Ah, the Sun
We're still parked here at Padre Balli County Park outside Corpus Christi, Texas. After days of clouds, the sun finally came out and I've been soaking it in. Right now, it's just me and the dog, though. After many rounds of discussion about the best course of action, Mike and I decided it would be best if he flew up to Denver for work from here rather than the two of us driving up and back. I was originally scheduled for my next infusion on Dec. 7 in El Paso but we postponed it until next week so that he could get this work trip completed and we could move further southwest at a more leisurely pace.
The park here is a mixed bag. Proximity to the ocean is a huge bonus, as is excellent cell service and electric hook ups. Weekly rates aren't bad, either ($150, including the electric and water hookups). We've got access to hot showers, flush toilets, and a coin operated laundromat. The park itself is kind of run down, though I read that they just got a major grant and I can see them working on the improvements. There's no gated access to the camping area, and it's possible to walk right from the heavily trafficked beach area into the rv area. When we first got here, the bathrooms and showers were open to the public and most of locks on the shower and toilet stalls don't work so I was a bit uneasy, even during the day. When we first arrived at the park on Thanksgiving, the beach public parking area was pretty rowdy: lots of big trucks with loud exhaust driving too fast, blasting music, tons of garbage, discarded beer cans, etc. However, after the holiday weekend things calmed down considerably and just the other day they installed key-coded locks on the exterior bathroom doors.
My routine the last several days has been very mellow. There are no pressures stressing me out, beyond the general state of the world, my ongoing self-critical ruminations, and my feelings about the humans who don't pick up after their dogs and who throw trash on the ground. Someone actually took their dog into the women's bathroom yesterday, it crapped on the floor, and they didn't clean it up. I'm working hard to not over-generalize from the negative things I see. It's easy to see bad things and come to conclusions that aren't warranted about human nature and the current state of our culture. If I'm honest, I take note of the good things as well: yesterday I saw some people in a pickup truck drive out of their way to use a dumpster on their way off the beach, and I saw multiple people picking up their dogs' crap.
Things I've been enjoying about this spot:
The grackles. They gather in flocks at certain times of the day and move through areas looking for food. They make all kinds of sounds and I have to keep looking to re-assure myself that the sounds I hear are indeed coming from them. This morning they were making noises that sounded almost exactly like car alarms.
One morning, I watched one dig for food in the sand at the edge of the surf.
The sunflowers growing on the dunes and the other wildflowers. Even though it's winter here in Texas, there are many different kinds of flowers blooming. I'm especially enjoying the sunflowers that grow all over the dunes adjacent to the campground. I even saw a hummingbird.
The wild grasses. There are tall, wild grasses that grow all over the island. They've all gone to seed now so they aren't as colorful as they might be at other times of the year but still, when the sun is either coming up or going down, its light shines through the downy seedheads and they appear to glow like fuzzy, subdued candles.
Sunset. The sun doesn't set over the beach, since Padre Island runs roughly north/south and the beach we're on faces southeast, but the sky at sunset and the light reflected by it on the beach are stunning. Similarly, the sky over land in the direction of the sunset is stunning. There's just much more sky visible here, for one thing. In Maine, we're hemmed in by trees in all directions. As amazing as the sunset here are, though, I know they'll be even more spectacular once we hit the desert in southern New Mexico.
Pieces of ocean detritus.
I've found all kinds of pieces of formerly living things that have been washed up on the beach. I've reined in my gathering dramatically, relative to past trips to the ocean. At home we have shells scattered on shelves throughout the house as well as boxes of shells and rocks sitting in the barn, representing just a fraction of the things that we've gathered over the decades. Over the last few years I've gotten rid of many of the things I'd collected in a bid to simplify my home environment and reduce the amount of clutter that needs to be moved from house to house. So now when I see a shell or a rock or something interesting lying on the ground I think more than twice about what I'll do with it before I allow myself to pick it up. And even the things I pick up I more than often drop again. The urge to gather interesting looking objects is strong but it competes with other goals that I now have. Sometimes a picture will suffice.
The park here is a mixed bag. Proximity to the ocean is a huge bonus, as is excellent cell service and electric hook ups. Weekly rates aren't bad, either ($150, including the electric and water hookups). We've got access to hot showers, flush toilets, and a coin operated laundromat. The park itself is kind of run down, though I read that they just got a major grant and I can see them working on the improvements. There's no gated access to the camping area, and it's possible to walk right from the heavily trafficked beach area into the rv area. When we first got here, the bathrooms and showers were open to the public and most of locks on the shower and toilet stalls don't work so I was a bit uneasy, even during the day. When we first arrived at the park on Thanksgiving, the beach public parking area was pretty rowdy: lots of big trucks with loud exhaust driving too fast, blasting music, tons of garbage, discarded beer cans, etc. However, after the holiday weekend things calmed down considerably and just the other day they installed key-coded locks on the exterior bathroom doors.
My routine the last several days has been very mellow. There are no pressures stressing me out, beyond the general state of the world, my ongoing self-critical ruminations, and my feelings about the humans who don't pick up after their dogs and who throw trash on the ground. Someone actually took their dog into the women's bathroom yesterday, it crapped on the floor, and they didn't clean it up. I'm working hard to not over-generalize from the negative things I see. It's easy to see bad things and come to conclusions that aren't warranted about human nature and the current state of our culture. If I'm honest, I take note of the good things as well: yesterday I saw some people in a pickup truck drive out of their way to use a dumpster on their way off the beach, and I saw multiple people picking up their dogs' crap.
Things I've been enjoying about this spot:
The grackles. They gather in flocks at certain times of the day and move through areas looking for food. They make all kinds of sounds and I have to keep looking to re-assure myself that the sounds I hear are indeed coming from them. This morning they were making noises that sounded almost exactly like car alarms.
The sunflowers growing on the dunes and the other wildflowers. Even though it's winter here in Texas, there are many different kinds of flowers blooming. I'm especially enjoying the sunflowers that grow all over the dunes adjacent to the campground. I even saw a hummingbird.
The wild grasses. There are tall, wild grasses that grow all over the island. They've all gone to seed now so they aren't as colorful as they might be at other times of the year but still, when the sun is either coming up or going down, its light shines through the downy seedheads and they appear to glow like fuzzy, subdued candles.
Sunset. The sun doesn't set over the beach, since Padre Island runs roughly north/south and the beach we're on faces southeast, but the sky at sunset and the light reflected by it on the beach are stunning. Similarly, the sky over land in the direction of the sunset is stunning. There's just much more sky visible here, for one thing. In Maine, we're hemmed in by trees in all directions. As amazing as the sunset here are, though, I know they'll be even more spectacular once we hit the desert in southern New Mexico.
Pieces of ocean detritus.
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