visited. He was staying across the street in the local motel.

He never mentioned the name of the joint, where they had the sub par meal. However one would have to assume that it was Charlotte's. We did have good meals. Loyce did have some trouble once we got back to the RV. She was over to the Rec Center twice, before she was better for the experience.

We are curious about why Howard said it was sub par, but the councelor in him would not reveal the facts as he experienced them. If he had the same troubles that Loyce experienced, perhaps Charlotte's is for the more seasoned digestive system.

We are 63 degrees here in mist and overcast. We had a high of 73 and sunny yesterday, as beautiful as could be requested. I see that KC has 32 this morning and had a high of 43 yesterday. I believe they have turned the winter corner as well. We need to give it another week or two before we will head back North. Cold weather sissies that we are.

Weak Connection Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

I am just way too frugal. I haven't paid for an internet connection yet, and as propagation would have it, we could not get connected thru the open router last night, so we just went without the computer for the evening.

We went to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge yesterday. We spent all afternoon there looking for wildlife. We did see quite a varied group of birds and animals.

We spent an hour or more on the auto tour route that goes for 15 miles back thru the outer reaches of the refuge. This is a single lane one way strip of asphalt. Your vehicle can not be longer than 25 feet or taller than 12 feet. This is truly just a path thru the wilds.
Visitors Center

Walkway up to the 40 Foot Observation Tower

Whooping Cranes To the left of the White Float Markers In the little inlet. Have to have a good imagination. All I have is a 200 MM lens. This is a good 2 miles away.



Views from the tower

Walkway next to the sea in the wet lands.


Looking South along the bay.


Armadillo along the Auto Tour.


Hidden Lake at end of the a short trail. Were supposed to be alligators, but all we saw was common coots.

Doe thru the windshield. She just stood and looked at us. As though she was as curious about us, as we were about her.


This Egret was very wary of us. She flew just after the shutter noise.


Another path from the parking lot arrives at the sea.


A few sea ducks but no other wild life. Good view of the sea.


This fellow was waiting behind a fence. He must stay at this pond all the time.


He kept opening one eye and closing the other as though he thought we could be lunch! Just mess up and get a little closer.


The ducks seem to not even care about the alligator.



Our 200 mm lens is only F4.5 so we need to have a bigger brighter one if we get into this wild life hobby in a more serious way.

Back Out to Goose Island

The sun is shining. Yea! We are back out on Goose Island State Park. I see that Howard and Linda Payne were here yesterday. So if you read his blog this is a repeat, but with different pictures.

It was overcast when we were here last time, so its pretty this time. But it is only about 60 degrees so we stayed mostly, in the car. This is the fishing pier. I need to learn how to combine the next two pictures like Tioga George does as this would make a good panorama shot.

When you camp here, you are right out on the bay. They are digging up the plumbing on the West bath house so it is completely off limits.


Each of the little picnic shelters has the water and electric connection on one wall. The electric is inside and the water is visible in the picture on the outside.


Campers are in a row on the beach front facing the bay. Just gravel and a sea wall that is not more than 3 feet.


This is the Goose Island welcome committee. I'm not sure they approved of my arrival.

The campground also has a wooded circle that is on the mainland rather than out on the island. It is almost private campsites as each was cut out of the wooded area by itself. These are hard to get a picture of so I passed.

We also drove out to Mustang Island after lunch. (Whataburger) The tide was in quite a ways as it was mid to late afternoon. The waves were almost up to the roadway, and in some areas we drove thru the water. We went from access 1 to access 2 down the beach. It seemed like miles and miles but I think it was only about 7 or so.

I was concerned that the tide would get us before we got off the beach. We were following a small VW car, driving our 4x4 Pickup. They weren't having any trouble, so what was I so concerned about. I am not used to driving on sand and it was evident.

We went into Corpus Christi and went to Jo Ann fabric. It has been a month since Loyce has been in a Jo Ann store. That has to be some kind of record.

This evening we are in a Jalisco restaurant that was authentic Mexican food but forgot the camera so no pictures. But every one knows what refried beans looks like anyway.

More later.