Across Texas Down to the Coast and Aransas

ROCKPORT, TEXAS – We left Lake Charles Tuesday and headed straight for Rockport, Texas. Cece said she could tell the difference as soon as we crossed the Sabine River into the Lone Star State. We confess that we have issues with Texas, not that anyone in this giant state could give a fig. Undoubtedly, it is because of Dallas 1964, George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Louie Gohmert, Ted Cruz, Big Oil and more. We tend to forget about Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, Ann Richards, LBJ, Ralph Yarborough, etc.

Our path took us through Houston, and what a gleaming metropolis it is, now America’s fourth largest city. Seeing huge medical centers everywhere, extending now far into Sugar Land, one can’t help but recall the wonderful medical advances and accomplishments that have occurred there. But, with nary a traffic jam, we were soon through the city and headed for the coast near Corpus Christi.

Texas is so big and growing so fast, it's not hard to imagine why its top pols all think they should be President!

Southwest of Houston the ecology changes. Houston is green and humid, but soon we were out of that and in a region that opened up, prairie-like, with big trees getting sparse, and where we are now, close to the Gulf, has the look and feel of the dryer regions of Central America or the Caribbean. Still, there is plenty of water for agriculture. We saw very, very large fields of young cotton and milo (grain sorghum) used to feed livestock – very flat and taking up the horizon in every direction.

Rockport, our base, and neighboring Fulton were once, we think, rather laid back and modest fishing communities on Aransas Bay, but they seem to be experiencing a transition focused on recreational fishing, birding, retirement, and RV vacations. The area is still quite pretty and neither pretentious or tacky.

Selling fish and bait in Rockport.

Want a flat top? Here's the place, still.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we explored the region. The sky was a sharp blue with “Ben and Jerry clouds.” There are lovely bays and inlets and ponds everywhere. The wetland and other vegetation is spring green. The wildflowers are abundant. The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and Goose Island State Park were striking—beautiful, peaceful and totally relaxing.

This is where the Whoopers are at other times.

What we did not find at either spot was lots of birds. The whooping cranes and the large flocks of migrating birds cleared out weeks ago. If we were more ardent birders, we would have tromped through the brush and woods, slathered in DEET, and seen a lot more, But, alas, we are third tier at best and prefer big birds and easy viewing. To that end, we have signed up for a boat tour of a dozen island-based rookeries! That said, we were pleased to encounter little blue herons, black skimmers, both white and glossy ibis, and many snowy egrets.

At Goose Island we did see a live oak that is estimated to be over 1000 years old. Imagine, it had been growing slowly there for 500 years when Columbus arrived. In contrast to, say, the Angel Oak near Charleston, it is modest in size, even though considerably older. The iconic tree of this region is a small, twisting coastal live oak. There are groves of them, quite lovely. Perhaps these trees are a different variety than the large ones in the other Southern states we have visited this spring. 

1000 year old coastal live oak.