Palo Duro Canyon State Park

 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

We had a short trip in May to visit some friends who moved a couple of years ago.  On the way to their place, we stopped overnight at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, just outside of Amarillo, Texas.  A friend recommended this as a stop, and what a pleasant surprise it was!

As we drove down the entrance road to the park, I was a tad confused, as I didn’t see any sort of canyon.  In fact, the ground looked quilt flat.  However, once we got inside the park, we started down the curvy road that would lead to the campground at the bottom of the canyon.  These views are of the canyon from the top of it.

The views on the drive down to our campground were quite spectacular.  I really love what I think of as the “Christmas colors” of the landscape – the red clay earth and the green trees growing.

As we neared the bottom of the canyon, we came around a curve and saw our campground.  You can see the road as it makes its way to the campground, and the light colored “dots” which are other campers!

Once we set up camp, we decided to take a quick drive around before returning to our camp for the evening.   There’s a lovely loop drive through the park.  There are a number of trails throughout the park, and here are some photos of the Paseo del Rio Trail, and the river is the Red River.  As you can see, it’s appropriately named.  I’m guessing the red color of the water is due to the red clay ground that it cuts through.

Another trail leads to Lighthouse Rock.  I managed to get this image from the trailhead.  The trail is 6 miles long, so there was no thought to even attempt it.  They warn folks to bring about a gallon of water per person or dog if you plan to hike this trail.  The floor of the canyon is a lot warmer than the canyon rim.

Here was another trail that led to a cave – appropriately called Cave Trail!  As you can see from the photo on the right, people do climb up and in the cave.  We didn’t get a chance to chat with anyone who had been in the cave, to find out the depth of the cave.

And, finally, here’s a view of our campsite, with Max in the Jeep, ready and willing for any adventure that comes up!!  I thought the views from the campsite were wonderful!!

Enjoy!

Max on the Beach

 

Max on the Beach

Most days that we were on Galveston Island, at least part of the day was spent letting Max run and have fun on the beach.  And, just watching him made me smile, sometimes laugh, and truly gave me a sense of joy.  So, I’m not sure who really got the most from these visits!!

Sometimes I felt like Max thought he was just racing all the Jeeps and other cars we saw on the beach….and of course, he won all the races!!

And, when he wasn’t racing cars, he loves to play with his dad, Jeff!  I guess you could say this is Max tag, as he swerves away just in time to have Jeff miss tagging him with his cap!

For a pup who was truly fearful of the waves and water the last time he came in contact with a large body of water, he certainly has left that fear behind!!  He loved to run and splash among the waves, altho we did need to watch and make sure he didn’t decide to pick up a new toy – a fish head!!

Max also loved exploring the dunes at the beach.  He was always careful to stay on the path, which rather surprised me since he’s such a boy at most other times!!  I guess he loved playing his version of King of the Hill!

At times, when Max would race around on the beach, I’d be concerned that he would accidentally put his foot into a hole someone had dug for whatever reason.  But as he showed me – nothing to fear!!

And Max believes in fair play – meaning, since he played with Jeff, it’s only fair that he plays with me.  The only problem is that I’m holding a camera and sometimes he has cut it way to close in the past and knocked me down.  So, when this 85-pound Shepherd came barreling toward me, it was a true test of faith to just stand there and capture his photo!  I’m not sure faith in what, but it all worked out!!

Shortly after we got Max (or, rather, he adopted us!), I commented to Jeff that Max was a true happy soul.  This was confirmed the other week, when a friend said to his wife that Max was the happiest dog he thought he’d ever seen.  You can really see just how much he loves his life and how happy he is doing the simplest things, like running on a beach!!  If you look close at the top image, it looks as if he’s smiling!  That’s our boy!!

Enjoy!

Historic District and Painted Ladies

 

Historic District and Painted Ladies

In the historic district of Galveston, there are many mansions and other interesting buildings of historic interest.  Not far from the historic district, there are Victorian Homes there – Painted Ladies.  We walked the historic district and then got in our Jeep to find the painted ladies!!

