As you learned in my last post, Hubby got to accompany me on a recent business trip to Texas. Thursday was committed entirely to travel and work stuff. On Friday, I left Hubby at the hotel while I went into the office to get some work done. Then, around noon, our mini-adventure began.
Until late Thursday evening, we had no plans for Friday. There were some sights I’d flagged to see, and we knew we’d be in San Antonio on Saturday night, but Friday was a blank slate.
Austin is on the outer edge of Texas Hill Country. To be honest, until I went to Austin the first time, I didn’t know Texas even had hills. I just thought it was flat, dry, and full of cacti and cowboys.
The area around Austin is really quite hilly, and rather pretty. So I figured an excursion a bit deeper into Hill Country would be interesting.
I had hoped to eat lunch at Rudy’s BBQ, but neither of us were hungry enough. Some co-workers had mentioned the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg, saying it was a cute town with lots of German restaurants.
Cute town? German food? Sounded like a win-win. So that’s where we headed.
Main Street in Fredericksburg, Texas
I love exploring new areas and discovering new things. Like these, which we saw a lot of…
One of the many AIMs (automated ice machines) we saw.
Who knew ice was such a big business? But then, Texas is rather warm. So I guess people need quick and easy access to ice.
Back to Fredericksburg… my co-workers were right, it is a very cute town.
Cool Sign
Crazy Photo Bomber
Quaint German Restaurant
Ice-cold German Beer
DELICIOUS German Food
After checking my YELP app, we settled on Der Lindenbaum, which had 3.5 stars and favorable reviews.
It was a good choice. German food can be heavy. This meal wasn’t. I forget what it was called, but it was essentially pot-roasted beef with herbed noodles and a delicately flavored gravy. With red cabbage. DEElicious. Really.
We spent the next couple of hours exploring the widely varied establishments and sights along Main Street.
Texas seems like an odd place for a Pacific War museum.
Hubby did a quick Google search to figure out why land-locked Fredericksburg was chosen as a location for this highly regarded place, which is also home to the Admiral Nimitz Museum. Nimitz was a native son.
Me and the Admiral
Memorial Wall
Hubby enjoying the memorial.
Scale model of the USS Nimitz (CVN-68).
Flight Deck
It seems like a nice museum, but we didn’t go inside. We had no agenda, but had already decided not to overnight in Fredericksburg, which is indeed cute, but also quite busy and loud. I’m sure we could have found a quiet spot on the outskirts of town, but we decided to mosey on toward San Antonio. After finishing our discovery stroll down Main Street and back.
I REALLY wanted to bring that guy home with me.
Creepy Mennonite-looking lady in rocking chair on wheeled platform.
Those boots were made for dancing. Or strutting.
Awesome sculpture.
Red and Me
Hubby and the guy sitting on the bench were laughing at me posing with Red. How could I not? Any giant M&M would have been fun to pose with, but Red is my favorite. (Do you LOVE this commercial as much as I do?)
Back at the car, I used my phone to plot a route to our next stop and off we went.
Hill Country Highway
We hadn’t gone far when I said to Hubby, “This country is pretty and all, but I don’t want to be on a highway. Highways are boring. Let’s find some back roads.”
A much nicer back road is just over that horizon.
So Hubby did a “U”ey and we headed for Grape Creek Road. With a name like that, it HAD to be scenic, right?
Back in April, when I went to Texas for work, Hubby was a little sad to be left at home. He’d spent quite a bit of time in Texas before we were married, and has wanted to visit for years. But our travels have never taken us there. So imagine his delight when my employer offered to fly both of us to Texas for my company’s 15th anniversary celebration.
I didn’t post about the trip in advance because one never knows who is reading. And telling the world your house will be empty for five days is just not smart.
Anyhoo… from the start, we knew logistics would be a challenge. I was supposed to get to my office at 9:00 AM on Thursday. There were all sorts of activities planned, including a lunch catered by Rudy’s BBQ! A company meeting was to begin at 3:00, followed by a big party at 5:00, which was when family was to join the fun.
Austin, where my company is headquartered, has a small airport. There aren’t a lot of flights. The best ones — direct — leave around midday. But Hubby was scheduled to teach a class at his office from 3:00 – 5:00. So we had to book a 7:20 PM flight through Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) that would, hypothetically, get us to the Austin airport around 11:30 PM Central Time, and to our hotel around 1:00 AM. It was going to be a looonnnngggg day.
On Wednesday, I left the house with the dogs at about 12:30 for the drive to my mother-in-law’s house. Then I drove back to Virginia, stopping at Hubby’s office near the airport to wait for him. We got to Dulles in plenty of time, only to be told by the gate agent as we checked our bag that the flight was delayed until 8:30 due to bad weather in Texas. At least we had plenty of time to eat dinner.
Then we learned the flight was delayed to 9:30. Of course, 9:30 came and went. Finally, around 10:00, they told us it had been canceled until 9:00 AM Thursday. After being informed that there are no hotels close to the airport (Really? Around Dulles?!?), the airline offered passengers pillows and blankets for the night. We, wisely, opted to head home for the night then return to the airport the next morning.
