Silver Spirit Travels: March 2016

We spent the last week at Martin Dies Jr. State Park, near Jasper, TX on one of the largest, most private, and beautiful campground sites we have ever encountered. It had been rainy prior to our arrival, so the woodland hiking trails were either closed due to flooding or so overrun with hoards of starving mosquitoes that we didn't last past the first few yards, retreating instead to the roadways for our walks. Even then, due to the park layout in two separate campgrounds (one on either side of the main road) and multiple loops within each of the campgrounds, there was plenty of pretty walking available. We will definitely return to this park in the future, and will most certainly try to reserve the campsite we had this time!

A day trip to Nacadoches, TX to visit the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden was a highlight of our stay in this area, as well as an inspiration in design of woodland gardens. This is a fairly recently established garden (1997-2003) but has the look of much much older one, because it was integrated into an existing loblolly pine forest, so has a stunning mix of trees and shrubs at various ages, heights, colors, and textures. It was a treat for the senses!

As we wrap up our stay at Goose Island State Park, we are feeling nostalgic for leaving this special place, and while what we have savored most about our stay is just the day-to-day beauty and peacefulness here, I thought I'd mention some of the more deliberate and active pursuits we followed while here.

OYSTERFEST: We arrived at Goose Island State Park just in time for the last day of the 37th Annual Rockport-Fulton Oysterfest. This event includes oyster and shrimp sales, oyster eating contests, carnival rides, live bands, and various vendor booths (food, t-shirts, various crafts, etc). It was enjoyable to see so many people having fun, and we had some terrific oysters and shrimp. By the way, we found out a few days later, that the "Oyster Eating Champion" downed 200 raw oysters in 5 minutes. We saw the man a few days later when heading out for some fishing, and he was still alive and in good spirits :)!

BOTANICAL GARDEN: We've had a great run of weather while visiting this area, so one day we took advantage of that to spend the day at the South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, a unique blend of flowers, birds, reptiles, children's playground, birdwatching, and demonstration gardens.

This guy had a 10x10x10 cage - looked happy

There were 2 iguanas, one large, one medium, in an outdoor enclosure that measured ~15x15x15

Running free in the butterfly house :)

Great children's playground!

SALTWATER FISHING: Goose Island includes a huge fishing dock and large boat launch area that includes a fish-cleaning station. After days of watching others fish, clean fish, and have fun, we decided we needed some of that! John picked one of the fishing guides who appeared to always be productive based on what we observed at the fish-cleaning station, and who had a really good-looking airboat. After talking with him a bit and looking him up, it turned out John had selected one of the fellows who is considered an iconic fishing guide here, with 40 years experience in guiding in Aransas Bay and also in building and selling airboats to meet the specific needs of fishermen in this area. We were pleased to find that he had a day available to fit us in as clients, and off we went. We had a fantastic day with our guide David Neslony, Sr. who ensured that we not only had a productive fishing day but also pointed out about 20 whooping cranes (which are on the endangered species list), and a variety of other beautiful birds including various ducks, shore birds, and roseate spoonbill. But the fishing! Ah, the fishing....! We caught our limit of Redfish (3 each) and Black Drum (5 each), plus a "bonus" Redfish that was large enough to take on a special tag. We were having such a great (tho overcast) day, that I actually forgot to take photos most of the time (very unusual for me). I had no idea how hard it can be to pull in fish this size and by the end of the day I had to call "uncle" and ask for help on the last two that bit on my bait, because my arthritic wrists just couldn't take any more. John, however, managed all of his, including the 37"whopper below. This experience also gave us a whole new appreciation for the hard work involved in being a good fishing guide. It was also surprising to see how little the sound and movement of the airboats seemed to affect the wildlife in the area; they appear to have decided that airboats are just another loud but non-threatening occupant of their shared space.

37' Redfish

The day's catch

Guide cleaning our catch for the day

The airboat that took us on our day of adventure and fishing

WILDLIFE REFUGE: We have visited the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in earlier visits to this area, but it is always a beautiful place to spend a day walking, driving, enjoying wildlife and wildflowers.