The most impressive of the mansions has to be the Moody Mansion.  It was built in 1895 by W.L. Moody, Jr. who was one of the wealthiest Americans during the first half of the 1900s.  His daughter, Mary Moody Northern grew up in the house and lived there for 3 decades after her father and husband both died in 1954.  She established the Mary Moody Northern Endowment, which restored, owns and operates the Moody Mansion.  There are tours of the mansion, but we didn’t do it on the day we were there.

This metal work was just above the entryway for carriages to arrive on the days there were formal dinners and celebrations at Moody Mansion.  If you look on the far-right side of the first image, you’ll see the driveway and the scroll work above the entryway.

This grand home/mansion was just a couple of blocks down from the Moody Mansion.  It’s called Open Gates and is also known as the Sealy Mansion.  It was designed for George Sealy, Sr., by New York architect Stanford White in 1889.  It was donated to the University of Texas medical Branch, which uses it for conferences and meetings.

Just a block down from Open Gates is Aston Villa.  It’s the oldest of the mansions along this street in the historic district.  It was built in 1859 and was the home of the James Moreau Brown family.  Mr. Brown was a banker, merchant and entrepreneur.  There was a smaller home next to it the seemed to be a sort of guest house.

We came across a number of churches in the historic district as well.  The two in the image above are Reedy Chapel (left) and First Baptist Church of Galveston (right).  The First Baptist Church is home to the oldest Southern Baptist in Texas.  It was founded in 1840, and the church was built in 1958.  The current building is the 4^th on this site.  Reedy Chapel was built in 1887 and is home to the oldest Black Methodist Church in Texas, established in 1848.  Between the two, I admit to liking the Reedy Chapel better – love the windows!!

A couple of other churches we saw on our walk were the Trinity Episcopal Church (left) and the Eaton Chapel(right).  The Trinity Episcopal Church was built between 1854 – 1858 and is the third Episcopal mission in Texas.  The Eaton Chapel, built in a Gothic Revival style, is adjacent to Trinity Episcopal Church.  It was built in 1882 and built as a memorial to Rev. Benjamin Eaton, who died in 1871.  After a city-wide fire in 1885, this chapel was used by St. Paul’s German Presbyterian Church, during their church’s repair.

Rounding out the sights we saw on our walking tour of the historic district (but not in the order that we saw them) are the Rosenberg Library (upper left), Galveston City Hall (lower left) and the Texas Heroes Monument (right).  The tie between the Texas Heroes Monument and the Rosenberg Library were that they were both gifts from Henry Rosenberg, a banker and merchant.  The Monument honors the heroes of the Texas Revolution, and was dedicated in April 1900.  The Library is the oldest free public library in continuous operation in Texas.  It was established in 1900 as well.  City Hall was built in 1914 – 1915, and housed Galveston’s form of city government, the Commission form of government.  This form of government was invented by Galveston and was used until 1960, when it moved to a Council-Manager form of government.

And now the fun driving part of our explorations on this day – the Painted Ladies!!  The first two that we saw were just a few houses away, so after I got out of my car to photograph the first (left), I just walked down the street to check out the 2^nd (right).  The lattice work and bright colors of the second really caught my eye!

And, speaking of bright colors, check out these two ladies!!  They had to be the brightest colored homes we saw.  The bright green almost made my eyes water!!  The yellow with the red trim was just so happy looking, it made the day brighter just looking at it!

Now, this house technically isn’t a painted lady for obvious reasons, but it was a very pretty Victorian style house.  I especially love the turret (I’ve always called it the Mad Sister Room!) and the intricate scroll iron work on the balcony.

These next two painted ladies weren’t nearly as bright as the green and yellow ones, although the one on the left seems to be in the middle of a paint job that will rival the others on the block!!  I liked the pink and green painted lady simply because her nice pastel type colors gave my eyes a rest!!

And this last un-painted lady is my favorite.  Why?  I just love thinking about how grand she can look once someone applies some TLC!!  She’s got a fabulous front porch and second story balcony, and, of course, my Mad Sister Room!!

Enjoy!!

  

Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

 

Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

One day, we decided to drive around and explore to see if we could find a wildlife refuge that my reference book for bird sightings mentioned.  At times, we thought we had gotten lost, but eventually, we did find the refuge and the treasures that live within.

