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.
Lori's Travels 