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An early morning rainstorm blocked our hotel's partial view of the Gulf. This is the first rain we've seen since October 7th in Kansas and Colorado. We drove back to the Padre Island National Seashore to get a stamp for Ann's passport but we didn't hang around long. A ranger at the Visitor's Center told us of a pier at the north end of Padre Island, Port Aransas, where bird sightings were plentiful. We decided to drive to New Orleans with a stop in Port Aransas to look for birds.
The pier at Port Aransas proved rich with bird sightings. We saw an alligator there, too. A lone falcon swooped and soared over the area, never coming close enough to be photographed well. I caught him in the camcorder's zoom lens but not well enough to produce a picture for the web page. Yesterday's falcon sighting will have to suffice.
We spotted several species of ducks that we didn't recognize. One species had gray bodies, black heads, and white bills. Another species had black and white bodies, orange breasts, neck and bills, and white heads. We need to take a look at our Audubon book sometime.
A dead pelican floating in the water looked disgusting but gave us the opportunity to view several turtles and a crab. Those turtles sure weren't vegetarians!
We left Port Aransas and headed for New Orleans. The drive was uneventful, except for our inability to read Texas road signs or understand maps. While the roads in Texas have been satisfactory, the placement and existence of road signs has been less than acceptable. We wish every state had roads and signs like Maryland.
A ferry in Port Aransas took us over to the mainland. Port Aransas has a ferry system set up with as many as seven ferries operating simultaneously. Cars pull up to the ferry terminal and get directed to the next loading ferry. The ride is short - less than five minutes. It was quicker than waiting for some traffic lights. We speculated on the reason why no bridge exists between the island and the mainland at that point. We decided that the shipping lane must be kept open for constant water traffic and that a bridge high enough to not inhibit the flow of water traffic would require approaches too long for the available geography. If you're ever in Port Aransas, avoid the Whataburger. 'Nuff said.
We drove through Houston during rush hour. We didn't make New Orleans. We stopped in Baton Rouge, about seventy miles from New Orleans.
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