Possibly all I need to say about Galveston Island State Park is that yesterday I went online to figure out when I could get another reservation, preferably for the beach side campsites. (I’m currently on the bay side.) March 5-10th. So I’m going to wander around Texas for a couple of weeks and then come back here. This will not be the first park that I’ve returned to, but it’s the first one that I’ve returned to that didn’t have relatives living nearby.
The park has vast expanses of blackened land, presumably recovering from a controlled burn, with wild grasses growing and not much else. It’s flat and muddy and dark. And by some standard, the weather has been terrible. I haven’t seen a sunrise since I got here because it’s been so foggy. But the fog isn’t cold, it just has a hint of ocean chill and it smells like ocean. It’s lovely. Zelda and I have gotten muddy and sandy and wet and salty. (B, not so much, because he does the finicky dog thing of, “What? You want me to walk there? On THAT? No, thank you.”) And I love it.
I could live without the tornado warnings, though. Today has been pretty much a non-stop stream of the national weather service letting me know that I’m going to die soon. Any minute now! It’s actually really impressive to be watching the ocean while a thunderstorm is going on — the waves are great, but the rumbles of thunder and lightning make them all the better. But, of course, I am hoping to avoid any actual tornados. I did unplug Serenity and move from the campsite to a parking lot, out of some notion of being ready to move should it be necessary, but I’m not sure how I would know that it was actually necessary short of seeing a forming tornado.
Back to the park: there are birds I’ve never seen before, tall and short and in-between. One was a reddish egret, which I wouldn’t know, except that I found a sign telling me so. Two yesterday were tall and pink and mysterious. I am fairly sure–after abandoning all hope of conserving my internet data to research the question–that they were not flamingos, but roseate spoonbills. If you had told me six months ago that I was going to be so interested in birds that I would be looking for an app to help me identify them, I would have looked at you sidewise, but there you go. One never knows what travel will offer.
Lunch yesterday was diced apple, celery, red onion, chopped dates, chopped pecans, finely chopped fresh cilantro, and a tablespoon of mayo, mixed up and rolled in turkey. And then wrapped in a gluten-free tortilla because the turkey wasn’t thick enough to roll properly. The tortilla was not good, but the relish-turkey combo was delicious.
And I mention it partially because I want to remember it for some future day when I need food inspiration but also because there’s a correlation for me between making weird foods & happiness, but I’m not sure which way it flows. Was I happy because I was making up a recipe or was I making up a recipe because I was happy? It’s possible that it’s one of those circular things, where feeling cheerful made me feel creative which inspired me to create something weird that was tasty and delicious which then made me happy to eat and so on.
I was also very happy with the words created yesterday. They were maybe not the greatest words ever written, but they were actual forward movement in Grace, not just revising and tweaking and being generally dissatisfied with the shape of Grace. (The book, not the character.) And since I’m hoping for some more of those today, I’d best get to it.
Traveling in places with tornado warnings is weird because you never know when to take them seriously. I routinely ignore the warnings when I’m traveling out in Oklahoma, but then I wonder if that will come back to bite me. On the flip side, they have so many warnings, if one paid attention to all of them a good chunk of life would be spent in a tornado shelter.
Your meals always sound so good! And, on a third topic, I’m quite a fan of all the pictures you’ve been posting.
I suspect that I’m going to become an ignorer of tornado warnings, too. There’s only so much one can do, after all. My neighbors went and hung out in the bathrooms until the warnings were over, but there’s really no way I’d leave the dogs to face a tornado on their own. Last night the van was rocking with just minor gusts, though, so I definitely hope to avoid real winds.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the photos! I didn’t think I would become a photo person but I’m seeing so many beautiful things, it’s hard to resist.
Yeah I get jaded to tornado warnings here, too. And yet occasionally they do touch down and cause people havoc.
I’m always amazed at my attraction to birds also. We have great blue herons here. And Eagles in winter.
I was in Galveston 40 years ago. I remember loving the beach there. Good to know it is still worth visiting.
Your lunch sounds delicious. Glad you had a productive, enjoyable day writing.
Birds are amazing and these places with tons of birds give you so much to see! I haven’t tried to post a video before and probably can’t this month unless I find free internet somewhere, but I video’d some flocks in motion in Mississippi. So beautiful!