A Sight Seeing Day on Galveston Island

 Today we decided to do some sight seeing.  which of course means I took a lot of pictures. 















This is the Gulf Coast near our campsite. 

We went down to see the ferry that we have to take the trailer onto tomorrow.

After seeing a couple of semis and a large motor home come off the incoming ferry we were satisfied that we could do this.  It will save us about 100 miles off the trip to our next destination. 

It should prove to be an interesting experience, we have never been on a ferry with the trailer, but that's what we're here for "Adventure". 










As we drove down Seawall Drive, with the Gulf on one side, across the street are many beautiful water front hotels, and condos all available for rent, to the tourist trade. 

Then further down the road we see the mansions that have been built along the water front.  These are on stilts just as the others are, but the stilts are all hidden in facades.  The lower parts are usually garages etc. and all the living quarters are above.

We found the RV parks to be unique around here, as well.  They don't build Texas rooms, like in the Rio Grande Valley,  they build a staircase to a terrace that they build over their trailers. 

Then of course we have the unique Texan that turns up everywhere in Texas that has to build himself "something completely different".  As you can see in the backgound he has built it right in the middle of a fashionable neighbourhood. 

So, that is it for Galveston Island, we leave tomorrow morning for Lake Charles Louisiana. 

Galveston Island State Park

 As we get onto Galveston Island, we start to see the usual Summer places on stilts, that are seen all along the coast here.  They are on stilts to protect them from the surges that accompany summer storms along the coast. 

We are in a campsite facing the beach.  There were winds from the North yesterday and today we are getting them coming in from the South East off of the Gulf. 

The wind makes it feel rather desolate.  It would be wonderful on a hot sunny day, but It looks like we are not going to get that before we leave. 

 I got up at 6:00 am this morning to get some shots of the sunrise over the Gulf.  It was very pretty. 

We tried to get Sea-enna to go for a walk on the beach but one look at the surf and the roar of the waves was enough for her.  She turned and high tailed it back to the trailer. 

Galveston Island State Park

Goose Island State Park

Off we go North on 77 out of Harlingen and as

usual I'm keeping my eye out along the road for Armadillos.  (They used to be rampant in Texas and I think all those gun people have killed them all off.)  Anyways, I digress.  I'm looking out for Armadillos and what do I see but a flock of wild Turkeys trotting on down the side of the road.  I managed to get pictures of them, but I also saw a wild boar, routing around in the ditch, and a herd of cattle with at least ten zebras among them.  I was so surprized and doubted what I was seeing, that when I beleived what I was seeing, it was to late to get my camera up and snap a picture.                                         

                                                                                        As we approached Corpus Christi and the bays along the Gulf, we started to see the big bridges and causeways.    

Then we arrived at our destination. 

Goose Island State Park.  It is obviously  a very popular Bird Sanctuary, there were bird watches everywhere.   You could hardly drive through the park without bunches of them standing around in the middle of the road all snapping pictures and oblivious of evrything else around them. 

We had a very nice secluded campsite.  And Dan built a campfire. 

There were campsites available right on the waterfront overlooking the Gulf. 










Now its time to leave Goose Island and travel on  to Galveston Island . 

It's Time to Hit The Road

Well, our month at Magic Valley is over and it's time to hit the road.  We've had a wonderful time here, other than a few cold days.  Today was picking up groceries, doing laundry and readying the trailer for travel.  First stop "Goose Island State Park", just off of Corpus Christie.  I will Blog and download pictures from there. 

City of Winnipeg, Retirees Annual Dinner

There are a lot of ex-City of Winnipeg employees that come down to the Rio Grande Valley for the winter.  They have an annual Pot Luck Dinner which we were invited to attend.  The membership consists of retirees from Parks & Rec, Administration, Fire Department, Police Department, Operations etc.   As you can see by the turn out in these pictures it was well attended. 

                                                                             

It was the usual Pot Luck Dinner with lots of food, and they even allow, the old BYOB, to go on at these functions down here, which is kinda nice.  A lot of eating and drinking and of course joking around about different departments.  A good time was had by all, but of course one of the main topics of conversation was the Manitoba type weather that we were having last evening. 

As I stated in my last Blog, with freezing temperatures and a constant drizzle we have been getting a coat of ice on everything.  So when the evening ended I could not resist taking this picture from inside the truck as poor Dan had to be out there, scraping ice from the windshield.  That's what we drove all this way to avoid. 

But as I sit here this morning I see blue skies and high white fluffy clouds off in the west and I hear big sheets of ice sliding off of the trailer, this will all be history by tomorrow.

Brrrrrrr! It's Cold Here.

Here we sit hold up in our trailer with the furnace running,

Watching  our windows fog over from the cold weather outside. 

The temperatures are hovering around freezing.  We have kept the water dribbling in the trailer overnight, so the water lines  won't freeze.  And apparently we have another 24 hours of this to get through.  Today they are predicting possible drizzling rain that may turn to sleet if the temperatures drop any further.  With all their predictions it has so far not gotten down as low as they keep predicting, but it's still very cold. 


Meanwell Dan & I are supposed to go to a Potluck Dinner at the Club House for all the retired City of Winnipeg employees that winter in the park.  I am making a large Broccoli Salad and because Dan has Ice Radials on the truck we will drive the 1 1/2 blocks over to the hall.  If it's icy out there I don't want to fall and break something.  And I don't mean my dish. 

The temperatures tomorrow are supposed to get back up into the 60s, and back to 75 norms on Saturday