On the Road with the Jacksons: August 2009

National Seashore, north end of Padre Island

Seagulls and Pelican in flight

Lots of pelicans and seagulls

Long billed Curlew wadding along the gulf shore

Sea turtle and eggs in exhibit at the National Seashore museum.

South Padre Island

Unlike the north end of Padre Island the south end is very developed

with high-rise condos and many motels.

Sailboat in harbor

Our motorhome taken from the balcony of the bathhouse. The gulf and beach are in the background but not visible from the motorhome since there are 15 to 20 foot sanddunes all along the beach here. The dunes block the view but thankfully not the sea breeze that we enjoy in the evenings.

We are here in south Texas at the Mustang Island State Park. Had planned on doing some surf fishing but the weather and water have not cooperated with the extreme heat and murky water.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

One of the few seabirds we saw . . . most have migrated for the summer.

However we are told that this is an excellent bird watching area during the winter months.

New overlook under construction taken from the old overlook. . .

the wetland with Gulf of Mexico in the distance.

Tug and tow going through the intercoastal waterway.

The deer in the area are plentiful but not very big.

Rockport small boat harbor . . . one of many in the area.

The beach at Rockport . . . another windy day.

Rockport Maritime Museum

As we moved through the museum Francis found an outboard

just like his of long ago . . . a 22 hp Johnson

Scale model of an offshore drilling rig

Scale model of the La Belle on display at the Rockport museum

Ocean life raft

If there is an airplane in the area Francis will find it. Here is one of the original Blue Angels.

Docked at Corpus Christi, TX is the USS Lexington.

On a side trip we visited Goose Island State Park. This large oak tree is said to be over 1000 years old and is called "Big Tree."

During the time we were at Maumelle the local school district has an in-service for teachers of Arkansas history. The exhibits were very interesting, included were civil war encampments, early cooking and household, mussel loading, and this scale model of a keel boat.