A La Playa

For BH's birthday, I orchestrated a trip down to the coast--for just the two of us. It was going to be a surprise, but then when all of the thyroid b.s. came up, I felt like I needed to tell him because, there was a time when I wasn't sure we'd be able to go.

It had been at least 20 years since I'd been down to Port Aransas, and longer than that for BH. As I've mentioned before, he's an avid birder, and Port A is known as a great birding destination, especially in the fall/spring when migratory species are passing through. And me? I just like what the ocean air does to my hair. So I knew it was going to be a win-win as far as we were concerned.

We took off on Thursday morning, and 200 miles and 1/2 tank of gas later, we were there. We stayed at a nice studio apartment in a big ol' beach house that was not beachfront but only required a short walk to stick one's toes in the surf.

We went and watched birds.

We drank fruity drinks.

We ate insanely unhealthy and inexpensive breakfasts.

We watched more birds.

We visited Mustang Island State Park as well as the Padre Island National Seashore.

Then, the next day, we went to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where we saw a pair of whooping cranes and some alligators. And we saw hardcore birders, which are kind of a species unto themselves, what with their spotting scopes and "birding talk" and all.

We saw the moon rise over the ocean.

The weather was excellent and the crowds were thin. All in all, it was pretty perfect.

On the way back to Austin on Sunday, we came back via Goliad and stopped at Goliad State Park to check out the mission and the campgrounds. Very pretty.

And the whole way there and back, we saw INSANE amounts of gorgeous wildflowers. Hwy 123 between San Marcos and Seguin was absolutely breathtaking.

What a GREAT way to spend the weekend.