kayaking – Page 5 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

02-13 to 02-18-2014 Five Days in Fort De Soto

Current Location: Fort De Soto Campground 67 degrees F and sunny

The front door is wide open to the dappled sun coming through the trees here in our campground. It feels very much like some kind of tropical jungle, with lots of palms and thick vegetation surrounding the campsites. The temperatures are cool but the sun is absolutely brilliant.

My muscles feel like jelly in that good way that happens when they are getting properly used. Mo is reading and napping in the back of the rig while I process photos and try to condense our days into something readable. Mark Johnson, over at the Box Canyon Blog, is lately one of my favorite writers. Last night he wrote about how so many of us, RV bloggers specifically, talk about all the wonders of this lifestyle and none of the downside. Problem is, I can’t at the moment find a downside. I think it might be like labor…when it is over, you forget. Especially when the sun is shining.

Because of the mix-up in our original reservation, we had to move after our first night here, and tomorrow will have to move again to another campsite. It isn’t a big problem, though, and we like the new spot we are moving to as much as the first one. This site, 147, is huge and is one of the few pull through’s in this part of the park. Even though it is also private, it is so big that it feels a bit like a road and we are just plopped down in the middle of it. Still, the shade on this warmish sunny afternoon is lovely.

Fort De Soto is actually a Pinellas County Park, south of St Petersburg. It consists of five offshore keys, or islands, lying to the city’s south-southwest: Madelaine Key, St. Jean Key, St. Christopher Key, Bonne Fortune Key and the main island, Mullet Key. All are connected by either bridge or causeway to each other. The island group is accessible by a toll road from the mainland. Water everywhere! Many of the campsites are waterfront, and half the park is dog friendly. Campsites become available six months before your intended booking date, and when I attempted to book our sites, I had a bit of difficulty getting one, much less a waterfront site. I keep forgetting about little things like holiday weekends.

It is a truly beautiful park, with gorgeous white sand beaches, calm bayous for kayaking, mangrove swamps and sea oats on sugar sand. The campground is thick with palms and life oaks that hang over the roadways, with warning signs saying to watch for low hanging branches, yet I have seen many very large rigs parked in the private, spacious campsites. It is a bit spendy. I keep forgetting what we paid for this park, maybe on purpose…maybe because it was prepaid six months ago. With taxes and such, I think it was a bit over $40 per night, probably will qualify as our spendiest camp for the entire three months.

It is worth every single penny. As I said, water everywhere, even a large off leash dog beach and a huge doggie park with a cooling wash station for hot summer days or getting out the salt water after doggie swims.

A paved bicycle trail runs the entire length of the key from end to end and past the campground with workout stations placed here and there and an occasional sign naming trees or plants in the area.

The park is named for Fort De Soto, located at the point where Mullet Key intercepts the channel into Tampa Bay. It was first surveyed in 1849 and Union troops were stationed here during the Civil War to aid in the blockade of Tampa Bay. It wasn’t until the Spanish-American war however, that the fort was built. It operated as a strategic defense from 1898 to 1910 and was decommissioned after that time.There are a few cannon and some ramparts to view at the site of the fort, but the most interesting exhibit are one bunker with old photos of the history of the fort and old maps of the surrounding keys.

I don’t think many people come here to see the fort, however. This place is all about the water, with a large boat launch area to the north, and countless spots where a kayak can launch. On one of the blustery days when we explored North Beach, we saw kite surfers doing their thing on the wild water. The winds were over 10 mph and watching those guys fly across the water was almost as impressive as watching them fall. Neither of us could figure out how someone would go about learning this crazy sport.

Wildlife is everywhere, the small variety, especially raccoons. They are so dang cute, and of course they raid the garbage cans and campsites. Signs everywhere proclaim, don’t feed the wildlife!. And the birds! There are birds everywhere, especially shore and water birds. Mo keeps saying…oh another egret? How many photos of egrets and herons can you take? Egrets here seem a bit like robins in the north country in springtime.

We have so enjoyed our time here. With good weather most of the time and several days to enjoy it, we have biked the trail, walked the beaches, kayaked the bayous and taken Abby to the dog beach. I do not remember when we did what at all, everything is running together. I think that is how it is supposed to be when relaxing at a great camp, right?

All the spacious restrooms are an open design with round buildings and open drains around the inside edge. Interesting and functional. At each restroom there is a washer and dryer for a buck each outside on the breezeway. There are also a great number of garbage cans, almost a pair for every few sites, and it seems they are emptied quite often. There is a boat launch, and a small camp store. Getting back to town for any kind of shopping requires a bit of driving and two bridge tolls of less than a dollar each, so it is better to come here with all that is needed for your stay.

