Birds, Alligators, and River Rats? (Rockport-Fulton, TX)

We have been enjoying our stay in the Rockport-Fulton area for the last three weeks.  We realized that we have missed the Gulf coast shores quite a bit, so we are making up for lost time with walks along the beach and visiting nearby wildlife preserves.

One of our first visits was to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  This turned into a longer drive than anticipated.  We had to drive all the way around to the far side to the entrance.  About an hour later, past several farmer's fields, we finally arrived and were rewarded with close-up views of the resident alligators.

Our favorite sighting was of this little guy scavenging around the edge of water for food.  He did not seem to be too worried about us following his progress down the trail.

We saw a few birds, but none them were close enough for good photos...

Osprey

except for this Yellow-rumped Warbler that was flying over our heads.

yellow rumped warbler

We have been getting in our walking miles around the campground and at the Rockport Beach.  There are definitely better views, not to mention, a lot more entertainment at the beach.  

Rockport Beach City Park

We even saw dolphins yesterday in the canal.  No photos this time.  Hopefully, we will have a second chance for photo ops. 

Across from the park, we can see the water front homes on Key Allegro.

Key Allegro

Every house has water access by canal.

We could not ask for a more serene walk with lovely views and all of this is close to downtown and shopping areas.

On our way back to the car, we passed the fish cleaning station.  There were several pelicans floating nearby, but the Heron was the only brave one to stay close by for a snack.

We took the ferry to Port Aransas.  The ferry is free, but on busy days you are going to have a longer wait in line than the time actually on the ferry.  Still, they are quick and efficient.  The ride is so short, it is not worth getting out of the car to watch for dolphins.

ferry crossing - Port Aransas

 We wandered around Port Aransas for awhile.  Not quite sure what to do.  We were not in the mood for browsing beach wear stores or going to the beach since we would need to pay for parking.

 We had lunch at Port A Pizzeria and we were happy to find out that they accommodated vegetarians by adding a veggie pizza to the buffet for us.  So, after eating lunch, we decided to go to the Birding Center.

Roseate Spoonbills

 That turned out to be a good choice for us.

There was so much activity going on with ducks quacking, birds flying by or hunting in the water that we were having a hard time knowing where to look next.

Ruddy Duck

And then we saw this guy - a Nutria or big river rat!  According to the sign, they are considered a pest and destroy a lot of the vegetation.

 And yet, they were everywhere.  There was even a nest of little ones sleeping with the turtles.

 Just before we left, we saw this hawk perched above the walkway.  He looked like he was waiting for the sun to go down.  He ignored all the people taking his photo.  Such a regal looking fellow.

While we were at the Birding Center, Dan found out where to find Whooping Cranes from another woman.  We found them in a farmer's field across the street from the Big Tree near Goose Island State Park.

They were too far away from the fence to get a good closeup, but Sandy did manage to get a couple of decent action shots.

We realized that we  missed seeing the different wildlife along the gulf coast.  With warmer weather, we hope to see more activity and new sightings.  We will be moving north west of Houston soon.  In the meantime, we are going to soak up all the warm sunshine and breath in as much sea air as possible.

Happy Trails!

Sunshine and Blue Skies (Corpus Christie, TX)

And it feels sooo good!  It has warmed up to jacket weather.  The sun is out.  Beautiful blue skies with fluffy white clouds.  The smell of saltwater and the sounds of many birds calling to each other.  Who could ask for more?  Sigh!  This is wonderful!

Padre Island

During the bad weather, we did a little exploring of the coastal area.  We drove from Padre Island to Mustang Island to Aransas Pass to Rockport and of course, around Corpus Christie.  I did  not take many photos. We are moving to Rockport on Wednesday.  We plan to stay for a month so I will probably fill up my next post with more harbor scenes and bird photos

Rockport

I have been sleeping in because...well, why not?...the motorhome's cold and the mornings have been dark and dreary.  But, not this time.  For once, the sun was peeking through the curtains and there was no sound of rain or wind..hmmm...time to check it out.  It is a good thing we got up early because Dan would not have seen this gorgeous sunrise.  As soon as he showed it to me, I was dressed and out the door!

Sunrise over Mustang Island

There are large groups of jackrabbits hanging around both campgrounds.  They stay close to the rigs for shelter, so it is not unusual to look out our window to see 4 to 5 rabbits sitting nearby.

The Naval Base campground is split in two.  Both areas are located near the bay.  

campground viewed from jetty

We have a nice view of the bay from our windows.  From the boat launch/dock area, we can see the bridge to Padre Island and Mustang Island.  

We have been making up for two months of lost outdoor time in the last five days. The cats are outside at least once a day.  They start begging to go out around 10 am.  In the afternoons, they pretend they have not been outside and start begging again.  What a bunch of smarty-cats!

We have been going for walks twice a day.  There are several docks and jettys to explore along with walking between the two campgrounds.  We spend quite a bit of time looking for birds as well as enjoying the views.  I kept missing some great photos ops so I had to start carrying my camera on our walks.

Here are a few of the coastal birds we have been seeing on our walks.  I never tire of watching the Great Blue Herons and the Great White Egrets.