Although most of the refuge was geared toward an auto tour, the first part of the refuge had a boardwalk over some marshy lands.  This marsh was home to several types of birds, one of which was this black cormorant.  I must admit, I was mesmerized watching this little guy glide thru the marshy water and plant debris, without getting any on his wings or body!

I should have known better, but I allowed myself to forget that there could be alligators around in these waters.  My reminder came in the form of a nest of baby gators (top photo), Mama Gator hanging around (bottom left photo), and another little guy who just decided to strike a pose for us (lower right photo).

As we continued our drive, we did see an ibis flying over a lake in the refuge.  It was a rather shallow lake, so maybe calling it a pond might be more accurate! I really love his long beak, easier for him to seek out his meals.

A bit further down we saw an anhinga drying his wings.  Anhingas fish by diving into bodies of water to swim after their food.  When they surface, they strike this somewhat unique pose to allow them to dry their wings fairly quickly, so they can again take to the air.

Another shore bird we saw wading through the very shallow waters of some parts of the marshy refuge was the whimbrel.  It is in the sandpiper family, and its name originated in England, and sort of sounds like its call.  It didn’t call when we saw him, so I can’t verify that!

Here was a rare find (for us!) – a tri-colored heron.  This bird used to be known as Louisiana heron, and although solitary in its feeding habits, when it nests, it does tend to be social and can often be found in colonies with other herons and egrets, who are part of its family.

And, finally, we saw a snowy egret.  I did manage to get somewhat of a close-up of him, but then, he took off in the awkward way of egrets and herons.  Once in the air, they do strike quite the graceful pose.

I’m ending this post with another image of the snowy egret.  I loved how peaceful he looked as he glided over the marshy refuge, his white feathers contrasted by the brownish gold grasses, not yet green in the early spring.  You can see the silhouette of taller trees in the background.

Enjoy!

 

Misty Beach

 

Misty Beach

We visited the beach just a short trip away from our campground (5 minutes tops!) and, as frequently happened on this trip, it was another misty morning on the beach.  Still, it made for some interesting images!!

Although it doesn’t necessarily look misty in this image, you really can’t see out on the horizon – it’s sort of a cloud bank closing in on the beach. 

As the fog closed in on the beach, it seems fog and mist doesn’t bother the seagulls, who seemed happy to wander the beach, watching for any small little sea creatures that wash up on the shore, offering them a tasty treat!!

When the light began to lift, we could still see the seagulls along the beach.  A few moments earlier, they would have been hidden from view, due to the fog.  I thought the combination of mist and sunlight created a nice mix for this image.

Enjoy!

Harborside

 

Harborside

On a couple of different occasions, we decided to visit the harborside of Galveston.  Once, we went to lunch and also took a ferry ride over to the Bolivar Peninsula.  The main action seemed to be the pelicans and seagulls!

One day, when we were having lunch, a shrimp boat came in from a day fishing.  I thought it was curious that the pelicans (and some seagulls) followed the boat so intently (upper left photo).  They even sat on the stern of the boat, almost like very attentive students!  My question as to why they did this was soon answered, when the fisherman sorted through his catch, and tossed the fish he didn’t want out to the pelicans as a treat (center photo)!  Even after they got their treat, they still followed his boat as it again made it way down the harbor (upper right photo).

As we rode the ferry to Bolivar Peninsula, seagulls joined us for the entire 15-minute ferry ride.  At times, they flew lower than our perch on the ferry, and I really liked the play between the birds and them shadows they cast.  At other times, they flew even with our viewpoint – I especially liked the way the gull held wings as he flew along with us (upper right photo)!

And, finally, when we were waiting for the return trip on the ferry, I noticed the pelicans were feeding on their own, with no help from a shrimp boat!!  I watched one of them dunk his head underwater, searching for a tasty fish, and then gobbling it down!  Yum!!

Enjoy!!

Texas Gulf Coast Birds

 

Texas Gulf Coast Birds

Galveston Island is part of the Texas Birding Trail.  Now, neither Jeff nor I are “birders”, people who are truly devoted to finding and cataloging birds they have seen, but we did take a few days to see what birds we could find.  As it turned out, it wasn’t quite the peak time for birds, but we did get to see a fair number!

