Month: April 2022

I woke up to fog in Galveston on Wednesday, a soft gray everywhere. After breakfast at the hotel, I drove to the western end of Galveston Island to a small nature preserve in the Lafitte’s Cove neighborhood, an upscale area with large, elevated houses built along artificial canals. The preserve was in the middle of the neighborhood and built around three ponds and a wooded area.

I walked around the boardwalk and paved paths, carefully heeding the snake warning signs while also looking for birds. The ponds held many egrets, ibis, and spoonbills as well as a few blue-winged teal ducks and some black-necked stilts. The wooded area was very quiet, but one of the other birdwatchers there pointed out a Louisiana waterthrush ahead on the path and I identified a brown thrasher there too, both new bird species for me.

After spending some time there, I drove back to the hotel, ready for some “down time” and feeling a little travel weariness. I spent much of the rest of the day in and around the hotel, catching up on emails and finishing the e-book Owls of the Eastern Ice, a really great memoir and account of research done on Blakiston’s fish owls in northeastern Russia, by Jonathan Slaght.

For dinner, I returned to the Gypsy Joynt, driving through drizzle, this time enjoying the restaurant’s rendition of a Vietnamese bahn mi sandwich.

Thursday, my day to travel home, was sunny and cooler in the morning (about 70). All the fog of the previous day was gone, the humidity lower, and a steady breeze blowing. Knowing that I would be returning home to cold temperatures and rain made me savor the last few hours of warmth and sunshine. I ate breakfast, packed up my things, downloaded a new e-book to read on the airplane, and then took a walk around the block near the hotel. Leaving Galveston in the late morning, I drove to the Houston international airport, spending the last few hours in Texas navigating through Houston freeways in the sunshine.

After a restful night, I woke up on Tuesday to overcast skies and a breeze. Going downstairs to the hotel’s free breakfast, a man in the hallway said, “You must be the other birder here!”, indicating the reception staff had told him of another person (me) who was here for birdwatching. As we both gathered breakfast food, he introduced himself as a birding tour guide from Northern California, guiding a group of four people here and headed to High Island. The Texas coast is somewhat of a birder’s Mecca in the springtime.

After breakfast, I met my guide for the day, Kristine Rivers, the owner of the local company Birding for Fun. She was waiting for me just outside the hotel lobby before 8 a.m. We took off in her van, headed toward Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, located on the mainland northwest of Galveston Island. Before we left the island, however, we stopped at Corps Woods, a small woodsy area across the road from the Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District office. I was interested to see the office, albeit from a distance, since I had worked for the Corps’ Seattle District before I retired. As we walked the path around the small area, Kristine pointed out a northern parula warbler, a new species I hadn’t seen before and not found in the western half of the U.S. It was the first of many “lifers” of the day for me, birds I had never seen before. The only snake we encountered during the day (thankfully) was here too, a tiny, dark, 6-inch long snake that scrambled off the path in front of Kristine.

Thus a great birding day commenced, with Kristine using her longtime Galveston knowledge to know just where to stop to find birds. We drove through the refuge, stopping along the way to see birds, alligators, and even to rescue a large turtle that was in danger of getting run over while crossing the highway. We went to so many different habitats, including wetlands, estuarine areas, lake shores, a sandy Gulf of Mexico beach, soccer fields, and ponds next to the road, all with different birds. Kristine was a fantastic guide and naturalist with wide-ranging knowledge of birds, plants, natural history and all things about Galveston. She was really fun and interesting to talk to and she made sure I was comfortable and seeing as many birds as possible. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day despite cloudy conditions and high wind at times, and we saw 75 bird species, many of them being lifers for me.

The trip ended about 4 p.m. when Kristine returned me to my hotel, leaving me with recommendations for dinner and next-day birding locations. The time spent with her was definitely the highlight of my time in Texas.

In the evening, I went to dinner at Gypsy Joynt, a restaurant and bakery Kristine had suggested, where I enjoyed a really great fish sandwich on freshly-baked bread with a little indulgent mac and cheese on the side. And I found a self-service car wash to remove the dried-on salt spray from the Bolivar-Galveston ferry ride that was making it nearly impossible to see out the side windows.

My morning in Houston started well with the hotel’s breakfast buffet and an easy checkout. But as soon as my car and I emerged from the hotel parking structure a little after 7 a.m., I knew it wasn’t going to continue so easily. Rain, lightning and rush hour traffic all combined to make my drive to High Island more difficult than I had anticipated. The weather forecast had predicted just a cloudy morning, but it was obviously wrong. Rain pelted my little car, making it sound like I was driving a tin can. I had to use my fastest windshield wiper speed and turn up the volume on my phone’s navigation to hear it giving me directions. The cloud seemed to reach clear to the ground and there were frequent flashes of lightning but I couldn’t hear the thunder because of the rain and road noise. Plus traffic! But at least the speedy Texas drivers slowed down somewhat in the rain. What I thought would be a 90-minute drive ended up taking about three hours, due to slow traffic, a rest break and a grocery stop in Winnie. But it was no longer raining by the time I reached High Island sometime after 10 a.m.

There are several Houston Audubon bird sanctuaries at High Island and I went to two, Boy Scout Woods and Smith Oaks, both with information tables staffed by volunteers. The two ladies who greeted me at Boy Scout Woods provided trail maps and helpful tips, and they were very interested in hearing about my train travel too. I followed the boardwalks and trails through the woods and out to the wetlands, seeing quite a few other birders at various points. It was windy and pleasantly warm, and I heard a lot of unfamiliar birdsongs and calls, but didn’t see too much. I was probably late to get the best morning bird action.