What I do remember is early yesterday morning, rising before sunrise to get over to Pass a Grille Beach south of St Pete Beach for my little ceremony for Bel. I had promised her I would take her to the beach, so after almost a year since her passing, I finally was able to keep that promise. Bel was honored with a setting full moon over the gulf as the sun rose in the east over the bay.

Pass a Grille is a tiny treasure, a peninsula less than a mile wide south along the gulf with a long lovely beach. Unlike much of the Florida coastline, here the houses are less than two stories and are on the other side of the road from the beach walk and access to the beach is completely public. Much of the town is on the National Historic Register. No dogs again, but that wasn’t a problem for us on this early morning since we left Abby back at the MoHo to keep Jeremy company.

Afterward, Mo and I decided that a good breakfast was in order and driving north past the gorgeous Don Cesar Hotel toward St Pete Beach, we found a funky little place called the Toasted Monkey. With friendly down home waitresses in shorts, mimosa’s on the breakfast menu, and several menu items with gravy, we had a great breakfast. One shared plate was plenty for the two of us. We even got a touch of TV. I think there were at least a dozen in the restaurant and we could see 4 or so from our table. Maybe it was a sports bar. We did get to see the US hocky team playing Russia and were glad to hear that they won.

We then tried to find somewhere to buy our traditional Sees chocolates, with the official Sees website stating that a kiosk was available in St Petersburg. Suddenly we were in Florida hell, the Florida that all the westerners cite when they say they would never come to Florida because it is too full of people and traffic. It was nasty. I kept thinking about how awful it would be to actually live here.

I found the Sees at Dillards, my favorite department store, but I wasn’t in the least bit of a mood for shopping and got out of there fast…in time to get back on a busy road and try to find our way across a busy town back to our idyllic little island campground. Whew!

More excitement came on Saturday as we waited for the month’s mail to arrive USPS Express. With a guaranteed Saturday delivery, we were a bit anxious when nothing had arrived at the campground by 4 pm. Finally the desk help, and old southern boy, said, “Well, I don’t think anyone went to get the mail today.” Seems as though the mail is delivered in a box on the other side of the bridge and the post office refuses to come out to the island. (Sure wish they had told us that when they insisted we should have our mail sent directly to the campground!)

The help decided they could make the 15 minute run to the Post Office to pick up mail after all, and after another half an hour I returned to the office to find that the expected packet of mail did NOT come with the Saturday delivery. UhOh. There is a lot of stuff in that packet, including a big refund check for our Michelin tires and all our income tax papers. Sheesh. With the holiday I was in a panic thinking we would have to figure out a way to wait around until Tuesday afternoon for the mail to be delivered.

Home to the rig to check the tracking number which said the packet was out for delivery on Saturday at 10 AM. ??? I went back up to the office, where the old southern boy sheepishly held up our packet saying, “I guess someone delivered it this morning and it was on the desk. No one thought to look on the desk”. Ok Then. All is well that ends well and we got our mail. I am glad we only have to do this one more time on this trip and hopefully the mid March mail delivery will be without incident.

I used the crock pot again to make some carnitas beef and as it was cooking, instead of those wonderful smells wafting through the MoHo we kept thinking, “What IS that smell?!” I had purchased a carnitas spicy sauce slow cooking packet at Whole Foods, one of my few luxury purchases. After several hours it was so bad that I had to put the crock pot outside and turn on the fan. I can’t even give the meat to the animals because it is too spicy. I have no idea what the weird flavor in that sauce was, but I hope I never encounter it again.

See, Mark Johnson? All isn’t perfect in the RV world.

Tomorrow the forecast is for even warmer temperatures, clear skies and no wind. That calls for another kayak, another walk on the dog beach, another bike ride and hopefully something tasty for supper. Tonight it will be tasty cheese quesadillas, with lots of jalapenos and no meat.

02-05-2014 Finally Florida…and whatever was I thinking??

Current Location: Destin, Florida 44 degrees F with a low tonight of 34 and a high tomorrow of 43?

I have visited northern Florida during every month of the year except July and August, and nope, it has never been this cold. Or maybe I am not remembering it properly. Looking back at the blog, I see some complaints now and then during my Ocala visits about frosty nights and cold windy days.

We have been incredibly lucky on this journey. During our first month traveling south through Texas, through country that is known for sudden snow storms and cold snaps, we had gorgeous weather. We missed the worst of the cold in Corpus Christi by a week, and then when it turned cold again in the south, we headed out on a Caribbean cruise. Amazing timing!