One of my favorite shore birds is the Great Blue Heron.  I remember seeing them when we lived in the Midwest, and it was nice to see this one along a roadside marsh one morning.  I find both herons and egrets among the most awkwardly graceful birds when taking off.  I’m always semi-amazed when they actually make it into the sky!

Both the above and below images are of ibises.  The above images are of a white and black ibis.  I had never seen a black ibis before, and I kept doublechecking images on the internet of the bird to make sure I had seen what I thought I saw!  The images below are of several black-winged ibis and some friends – some ruddy ducks and some turtles.  These images were taken along a boardwalk that was in somewhat of a neighborhood.  The birds were protected from the shore winds and could feed in peace and quiet!

Here’s another image of an ibis and the only cormorant that we saw on this trip.  They just seemed to be enjoying a moment in the sun, perhaps resting after a hearty morning meal.

The above and below images are of egrets.  The above image was taken just off the beach in the early evening, before sunset.  The sun is warming the glow of his white feathers.  The below images were taken as we drove along another marsh area.  Although these birds do look awkward taking off, once airborne, they are very graceful flyers.  I especially like the image on the left, below.  The crisp, clean white of the egret’s wings really contrasts with the dead, brown leaves of a nearby palm tree.  We saw several brown-leafed palm trees.  We visited this area just a few weeks after Texas suffered the unusual freezing cold weather for several days, and the toll could be seen in the trees.

Another of my favorite birds when along the warm shores of the Gulf of Mexico are pelicans.  I love to watch them glide ever so close to the surface of the water.

Of course, what’s a trip to the shore without seagulls?  These birds seem to be full of character, and, if they weren’t busy, gracefully flying, I felt like they couldn’t quite understand the crazy human taking photographs of them!!

Finally, this bird is called a Roseate Spoonbill.  I had never seen this bird before.  It does make its home in various locations around the world, but only along the Gulf Coast and Florida’s Central Atlantic coast.  It’s a sort of bird cousin to the ibis (my terminology) and I was especially taken with its bill – called a spoon bill for obvious reasons.  When fishing for food, it will swing its bill from side to side in the water as it wades in shallow water.  It can fly, but I didn’t see any doing that during this trip.  What a treat!

Enjoy!!

 

March 4^th Sunrise

One morning, we got up really early in order to be on the beach for the sunrise.  What a treat that turned out to be!!  I just couldn’t find the right words to express how magical the morning was, so I decided to select some wonderful quotes relating to sunrises to add to my thoughts!!

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.”  J. B. Priestley 

I am a morning person, and this quote fits me to a tee!  And a sunrise is a gift to morning people every day.  Just fyi, the small lights on the horizon are the oil rigs off the Galveston coast.  They rather look like very low on the horizon stars.

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”  Marcus Aurelius

This is the way I felt as I just stood on the beach, watching the birds soar above the deep blue sea.  It was truly a wonderfully peaceful time.

“For most people, we often marvel at the beauty of a sunrise or the magnificence of a full moon, but it is impossible to fathom the magnitude of the universe that surrounds us.”  Richard Baker

As hard it is to take my eyes off the sunrise, I did turn around, just to see what else there might be to see and saw the moon and a seagull soaring high enough to create the illusion it was close to the moon!!  From this perspective, it almost looks like a sunset.  Unfortunately, there was no sunset to see from where we were on this trip.

“Sunrise offered a very beautiful spectacle; the water was quite unruffled, but the motion communicated by the tides was so great that, although there was not a breath of air stirring, the sea heaved slowly with a grand and majestic motion.”  George Grey

This quote perfectly describes the morning of this sunrise.  There didn’t appear to be any significant tides off the coast, and yet the gentle waves kept kissing the shore.  I especially loved the sun’s reflection off the waves and the wet sand.

 

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”  Bernard Williams

Perhaps this is why I love the sunrise and mornings in general.  Almost every morning, I wake up feeling hopeful and excited about the start of the day.

“One of the things I associate with God is a sunrise. How many sunrises have you missed over the years, and God created that?”  Donald Miller

The small dot on the horizon is not an oil rig – it is, in fact, daybreak!  The day has begun, and another gift known as today is waiting to be opened and discovered.

Enjoy!!