Then I moved on to Smith Oaks, just a short drive away. This location had sounded more promising when described by the two lady volunteers and it was spectacular. There’s a relatively new elevated walkway that brings visitors up to tree-top level and the area hosts two large rookeries, where LOTS of birds were nesting. I really enjoyed walking around to see all the birds. There were even some large turtles and an alligator down below the walkway. The birds in the rookeries included egrets, cormorants, herons, and roseate spoonbills (the pink ones).

After leaving Smith Oaks, I drove along the flat, low-lying Bolivar Peninsula toward Galveston Island. It was an interesting drive, parallel to the Gulf of Mexico shoreline where the waves pounded in. All along the way, there were elevated homes and cabins in all sizes, all about 20 feet off the ground.

I stopped once along the way to view shorebirds (American avocets) at a jetty, where I ate some things I had bought in Winnie for lunch. Then I continued on to the ferry loading area at the end of the peninsula , where free ferries take cars across to Galveston. I had to wait about an hour for my turn on the small ferries, which run every half hour and take about 15 minutes to cross. My car was at the front of a car line on the boat and was repeatedly splashed with salt spray during the whole crossing.

Once on Galveston Island, I drove around the city to get familiar with it before checking into my hotel at 4:00, a Best Western on Seawall Blvd.

Dinner on my first night in Galveston was at a New York style pizzeria, where I enjoyed a calzone.

I got up a little early Saturday in order to get to the Tucson Amtrak station to catch my 8:15 a.m. train. It turns out I didn’t need to, since it arrived an hour late. But before arriving at that conclusion, I had taken advantage of my $15 credit at the Doubletree for their breakfast buffet and taken an Uber to the train station, arriving about 7:30 a.m.

When the train did reach the station, quite a few people got on, but I was the only one headed to my sleeping car. The car attendant, Efren, met me before the train and carried my suitcase onboard. My roomette was on the upper level again, so I took the stairs up and then got comfortable in the room. The train left about 9:15 a.m.

There were delays along the way due to freight train traffic. The dining car attendant at dinner said we were two hours behind schedule. A while after dinner, Efren set up the bed in my roomette. We had changed time to Mountain Daylight Time in New Mexico and then again to Central Daylight Time a little east of El Paso, TX. It was about 10:30 p.m. CDT by the time I went to bed.

I woke up at 6:00 Sunday morning and went to breakfast when the dining car opened. The train was approaching San Antonio as I ate. For some reason, we sat in San Antonio for over 90 minutes. I think we had to take on more fuel, water and passengers, but I don’t know why it took so long. Anyway we were late, finally arriving in Houston about 1 p.m., two hours later than scheduled. It was windy and warm in Houston, around 80 degrees.

My Uber driver was a young lady driving an electric BMW i3 on her first day of driving for Uber. She was pleasant to talk to, but I was a little nervous seeing how fast everyone drove while they tailgated too. We made it to the Houston airport alright and I found my way to the shuttle bus to the rental car office. My Enterprise compact car was waiting for me, a blue Mitsubishi Mirage. Then I navigated via my phone through the fast freeway traffic to my hotel, the Hilton at Post Oak, which Amtrak Vacations had reserved for me when they booked my train tickets.

But there was an unpleasant surprise when I tried to check in: the Hilton reception staff said my reservation had been canceled. Another glitch with my Amtrak Vacations arrangements! I got on the phone to Amtrak Vacations while sitting in the Hilton lobby and they apologized and told me to book and pay for the hotel on my own, then write an email to the customer assistance office for Amtrak Vacations on Monday, explaining the situation, and they would reimburse me for the hotel. (I sure hope that works.) Anyway, I finally got a room on the 3rd floor of the Hilton.

Since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, I quickly went downstairs to the bar and ate an early dinner accompanied by a beer, again taking advantage of my $15 meal credit gained from my Hilton Honors Diamond status. (Thanks again, Gary!) I decided to not go out sightseeing afterwards since I was tired from the day’s ordeals and didn’t want to battle the traffic or the wind. So I called it a day.

Friday, April 8th, was a day of transition for us. We checked out of The Tuxon and went to the nearby Waffle House for breakfast. I had never eaten in a Waffle House before and wanted to experience it. Despite knowing there were probably much better breakfast places around, Nancy went along with my wish. It was smaller than I expected inside and the menu wasn’t as long as other breakfast places. I had eggs, grits and toast which were just ok. I don’t need to return to a Waffle House again.

After breakfast, I dropped Nancy off at the airport for her morning return flight to Seattle. Although many Alaska Airlines flights had been canceled over the previous week due to a pilot shortage and labor problems, hers was a “go.” Then I drove to a Tucson park called Sweetwater Wetlands which is a wastewater reclamation and recharge site. The wetlands cleanse the water and host many birds in the cattails, reeds and trees that grow there. It was a pleasant place to walk around and there were several other birders there. But the air temperature was climbing fast and by 10:30 a.m. I wanted to go someplace cooler.

I returned to the airport and turned in the rental car. Then I took my luggage, walked to the arrivals area and summoned an Uber to take me to my next hotel, the Doubletree at Reid Park in Tucson. An older gentleman was driving the Uber and he arrived quickly, but prolonged the 10-minute drive somewhat when he missed the turn to the hotel. All turned out alright, however. The Doubletree had my room ready eve though it was only 11 a.m. when I arrived, plus they gave me water and a warm chocolate chip cookie. 🙂

I hung out at the hotel’s restaurant, bar, and my room for the rest of the day, avoiding the 93-degree heat outside. Thanks to my brother gifting me Hilton Diamond status, I enjoyed an upgraded room with a view of the pool. (Thank you, Gary!) Saturday will be the beginning of the next leg of my journey, traveling to Texas.