Fantasyland found

We were lured onward by lovely seaside weather as we ventured over to Padre Island for more exploration.  We had before only seen photos of sand castle creations, so were happy to watch some in the process of construction. 

It was interesting to learn that several artists travel to various places to express their imaginations in the sand.  Their work is clever and meticulous.  At the particular place we visited, the artists renew their designs in conjunction with seasons and holidays.

On the bay . . .

When we tired of fishing off the pier, we opted for an afternoon aboard Danny B's charter.  We and a dozen or so folks enjoyed a few hours of fishing - some catching - and feeding the gulls that accompanied us.  We came home with enough Whiting for a couple of dinners, but I'm not telling who caught what.

Pelicans gather at the fish cleaning station, patiently waiting . . .

. . . until scraps are thrown over, and then all hell breaks loose instantly.  Those babies are vicious, stabbing and grabbing each other!

Better than television . . .

Far more serene than the pelican debacle, we found it mesmerizing to watch dolphins fishing for their dinner in our channel.

 

and then . . .

 . . . it began, and once it began, it couldn't seem to stop.  Two full nights and days of wind so strong that I was in danger of the trailer door ripping out of my hand and being smashed to smithereens (but then why would anyone want to go out in that frigid wind anyway). 

 

And then, adding insult to injury, the rain commenced and continued without ceasing for oh such a very long time.  Note: time expands exponentially when one is confined to a space the size of a walk-in closet.  Our view was first of the palms pictured above indicating wind direction and velocity, and then obscured entirely as below.

At the first sign of wind slowing sufficiently that we could safely exit and rain dwindling to a sprinkle, we jumped into the truck and headed for Boca Chica, waaay out at the end of everything.  There we found the bay was whipping up some pretty impressive surf.  I walked out on the beach just long enough to snap a pic and hightailed it back to shelter prior to succumbing to hypothermia.  Bitter bitter wind!

Rocket man . . .

Why did we drive all the way out there (other than it being a way to get out of our walk-in closet) - to see Elon Musk's Starbase, his Space X facility.  I expected nothing more than to view buildings from a distance, and was amazed that we drove right up to the place, even more incredulous to see rockets and launch pads!

The drive to Boca Chica took us past Brownsville and through a huge area of shallow water - one section of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

The wind factor was plenty sufficient to prevent us from offboarding; however, due to having our wonderful binoculars from Jay's Bird Barn, we were able to do some birding from the truck.  No idea why, but one particular place had more blackbirds than I've ever seen together.

 

 

Other stops along the way netted additional birds to the trip list, like the American oystercatcher that is hidden just in front of the flock of black skimmers pictured below.

Despite thinking we may have identified all the birds we're likely to get here, we keep getting more: white ibis, willett, kestrel, ruddy turnstone, Bonaparte's gull and long-billed kerlew (below).

 

 

Everythang is connected . . .

I have no quibbles with this statement (and I love the phonetic spelling!).