GOOSE ISLAND #3

Matagorda, Texas

Leaving Goose Island

I've been away from the computer for a few days, following the call of grandchildren. Now, I am here to finish up Goose Island and move on to other interesting places. I want to apologize to my one faithful reader from Walsenberg, Co. for not having anything new for you to read. I haven't a clue who you are, but I do appreciate the fact that you are making an effort to follow my ramblings. I smile when I see that you have shown up on my blog.

The last morning at Goose Island was slow and peaceful. We delayed as long as possible before we had to start getting old "Trusty" in travel mode. But, grandchildren were calling and we had places to go and people to see before we could head home.

We pulled out of Goose Island State Park and headed toward Houston. I had been reading about the history of Matagorda and since we were in the general vicinity I thought we should go there. It wasn't a lengthy detour, and it was well worth the few extra hours that it took to get to our final destination.

Great Blue Heron beside road leading to Matagorda Beach

Matagorda is a small, coastal town packed full of Texas history that dates all the way back to the time of French explorer La Salle who sailed into Matagorda Bay in 1685. One of his four ships was grabbed by pirates and another sank. LaSalle was left with just two ships and a number of would-be settlers. One ship was sent back to France with many of the original passengers. That left him with just one ship and that last ship, the La Belle, sank in Matagorda Bay. LaSalle took a few men and went in search of help and supplies and was eventually murdered by his own men. The remainder of his small party who stayed behind on the coast were killed by the Karankawa Indians. The Karankawa were unusually tall (some say at least seven feet tall) nomadic indians who moved along the Texas coastal regions. They were heavily tattoed on their naked bodies and had their lips and nipples pierced with long pieces of sharpened wood . They smeared their bodies with alligator fat to protect themselves from insects and practiced cannibalism. Such was the fate of the few of the Lasalle party who stayed behind.

More than 300 years later, the LaBelle was discovered seven miles off shore in just twelve feet of water. What a find! The recovery of the ship was covered by PBS's Nova. It was remarkably well preserved by the Matagorda Bay silt and many of it's artifacts are in museums in small towns along the Texas coast. The museum in Matagorda has one of the ships ornate bronze cannons.

Matagorda was one of Stephen F. Austin's three original colonies and was at one time the third largest city in Texas, with a population of around 1,500. It was named the seat of the county government, and Austin had great hope for this city with it's great location on the Gulf of Mexico; however, repeated hurricanes and tropical storms continued to lash at the town and destroy what had been built. So, in 1984 residents of Matagorda County voted to move the county seat to Bay City just north of Matagorda. Today, it is a community of about 600-1000 residents that serves as a getaway for fishermen and people with weekend homes on the road that leads to the beautiful Matagorda County Beach.

The road from Matagorda to the beach ends in a beautiful park that has just recently been constructed. The park houses a nice, spacious welcome center, shelters for picnics and clean bathrooms. The beach itself is beautiful, clean and uncluttered. There are very few beach house on the beach itself which makes the beach more special. Actually, most of the "beach houses" are located along the road to the beach along the Colorado River. The Colorado River empties into the gulf right here in Matagorda and is a haven for fishermen. Most all of the houses along the Colorado have lighted piers on the river so you can play on the beach (which is just minutes away) all day and fish all night. Many of the houses are available as rentals. Now, that's just heaven on earth!

My plan is to rent a couple or three of those houses for a family vacation. I think it would be the perfect place to take young children and teenagers, especially those who love to fish (and I have more than a few). We could even use old "Trusty" because camping is allowed on the beach. (That may just be tent camping, gotta check on that.) Sounds like a plan to me. Gotta start saving my quarters!

Matagorda County is also one of the greatest places in all of North America for birding. It consistently rates #1 in the National Audubon Society's Christmas bird count. I'm thinking there's lots to do in Matagorda that I haven't done. Gotta get back down there.

