Seeing the Texas Gulf Coast - Day One

The last couple of days were spent on the wonderful beaches of Port Aransus and Padre Island. I have to say, seeing the coast again was bittersweet. It reminded me that I NEED to have access to the coast no matter where I live. The ocean has been a part of me my whole life. Growing up most of our vacations included the beach and as I grew older most "fun outings" were beach oriented. That being said, there was also a part of me that did not miss the salty, sticky, thick humid feel that the goes along with the ocean.

The drive down was perfect. We took Highway 181 straight down into Port Aransus. I was a little concerned that we may have a lot of red lights or city traffic issues taking the highway. The cities we drove through were so small that we only had one or two traffic lights per city to get through. It was smooth sailing with very little traffic at all. We got there in 3 1/2 hours and that included stopping off for gas and a bite to eat. We now know the quickest route to the beach. :-)

Once we got to Aransas Pass we had to take the ferry across to Port Aransus. It was such a short ride across, Toby pondered why they don't just build a bridge. Here we are on the ferry:



Once we got to the other side we set off in search of the Tourist Info Center. We located one quickly and I gathered all the maps and brochures that I thought would help us on our trip. We finally found us a room and unloaded the car. By this time we were ready for some dinner.

At Summer's insistence, before dinner we stopped at a couple of souvenir shops. After all, to a kid what's a vacation without a souvenir?




Since it has been a while since we have had some good seafood we asked the hotel worker for a good seafood recommendation. He suggested a place nearby with a good view. While the restaurant had a pretty good atmosphere and view, the seafood left little to be desired. For the price they didn't give you much food. Toby calls it beach highway robbery. Here is Summer with a Haha (laughing gull) waiting on some morsels to fall.



After our dinner it was late afternoon. We were itching to see the beach. Our motel was within walking distance to the beach so we set off on foot to the water. Here we are enjoying the Texas Gulf Coast:

Look! Prickly Pear even grows on the beach!






As far as Brandi goes, I can tell you she hated every minute of her "vacation from hell". She hated the water, the sand, and everything about the beach.



My Favorite Pic of the Day:



Around 7:30p.m. we headed back to the motel where Toby and Summer enjoyed the pool and hot tub. I went inside to enjoy the air conditioner and some cable T.V. I really would have enjoyed hanging out in the hot tub drinking some cold beers with my hubby but somehow I couldn't see us enjoying too much hot tub peace with an excited 8 year old splashing around.




O.K. now here is my critique of the Texas coastline; I say the beaches were very close in comparison to the Alabama, Florida beaches. Yes, the Texas ocean was not as green/blue and had a good bit of shoreline seaweed, but it in my opinion the water was much more swimmable. The water was shallow for a good ways out and the waves weren't strong enough to knock you down. The water was also clean and clear. The sand was also a little different....powdery and fine and more of an "antique white".

Port Aransus reminded me a lot of Panama City Beach back in the day before the big high rise condos started coming in and blocking the view of the beach. A small friendly beach town it was. I was very impressed..........

Venturing Off....

At this moment I am a little nervous and excited. Being the coastal folks my family and I are, we have been having an itch for the ocean. Our plans are to go to the ocean...the closest ocean to Austin. I have done my research and made my decision on our beach destination.

Until the past year 1/2, I have always lived near the ocean. Honestly, I have always had a fear of deep water never venturing too far out and staying close to the edge of the water. I'm not a real big fan of stinging or pinching creatures that loom around in ocean water either. Mostly I like the atmosphere of the beach...the sound of waves crashing, the sunsets, hunting sea shells, etc.

There is plenty of water access here in Austin in the form of the Colorado River, creeks, lakes, and streams but nothing beats the vastness and tranquility of the ocean.

Tomorrow we will be headed to Port Aransus. The locals tell me there is not much there...just exactly what I am looking for, a beach without tourism attached to it. Since I know absolutely NOTHING about Texas's Gulf Coast I am not sure where to begin looking for accommodations. That's why I have decided to travel blindly, which of course is against my personal rules.

Google maps tells me it is a 5 hour drive....locals tell me I can get there in 3 hours. I have to take into account that this (the locals) information is coming from folks that drive like maniacs on I-35.

Betsy, my 15 year old inherited Subaru has been a good one but she is getting old. Although low in miles for her age, she still shows her age in various ways. With all the miles we put on her here, I am hoping she is up for the drive tomorrow. Since I will be in unknown territory with no sign of any rescue teams..a.k.a my mechanically inclined son and father, I am going to think positive and keep my fingers crossed that the trip is a smooth one.

Just for fun you might want to look back on my blog in August 2008 entitled Vacation From Hell and see what happened the last time we vacationed.