I should be grateful…I really am…but yup, I am cold tonight. We are settled in at Destin Army Recreation RV Campground, something called MWR….meaning Morale, Welfare, Recreation. Unlike most military family camps, this one isn’t on a base and required no military ID to enter. It was built for the morale, welfare and recreation of military folks in need of respite. Of course, retirees like Mo still benefit. Just today we were talking about what an incredible benefit these camps are for people who have served in the military.

Where else in the very expensive Destin area could you stay for just $19. per night with full hookups, including sewer, and an extensive list of cable tv channels. The laundry costs a measly .75 a load and the showers are clean, again with roomy private dressing rooms and unlimited hot water.

There is a beautiful swimming pool, supposed to be heated, but as of this writing it wasn’t, but it was still quite pretty. The kids splash park looked like it would be fun in warmer weather and the fishing pier extended far enough out into the bay that we actually saw flounder through the clear waters below us.

When we arrived back in New Orleans from our cruise on Sunday morning, the skies were laden and cold, with heavy fog warnings. The fog never lifted all day. Disembarkation was incredibly easy, but the shuttle that we had prepaid managed to do a switcheroo and changed the pickup zone without letting us know. By the time we were picked up an hour late we were not happy. The guy got no tip!

When we picked up the fur kids at the Canine Connection in Uptown New Orleans, they were in great condition, clean and happy and well fed. With a minimum 7 day stay, Abby was given a free bath and Jeremy got his toenails trimmed. They were of course happy to see us, but we could tell they weren’t at all stressed out. Although Jeremy did stick to me for a couple of days like a little fur ball of glue. Once back home to the rig, we found everything in good shape, with our small solar panel keeping the batteries charged up and all the food in the freezer still OK. It was a test…and it worked.

I planned for a full day to regroup in New Orleans before our planned departure. Monday dawned dank and damp and foggy and again, that fog never lifted. New Orleans seems to be a fairly dank place….while we were there everything was damp and wet and moldy. I didn’t develop a great love for the city, or the outlying areas we traveled when we were there. Unlike the magical bayous of other parts of Louisiana we have visited, the sprawling, unplanned messy communities with bone jarring pavement on the Westbank didn’t impress me in the least. I was glad we were leaving and had no desire to explore anything further.

Erin has posted about some wonderful sights in New Orleans, especially the murals, but in that dank fog and after being tired from the cruise, a day of laundry and vacuuming out the car and MoHo were all I wanted to manage. It was good to get everything all freshened and ready to go for the next leg of our trip. We did manage to navigate 12 miles across town to find an Office Depot for some printer ink (that wasn’t in stock), found a WalMart next door (where the ink WAS in stock), and spontaneously stopped at a veterinary clinic where I bought another case of what my vet calls Ensure for old kitties, since it is from veterinarians only and my supply for Jeremy was dwindling.

The three month trip we have planned is basically a three part adventure. Part one is behind us, with the southward journey through West Texas and the Texas Gulf Coast topped off by our Caribbean cruise. Part two will be a month in Florida, something I have dreamed of for years now. Part three will be the unknown route of the trip back west.

We crossed Mississippi and Alabama on I-10, with dark fog and rain discouraging any side trips. I knew from blog reading that there was a lot to see on the Gulf Coast of both of these states, but I was Florida bound and the day was dang ugly. I just wanted us to get from point a to point b. It didn’t help that I had the first real killer headache I have had during our entire trip. I tried to go back to the bed to rest a bit while Mo was driving. (Yeah, I know…no lectures please) The pavement was so rough that I almost got bounced completely out of bed, so that solution lasted all of ten minutes.

Once we arrived in Florida though, things started to feel better. I have no idea why. Just something about the Florida landscape, the clean white sands among the pines, the feel of it. I have no clue. Must be all in my mind I guess, but eventually the headache lifted.

We took a route south from I-10 that went through Navarre and toward the east along 98, avoiding any toll bridges to our location on Okaloosa Island, the location of Destin and the Destin Army MWR where we had a reservation. We knew to expect tight quarters, so the campground wasn’t a surprise. Our spot works for us with room to park the car, open the slide, and still have a tiny bit of privacy from our neighbors, but not much. With the cold temperatures, we are glad for full hookups and our little electric heater. I heard a rumor today that propane fuel is more than doubling in price in some places. We filled our propane tank back in Corpus Christi and shouldn’t need more for a long time as long as we don’t use the furnace.

This morning I woke up, excited to get my boat into Florida waters at last. Watching the weather, we knew that the winds would be rising as the day progressed, but the sun wasn’t going to show up until later in the day. Lucky for us, we decided to go kayaking early, and were in the water at the MWR boat launch by 9am, to partly cloudy skies and a stiff breeze.