GOOSE ISLAND STATE PARK #2

ROCKPORT & PALACIOS, TEXAS

Shrimp Boats in Port at Palacios

We only had a few days to spend at Goose Island, so the first day we ended up going into Rockport. Goose Island is just in Rockport. Now, Rockport is a pretty little coastal town. If you need to shop,you will find all your grocery stores and Wal-Mart and service stations...pretty much anything you might need for your camping experience. It also has a number of souvenir shops (my downfall). I love to shop for souvenirs. I'm especially crazy about buying coffee cups from all the places that we go. I just like it. I have a thing about cups. However, I can never buy the first cup that I see. I have to look at all the cups in all the souvenir shops and decide which one I like best. Then I have to remember where I saw the one that I like best. That takes a little while and can fill up a good portion of a day. So, that is how we spent a goodly portion of our first day away from Goose Island. Rockport does have a lovely park right on the Gulf of Mexico where you can relax and watch all of the beautiful birds. They also have several nice restaurants if you're tired of eating hot dogs. We chose to have dinner at a nice restaurant called, "Latitude". The food was good-not spectacular, but very good as well as pricey. It was a nice place. Glad we went there. After dinner we headed back out to Goose Island and enjoyed the quiet, the sounds of the Gulf Coast, and the campfire. What more can you ask? That's the best part about camping.

Sandhill Cranes just outside of Palacios

Double-crested cormorant perched on shrimp boat

My mind has deserted me. I will finish this tomorrow. See you later.

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My mind has been summoned. It is rebelling, but I do believe that it is retrieveable!

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The day after our Rockport sojourn, we decided to head the other direction toward the little community of Palacios (pronounced Pa-lay-shus). That's Texan for the Spanish pronounciation of Pa-la-ci-os. It was not a bad drive. You have to understand that driving along coastal backroads in Texas does not open up vistas of great beauty. You get your reward when you get to your destination and the vast Gulf Of Mexico opens up before your eyes. There you have the sight, the sounds,the smells and the feel of beauty that can never be equaled in the interior. I love the water.

Just before we entered the town of Palacios, we were treated to a wonderful sight (remember I have now become a bird lover!) But, whether or not you have a heightened interest in birds or not, you would have welcomed this sight. There was a massive flock of Sand Cranes in a field to our right. We stopped and just looked for ten or fifteen minutes. I don't know, maybe longer. Anyway, they were mezmerizing....great number of them! I'm not good with numbers, but there had be be at least 1,000 of them...well, maybe 75-100. It looked like a 1,000! And when they all took off at the same time, that was truly an incredible sight.

After leaving the Sand Cranes behind we drove on around and into Palacios and there we were greeted by shrimp boats. They were coming, and going,and docked...there were a bunch of them,maybe a 1,000..well, maybe 75-100. Anyway, there were a bunch of them, and in their own way they were also a beautiful sight with their colors and names and sounds and smells. Palacios is called the "Shrimp Capital", and it's port is home to one of the largest shrimping fleets on the entire Gulf Coast. You can only imagine the number of birds that follow those boats! It's a beautiful scene.

Palacious is a clean, pretty little coastal town, and probably the best part of the entire place is a quaint little restaurant called "The Outrigger". They serve some GOOD food. And guess what, they get their shrimp straight from the boats who are in dock just a stone's throw away. I'm trying to say that their shrimp is FRESH. Not only that, but they know how to fix that shrimp in a number of different ways. That's not all they serve, but who cares? If you happen into Palacious you definitely need to eat here. Besides, you might meet some interesting characters. The Outrigger is where all the locals hang out.

After meandering in and out along the Gulf Coast of Texas between Palacious and Rockport, we finally ended back at Goose Island State Park. What a lovely place to collapse. We leashed the dog and walked along the water and out onto the pier and just throughly enjoyed the fact that we were alive. Then, back to the trusty little camper where we relaxed with a great cup of coffee (what's better around an outside fire than a good ol' cup of coffee?) After counting a few stars and listening to someone gently playing the guitar at a camp site not far from us, it was time to fall asleep and think about heading home tomorrow. Camping is a delightful way to spend your senior years.

***An Imortant Note About This Area:

Adjacent to the Goose Island State Park you will find the magnificent Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Here you will find any number of wild birds at different times of the year as well as javalina, deer, bobcats, alligators, all sorts of wild and wonderful things. But, MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, you will find the nearly extinct Whooping Crane. This is one of only two places in the entire WORLD where these birds are found in the wild. The flock nests in Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada. There, in the spring and summer, they build their nests and mate (for life). They then migrate to their wintering grounds in Aransas Pass. That's a 2500 mile trip! They fly during the day and make regular stops along the way. By December all, or nearly all have reached the marshes of Aransas Pass. Whooping Cranes are the rarest birds in North America. They are also the largest, usually about five feet tall with wing spans of seven feet. As spring arrives they begin their flight back to Canada. They usually migrate in pairs or family groups, sometimes in small flocks.