You might say, if you're worried about your car making it to and fro then why are you going?? Well, I have the mindset that life is for living, seeing, enjoying, loving, and doing. Life is like a book, if you don't travel then you have only read one page. I refuse to let my irrational fears of what may or may not happen spoil all of my fun! :-)

Well, now I have to go pack. Wish me luck and positive thoughts!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Today was one of those non-stop days. Although usually very tiring, I find that I feel most productive on those busy days. I am not a lazy person by far...well maybe sometimes, and enjoy being out and about doing things or even doing productive things around the house.

I like the feel of accomplishment. Today was one of those days where I felt every part of my life was flowing. My house was clean, I got to spend some time outdoors working on my yard, and the family was happy and content.

We had an afternoon playdate today. The day was very humid with very little breeze. We stopped at the little stream in the park and the girls and I took our shoes off to wade around in the cool water. It felt wonderful. I love the sound of water whether it be from the waves of the ocean or the trickling of a stream. Staying in touch with nature relaxes my whole mind and body.

We also saw a few rabbits running around in broad daylight at the edge of the stream. As you probably have guessed by now, this is one of the few days I did not bring my camera along. I should have learned my lesson by now....Note to self: ALWAYS bring my camera 'cause I never know what I'm gonna see.

After we left the park Summer and I stopped by the Manor Farmers Market. I love fresh veggies and I like to support local farmers when I can. Unfortunately, I guess none of my favorites are in season so we walked away empty handed.

When I got home I finished up cleaning out the flower beds around my trees. The task was really easy until I ran into an underground fire ant bed. The ants were as determined to keep their home as I was to clear my bed....I think the ants may have won. I have fire ant bites all over my hands and arms AND their bed is still there.

The final step in my yard project was planting my hosta's. Now I just have to wait for them to grow.

Several months ago we had found a den of baby rabbits. One had been severely wounded by the neighborhood cat. We had taken the baby rabbit to the Austin Wildlife Rescue so they could nurse him back to health. There was one bunny left in the den. Summer and I kept our eye on him during the day. Probably not a good idea, but we would take him out of his nest and hold and pet him.

Eventually the little rabbit was was old enough to strike out on his own. Shortly after he joined the wild, we would notice a rabbit that would come into the yard and just hang out. Once, I even got close enough to touch him. I know this had to the bunny that we watched over. There is no way any other wild rabbit would be so tame.

So anyway, at dusk last night Summer and I were about to head inside for the night. We spotted a rabbit in the yard hopping towards us. We started walking slowly toward him...I know this had to be our bunny. I went inside and got him some lettuce and he hopped right up to us and took the lettuce. I guess he must remember where he was born and that we were nice humans. :-)

It had been a long day and I was looking forward to getting inside and relaxing a bit. No sooner had I got inside and started to settle there was a knock at the door. I really don't like to ignore neighbors when they knock on the door. I would hate if they really needed something and I wasn't available to help them out.

Yet, I wasn't in any mood for idle chit-chat.....especially with my crazy neighbor down the road. My goodness, it was 9:00 p.m at night and she was just beginning her evening. Like I have said before, there is some part of me that sees the loneliness in this woman's life so I bit the bullet and came back outside to chat with her while her kids played with Summer. I figured it was already 9:00pm, what was another 30 minutes?

Needless to say, once I got inside and got Summer and I a bath we both hit the sack. I am very grateful for days like these and look forward to many more to come.

Cinco de Mayo at SouthPark Meadows

For anyone who has not followed my blog since the beginning, Ginny is the first friend we ever made in Austin. She was also our realtor who had to jump through a few hoops to get us into our home....not to mention being our surrogate family for the month that we were house hunting.

Anyway, we don't really get to see Ginny as much as we would like because we live in the two opposite poles of Austin. Ginny is also a very busy realtor entertaining other homeless transplants, I'm sure.

Lately Summer has been asking for a "dose of Ginny". I gave Ginny a call and we met up at our usual "beer drinking hole", as I call it.

We had a great time chatting and catching up. Sadly, Ginny is going through a rough patch in her life and of course, I couldn't think of anything comforting to say other than "I'm sorry". I really don't comfort well and always walk away from situations like that obsessing over what I could have said to make them feel better. Comforting.....not one of my strong points.

Here we are at our usual table doing our usual thing...drinking and chatting:



Before we met up with Ginny we hit WalMart. I grabbed a few bulbs and wildflowers that were on clearance. When we first moved into our house there were little flower beds built up around the trees. I was constantly pulling the trailing Bermuda grass out from it. I decided to save myself some yard work and let the grass grow up around the base of the trees like this....



Well, as you can see the grass is not doing a good job of taking over the bed as I hoped that it would. Toby also complains when he is cutting the grass that it's hard to cut around the tree because of the mound and it also spews the bare dirt of the mound all over the place.

So, I decided that I would cut out the bed again and try to plant some Hosta's around the tree. I really prefer foliage over flowers...I like the tropical look and they require less upkeep than flowering plants.

We'll see how it works out. I will post pics of the finished product.