I spent quite a bit of time researching the route along the southern side of Chocktawatchee Bay that winds around toward Destin Harbor. It was only about 2.5 miles or so to paddle under the bridge and into the harbor, and we hugged the shore to avoid the worst of the choppy water. As we rounded the point before the bridge, the current through the channel was creating some crazy conditions and I was glad for a stable boat and a buttoned up life jacket.

Once we were under the bridge and into the harbor, however, things calmed down considerably. With the season not yet in full force, we didn’t have to fight too many big boats, but a couple of them passed us in the confines of the harbor and they looked very big from the water level of the kayaks.

We paddled about a mile or so to a small beach where the Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House is located. They have patio dining and allow dogs, with even a special doggie menu, so we thought it might be a nice place for lunch. Problem was, it was only 10:15 and of course, they weren’t open yet. I thought maybe we could paddle the bay for awhile and then go back, but Mo was feeling uncomfortable about the increasing winds and that channel we had to get back through.

Good thing we left when we did. We got through the channel ok, but those big waves were pushing us along from behind and the current was coming downbay toward us. I kept thinking…I am a good swimmer…I have on a life jacket….my camera is locked up in the Pelican case. I even put my glasses in the pelican case before we tackled the point.

Once around the point, though, things got even worse, with a strong north wind coming directly toward us and making some pretty dramatic whitecaps on the bay. Mo was ahead of me and she saw a small marina and headed in, hollering something at me that I couldn’t hear. Yup…I was ready to go in as well. We landed on the tiny little beach and managed to get out of the boats without getting rammed too badly against the rocks.

Finally got the boats up on the dock and hauled ourselves out of the cold water and onto land. The marina was closed with only one lone rather grumpy man around who didn’t seem to think much of two tourist ladies emerging from the water at his boat marina. He was a bit of a jerk actually.

Mo stayed with Abby as I volunteered to walk back to the camp to get the car. Lucky me, it was only a mile and a half and by then the sun came out in full glory, and away from the water there was barely a breath of air moving. The walk was actually quite nice, and would have been better if I hadn’t been next to barefoot in my thin water shoes. I got to see all the houses we had viewed from the water from the roadside. The luxury of those waterfront houses can be seen fully from the water, but isn’t at all evident as you peer down the long driveways from the road.

It all turned out just fine, and we loaded up the boats and drove back home to the rig, happy to be warm and dry and in one piece.

The rest of the afternoon was pleasant, with a short drive to the town part of Destin to find PetSmart for some good dog food and a visit to the Destin dog park, well reviewed by people who have been in this area. I couldn’t believe the shopping in Destin. The main shops along the highway are just a tiny front for hidden corridors of outdoor malls that go on forever.

We saw a huge Bass Pro Shop and decided to check it out, without realizing we had parked in an area called Destin Commons. Almost like a city within a city, it is possibly one of the best shopping venues I have ever seen! Good thing I wasn’t in a mood for shopping. I simply wanted to get back home and out of the cold wind and make a toasty quesadilla for supper.

As I was walking along this afternoon, while Mo waited cold and wet at the marina, I thought, what an introduction to Florida kayaking. The Florida part of this trip is mostly my idea, my little dream, and Mo keeps saying she hopes I get it out of my system. I am pretty sure she would rather stay out west, or travel up to the New England states we have yet to visit in the MoHo and maybe continue into the Maritime Provinces. Hopefully the weather here in Florida will warm up a bit and the kayaking won’t be so dang difficult!

01-31-2014 Day 6 Costa Maya

Currently we are camped at NAS/JRB, Belle Chasse, LA Temperature: 47 F, and foggy

This is sixth in a series of posts about our NCL cruise on the Norwegian Jewel to the Western Mediterranean. Read about our first day at sea here, about an evening onboard here, Cozumel here, Belize here, and Roatan here. Also, keep in mind that the link to the left for my photos on google will take you to many more images of our cruise and the ports we visited

It’s always nice when a ship docks at a pier and no tenders are required to go on shore. The pier at Costa Maya is big and new, much like the cruiser’s village built in 2007 after Hurricane Dean decimated both the cruise port village built in 2001, and the older bucolic fishing village of Mahahual.

We had no expectations for the last port on this cruise. Reading in advance, I knew there were a few ruins to explore on excursions, that there was the Disneyesque cruise village, geared to bars and shopping, dolphin encounters, and swimming pools. I did know the town was a short taxi ride away, but wasn’t at all sure the town was worth seeking out.