Great Blue Heron

This little guy was not nervous around me while I took his photos.  He was too busy hunting.

Plenty of Brown Pelicans flying around this area.  We have seen White Pelicans, but they have not been in a good area for me to get photos of them.

In-sync Pelicans ~ 1-and-2-and-3.....

During one of our first walks, Dan spotted these guys near the marsh area.  We were able to get a little closer before they started looking nervous.

This one was close to the road so I was able to get a good close-up of him.  This is our first sighting of this kind of Heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Okay, one more photo before I go....

Lesser Yellowlegs fishing for dinner

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We have been living near Medina Lake for the last week.  We are about 40 miles west of San Antonio.  Of course with traffic and just a couple of days before Christmas, it took us over two hours travel time to drive into San Antonio.  Big mistake on our part to go on 23 December, but we did get a lot of shopping done.

From the Medina Lake campground, we can no longer see the lake.  It is so low that it just looks like a valley, but the campground is nice with tree covered sites and it is very quiet.  We are also surrounded by hungry deer looking for a handout.  Our neighbor decided to feed a couple of deer on his site.  Deer came running out of the woods from all directions. Within minutes, he had at least 20 or more  female does and fawns with one stag.  The next morning, he still had quite a collection of deer waiting for him to come out and feed them.

The deer do not like our cats.  Every time we take them outside for a walk, a doe will alert on them with stamping hooves and making their horsed bugling sound.  They sound like someone who lost their voice while trying to yell.  The cats seem to ignore the 'mad' deer and do their own thing.  If the doe gets too close, we chase them off with a shout and a wave of our arms so they do not try and kick a cat.

We visited the German settled town of  Fredericksburg last week to see their Christmas decorations and Trade Days nearby.  We did not stay late for the lights.  We stopped in a bakery for a snack and were entertained with carolers who stopped in.

Christmas Pyramid in the park.  Fredericksburg, TX

This is the Nimitz Museum with Admiral Charles Nimitz statue standing out front.

 The museum used to be a hotel with a ship's bow when you see it from across the street.

After walking up and down the main street enjoying the sights as well as the old well-maintained buildings, we drove to Trade Days a few miles away.

Decked out for the holidays!

You can find all sorts of items at the Trade Days.  Food, artwork, and lots of junk.  You can probably refurnish a whole house with all the old items for sale.  It's a good thing we are living in a motorhome with no room to spare for new items, because Sandy saw all sorts of items that she would have loved to bring home including an upcycled yard art sculpture that looked a lot like Shrek's Donkey! 

Trade Days

We know it has been a while since our last posting, so here's a quick catch up of what we have been doing since November.  Our first stop was in Oklahoma to visit with our daughter and our granddaughters.  We took the girls shopping for early Christmas gifts of clothing and shoes, and out to lunch while Misty was at work.  We had a wonderful time getting to know our granddaughters again.  As you can see, they are a close and happy family.  We are very proud of all of them considering the many hard times they have had over the years.

After our wonderful visit with the Ladies, we headed south into Texas.  

leaning tree - Bridgeport, TX

We stayed a couple of weeks in Bridgeport before we moved on down the road to Whitney.  

Site in Bridgeport, TX

Whitney is not too far from Waco and Hillsboro.  

Campground site in Whitney

We could not have asked for a better location to spend a few weeks.  Weather was great for November/December.  We celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving by ourselves this year.

Blue skies, Fall colors

The cats have been happy with all our latest locations.  Trees to climb, lots of bushes to explore, not a lot of noisy neighbors (with diesel trucks) to scare them and best of all - lots of room to wander around.  Even Max has been enjoying the outdoors and going outside more to explore with the others.

Max on the prowl

We had lunch at the Cafe Homestead located on Heritage Homestead's 510 acres near Waco for Sandy's birthday.  The cafe offers a fresh organic limited menu.  The best part was the quiet atmosphere.  No loud talking customers or music to talk over.  After lunch, we walked around the grounds visiting the different craft buildings. 

Heritage Homestead is a religious community living a simplistic lifestyle using basic hand tools to work and live off the land.  No machinery is used.  The farmland is plowed by horses.  Sheep are hand sheared.  Wool is hand carded.  Everything is handmade...metal work, woodwork......weaving, spinning, sewing, quilts, pottery, soap, and so much more. They do have electricity, phones, and computers, and some motorized vehicles.

You can see some of their fine craft products on this link.  They even have classes for anyone interested in learning the traditional ways. They also hold a fair twice a year to show visitors how they till the earth and make their crafts. 

They also save old barns by restoring them to their original beauty.  We talked to one woman about how the building we were standing in had been built in the 1800s in New Jersey and had been relocated to the Homestead by the community.  

Below is a restored barn appropriately called The Barn filled with all kinds of wonderful handmade items.  You can see some of their fine crafts here.   You can see a little bit of the inside of the barn if you go to Gift Barn and click on more photos.

That should have everyone caught up with us for now.  So, we will leave you with one more photo of Hillsboro's Courthouse.

If we don't post before the end of the year.....have a Happy New Year!