Day 11

This was a pretty laid back morning for us. Drizzle continued for most of it, and the temperature stayed in the high 50s. We walked back to the park entrance and paid for our site then went on to a spot where they thought we might see Whooping Cranes. We didn’t see them there but we saw a small herd of deer, which seemed pretty undisturbed by our presence, and a pair of Great Egrets. After getting things done around the camper and eating yesterday’s leftovers for lunch, we drove down to Rockport to look around. We found the Public Library and spent some time updating the blog and checking email. We drove slowly north along the shore and then took off for Aransas Wildlife Refuge. We arrived about half an hour before the Visitor’s Center closed at 4:30. Then we took the 16 mile loop to see the wildlife. The sun came out in time for some nice sunset color. We walked on a few of the short trails they have and read all the interpretive signs. One trail wound through Live Oaks (including one estimated to be 500 years old), then along a boardwalk through a salt marsh and ended with a raised platform/lookout. Along the driving loop we saw a raccoon, two wild pigs, a feral pig, several Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, Great Egrets and snowy Egrets and innumerable deer. But best of all we saw either two pairs of Whooping Cranes, or the same pair twice. These endangered and awesome birds winter in the Refuge and then return to Canada for summer breeding. We considered ourselves very lucky to have seen them since there are less than 300 in the area. Back at camp we had a late supper of chili and did the dishes, as totally unpredicted, heavy rain began to fall. Will it ever stop raining?!?!

Day 10

The wind increased overnight and at some point the rain began. So we considered ourselves lucky that we woke up and had a window of time with no rain in which to take down the camper. We pulled away from Lake View Resort before 9:30, never having had a chance to try out either the indoor or outdoor hot tubs. L We drove in a light rain part of the time as we sought out the George Ranch Historical Park. This working ranch of over 20,000 acres was left by the Georges, the fourth generation to live on and work the ranch begun as a land grant from Steven Austin. The Georges had no heirs and so the entire operation is now run by a Foundation in their memory. We found large, empty parking lots, somewhat like what we found at the Space Center. Although the temperature was in the mid-fifties the strong winds made it feel much colder. We probably wouldn’t have known about nor bothered with the Ranch, but it was one more item on our Houston Day Pass, so we decided to make the best of it. Our visit began with a private roping lesson given by a laconic cowboy who fit the stereotype in every way. But he did manage to teach us both well enough that we could twirl the lariat over our head and then drop it around the horns of the straw bale “calf”. He brought out a couple of horses to show us and then we went through the tack room and the leather working room in the barn. By then 4 other people had shown up (they got a roping demonstration, but not a roping lesson) so the 6 of us were given a tour of the “1930” house, which was built by the fourth generation on the same site as the first two houses were built. It is a Prairie Style Ranch house and was the last home of Mamie George, the final owner of the ranch. From there we walked out to the (rebuilt) log house which was built by the Jones family, who were the original settlers. They raised 11 children in the small two room cabin with a second story for the in-laws and the kids to sleep. When it burned they built a much bigger Federal-style home on the same site, but Mrs. Jones died before it was finished. Polly, one of the daughters, and her husband ended up living in the bigger home as she bought out as many siblings as she could and expanded the ranch. She was smart enough to have a pre-nuptial agreement drawn up so that, when Texas became part of the U.S. her vast holdings weren’t given over to her husband, who was happy to just run the farming operation on the ranch. We were shown through the replica of that “1860” house by a young man dressed as the master of the house. Polly’s daughter, Susan, married a banker and they built a beautiful Victorian mansion “in town”, where they had two children. Susan died of tuberculosis when the children were just 5 and 7. Susan picked out her cousin Belle to be her husband’s second wife and step-mother to her children. An older man looking very much the part of the southern gentleman showed us through the “1895” house, which was moved onto the ranch in 1971. It is just gorgeous, but like all but the “1930” house, had no indoor plumbing. It really was a fascinating look at a family who passed down the huge ranch through four generations and always with a daughter becoming the heir and expanding the ranch. We climbed back in the truck and headed towards Corpus Christi, hoping to warm up soon. As we passed through a small town we found a Mexican taqueria and had the special of the day, a large chicken fajita platter. It was good and a lot of food. There are no freeways to get to Corpus Christi from Houston so we continued the whole way on mostly two lane highways that occasionally were divided for a short way. The countryside was totally flat and had vast fields that we guessed were cotton at other times in the year. There were live oaks hung with Spanish moss, which made us feel like we were getting somewhere as the rains continued off and on and the temperature reached 60°. It was nearly 5:30 when we arrived at Goose Island State Park, which is on a protected bay of the Gulf of Mexico north of Corpus Christi and at the bottom of the Anasas Wildlife Refuge. The friendly and talkative host for the campground came by while we were setting up and told us the mosquitoes are fierce when it warms up a bit and the birding is what draws visitors. We had to set-up in a slight drizzle and dodge the many puddles under the big live oaks. There is no phone service and no hope for Wi-Fi connection here, but it looks like it will be an interesting place to spend a few days.