However, once we walked the very long pier to the village, I was dismayed to discover that the entire village was walled off on either side by private land, and the beach was non-existent. For the second time on the cruise, I felt incredibly claustrophobic, and very frustrated that I seemed to be trapped in a bright, fake world of color and people. Ack! Mo was rolling her eyes at me as I struggled with my frustration, desperately seeking a way out.

If I had read just a little more, I would have realized that there was a rear exit from the ‘village’ that didn’t require an excursion or golf cart rental. We simply walked outside and found the old road leading south to Mahahual. The extensive damage from Hurricane Dean was clearly evident as we walked. Old electric boxes marked what once must have been small homes, but other than the paved road and stone street signs populated by iguanas, there was no sign of habitation.

I did know that the town was only a mile and a half from the pier, so we walked in the general direction and within half an hour turned toward the lighthouse and the beach. The skies were clearing from the morning overcast and the temperatures were quite warm. As the day wore on, the water turned brighter and brighter shades of turquoise. A cold local beer from the Blue Bay Beach Club and a couple of beach chairs gave us a chance to enjoy the view of the distant ship and watch people snorkeling. Of course, we hadn’t lugged our gear, unsure when we left the ship if there was any possibility of a snorkel beach nearby.

I had heard that, like most beaches in Mexico, there were entirely too many locals hawing wares on the beach. Instead, we had only one woman approach us the entire time we were there, and after a couple of no’s, she left us in peace. We walked the beach a bit, I went in the warm, clear water, and the kayaks sure did look tempting.

Mo liked the look of those kayaks as well, thinking we would get the best price for a tandem. Instead, the Blue Bay kiosk only had singles, but a delightful young woman gave us two individual kayaks for 5 bucks for an hour instead of the posted $5. per half hour, or $10 for two hours. So we walked for free, kayaked an hour for ten bucks, and spent 4 bucks having a good beer and comfy chairs under a nice palapa. I would say that was a good price and beat just about any excursion we might have found.

It seems that snorkeling trips on a cruise are something that should only be purchased on site and on the day you want to snorkel. Weather is completely unpredictable, as are water conditions. Purchasing a snorkeling trip in advance could have been a real bummer. However, finding good snorkeling beaches is also a bit of a crap shoot. We hauled our snorkeling gear all the way from Oregon for this cruise. I have hopes that we will get to use the gear in Florida, even though the weather didn’t cooperate much on the cruise.

After a few delightful hours at the beach, we walked back to the ship, managing to get in a three mile walk and an hour kayak for our day’s exercise. I think we got an additional mile just walking the length of the pier back and forth from the ship as well.

Deciding on an early afternoon lunch/dinner, we headed for the Garden Café buffet for some fresh salad and a table on the aft patio deck where I tried to get photos of the distant town and lighthouse that marked our kayak location. The weather was perfect for dining outside.

After lunch we walked up to the sports deck and watched part of a rousing game of basketball played by opposing crew teams, and then found an available ping pong table for a funny game of ping pong with wind, crooked table tops, and moving seas to add to our fun.

With our late lunch, we had no need to have dinner and instead relaxed in the stateroom until time for the last big show of the cruise, “Cirque de Bijou”. Something else we noticed on the Jewel was the available seating in the theater for the shows, both early and late. In the past, especially on Princess, it can sometimes be difficult to get into your chosen time for the evening show. Not a problem here, although last night we did choose to go a bit early for a good seat and ended up down in the lower area toward the front of the theater.

It was a great choice. I can say, unequivocally, that the show last night was the best we have ever seen on any cruise ship, ever, on any cruise line. Cirque d Bijou was a Las Vegas quality cirque show with breathtaking performances by all the regular artists from the evening shows. If I had been a bit less than thrilled by their singing, I was completely taken by their ability to both sing and hang from the sky on cloth draperies as they spun and flew around the auditorium. And for some reason, the singing was fabulous as well.

Just breathtaking!! As usual in the theater, no photos are allowed, however at the end of the main show, the crew put on a tribute show that I could have photographed if I had lugged the camera along. Jaime, the cruise director, introduced at least 200 members of the crew who marched down the aisles and to the stage, from room stewards to Executive Chef, to the Captain. The crowd, all hyped up from the standing ovation for the Cirque show thundered their applause.

Service on the Jewel is interesting. Individual crew members are attentive and cheerful, however the service isn’t exactly “in your face” perfect. We are not constantly plied with invitations to purchase alcohol, and used plates are not picked up the minute you finish eating. Our steward is adequate, keeping our cabin reasonably well kept, and creating great little animals for us every night, something that has gone by the wayside on Princess.