Is that not an interesting tidbit? We have the rarest bird in North America right here on our Texas Gulf Coast! That's definitely something worth making a trip to see. We didn't get to see them on our trip, but you can bet we will be traveling that way again soon. We will time our trip with their migration patterns.

You might want to make a trip to see them yourself.

Goose Island State Park

GOOSE ISLAND STATE PARK

Sunrise over the pier at Goose Island State Park

The first trip that we took with our trusty little pop-up was to Goose Island State Park on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Now, this might just be the place that you would like to spend your winter months if your normal abode is somewhere up north. As a matter of fact a number of people with the "big rigs" were parked there for as long as they could possibly stay. Several of them mentioned that this is where they came every year. We found this out when people would stop and ask about our little pop-up or wonder what we were having for breakfast. They were attracted by the smell of bacon and onions cooking on the outside grill, and had to stop and say how good it smelled. They had just had their breakfast on the inside. I love our trusty little pop-up and cooking outside!

Camp site #126--Goose Island State Park

We found our little pop-up quite by accident. We were headed down I-35 towards Austin going to one of our grandson's football play-off games and Skip said, "Look, that's what we need." I agreed and on our way back the next day we stopped, and all of a sudden it was ours! It's an older model with an interesting history...seems a young girl lived in "trusty" while attending school at a nearby university. She and her St Bernard shared the living quarters until she graduated. It made an adequate apartment for a couple of years with plenty of room to sleep, a table at which to study and write, a small refrigerator and a small stove and sink. I'm assuming she must have parked somewhere near a place that had a bathroom. Anyway, "Trusty" had now changed hands and started on a new history.

The campsites at this park are exceptional. You have a choice of camping at the back of the park where the sites are beautifully surrounded with trees and shrubs. They are very spacious, quiet, secluded and private...plenty big enough for the "big rigs." No one should have trouble backing their camper into one of these spots. The back of the park is also home to many tent only sites. If you choose to be right on the Gulf of Mexico, they also have a number of open sites right on the water. These sites all have shelters, water, electricty and close neighbors. It's all a matter of choice. All of the sites (seculded, tent,open) are well maintained and have clean bathroom/showers nearby. I might also mention that although you are right on the water...you can toss out a line and catch a fish from the fron of your campsite...there is no swimming here. The bottom of the Gulf at this point has an oyster shell bed. That means sharp and painful for bare body parts!

What Goose Island does have is BIRDS! Lots and lots of birds! it is a bird lovers paradise. I didn't know that I was a bird lover until I went to Goose Island. Of course I have always enjoyed birds, listening to their songs, watching them flit from tree to tree, but I had no idea about their names...mockingbird, cardinal, robin, sparrow...but that all changed after we went to Goose Island! Luckily I had binoculars and a camera in the pickup. Soon I had a book with pictures and names of birds. Now, I never go anywhere without that book.

White Pelicans waiting for the fishermen to toss their bait.

We arrived at Goose Island in January. That just happened to be a migratory time for a lot of birds. We took the trail to the front of the park, where the land meets the water, and were just in awe at the number of birds we had never seen before. Luckily for me, they were just getting a bird watching tour organized, and of course I joined the group. Skip chose to sit and observe the gulf and its inhabitants from a bench. He's not quite as excited about birds as I am. The tour was conducted by a couple from Chicago, and THEY KNEW THEIR BIRDS! They come to Goose Island every year and give two tours a day. And, they showed me so many beautiful birds. I saw: White Ibis, Ruddy Turnstone, Long Billed Dowitcher, Brown Pelicans, White Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, Herring Gulls, Long Billed Curlew, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Double Crested

Cormorant,Great Blue Herring, Tri-colored Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Pintail Ducks, Bufflehead Ducks. Those were just the ones I saw that one morning on the trek along the coastline and out onto the long pier (in the picture above). What a great morning! I only went that one day because we used Goose Island as our base of operations and during the day we visited other parts of the bay area.

Great Egret