Luckenbach, TX – Established 1847, Current Population 3

Tuesday night we spent a couple of hours in Luckenbach, TX, enjoying some good ol’ Texas Brew  (Lone Star Beer, known as the "National Beer of Texas") and some “pickin” by three performers strutting their stuff in the bar at Luckenbach.  Listen to this country song to see the genesis of our interest in this town.  One cannot travel in Texas without hearing and feeling this musical genre enmeshed in all that that you see and do, and Luckenbach has become the epitome of what this music represents - NOT the glitter and the gold, but the hard-scrabble life of the Texas Hill Country and the equally hard-scrabble life of the performers from this region who sing from their soul, though most would likely not rebuff a call to the big-time if it were to happen for them.  Luckenbach is a magnet to some, for others, it is a “this is it?” response.  We fall somewhere in between.  We went, we saw, we thoroughly enjoyed and reveled in the experience, but likely will not be returning for any of the many large-crowd draws to this iconic little Texas town.  It was the charm of the every-day, the unknown performers, the tiny-town atmosphere that captured our hearts and our delighted our senses.  Luckenbach is definitely on our list of “must do once if in the Hill Country of Texas” recommendations for fellow travelers.

Of Political Correctness, The Greater Good and State Parks

As we have traveled during the last 30+ years, we have often camped in state parks.  Most, if not all of the state parks we've visited show a strong CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) footprint.

The CCC was created as a government jobs program during the Great Depression in the 1930's, building national and state park buildings, infrastructure, trails, tree nurseries, and more.  That government-led program has left a lasting imprint on the how many American and foreign visitors experience and view the varied geography and rich terrain of the United States.

On this most recent trip we have camped primarily in Texas State Parks, in each of which we have visited lodges, visitor centers, and cabins built by the CCC; we have walked trails established by men from this program in the 1930's, which have been relished by countless visitors over the years and continue to be maintained by current park staff, whose jobs are in constant jeopardy as state and national budgets cut  funding for parks.  Most, if not all, CCC park buildings were built using readily available natural materials, trails were created to cause minimum impact to the the natural habitat of any given area while still permitting ready access to the wonders of nature to all park visitors, and both signage and nature programs were developed to instill in park visitors a deep and abiding love and respect for nature.

Our country is once again mired in difficult financial times.   As we travel this country, state by state, we have seen both incredible displays of wealth and painful evidence of great poverty. I cannot help but think that government money - OUR money - rather than supporting failing "big business" could be more productively spent on something like a modified CCC, but I suspect that in 2013 a program such as the CCC was in the 30's would be scoffed at as politically incorrect, as forcing the poor to work for the government, as "make-work".

I wonder if there a way in which such a program could be created in today's circumstances and perceptions, which would be construed NOT negatively, but as a mechanism for providing many citizens in dire need with the jobs and money for sustaining their families, and skills training for future employment; something that would be seen as an opportunity to foster pride in the ability of the participants to build something that both current and future generations would enjoy, and from which both the builders and the nation would benefit.  If such a program were to be developed, I would certainly be an ardent supporter.

Leaving Goose Island State Park

We’re bidding a fond farewell to Goose Island State Park near Fullton/Rockport, TX this morning and beginning our inland trek. We originally planned on staying for 4 days but extended the time by an additional 5 days because there was so much to see and do here. The park is clean and well maintained, with very friendly and helpful staff and volunteers and pleasantly large and relatively private camp sites. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the volunteers included a couple who served as “Birding Hosts”, who got us hooked on our new joint hobby of birding.  

While here we have seen magnificent sunsets, enjoyed two sightings of the rare and elusive Whooping Crane along with many other interesting and pretty shorebirds that we never see in the Midwest, by last count around 30 different species, only a handful of which we are familiar with from seeing them in Michigan.  One day we visited Goliad, a town of historical significance. Although everyone is familiar with the Alamo and the events that transpired there, fewer are as aware that only a few months following the massacre at the Alamo, 340 were killed at Goliad (twice as many as at the Alamo).  I’ll dedicate an upcoming blog posting with photos specifically to Goliad.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon visiting the nearby Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where we saw, pretty up-close and personal:  3 alligators

About 35 feet away from us on the other side of a pond; the one on the left was probably around 10 ft. long

Smaller one on the right, close-up

My, what big teeth you have!