However, we didn’t get our ice bucket constantly filled, and the mirrors often were streaked after the room was freshened. There are so few things we disliked about this cruise, it seems only fair to mention the few that were not what I might consider “cruise quality”. A detail we especially liked was the tabletop baskets filled with napkin wrapped flatware. We never had to hunt for flatware and if needed could use two napkins.

I have been trying to come up with a way to describe the ship décor, and this morning it hit me. Without any glitz and sparkle, no fancy shined brass, interesting art, flowers in the bathrooms, crystal chandeliers…the ship seems a bit like funky Key West conch house. Lots of bright wood, bright Key West colors, and not much that seems to be “cruise fancy”. It is more like a good working class vacation resort, with everything you need in a pleasant environment.

Unlike my expectations for a possibly mediocre experience, I wouldn’t hesitate to cruise Norwegian again if the price, departure port, and destinations fit where I wanted to go.

Tomorrow is the last day of this cruise, with a full day at sea. Rumor has it that the unseasonably cold weather in the south has moderated a bit and the forecast is for a cloudy day in the low 70’s in New Orleans on Sunday. Tomorrow at sea we can expect mostly sunny skies with temps in the mid 70’s. Lucky lucky US!!

1-17 and 1-19 2014 Padre Island National Seashore and kayaks in the water

We only gave ourselves a single day to explore Padre Island National Seashore. I am sure folks who love this place dearly are appalled that we didn’t take the time to settle in to the rhythm of the waves, and to really enjoy the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world.

Padre Island is truly a national treasure, one I had heard very little of until recently when I found bloggers talking about their time volunteering on the island. North Padre Island is a bit different. Technically it is a neighborhood of Corpus Christi, with many upscale seasonal homes on the intracoastal waterway, surf shops, and all that go with that beach resort kind of atmosphere.

Unlike what I read about South Padre Island, North Padre Island seems to be a bit more laid back, not quite so crowded, maybe not quite as popular with the spring break crowd. Very few high rises were to be seen. Just a few miles south, however, is the entrance to the national seashore. The entrance is still a few miles from the visitor center at Malaquite Beach, and the broad expanse of the barrier island seems a bit featureless until time is taken to look at it a bit more closely. Camping is allowed both in two main campgrounds that are accessible by road, and along the entire 65 mile length of the shore with a park permit. There is an additional campground at Yarborough Pass at milepost 15 ( through the dunes) that is on Laguna Madre, inland from the beach, and is accessible by 4 wheel drive or by boat.

We decided to drive to Bird Island and discovered one of the campgrounds, with several rigs settled in along the silty beach bordering Laguna Madre. It was here that I first saw this very weird bird that I later discovered was the national bird of Mexico, a crested caracara. There were white pelicans settling in on an exposed bar in the lagoon, and the wind was blowing hard. Perfect for windsailing, which seems to be a popular pastime at this site.

Continuing down the road toward the visitor center, we found a short interpretive trail with a nice path that led through the grasslands. The ecology of a barrier island is complex: simplified it consists of the beach, the dunes, the grasslands, the wetlands, and the lagoon separating the island from the mainland. The grasslands are full of all sorts of plants and wildlife, and we saw the lovely vermillion butterfly.The weather was cool and windy for our walk, and the sun was brilliant.

Dog friendly beaches and trails were another great surprise about the seashore. We were happy to have Abby with us all day on the trails and on the beach, although even with pavement, there were many stickers on the trail that Mo had to pull from Abby’s paws. Again, the national seashore is almost 70 miles of coastal frontage with no roads providing access. The only access is in your vehicle, right on the beach.

The first 5 miles don’t require a 4 wheel drive, but it is recommended after that distance, due to drifting dunes that build up along the route. The warning sign at the 5 mile marker regarding illegal activity and smugglers was a bit sobering.

We drove about 10 miles, most of the time we were the only ones on the beach, and it was very windy and cool enough that we were grateful for the protection of the car. This landscape is a place where immersion would take commitment. It would be wonderful to take the MoHo as far as we could manage and just sit there and watch the water and the view change with the shifting light. Instead, it was an exploratory trip and we decided that we will definitely return to explore it in depth.

Shoreline trash is a big enough subject that it is directly addressed in the park brochure. Seems as though most of the trash is blown in from the Gulf and there are both public and private programs to try to clean it up. It would be a never ending project. An entire day could be devoted to picking up all sorts of flotsam and jetsam that must be dumped from ships or who knows where. It was a shocking, actually. More trash than I have ever seen on a beach anywhere. In an nearly pristine wilderness. Trash bags are provided at the access roads to help with the garbage pickup. Made me really sad, and yet overwhelmed enough that I didn’t fill a garbage bag and try to take it back. Sorry Erin. I did manage to pick up a lot of trash at the NAS beach.

