January 2019 - Cruising the Texas Gulf Coast

For 2 ½ weeks the Texas Gulf Coast was our picture window view.  After leaving Michael’s sister’s home in Ft. Worth on January 13^th, we drove to Galveston Island and began a leisurely crawl down the Texas shoreline. From Galveston Island to Quintana Beach County Park near Freeport, to Magnolia Beach near Port La Vaca, to Goose Island to Port Aransas, we spent 2 or 3 nights in each location. At Galveston, Magnolia and Port Aransas one can park right on the wide flat Gulf beach and become one with the sounds of the surf.  Dogs are permitted on Texas beaches, and Nina made sure we enjoyed our daily walks ala stick-throwing, ball-tossing fests, along with the sunrises, sunsets, moonrises, morning fogs, and ever-present bird activity.

Not that the weather was always beach perfect. On January 19^th, parked at Quintana Beach County Park, I wrote in my journal, “The wind doth blow! All day now – 27 mph listed on my weather app, but gusts are higher. This after an angry patch of severe wind and torrential downpour moved over us a 4:15 this morning.  It only lasted 8 or 10 minutes, but I was on high alert.  The Siesta rocked like a rowboat in the wake of a speed boat.  The cover over the slide-out flapped wildly.  Michael remained motionless, but with a couple of violent gusts I was on the verge of waking him. My good old weather app reassured me. I could see we were amid a narrow strip of bright orange weather. It would pass over quickly – and it did! Calm returned. However, an hour or so later the wind cranked up again and blew like gangbusters. The silver lining to this is that all the lingering clouds blew out to the Gulf and we’ve had a perfectly blue sky with bright sunshine all day. Warm? Not really. For a while this afternoon I set a chair on the west side of the Siesta, a sheltered spot for sitting and reading.  It was fairly pleasant --- with jeans, a fleece, a jacket and socks on, never mind the noisy clacking of the dead palm fronds in the palm trees near us or the freight train rush of the gusting wind.”

But, oh, those 60s-something sunny warmish days we have had! How we appreciate them as we keep in touch with our family and friends in sub-zero Michigan and Iowa!