Our second day had us loading up our kayaks. It was pretty windy but the tide was rising and we knew that this would be the least windy day we were here.
We put-in in a shallow area outside the park. If you know where Big Tree is, we were at the corner before turning left toward it.
I’ve never kayaked in choppy water before and it was a little unnerving. We headed to a cove that is owned by the park. This is an area behind a locked gate where we lead bird walks.
This cove was sheltered so the wind and waves weren’t bothersome. We didn’t see many birds but we enjoyed paddling around for a while. This Black Vulture was perched on top of a dead palm tree at the back of the cove.
We knew the wind would be picking up even more so we started back to the truck. We weren’t very far from the truck (about 1/2 mile) but with the really strong current it took some very strong paddling to get back.
We returned to the trailer, unloaded the kayaks, and made a quick trip to Walmart for a few forgotten items.
Even though we love eating out, we wanted to cook at least one meal at the trailer while we were here. Our first meal - grilled salmon, mashed potatoes (I made them at home and brought them with us), made with lots of butter and even more bacon, and steamed veggies.
I never order salmon in a restaurant because they can never cook it as well as Mark can. Everything turned out great.
When we got back to the trailer Mark discovered that the hot water heater wasn’t working on either electricity or propane. Turns out, we had blown a special thermal fuse inside the heater. He simply removed it to get us back up and running.
Quality and craftmanship does matter. When we bought this trailer, we knew it couldn’t compare to our HitchHiker. As they say, “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore”. This is the best quality travel trailer we could find in this size. We’ll eventually get used to it.
The current Bird Host site was very close to ours, and they had put out a variety of feeders. We saw both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks there. The males are stunning and their red breast is responsible for the first part of the name. Both males and females sport the giant bill that is responsible for the second park of the name. As with many bird species, the females are less colorful than the males. Their muted plumage helps to hide them when sitting on a nest. The first picture shows a male, while the second one shows both a male and a female on the same feeder.
We finished our day with a quick trip to the shoreline. We found Black Skimmers flying over the water and "skimming" for a meal.
We also found a Clapper Rail walking through the marsh grass. These are normally very secretive birds, but this one was pretty cooperative.
Day 3 - Our third day had us up early and heading for the ferry in Port Aransas.
Windy was definitely a theme in our part of Texas, must be a common thing! Glad you got back safely and that Mark can figure out work arounds. Randy doesn't that all the time too.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice not to have to wait for a repairman or take it into the shop to be repaired.
ReplyDeleteThis is a windy time of year!