Unlike the complex, ever changing coastline of the Pacific, this gulf shore feels infinite…going on and on what seems like forever, with very little change. The subtle differences would have to be experienced at a slower pace. As nesting grounds for the endangered Kemp’s-ridley turtles, there would be nests to watch for as early as April, but with the chill winds, we saw no sign of turtles.

The story of the Kemp’s-ridley turtle is fascinating. Nearly extinct, they were losing their nesting sites to development, so biologists put Padre Island sand in their incubators to help them imprint, released them after tagging them from the shore, and recently tagged turtles have been returning and nesting in what was not an original nesting site for them. Although five different species of sea turtles nest on the island, we saw no nests and no turtles. Still too early in the season, I am sure.

In spite of the chill wind, seeing that expansive shoreline was fascinating, especially for me as a westerner with a Pacific ocean mindset. I loved it. Loved that I could just walk and walk and walk if I had the opportunity. I would imagine we will return to this place again and continue our explorations.

We waited for several days for the winds to lessen enough to launch our kayaks, and on our last day in Corpus Christi were rewarded with a calm not so chilly morning. There was a bit of fog to accompany us as we drove once again across the bay toward Mustang Island and turned north toward Aransas Pass.

We read about the Mustang Island Paddling Trail, where there are several launch sites, and official markers for the trail. Being inexperienced in this area, it seemed like a good idea to try a marked route.

The trails are on the bay side of Mustang Island, in brackish water that has a very silty, muddy bottom, dotted with islands and inlets. If you have ever tried to navigate in a completely flat landscape filled with water, you can imagine how challenging it was to figure out where we were. I didn’t have the official GPS with me, just a good printed map of the trails, and the google earth imagery.

Sure am glad I also had the phone GPS. In spite of my reasonably good navigation skills, I had no clue where we were on the map without turning on the phone and trying to figure out where that blue dot was! It was fun, not too windy, and there were enough birds around to keep things interesting. I was quite delighted to finally find the route marker number 11, and then number 10. We had completely missed the rest of them.

It isn’t a difficult place to keep track of where you need to go, it just is a bit tricky avoiding lagoons that might dead end into mud without an outlet. We probably paddled a short five miles or so, in water that wasn’t the least bit exciting and very very shallow in many places. Still, it was good to get out in the kayaks for a morning at least and experience a bit of Texas water.

As mentioned in the previous post, we topped off our morning kayak with our fabulous afternoon with Erin and Mui. It was a great way to spend our last day in this area that was brand new to us until now. I especially enjoyed trying to photograph all the birds. As they say, the best equipment in the world still needs the photographer. In spite of Deanna’s great lens, I have a long way to go before I get those shots of their eyes in perfect focus. I’ll keep trying.

Next: Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and a visit with Judy

September 10 to 12 Baker City to Wallowa Lake State Park

Currently in Rocky Point, Oregon, partly cloudy at 55 degrees F, predicted high of 64F

Don’t forget to click on the photos if you want a bigger version

Sometimes when we are traveling, our tendency is to go fairly long distances between locations. This time, however, we took our own sweet time getting from place to place, and then settled in to really enjoy the countryside. After the morning in Baker City, we thought it might be fun to wander off on some back roads instead of sticking to the Interstate. We could see the curvy road ambling northeast rising on the southern foothills of the Wallowa Mountains.

How bad could it be anyway?! Sure, the road was narrow, there were curves, but no real spooky drop-offs like the ones back in John Day Country, and we were rewarded with beautiful vistas of the Wallowas and the Eagle Cap Wilderness shining in the late summer sunlight.

It is amazing to me how many tiny little towns are scattered across this part of Oregon. Of course I knew of Baker City, La Grande, Pendleton, Joseph, and Enterprise. I do actually live in this state. But I had never heard of Cove, or Union, or Medical Springs, and as we continued our travels for the rest of the trip, many little towns appeared that were just blips on the map, and a blink of the eye.

People lived in these little towns, there were city halls, and fire departments, police stations, antique stores advertising “used antiques”. Hmmm. There were old barns, and beautiful ranches, and miles and miles of open space. It was lovely to wander through the countryside and imagine what it must be like to be born and raised in places like these, or to live there now. Did these people grow up here or did they somehow choose to come to a tiny town in the far reaches of Northeastern Oregon. Lots of fodder for the imagination as I rode along, for sure.

