Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Texas Gulf Coast - Feb 26
We are enjoying a nice long visit to the Texas Gulf Coast. We are in the small coastal town of Fulton, which adjoins the town of Rockport. These two towns are noted for their art galleries and windswept Live Oak trees. Live Oaks are a species of tree that is a type of evergreen (or at least it's green all year long) that has leaves like a deciduous tree. They are a lovely, spreading tree. The winds that blow constantly away from the ocean makes all the trees slant in one direction. This effect is much like the "banner trees" at tree line in the Colorado mountains. There are many of these trees in our campground. We are planning to stay here for 3-4 weeks, and that is a welcome break from so much moving about.
We have met our friends from 8 months of emailing here and are enjoying spending time with them. They have full-timed for 3 1/2 years and we are able to learn some "tips" from them. They will be leaving on March 6, so we will be on our own after that. There is a lot to do here, and most of it is worth doing over & over, so we will not be lacking for entertainment.
It has been quite hot & humid since we got here, with highs in the mid-80s and lows about 70. Our bodies have had trouble adapting to this and so, I might add, have the cats. Today it has gotten a lot cooler and much less humid, so we are all hoping to sleep well tonight.
We have been busy the last few days with activities surrounding the Crane Festival. This is a festival held in a nearby island town (Port Aransas) which has lectures and activities about birdwatching. We have gone to several lectures and some "guided" birdwatching. It has been quite interesting. We will go tomorrow for the final day. Since we have saved money by paying for a month of trailer space, Willie has decided to spend all that we saved by purchasing a much better pair of binoculars for birdwatching. Even though these are light years better than any of our current binoculars, they are quite modest in the world of birdwatching. We are getting a demo pair from the Bushnell/Bausch & Lomb dealer at the festival.
We haven't actually seen any Whooping Cranes yet. They are supposed to be at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, which is about 40 miles north of here. We plan to drive up there early next week and see what we can see. If that doesn't satisfy our needs, there is a 4-hour boat trip that we can take later in the week.
We have met our friends from 8 months of emailing here and are enjoying spending time with them. They have full-timed for 3 1/2 years and we are able to learn some "tips" from them. They will be leaving on March 6, so we will be on our own after that. There is a lot to do here, and most of it is worth doing over & over, so we will not be lacking for entertainment.
It has been quite hot & humid since we got here, with highs in the mid-80s and lows about 70. Our bodies have had trouble adapting to this and so, I might add, have the cats. Today it has gotten a lot cooler and much less humid, so we are all hoping to sleep well tonight.
We have been busy the last few days with activities surrounding the Crane Festival. This is a festival held in a nearby island town (Port Aransas) which has lectures and activities about birdwatching. We have gone to several lectures and some "guided" birdwatching. It has been quite interesting. We will go tomorrow for the final day. Since we have saved money by paying for a month of trailer space, Willie has decided to spend all that we saved by purchasing a much better pair of binoculars for birdwatching. Even though these are light years better than any of our current binoculars, they are quite modest in the world of birdwatching. We are getting a demo pair from the Bushnell/Bausch & Lomb dealer at the festival.
We haven't actually seen any Whooping Cranes yet. They are supposed to be at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, which is about 40 miles north of here. We plan to drive up there early next week and see what we can see. If that doesn't satisfy our needs, there is a 4-hour boat trip that we can take later in the week.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:55 PM 
