Decompressing

For the past couple of weeks we have been so busy with preparations and details for our new endeavor that I was feeling the need to spend some outdoors in nature. Nature always centers me when my brain feels overwhelmed.

We headed to Barton Creek for the afternoon. The spring water is always cold and refreshing after a hike along the trail and the views are always impressive no matter how many times I've seen them.

It's safe to say we all enjoyed our little break today....

On the way home at a stop light downtown I looked up at the sun reflecting off the tall buildings. It was beautiful so I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick pic before the light changed....

More random pics from the past couple of weeks....

Our bed has been taken over

Do You Know Who I Am???

While browsing Pinterest the other day I came across a picture of one of those old VW vans...like the Scooby Doo van if you will, but bright yellow.

Every time I see one like it it brings me back to a memory of a night when I was around 18 years old.

At that time I was dating (and engaged to for a short time) a guy named Alan. I met Alan in the elevator of the hospital where I worked.  We both worked the evening shift. My job was transporting  patients by wheelchair to and from X-Ray, dialysis, etc. and other misc. duties like collecting T.V. rental monies. Alan worked in Shipping and Receiving. We sneaked in every chance we could at the snack bar, hallway or...the elevator. Because we worked 5 days a week in the evenings our weeknight dating was limited to the night owl hours.

Alan was a serious, preppy guy who casually wore Izod golf shirts or button-downs and pleated khakis. He also had future plans,  goals, and aspirations...refreshing but not my usual type of guy..at the time anyway.  Besides his good looks, I'm pretty sure what attracted me most to him was his black 1969 Fast Back Mustang. To this day, I have absolutely no idea what attracted him to me either....me, the girl who listened to rap music, smoked cigarettes and wore clothes that closely resembled something hippies would wear.

After a year long courtship Alan  presented me with an engagement ring on Christmas Eve 1984.  Two months later by the end of January 1985 of the next year he decided that I wasn't good enough for him to marry and broke off our engagement. He was probably right. I loved muscle cars but I never played the preppy part very well. Even so, I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit heartbroken.

Even so, thirty years later I still have a couple of love letters he wrote me and a few pictures of us at Dauphin Island where we hung out that summer of 1984 with our circle of  friends on his Hobie Cat Catamaran. Those times were some of the best in my memory bank of life...

Looking at my life now it's hard to believe there was ever a time I did something other than  laundry, dusting, and preparing meals for the better part of my day...

Sorry, I got a little sidetracked in my memories there. Anyway....

....Alan was a car guy. He had a souped up midnight blue Toyota truck with dark tinted windows he drove to work and a 1969 Fast Back Mustang that he drove for 'pleasure' and on the weekends.

One late night Alan was dropping me off at my house after a night out.  For whatever reason he always parked his Mustang on the curb when he came over. When he left I walked out with him to his car so we could say our goodbyes and get in our last smooch of the evening.

At that time Dave Straker, a local meteorologist lived across the street from us. He drove a bright yellow VW 'Scooby Van'.

As I walked with Alan out to his car 'Dave' was pulling out of his driveway across the street and proceeded to back right into Alan's Mustang. It was dark and very late at night and Meteorologist Dave hesitated for only a second before driving off.

Alan was cursing and hollering at 'Dave' as he drove away and I was like "Shhhhhh.....that's Dave Straker!" Alan said, 'I don't give a shit who it is he just hit my car!.'

I wonder: Did 'Dave' drive off because he was drunk and didn't realize he hit a vehicle? (it was very late at night) or did 'Dave' not even realize he hit something? Or was it because 'Dave' was 'Dave' and knew people in high places that could get him out of trouble??? I have no idea.

It's been so long ago I don't remember what ever came of the incident after that night...

Port "A"

One of my favorite ends to a vacation, day trips, and even everyday random pics is downloading the pics off of my device and reliving the memories via my pictures. I confess, sometimes I am so lost in capturing the moment that I miss the "moment". When I download them off my device and sneak that private peek into my memories I feel like I am living that moment in real time.

Once again our bi-yearly trip to Port Aransas Texas was successful. This year the Island Hotel where we stay in Port A had a special going on so I splurged and got us a suite instead of  our usual simple 2- bed room. I was glad I did. With Toby's new dietary issues it allowed us to prepare meals in our room instead of hunting around a little beach town for gluten-free options. It also gave us a lot more room to "spread out"....and our own personal rooms and balcony which was nice too.

The ocean was a little more infested with seaweed than what I would venture farther than a few feet into...

After attempting to face my fears on the boogie board of what unidentified sea creatures might be lurking in all that seaweed....and failing miserably at it..... I decided to take a walk along the beach taking random photos. After a while I bored of taking pictures of the ocean so I turned the camera on myself. What a sight eh????

I also spotted this lone camper on the beach and loved the simplicity of it. If I didn't have a child still living with me I could easily see myself living like this. No high maintenance gal here.....

At least the seaweed didn't seem to bother either one of these two fish.....

We checked out Winton's Island Candy store and stocked up on treats.......

The jetties at IB Magee Beach Park.....

Watching the dolphins swim in the ship channel from the observation tower at Roberts Point Park....

The Island Ferries

The Observation Tower

The Texas Marine Science Institute was an interesting place well worth the visit....

The seaweed was even worse the next day. It was so bad that Skye said her legs were getting tangled in it so she opted for a walk along the beach with me and playing in the sand while Toby battled the seaweed.....

Another thing I love about the Island Hotel is there is a beach neighborhood with sidewalks right next door where I can easily take Bo for his morning and evening walks. I love walking the neighborhood and looking at all the pretty colored houses mentally taking notes of landscape designs that I could apply to my own home.....

You can also cut through the local cemetery into the neighborhood.....

Right across the street is also the The Port Aransas Nature Preserve. The boardwalk/path connects a few miles of different observation towers around the island. The preserve is not pet friendly and Skye balked at the idea of having to walk more than a few feet for nothing but viewing wildlife so her and Bo stayed behind in the hotel.

Bo guarding the balcony....

I was secretly glad Toby and I got to take some time out just the two of us.

We only walked a couple of miles of the boardwalk before the sun started to set. While sitting out on the balcony the night before I had heard coyotes and I certainly didn't want to get stuck out there in the dark in their "territory".....

Also right across the street from the hotel was Sharkey's Beach Club. Every night we sat on the balcony watching the people come in and out of the club contemplating what it was like on the inside. Toby suggested we walk over there and have a drink on our last night there.  The inside of the club was more impressive and a lot larger than I imagined it to be from the outside. We stayed long enough to have a drink and shoot a game of pool. It was fun.

Usually I'm ready to get home after a few days at the beach but this time I was oddly sad to be leaving.  I told Toby if I were ever to run away from home Port A is where he can find me. There is nothing at all fancy about Port A but I like the simplicity and small town feel of the island.

On the way home we stopped by Goliad State Park. We didn't stay long enough to see everything the park had to offer but we did walk the nature trail and check out the museum....

Wonderful memories were made to look back on. ♥♥♥