As you can see from the map, there is really no way to get to Joseph without skirting the amazing Wallowa Mountains. Home to the Eagle Cap Wilderness, these mountains are sometimes called the “Little Alps of Oregon” with good reason. Formed dominantly from granite from the Wallowa Batholith, the peaks are glaciated and dotted more than 50 apline glacial lakes. They reminded me a bit of the Sierras, only a bit more open like the Big Horns. The Wallowas are one of the premier backpacking destinations in Oregon, not nearly so well known as the Cascades with their volcanoes, but much more enticing to me.

The meandering route gave us just a taste of what was to come in the far corner of our home state. Somehow I was reminded a lot more of the Idaho I lived in for more than 30 years than the Oregon that is now my home. Everything felt so familiar, the forests even smelled different, familiar somehow. I recognized the plants, the geology, all of it was like coming home somehow.

Just like a lot of other folks, I thought, “I could easily live in this place”. The winters are long, the population of Wallowa County is a mere 7,500 or so, and shopping is far away in La Grande or Pendleton. But the towns are lovely, well cared for, the vistas are magnificent, the land open and spacious. Beautiful.

When we arrived at the Wallowa lake State Park in early afternoon, we were a day early for our reservation, but in spite of the crowded park, there was a site open for us until our space was ready the next day. We originally planned to stay longer in Baker City, but continuing to the lake and taking our chances for a spot was a good plan. When we first planned this trip, I didn’t think we would need reservations, but checking the State Park website was a good hunch, since we just barely snagged a spot for the four nights we wanted to stay.

Wallowa Lake is home to one of the best examples of glacial topography in the West, and images of the huge lateral moraines are used often in textbooks on geology and geomorphology. The lake is deep and blue and incredibly clear. Often the mountains still have a bit of snow in late summer, but none was left this year, a low snow year for the entire area. The lake was really quite low as well, surprising since it is a natural lake and not a reservoir, but I guess drought is drought, and lake levels will go down.

After settling into our one night spot, we took the Tracker for a visit to the Forest Service Information Center on the edge of the little town of Joseph. The woman at the desk was incredibly helpful, and there were a ton of brochures about the area. She suggested we try the Lostine Creek Scenic Route, maybe hike up Hurricane Creek, or go check out the Zumwalt Prairie to look for wildlife. All good ideas, but we settled on Lostine Creek, a deep glacially cut valley that climbed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

We hoped for some close-up views of the mountains, but the creek is so deep in the canyon that it is hard to see much without actually doing some of the 12 mile hikes into the back country that boast elevation rises of 3 to 5 thousand feet. Maybe not today. Let’s go back to the campground and check out the local nature trail and let Abby swim in the lake.

It was good to be settled in and to know that we had at least one day of doing not much of anything. Mo had surprised me with the idea of a special birthday treat, and in a couple of days we were going to drive the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway to Hells Canyon Dam and a big adventure on the Snake River in the wild and scenic part of Hells Canyon.

After a great sleep, we took our time enjoying the campground, went to town to do some laundry and actually check in on the internet for a bit, and were back in camp in time to move to our more permanent site for the next few days. This is a very popular park, even in late September, and on this Wednesday morning as we tucked into a rather short space, I was again really glad I had made reservations the previous month before everything was completely gone.

As I picked up the new tag for the new site number, I overheard a very sad RV driver complaining to the park ranger in the kiosk, “I NEVER make reservations this time of year! What do you mean there is NOTHING?!” Blue lake, big mountains, cute town….a very popular place.

Finally in late afternoon we wet out on the lake in the kayaks to enjoy that gorgeous clear water. The mountains are so high that the sun disappears fairly quickly on the tucked away part of the lake, but it was still beautiful. There are lakeside homes all along the western shore, most of them very big and spendy looking, and only a few of them with folks hanging around on the decks and porches. Even so, the lake was reasonably quiet, and the kayak time was nice.

We never did see a lot of birds around. I suppose the shoreline is too rocky, the lake is too low, and the water too clear for bird food in any quantity. As lovely as the lake was, and even with that gorgeous clear water, I think I would rather meander around in an estuary somewhere that has a bit more complexity. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful kayak and it felt great to finally get our boats out on the water. We originally planned to try doing some kayaking on the John Day River, but the drought wasn’t about to let that happen. I hate it when we haul the boats for miles and miles and never get them on the water!

Mo had packed up a good amount of wood for the trip, so we had another huge campfire after supper and enjoyed all the activity of a very busy campground with kids on bikes, lots of dogs (well behave and leashed) and giving Jeremy a chance to play around outside unhindered. We even put up the chili pepper lights on the MoHo awning, something we haven’t done in a very long time. There are some more photos of the state park linked here