We spoke with one of the rangers at Santa Ana NWR Monday morning and told him we were looking for the Texas Indigo Snakes and Ocelots. He pretty much told us that the chances of seeing the snake was pretty good, but not the ocelot.
We hiked the Butterfly Trail and the Chachalaca Trail, enjoying the scenery and the critters before stopping for our snack.
We took a walk on Wildlife Drive which is only accessible by bicycle or walking. As Lauren was taking a picture of something, I saw the snake. I let Lauren know it was there after I took one big step to the middle of the road and using my excited, whispering voice. He walked over and thought he was looking at a pipe. Notta, it was the Texas Indigo Snake. We were both shocked at how big it was.
We gave it some room so it could cross the road. As it was crossing the road, a couple of hikers told us that this snake eats Rattlesnakes. Nice!
The Bobcat Road was not as exciting. The only thing that we saw was plenty of bobcat pop.
We went to Cattail Lake, and was disappointed that the lake had dried up.
We meandered along the Willow Lake Trail enjoying many critters along the way.
After hiking 5 miles today, we sat outside at camp and watched one of the resident Golden-fronted Woodpeckers with his snack.
We made another trip to Laguna Atascosa NWR on Tuesday. We made a quick stop at the visitors center then went to Osprey Overlook for our lunch.
After lunch we took a hike on Granjeno Trail. We weren't sure what was there or how far it went. We have a better idea after getting in 7 miles of hiking.
This trail was originally part of the driving tour, which has been closed for a while. The only way to access it, is by bike or foot. We have no bikes, so on foot we went.
On our hike, we kept looking at Google Earth which kept showing water near the road. It was obviously a mirage. It was all dried up.
About 3 1/2 miles later, we almost turned around. After all, we have got to walk back how ever far we walk in. We decided to go just a little bit further. About a 10th of a mile later, we saw the sign for Plover Point Observation Deck. We were so glad we gave it a little more.
We relaxed at the overlook on the nice benches, taking in the low tide and all the shorebirds. We saw the Great Blues eating these big fish.
As we were watching birds, we heard a big boom and felt the ground shake. We wondered if maybe it was the rocket launch at Boca Chito Beach, and sure nuff, it was. We watched the rocket go up, and come back down. It was awesome.
When it came down, there was a big fireball and another big boom, which made us wonder if it might have exploded like the last time. It is no more a wonder, we later found out it exploded when it returned to land.
We headed back to the truck, all high stepping, with the happiness of seeing the rocket launch, and thought, it can't get any better than this. About half way back, we watched a Bobcat about 30 yards from us. He came out of the woods, watched us, sat down, and licked his lips, then snuck back in the woods. He wasn't too worried about us, giving us plenty of time to get plenty of pictures of this gorgeous cat.
I hoped for a bicyclist to come by to scare off the cat. That didn't happen. So, we walked within a few feet of him hiding in the brush. It was quite invigorating.
We got back to camp in time for a pretty sunset.
We thought since the rocket launched yesterday, Boca Chica Beach would be open on Wednesday. Wrong. We almost made it to the launch pad, before we had to turn around. At least we got a picture of the lonely rocket that is left.
We took a ride on South Padre Island Beach. We went through the deep sand and drove to our picnic spot. I thought we were going to get stuck at one point, but we made it through. We sat around a while, enjoying the views and watching people being pulled out of the sand. We rode back along the beach and found another way out.
On our way home, we stopped by the Convention Center and walked the Laguna Madre Nature Trail. We saw plenty of ducks, other waterfowl, and some beautiful Rosette Spoonbills.
Thursday, we spent the day with June and Dave. We hiked 4 miles at Laguna Atascosa on this warm, windy, day. The birds were not as active in the wind, but the alligators seemed to love it, as they were basking in the sun.
We rode to South Padre Island and had a nice sunset dinner at Tequila Sunset Bar & Grill. The food was good, the one man band was good, and the company was even better.
We took a look at the Holiday Sandcastle Village on our way to the truck. These sandcastles are not your run of the mill sandcastles.
Friday, was another great day with the Shular's. We met at Santa Ana NWR and hiked about 4 miles, watching all kinds of birds and such. Afterwards, we went back to our camp and grilled some steaks. It was another nice day of visiting with our friends.
We were almost lazy on Saturday. I gave our camper a much needed tidying up, then we did the laundry. We finally checked out the Fellowship Hall. Too bad, this covid, has us isolating ourselves. This place could be a lot more fun!
It has been about a year and a half since we took Amber on a spin. Sunday, was the perfect day to go tooling around town. We went to one of our favorite places, Hugh Ramsey Nature Park. We saw plenty of critters and such, including the Javelinas. There were about 12 of them gathered at one of the bird feeders. They were being piggy and grouchy with each other.
We went to the city lake and sat on the bench and bird watched. We were thoroughly entertained by the birds that were bathing.
We had a fantastic day for a ride under sunny skies with the temps in the mid 70's.
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