7 Pecarries (Javelina)

Crossing the road about 15 feet in front of us

Rooting at the side of the road as we drove by - not much bothered by our presence

 Wild boar with 4 piglets (1 baby just barely in photo lower right) - note long tail

Feral Hogs, one on left appeared to be a hybrid with wild boar

Deer, about 4 ft. from car - not at all worried about our presence

We also experienced our second Whooping crane sighting here - a pair we could see through binoculars from a special platform built for that purpose.  Too far away for a photo.

Today is a road-trip day, beautiful, clear and sunny.  We anticipate that scenery will be similar to that we’ve seen so far – miles and miles of scrub mesquite, dry grass, agave and cactus, nearly all fenced, so we assume  ranches, with only occasionally a few head of cattle, many of them a long-horned variety.  This is a place where you see oil wells on one side of the road and wind farms on the other, a state that is gleaning energy from both below- and above-ground.  We have been driving for the last half hour on North 181 with massive wind farm to our left – well over 100 large windmills stretching as far as we could see.  To our right were several sites with working oil wells and numerous storage tanks.

Fun factoid: when we were in Florida last year, winter visitors to the state were commonly referred to as ‘snowbirds’; in Texas, they are referred to as ‘winter Texans’.      Happy Valentines day to our family and friends!

Birding

Beginning with Galveston Island State Park, we’ve been in an area of Texas known as The Great Coastal Birding Trail.  Each of the state parks we’ve stayed in have designated bird habitats and bird-walk trails as well as multiple nearby wildlife refuge areas that also offer excellent bird habitat.  John and I have always fed birds at home and enjoyed watching the antics of those coming to our feeders; although we’ve learned to recognize the common visitors, we have never been very serious about our study of birds.

While walking the bird trails of Galveston Island State Park we saw several birds that were not only new to us but really beautiful and intriguing, which whetted our appetite to learn more about them.  

White Ibis

Great Blue Heron

Tri-colored Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

When we reached Goose Island State Park near Fullton/Rockport, TX, we became even more intrigued by birds because this park has not only Park Hosts, but also Bird Hosts – volunteers who live at the park for a month or more at a time to teach classes on elementary birding techniques as well as offering a variety of bird walks.  We attended both Birding 101 and Birding 202, learning just enough to heighten our bird-awareness further, then attended a bird walk searching for shore-birds one morning, and woodland birds another morning.  We are now officially hooked on this new joint hobby, looking and listening for birds wherever we walk. 

We have one good pair of binoculars between us, and purchased the recommended National Geographic Field Guide to North American Birds both in paper copy and electronic iPhone version, so have begun following the Bird Hosts’ suggestion to “learn 2-5 new birds each day”.  It’s fun discovering and developing a new interest that we both share.  Among the interesting bird facts we’ve learned:

a)    Texas cardinals are noticeably lighter in color and smaller than our Michigan cardinals.

b)    Many birds “speak” regional dialects; that is, the bird calls of the same species residing in different geographical areas can and often do sound very different from each other, complicating identification. 

c)    Some birds mate with other similar species, creating hybrid offspring that display identifying characteristics of each parent, complicating accurate identification even further. 

Photos I've included here in this post are all ones we have taken these past couple of weeks. Unfortunately not all the birds we've seen have been this willing to pose for close-ups, so to see any of the ones I've listed in the paragraph below, you have to look them up to see how they look.

Some of the fascinating and beautiful Texas birds we've seen but have been unable to photograph:  Stone Turner, Willet,  Peregrine Falcon, Snowy Egret, Wilson's Plover, Long-tailed Grackle, White-tail Hawk, Buff-bellied Hummingbird. 

Below are a couple more that were happy to pose for me: 

American White Pelican

Having a bad-hair day!

Cormorant

Cormorant

Brown Pelican