This weekend I traveled down to the gulf coast of Texas with a friend to do some camping. The choice of where to stay was mostly dictated by the popularity and lack of availability of almost all of the campsites in the whole state. It’s a beautiful time of year to be out of doors. We settled on Lake Corpus Christi State Park, which only had a few spaces left. It would not have been my first choice but it worked out wonderfully and I’m so glad to have expanded my view of how nice the Texas coast can be.
The Corpus Christi downtown bay-front as seen from a deteriorating barrier wall around the marina.
The state park was great and allowed us a home base to explore the city of Corpus Christi and pay a visit to the Padre Island National Sea Shore. The weather was perfect and it was fortuitous to be away from home and outdoors when the election results came in. We watched Biden’s speech at our camp picnic table with a nice fire going. And it was easy to look up and see a hint of the Milky Way, some planets, and lots of stars. All of the other campers were well behaved, which made it very relaxing.
Malaquite Beach at the Padre Island National Sea Shore.
Miles of dunes covered in flowering plants along the beach.
After living in Texas for over 30 years of my life, I lament the fact that I have only been to the coast a very few times. Growing up in central Texas I just never heard anything nice about it. In high school, Padre was the hedonistic spring break destination, which I never participated in. Then you hear about oil spills and the like and it just never sounded that appealing.
Well, I was absolutely impressed with the nature and beaches that I saw and wish now I had made more frequent trips. One thing I love is birding, and at the state park, I saw three gorgeous birds, that you would only see at the southern tip of Texas and into Mexico. The tropical Great Kiskadee and Green Jay, plus an uncommon Audubon’s Oriole. So colorful and exciting to behold!
There aren’t a lot of photos to share since my intention was to mostly stay off my phone and just have an experience. It’s interesting being a photographer because people often assume you will prioritize capturing the most amazing images wherever you go. Maybe some do, but I was just happy to get out into nature and look, listen, breathe, and be. I highly recommend it.