We arrived Tuesday under a thick cloud cover with winds so strong that the roiling waves crashed violently onto the Gulf shore, depositing their bounty.
After settling in our RV Park, we took a drive to get the lay of the land. The town seemed a bit weatherworn or timeworn; the ocean does take its toll and there remains unrepaired damage from the 2008 Hurricane Ike. Also, as we travel we continue to learn, even about ourselves. A recent revelation is that after leaving a place that we LOVE like the kids' house or Seattle or San Antonio it takes some time to adjust before we can appreciate a new landscape. Or sometimes it's simply bad timing...the gray skies and strong winds continued until this morning.
Did you know that I love pelicans? Well, brown pelicans rule here, we saw hundreds of them, along with many other species of birds.
Can you see their noble heads and long beaks?
Aren't these pelicans magnificent looking in flight?
These are Laughing Gulls...their cry is "ha ha ha"!
This is a Great Egret; I loved the colors of the grasses.
Here are Cattle Egret and, yes, there are small cattle herds on the island.
These are Black Necked Stilts; see their reflections in the still water?
Much to our surprise, as we drove under a local highway overpass at the end of the island, there were seven of these raccoons and a cat perched on burlap sandbags eating ?? I don't know what. The cat was nonplussed but most of the raccoons drifted off when we stopped. They may be cute but their bared teeth made them quite intimidating!
Typical of beach communities there were homes in every color of the rainbow; I would love a teal house with bright yellow trim! The Strand Historic District, Galveston's downtown area, is filled with fabulously ornate buildings, many of them dating even before the horrendous hurricane of 1900 destroyed much of the island. All of this would have been stunning, I'm sure, if we had seen it in the light of the sun.
Lovin' Life ~~ Stay Tuned for More of Galveston
Bev
I love reading your posts and I am jealous all at the same time! Well, except for the gray skies part. We have plenty of those ourselves!
ReplyDeleteRaccoons are NOT cute and cuddly. They have razor sharp teeth and claws for a reason.