TEXAS: CORPUS CHRISTI AREA, PART II (ARANSAS WILDLIFE REFUGE, TREE TOP SIDEWALK, WHOOPING CRANES, AND SPOONBILLS)

 Friday, November 26, 2022

We spent the morning at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a 115,324-acre protected area on the Gulf Coast. It was established in 1937 as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.

One of my favorite parts of the refuge was this tree top observation boardwalk that zigzags to a 40-foot-tall observation tower.

It is a design masterpiece, taking us from the understory, through the midstory, and above the top story. Educational material is found along the way.

LOUISIANA: FIVE HURRICANES AND THE DESTRUCTION OF CAMERON

 November 23, 2021 

In our travels from one birding spot to another, we drove south from Lake Charles, Louisiana to Cameron, Louisiana, about 50 miles. The area we drove through didn't really have any population centers, just small towns, but we began to see a trend: houses on stilts with not a lot around them.

In Southern California we have almost no houses with basements. In this part of Louisiana, they have almost no houses with ground floors. That area under the house does make a great place to park your car.

We figured that the area must be prone to flooding from the nearby Gulf of Mexico.

Many of the houses looked recently painted and/or remodeled, with new, unpainted wooden stairs leading to the front door.

TEXAS: LYNDON B. JOHNSON RANCH

 Tuesday, March 23, 2021

We began the next day with a three-hour drive to the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, which is due west of Austin.

I am always on the look-out for good murals, and I made Bob stop for this one in Eden. Is that Eve? (Note: We actually did pass the Garden of Eden, but unfortunately it was not on Bob's agenda.)

We visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin in 2012 (although for some reason I never got around to writing about it here). On this trip, nine years later, we decided to visit the ranch where LBJ was born, lived a good part of his life, and was buried.

The LBJ Ranch is in Stonewall (yes, named after Confederate General Stonewall Jackson who died as a result of friendly fire in 1863). After paying our fees at the Visitors Center, we walked out to a living history farm based on a 1918 German farm. (Apparently there were lots of German settlers in this area. In fact, 15 miles away is a town named Fredericksburg that is full of German shops.) The farm was one of the better living history places we have visited. The volunteers work the farm and literally eat the fruits of their own labors.

We walked through quite a nice home . . .  

. . . that supposedly belonged to this friendly couple:

I wish I knew the story of this beautiful framed wreath hanging on the wall.