Missing Mama's

The other day while we were headed to some unrecalled destination, my daughter asked me out of the blue.."Do you miss your mom?" Her innocent question initially caught me off guard. There had been no talk of mama's, grandma's, or missing anybody on this particular car ride.

My mom has been deceased for several years now. Summer was only a little over a year old when she died so she has no real memory of her other than pictures.

So anyway, although I thought it was an odd question for her to be asking, I told her "yes" I do miss my mom. She then told me that she would miss me too if I were dead. Good thing for a mama to know. :-)

As usual, her inquisitiveness always gets me on a thinking train. I thought about how different, yet how much alike my mother and I are. We were never what I would call close. Although mom always filled all our physical needs, she was always a bit emotionally distant, making sure to save hugs, kisses, and I love you's only for rare occasions. Even so, somehow we always found comfort in each others company after I was married and had my son.

Looking back, I don't think I ever knew my mother at all...except for just being my mother. Sure, I knew what kind of clothes she wore, what kind of music she liked, her pet peeves, etc. but I really didn't KNOW her.

Funny how life is. Now that she is gone and I am much older, I could think of a million things I would ask her....things I would want to know about her. What is her favorite color? What are her regrets? What would she have wanted to do if she didn't get married and have kids? What is the thing she is most proud of? Intimate questions and intimate conversations.

Since my mom died I have this slight obsession. When I am out and about, I look out for grown daughters and their mothers shopping, sightseeing, or whatever they may be doing together. I observe their behavior and envision my mother and I doing the same thing. I find the older I get the more I would like to have my mother around, as opposed to having her around when I was in my twenties. I feel I could relate to her better now.....but, that's not the way it worked out. I can only hope that I will be around for my daughter later in her life. Only time will tell.

Yes, yes, I am envious of those moms and daughters that I see out together. Yes, I miss having another person around that cares about my children as much as I do..someone that wants to share in their life and in mine. Someone to take them to the park, buy them things, and spoil them as a grandparent would.

Yes, a daughter benefits grately from her mother's presence.

For All Homeschoolers and Other Nature/Animal Lovers

I thought this was so cool I just had to share it here.

Live video inside a screech owl nesting box in Austin, TX. Ms. Owl laid 4 eggs, and the first egg hatched on 4/16/09 and the last one on 4/19. All 4 chicks appear to be growing well, though the smallest (youngest by a few days) may struggle. Mom and Dad bring food to the box, and Mom feeds bits to the chicks. Mom stays in the box with the chicks during the day. Most activity occurs after 8pmCT. We can expect the chicks to fledge and leave the nest in mid-May. Once they leave, they usually don't return to the box. See the video clips for the growth of the owlets. The camera is infrared in order to capture the images in the dark box, which is why the video is not in color. There is no light or sound that the camera emits so there is no disturbance to the owls.

ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF OUR NATURAL WORLD!

Forbidden Emotions

The other day we rented the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua for Summer. We let her go to bed watching the movie so Toby and I did not watch the movie with her. The next day I asked her if she liked the movie. She told me that she did, but that it was too sad for her to finish watching it.

She went on to tell me that she wanted me to watch it with her so she could finish watching it. Me, of all people. The person who gets emotional about everything from episodes of Oprah to Price is Right winners. I can't even listen to somebody else's grief, happy moment, or dilemma without tearing up. I FEEL other people's emotions as deeply as I do my own.

My affliction is very embarrassing. My problem has often caused me to distant myself from people or situations that may cause me to "lose emotional control". Unfortunately, my aversion to emotions have allowed me to be perceived as cold, distant, or unemotional.

At around the age of two years old, it was obvious that my daughter had inherited the same sensitivity trait. I had popped in the move Fox and the Hound into the VCR. A little while into the movie she started crying and telling us to turn it off. At first I didn't know what was wrong, but eventually figured out that along with the sad music on the movie, the mom of one of the animals had also died.

That day was the turning point. From that moment on she questioned every movie she was about to watch. We have numerous Disney movies that have never been watched because of the sadness factor.

Music is also a trigger for her. Like me, the older she gets, she has learned how to repress her emotions and avoid that feeling. Being the introvert kind of girls we are we don't want any extra attention drawn to us from emotional outbursts.

So, I started to thinking about emotion. Why is it that emotion is something that we are taught to hide. From a young age we all have been taught "not to cry" or to "suck it up". Why is it that when we feel something that makes our heart swell we feel the need to hide or suppress it?

I can vividly remember a friend of mine when I was a pre-teen. She was upset about something and was openly crying about it. I remember her saying to some boy that was making fun of her crying.."I'm not afraid to cry in front of anyone." How envious of her I was at that moment. Being able to cry and show emotion openly and not feel persecuted or shamed for it!

WHY DO WE FEEL THE NEED TO SUPPRESS OUR FEELINGS AND LOVE???