A Fantastic Day at South Padre Island

Monday was an even more beautiful day than Sunday so we decided to head down to South Padre Island. Willy, Gretchen, and Harley curled up in the backseat with Birdie and I upfront and we were off. About an hour later, we were on the causeway and bridge heading across Laguna Madre to South Padre Island.

It was beautiful down at the beach too.

This was the Traveling Longdogs first beach experience. Most of the beaches in Florida didn't allow dogs and it was usually too hot for them anyway since we were there in the summer. They learned not to sniff too hard real quick.

The water was cold but this fisherman was prepared with his waders.

Did I mention that there was fog on the beach? This is exactly how it looked, no photo enhancing done. Looks like something out of science fiction. We walked the other direction which was less foggy and less crowded.

Our next stop was lunch at Dirty Al's.  Willy, Gretchen, and Harley curled up in their crates in the truck while we had lunch. With a good breeze, the slider window and side windows open, it was very comfortable in the truck.

Took a couple pictures out on the patio while waiting on lunch. Unfortunately, they didn't have any tables set up to eat outside.

Stuffed crab to share....my first encounter.

A Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich for me.....

Shrimp and oysters for Birdie

Next stop, the South Padre Convention Center which is right next to the Birding Center. Looks like an aquarium doesn't it? The Birding Center has more walkways but they also charge and we knew we didn't have hours to spend so we did the free walkways leading out from the Convention Center.

The furkids graciously waited on us again napping in the breeze as we headed out for a tour of the walkways. It worked out so well since it was warm and breezy but not hot so that the dogs could go along on this trip and wait comfortably and safely in the truck in places they couldn't come.

No butterflies in the garden today but the babbling brook was lovely.

There were some good explanatory signs giving information about the area.

Sailboat on the beach across the marsh.

Others were enjoying the wooden walkways but it wasn't too crowded to get a good view.

Great Blue Heron. Sorry but he ducked his head down at the last minute and I didn't realize it.

Snowy Egret

Tri-colored Heron

Snowy Egret

Brown Pelican

Reddish Egret on post, Roseate Spoonbill center back, Skimmer skimming across water, American Widgeons, Redhead Duck, various other gulls and ducks, and another Snowy Egret.

This Little Blue Heron.......

.........let us come very close to him.

Great Blue Heron going into breeding plumage.

The Island Barriers are very important.

Yes Steve, Texas has alligators too!

A sunning Great Blue Heron.......he was quite a ways across a pond so I wasn't sure for a while whether it really was a bird or just a post of some sort.

The entrance to the Andy Bowie Beach area is right across from the Birding Center and

Convention Center. It has a camping area with hookups.

Another really amazing picture due to the fog floating in some areas.

No illusions or touch ups. It really looked like the buildings were floating.

We continued further north on the island road. Guess it must have been windy in the last few days because there were sand drifts across the road.  No....that is definitely not snow. The shadows in the sky are huge kites.

These brave souls were camped right on the beach.

This couple parked their RV on the edge of the road and headed into the sand dunes for a little fun. I had to cover Harley's eyes because they had a German Sheppard who was running loose chasing after balls. Harley would have headed out in a minute to join the game.

 I wish these shots would have turned out better because there were some amazing huge kites flying out on the beach. The fog made it hard to get good shots.

We finally turned around and headed back south. There were signs for an adventure ranch with horse back riding if you kept going north. After we crossed Laguna Madre back to the mainland, we stopped for a quick walk in Port Isabel. For a fairly reasonable charge, you can climb the steps to the top of this lighthouse.

I spotted this unique painted dolphin on the main square. There were others located in Port Isabel but we were running out of time.

A peek in a local shop.

We stopped at Bob's World because I couldn't resist the photo opportunity. Cameron and Morgan would have loved this place. We didn't go inside so I don't know what else we might have scene.

These sculptures might have come right out of the ocean except they are giant size.

See King Kong peeking from behind the volcano?

Well, he is huge! Those a full grown trees in front of him.

It was like a huge Jurassic park. That is a tall light post in front of the dinosaur.

This is the entrance to Bob's World under those big blue canopies with sea shells on each side.

Our last stop on the way home was a Quarter Car Wash. About four dollars worth of quarters did a pretty darn good job on Moby. He is back to his big white self again. We had an easy trip home to the RV and didn't even have deal with too much traffic.  We got home about 6:15......and the front hit about 10 minutes later dropping the temps 15 degrees in five minutes.  The dachsies and I did a quick walk around the park before it got any colder. They made real short work of their last trip to potty right before bedtime as they don't like the cold any better than I do.