Airport bound during rush hour. Thank goodness for HOV lanes.
Having checked on flights from DFW-AUS, I knew we’d never make it to my office on time. So, with Hubby driving, I called American Airlines on my mobile as soon as we left the house (6:00 AM). All agents were busy, so they had to call me back. After 40 minutes on the phone, the agent agreed that it would be impossible to get from DFW to AUS before 6:10 PM. So she changed our reservation so that DFW was our final outbound destination. I rented a car so we could drive to Austin from DFW, figuring we could just drive back to DFW on Sunday to avoid the drop-fee rental car companies charge when you don’t return your vehicle to the same place where you rented the vehicle.
Then next challenge would be getting our bag, which was checked through to AUS, off the plane when we reached DFW. Knowing the gate agents would be busy with other travelers, we stopped at the ticket counter to address the issue. That agent told us the person I’d spent 40 minutes on the phone with had changed our reservation, but hadn’t ticketed the flight. So we were essentially ticketless. AND, to make matters worse, if we wanted to return from DFW on Sunday, we would have to pay ticket-change fees of about $200 EACH.
“Really?” I asked in my nicest voice. “Is there no way to circumvent that? It was a weather delay, after all.” The agent said she would have to call in a supervisor.
“Please do,” I said.
Being an asshole in situations like that never gets you far. No matter how badly you WANT to get a bit indignant. (I forgot to mention that the agent I spoke with on the phone had already told me we wouldn’t be getting a refund for the unused DFW-AUS legs of the trip as those flights had “no value.”)
It took about 30-40 minutes at that counter to get the tickets all squared away. And to have the agent contact the gate supervisor to pull our bag and flag it to stop in DFW. (Of course, the agent told us first that it wasn’t possible because our bag was somewhere in the belly of the plane. Until I asked very nicely if we could get around that rule. And she said, again, she’d have to ask a supervisor to approve.)
Lesson learned… you HAVE TO PUSH if you want anything done. Really. The lady was nice as could be and more than happy to do what I asked. But I had to ask. I strongly suspect that they are trained to handle situations like that.
When we reached the gate, I had to spend another 20+ minutes with the gate agent and supervisor to make sure our bag was pulled and re-tagged. As I stood there, another passenger approached the gate agent with essentially the same issue. The agent told the passenger it couldn’t be done, and off the passenger went. (Had my bag already been re-tagged, I would’ve spoken up. But I didn’t want to risk having my luggage flown to AUS.)
We finally reached DFW around noon, retrieved our bag, and picked up our rental car for the three-plus-hour drive to Austin.
It sure is flat in those parts. It was all boring interstate, which was under construction practically the entire way, but the skies were interesting. And, since Hubby was driving, I got to enjoy the scenery.
They have giant-marshmallow fields in Texas!
It’s always fun seeing how things are done in different parts of the US.
Sunflower Field
If we’d had more time, I would’ve made Hubby stop for a sunflower field photo op.
Having checked the weather radar — what ever did we do before mobile phones? — I knew we might hit some storms. Lucky for us, we didn’t.
We barely missed that storm…
The skies were really cool-looking.
I must say, I did enjoy the cloud show. Really, how cool is that pic? Rain on the left, dark clouds above, and sunny skies ahead.
We did have to stop and buy a plug adapter since our rental didn’t have USB ports and both of our phones were dying. We grabbed a quick lunch at WHATABURGER (Southern fast-but-GOOD burger chain), too, then motored on.
Should have bought a shirt…
I had to chuckle when we passed that Harley dealership in Temple, Texas. A shirt would have been fun. Except it would have said Harley Davidson. And while I have nothing against HD’s in general, no self-respecting motorcyclist who does NOT ride a Harley would wear Harley-screaming gear.
Yeah, baby.
At that point, we were a little over an hour from my Austin office. We FINALLY arrived around 4:10. Crazy, right?
It was all worth it, though. The party was lots of fun. I got to show off my Hubby and meet some of the co-workers I’d never seen in person before. Some of them had their kids along, too.
There are only about 40 employees, so everyone knows each other as well as their significant others, kids, and even their pets. There were no pets at the party, though.
I guess it was around 9:00 PM when we finally reached our hotel.
It didn’t take either of us long at all to fall asleep, which was a good thing, because I had to be back at the office in the morning. More on that later…
Isn’t it funny how life turns out. Taking directions you never really expected.
Five years ago, if you’d told me I’d be working for — and loving — a VERY small Texas company, I may not have believed you. I mean, I work in an industry where bigger is supposed to be better. Where mega companies are acquiring other sometimes smaller companies at a steady pace. And I’d never been to Texas. Knowing it’s a pretty darn HOT place, I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to go either.
Fast-forward to now. I’ve been to Texas four times — twice in 2014 — and am ready to visit again. And that small company is small in numbers only. It’s got a huge heart. The people are fantastic. It really is like a family.
