The Great Spring Break Road Trip – Part Two

S. decided without much discussion that another morning of birding was out of the question for her.  The downtown shops were a powerful morning attraction, and knowing that we had the afternoon booked for birding at the Fennessey Ranch was the clincher.  S. dropped me at the docks to join Capt. T and his boat the Skimmer about daybreak.  I was lugging all my gear, and he and his first mate were prepping the boat.  In a quiet moment before the rest of the group arrived, I chatted with him, asking how long he’d been doing this, and he quickly surmised that I really meant why are you doing this?  He presented himself as an outgoing, well educated, aggressive...

The Great Spring Break Road Trip – Part One

S. and I were sitting at he kitchen table at the farm in the midst of an unusual spring cold snap (that’s what they call them in the country) and she said, “wouldn’t it be nice to take a few days off and do something out of the ordinary”.  These words to my ears were like catnip to a cat.  I immediately ran through several really outrageous ideas before I hit upon a semi-reasonable, semi-likely to get agreement on idea of a few days on the gulf coast of Texas.  When she retorted with the not surprising query of “what in the #@*# will we do there”, I was ready.  “Oh, I don’t know.  Perhaps we could check out the antique shops and art galleries.”  It’s not for...