Sunset

A sunset taken from inside our trailer and obviously the second one is the same sunset taken outside.  This is the first beautiful sunset since we have been here in March.

Oyster boats

These oyster boats work the waters on Aransas Bay.  We kayaked out to them.  The first boat is from Louisana and the other one is one of the boats from here.  Big time oystering probably for the Oyster Festival this weekend.

Whooping Cranes

The Whoopers are a bike ride away from Goose Island.  They stand over 4 feet tall and it's the tallest bird in North America

Hello Goose Island State Park

Here we are situated right on the Aransas Bay in the Gulf of Mexico.  Mr. Willet is eating his breakfast right outside our camper

Black Water

That's water coming out of the pipes behind the "mule".  It's what the dredge in the channel is pumping down the beach to make a larger beach area which was needed here at SPI.  The bulldozers then spread the piles of dirt around to dry and it turns into nice beach sand eventually.

Easy Ride

Not only do Terri and Bill have to pump this kayak with their "flippers" but when it gets a little windy Terri just opens her umbrella and away they go.

No problem kayaking with this kayak

This is Tim from Iowa.  He went kayaking through the channels at Port Isabel with us.  Can you imagine this - this boat is powered by a battery and putts along nice and quiet and easy.  No paddling here.

Mom flies a kite

Well, here I am flying a four line kite.  How about that?  I got the ultimate compliment from Rich as he said I was better than Dad.

Miscellaneous area photos

Back at Clampents place with some R&R and the channel.  The statute is of Christ and is looking out over down the channel into the Gulf.  It's not far from our campspot.

OOPS! I think we have a leak

The dredging started but stopped abruptly.  The pipes started leaking in several places.  The workers tried fixing them by plugging the leaks with pieces of wood (quite antiquated I'd say).  That didn't work so the whole operation stopped and the welders came in and fixed them.  What a costly operation this has been.

Ships and More Ships

We have seen more ships going in and out of the channel this year than last year.  They go down the Brownsville Channel to the Brownsvill harbor.

Harley's birthday surprise party

Harley threw himself a surprise birthday party.  We sent an invitation to our friends which said not to tell Harley because it was a surprise.  We had the party at Joe's Oyster Bar and had both fried and grilled fish and shrimp with cole slaw and french fries.  It was great especially the grilled fish and shrimp.  Terri brought a cake.  There were 12 of us there to enjoy the meal and fellowship.

Ice Parade

Yup, we had ice and the bottom photo is a mold of ice off the bicycle.  The next one up is a blob of ice that fell off the trailer after it started warming up and the rest are pretty much self explanatory.  After it started warming up we heard a great big bang and it was a chunk that melted enough to let loose and slide down the roof onto the slideout.  I'm surprised it didn't go through the slideout roof as it was LOUD!

Port Isabel channel

Had to get Terri and Bill in the picture too.  They also went with us down the shrimp boat channel

Channel in Port Isabel

Then one day we went to Port Isabel just across the causeway and kayaked on the channel that all the shrimp boats come in and out of.  The bottom picture is Rich and the top one is Rich, Judy, and me.  This was Judy's first adventure in a kayak

Oil rig

This is an oil rig that was sitting out in the gulf for quite a while.  It very slowly brought down the channel by the tugboats and down to the Brownsville ship yards.  About a week later they brought it back out to the Gulf.

Channel dredger

This is the channel dredger called The Texas.  It looks like it was moving but it wasn't as it was grounded.  It got into a too shallow spot and there it was stuck for awhile.  They got it out but had some damage or a different dredge had to come in to do the job of dredging the channel.

Iwo Jima

This is the Iwo Jima memorial in Harlingen, Texas

Scarry paddle

Dad will tell you about this one when we see you.  The winds shifted when they were out and a couple of kayaks kept going out so dad called the Coast Guard and they went out to make sure everyone was OK.  I wasn't with them because it was one of those men's float.

Cycling down the beach

This is one of the reasons we got the cycle.  We like riding down the beach and you sure can go a long way if you want to.  This happened to be on a weekend and it was Presidents Day and there were a lot of people and cars on this beach.

Eating again

The waitress took this one.  We  were at The Big Donkey which is a mexican restaurant.  From left to right standing is Aura and Charley from W. Va. and Bob from Minn.  Sitting at Judy and Rich from Minn (you remember them?) and you know who.

Charlie and his kite

Charley loves flying his kite.  I think he took dad's place to fly with Rich as dad doesn't fly his kite too much any more.

Testing the water - warm

One day we took the cycle as far as the main road at SPI would go before it was blocked.  We walked down to the Gulf across the sand dunes.  There was a family their with a tent set up by the beech.  I think it was just for the day.  The kids were having fun building things in the sand and playing in the warm water.

A ship on the Gulf of Mexico not far from the park

Bike riding on the beach

We like to bike ride on the beach but sometimes it isn't easy like this time.  The tide was coming in and the sand where we could ride was too soft so we got off the beach at a beach access place.

Kite boarding

These kiteboards love the wind.  They get out on those waves and sometimes go about 20 feet up in the air depending on the wind velocity.

Hooch and Holly

Meet Hootch and Holly.  They are Steve's dogs.  Steve is our neighbor.  He's really a nice guy, never married, has a smoker that he smoked chicken, pork roast, ham and etc. in it and shared it with us.  YUM

Our"hangout" on SPI

How about this camp spot.  We can see the channel through the back window and the Gulf through the side window.  Sometimes it looks like "The Clampant" place with all the toys laying around.