Galveston Island State Park

 December 9, 2020 

Today we went to Galveston Island State Park

to see the natural state of the marshes and bay here.

We hiked the Clapper Rail Trail, the Egret Loop, the 

Heron's Walk Trail, Jenkins Trail and Caracara Trail.

Don't be too impressed it was only 3.1 miles in total.

The trail starts off dry and wide

The marsh seems to span forever

We are all smiles with today's wonderful weather and blue skies

This lone egret seeks out some fish

We get a boardwalk to cross over the brackish water

"Brackish water, also sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment having more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater."

This bird statue stands at the intersection of 2 trails.

No explanation or sign, "sometimes you have to just let art flow over you."

A blue heron on the left

and the overlook we are headed to on the right.

A lot of holes around here, and here is one crab who 

is crawling out of one of those holes.

We spotted a couple of fishermen in a boat.

A few minutes later we heard a splash and looked to see that they had

flipped the boat and ended up in the water.

Yes, I wish I had a video of that.  They took it well and were alright.

The bay lies just beyond the marsh.

An egret in flight.

bird prints in the wet sand

A wetter portion of the trail that got rutted by an ATV.

After hiking we went into the campground and used a site

to have lunch at and look out on the bay.

A grackle and some of his friends came by to see if we would drop any crumbs.

Jim took a chance to use the binoculars

to get a closer look at the bay.

Perhaps he was looking for a house to buy on the bay.

Not going to happen.

December 10, 2020

It's an easy going kind of beautiful day today.

I got up and walked on the beach.

It was a quiet morning on the beach with clear skies.

I spotted a pretty, unbroken shell

but I couldn't keep it, as the resident was still in it.

"As mollusks live their daily lives in the sea, they take in salts and chemicals from the water around them. As they process these materials, they secrete calcium carbonate, which hardens on the outside of their bodies and begins to form a hard outer shell.  On average, it takes a seashell from one to six years to reach full size and anatomical maturity."

Today we had a video call with Evan who is officially 8 today.

Happy Birthday Evan!

and Happy Birthday to my nephew Dan as well.

It's warm enough to check out the pools today.

A young girl informed us that the water in the lazy river pool was freezing.

Jim tried it, and confirmed it was too cold.

So we tried the other pool which was also cold.

A good day to be at the pool and read a book in the sunshine.

That concludes today's not so busy day.

I would like to flash back as I forgot to mention earlier

we drove on the beach, yes in the truck, on Tuesday.

Photo taken with our dashboard cam.

It felt weird to drive on the beach

But since it's okay here, we gave it a try.

Not sure if it's something we will do again or not.

Tomorrow we head to Space Center Houston.

I need to rest up for the big day.