Fluff

Something I keep forgetting to mention, when I talk about us frolicking on the beach, is how different the sand is here. It’s not gritty like sand typically is. It’s like talcum powder….so soft and it gets into everything. We’ve tried to end each selling day by driving onto the beach and driving up the beach to the campground. We stop and let Boomer run on the beach. Boomer acts a little like he did back home in the snow but doesn’t go so far as to roll in the sand (thank goodness). He does love to run across the little dunes though and loves the wind and watching the birds and other dogs on the beach.
The other aspect of the sand, for folks who live next to the beach, is the drifting of the sand into residents’ driveways. I know shoveling snow, back east, is a huge bummer but shoveling sand (so you can get into your driveway off the beach) would be just as bad. Boardwalks have huge sand drifts over them, which would need wading through, to be able to get into your property. I think there’s been two days of no wind since we’ve been here….it never stops.
Today we took the bike out. Did a little business in the morning and then went to a couple birding centers in town. There are so many neat birds here although the drought has had a severe impact on the wetland areas around here. We went to the top of an observation platform and could see all of the dried up areas surrounding this one small area of shallow water. A lady, on the platform, said the only reason there’s water in this one area is that the sewer treatment facility, next door, recycles its water and releases it into the wetland area. So sad to see that these birds are in danger due to lack of water in their winter home.






There were lots of different types of ducks, brown pelicans and other birds that I have no idea what they were. We saw signs telling us to beware of alligators but didn’t see any. Did see some interesting flowers, at the entry to the birding center. This one was called something like  a Mexican Bishop Hat. The spiral design is really neat…..just hanging from the bush , it has a flat appearance to it until you look at it from the end.
We bought a Whataburger combo and went to the dock area to eat it. We’ve never had a Whataburger….they are not in our neck of the woods..back home. Gotta say, they are pretty awesome ! Vicki, your talk of Whatabugers has made believers out of us. We love the wheat buns that you can get them on. Left the dock and drove down Padre Island way. Had a great time walking on the beach and enjoying the warm temps (was around 76 today). It was a wonderful day, driving around the area. Not sure what tomorrow holds in store for us.