Hello, Port A, Good-bye!

So, a few weeks before leaving for Florida, I had gotten an email from Texas Monthly magazine outlining activities in the state for the month of February. We have lived in TX now for 19 1/2 years and haven't been to see the whooping cranes as they pass through the Port Aransas area. The festival celebrating the migration was the last weekend in February. We registered and signed up for the 4 1/2 hour boat ride on Saturday morning at 730 to search out the cranes.

We decided to drive down on Friday and spend the night so as to be refreshed for the boat excursion. About 40 minutes from Port Aransas, Sneed had me complete the drive. He wasn't feeling too well. After going over to the island on the ferry, a short at the most 2-3 minute ride, we picked up our registration packets and went to the hotel. Unloaded our stuff and decided to check out the island. We were really excited about having a good seafood dinner and found a place we thought we'd go back to later. Then we drove to the pier from which the boat was leaving to see how long it would take to get there from the hotel. Here is a sampling of some of the gorgeous sailing vessels.



Next I decided to drive on the beach. I love just moseying along looking at the birds and the tide coming in. There was one fellow in a wetsuit who had evidently just finished surfing as he was coming on to the beach. Stopped the car, to take these photos. Unfortunately, no pristine shells were around. That's the only kind I pick up so that was a fruitless effort. Maybe it's just me but I think the gulls in the first photo look like a group of penguins.



Love the 'long, tall, Texan' look in the sand, the waves crashing on the shore, and the footprints in the sand.



The colorful seahorses were a decoration outside a 'junk' souvenir shop. When we went back to the Port Aransas Seafood Company for dinner , there were no cars in the parking lot but there were lots when we had passed by earlier. That's when we realized it was just a seafood market, not a restaurant. So, we went down the road a piece and saw The Castaways. The parking lot was full, the restaurant was full. It was a real dive inside but the prices were for a classier place. Needless to say, after sharing a meal, having cold veggies and rice with half-way decent grilled shrimp, grazing a lousy salad bar, and because the water was bad in the area, terrible tasting iced tea, we departed as soon as possible. Besides, Sneed was not feeling any better.



Saturday morning when I woke at 6, I mentioned to Sneed I didn't think he should be going on the boat ride. He agreed and went back to sleep. We stopped on our way out to see if we could get a refund since he was ill. The lady said, "We can put you on something later this afternoon." I told her she didn't understand....we needed to get home. Crossing on the ferry I saw 2 pelicans playing 'sitting duck' in the water. Got home before the boat would have been docking and Sneed went to bed. He's better now after a visit to the dr who diagnosed 'the flu' and gave him an Rx of Tamiflu. The first dose made him 100% better. Good stuff!