Old wood bridge

This is my first structure project for the trip. Billions of spacers, another billion NBW castings, many, many struts and braces and rods. Whew. Glad its done.

Alamo

The shrine at the Alamo is wonderfully restored. The grounds are probably a lot more beautiful today than they were in Davy Crockett's time. The map shows Santa Ana's final victorious attack at the lower left (northwest) corner of the fort. The 200 defenders kept the 4000 man Mexican force at bay for several weeks prior to the hour and a half final assault. The Alamo itself is shown at the top center.

San Antonio - River Walk

We spent today at the River Walk. We had a great steak, browsed the shops, visited the Alamo and rode the river. The main section of the River Walk is protected by huge flood gates as the San Antonio river can overflow with heavy rains. It was a beautiful 78 degree day for our first visit and we had a great day. The local Texas Belles were also out in abundance.

Laguna Atascosa

This is a wildlife center close to South Padre on the mainland. They are home to 18 of the remaining Ocelots on the USA. In addition they have a 17 mile loop of unspoinled habitat for all kinds of animals. These Green Jays are spectacular examples. They almost have too many colors. The underside of the tail is bright yellow.

Multi billed blue-water

The birding center on the island is fairly new and features almost a mile of boardwalk over the wetlands, beach and pond complex. They have a wonderful view of the bay and lots of wildlife including several alligators. The bird on the railing is a beautiful Little Blue Heron. The top photo is an extremely rare Multi-billed Blue-Water:)

South Padre Island

We are staying in a wonderful campground at the far south end of the island near the delta of the Rio Grande River. This is the view from inside the rig. This location also has a long pier with a wonderful restaurant ant its end. Several times each day the pirates come and attack the pier from their newly commissioned vessel.

Sushi anyone?

This alligator pretty much rules the roost at the bird pond. He's about 10' long and growing fast!

Moby Dick's

Local eatery known for its atmosphere, and sharks, and pirates.

Snipe hunt anyone?

We have arrived outside Corpus Cristi on Port Aransas. Its on North Padre Island, part of the barrier islands of Texas and home to numerous bird sanctuaries. This is a popular wintering area for the birds. These four are all new species to me including the rare American Avocent in the top one. No snipes, yet.

Not a sheep :)

This is an example of the local wildlife in Galveston. I don't think its a modified sheep although it does have a nice woolly coat (it needs it, last night the temp was 29) :)

Galveston Ferry

There is a ferry at the Galveston harbor entrance that, according to their web site, is "in lieu" of a bridge. They have several ferries and they run 24/7. Scarlett and about 40 other vehicles traveled across the harbor entrance, a distance of about 4 miles in about 20 minutes. What a gas! We took the ferry from the Port Arthur side to avoid the traffic in Houston and to save about 50 miles. We saw about 30 large freighters and numerous barges in the vicinity of the harbor. Galveston is a very busy place.

Big Mississip

We took the ferry up the river and got some great views of New Orleans and the massive amount of river traffic that plies the waterway each day. The ferries are free to pedestrians and one we took traveled several miles up the river past many marine terminals. The top photo was taken from the river and shows the superdome on the left and the rt 90 bridge over the river on the right. The fabled trolley system runs right next to the river in the French Quarter. This shot was taken at the foot of Canal St. behind Harrah's casino.

N'Orlans

Some great folks on Bourbon St. This guy with the gator on his head was a real trip. Still quite cool but no sleet, no snow, no ice:)

Bellingrath Gardens

We traveled south of Mobile to see the gardens built by the local Coca Cola baron Bellingrath. He was the first in Alabama to use motorized delivery trucks. Starting about 1925 he and his wife Bessy converted an old fish camp into a world class garden complex complete with a bayou, an Asian area, waterways and numerous flowered (even in Janurary) pathways. The high quality of every square foot of this beautiful garden can not be conveyed in these few photographs. Water flows through many areas of the garden and is stepped down over many small waterfalls before finally falling into the river below. The picture of a well bundled up (39 degrees) Patti shows one of the many waterways.

Mobile Alabama

Our visit to Mobile consisted of an afternoon out by the home of the battleship Alabama and a trip downtown where the cruise ships are only a block away from the old town portion of the city. The next day we drove south to Dauphin Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. The jusaposition of an 1804 french fort and the 21st century oil rig at the lower right of the photo is striking. I had no idea the oil rigs were so close to shore, and there are so many! 25 are visable from various points of view from the island.