Around The Park

Before we get started on today, I would like to quantify something I said before.  The pic of the "big refineries"  was just one component of one of the several huge refineries around here.  The pic below is about one 20th of another one.  

Today we had the day to ourselves so we took another stroll around the rv park to see what we could see.

One thing we saw a lot was wildflowers.  The unmowed areas around here are very brushy and full of these and other beauties.

We started out at a dumpster for the trash and followed a gravel road around the north end of the park.  It led to the entrance of the intracoastal waterway at the Gulf.  We saw a tug pulling a barge into the channel, watched as it unhitched, dropped back, 

pushed the barge around 180degrees and hooked up to push it backward down the waterway.

From there we walked back into the park to a hill with a big gun on top.  The signs for snakes must be taken seriously.  Rattlesnakes love the brushy habitat.  Fortunately the only one we saw was squished on the road.

View of our rig from the top

There was no info about this gun but was probably used during both world wars and possibly the Korean Conflict.  The track allowed the gun to be turned in a complete circle, covering all of the intracoastal waterway and the entire beach.  We continued our stroll by walking through the park to the entrance and down the street.  The entrance to the park is a county road that runs along a high levee between it and the intracoastal waterway.  On the other side is a short street with a few typical beach houses built on platforms, then the big dunes, the beach and the Gulf waters.

We walked down this street and found the above historical marker.  We continued our walk about 1/4 mile through Quintana and found this little bird sanctuary.  The whole thing might take up an acre.  It consists of a wooden 2 story observation tower, several mowed interconnected walkways, and this little (man made) pond.  The pond could also viewed from a couple of different park benches and from a blind for photographing migratory birds.

 We liked this flowering shrub.  The flowers bloom yellow, then turn pink.

One of the restored historical houses in Quintana.  Apparently the platform houses are newer.

In this overall view of the park our rig is ahead on the left (not visible), the visitors center is just to the right and the big gun to the right of that. 

We hadn't been back from our walk very long when Jesse called to say that we could come over and help him on some projects.  We spent a nice evening visiting, helping on small remodeling projects, sharing pizza and helping Bella celebrate her 4th birthday.  She loved her rings,  We adjusted them to her fingers and they were a perfect fit!

I'm not sure what's in store for tomorrow, except that it will be filled with more nonsense.

Stay tuned for more wonderfun,

Louise and Duane