Late last night, I returned from the best working Texas trip ever. One of the reasons it was the best is that my employer invited Hubby to come along.
Me and Mike at the Texas State Capitol in Austin.
How many employers do that? It was a special event. On Thursday, my company celebrated its 15th anniversary.
I’ve got lots of trip info — and pics! — to share. But now, I need to get to work.
The one thing I hadn’t seen up to that point were alligators. There are two resident gators at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, but they never came close enough for me to see them. And I was determined to see alligators. Especially since Hubby told me I wouldn’t see any in that part of Texas. He thought I was going to Corpus Christi. Since my itinerary was set, I didn’t give him many details of my whereabouts in advance.
I figured that Monday would be a good day to visit the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, which is about a two-hour drive from the tow of Port Aransas. I could have gone on Sunday, but didn’t want to waste the day with four hours of driving. But I had to leave my hotel really early (around 5:30 AM) so I’d have plenty of time.
I thought I’d get to see the sunrise. I was wrong. It was foggy again. Sigh…
Foggy morning at the marsh.
I did get to see a wild boar, which really wasn’t all that exciting. They are an invasive nuisance, and aren’t very attractive. Besides, it was dark. Honestly, when I saw it, I thought it was one of those wooden pig profiles people use as yard art.
By the time I reached the proper entrance — Google maps sent me to the closed back gate! — it was getting lighter. I cruised through the refuge a bit, waiting for temps, which were in the low 50s, to warm up. Alligators are inactive when it’s cold.
There’s a nice 16-mile auto tour route, which I enjoyed. And there are some nice overlooks, too, where you can see various marshes and bays. The natural world intrigues me. I found it all very beautiful and serene, especially since I practically had the place all to myself.
But I really wanted to see the alligators. There’s a small alligator viewing area near the visitor’s center. Apparently they like sunning themselves on the banks at that spot. When there’s sun. But it was still cloudy, though the fog had lifted, and pretty chilly, so I wasn’t surprised that there were no gators were to be seen.
I then headed for the Rail Trail, one of two trails I’d planned to explore while there. The literature I’d seen described it as about a half-mile trail beside a reed-lined slough (aka marsh) where you can see waterbirds, particularly rails and bitterns, as well as alligators.
It was chilly enough that I had to wear the hood of my sweatshirt, and I don’t chill easily, so I didn’t expect to see any gators. Squawking, large birds quickly captured my attention anyway. Despite my tiptoeing very slowly down the grassy path — I was making virtually no noise — I was spooking these big-ass, long-necked, heron-looking birds that were hanging out in the trees.
Anhinga (I think)
I’d never seen those particular birds before. I think they were Anhingas, but I could be wrong. All I know for sure is that they are big — 50″ wingspan — and shy. No matter how quiet I was or how slowly I moved I kept spooking them. Before long, the entire flock of 50+ birds was airborne. They’d fly around in big circles over the area, and me. When they flew above me, all I could hear was the beating of their giant wings and a soft whoosh as they sliced through the air. It was pretty cool.
Flock of what I think were Anhingas.
Convinced I wasn’t going to see any gators, I kept tiptoeing down the path hoping for a better look at those bashful birds.
Anhingas (I think)
I did manage to capture a decent image or two.
I kept looking into the slough, when the reeds would allow it. And I finally saw a gator.
Gator!
He was pretty far down in the water when I spotted him, and slowly sank lower until he was gone.
I kept walking and looking and, sure enough, saw more. This is my favorite gator pic of the day.
Watcher
It really would be easy to mistake the gators for logs or other floating stuff with them so low in the water.
The next image, captured at the end of the trail, will give you an idea how long this gator was. I’d guess 12 feet at least, maybe longer.
Long Gator
I never did see a rail, that I’m aware of.
Next up, the 1.4-mile Heron Flats Trail. See why I needed to leave so early? There was a lot to see.
Really low gator.
My first view of this small pond along the trail yielded nothing. The next time the water came into view, I saw another gator. You have to look closely, it was really low in the water.
A few steps further on, I was excited to see a gator on the bank.
Banked gator.
Did you see the other two gators in the water, right close to shore? I didn’t notice them until after I uploaded the image onto my computer. Three gators in one frame and I hadn’t even realized it. They appear to be lying in wait for something. Perhaps an unsuspecting whitetailed deer? Or maybe a wild boar? No pets are allowed on the refuge, and for good reason.
It was so quiet and peaceful walking along the trail between the pond, on my left, and the marsh, on my right. I had plenty of time, so I kept walking. I’m glad I did, too. Here’s some of the cool stuff I saw.
Black-necked Stilt (another new-to-me bird)
Cactus and interesting leaves.
Craggy, Live-oak Bark
Mexican Buckeye (I think)
Lichen or polka-dotted tree?
The Trail
Flowering tree, which looks like some type of myrtle. I could be wrong there.
Bright Bug
I thoroughly enjoyed the morning nature walk. But I still had miles to cover, so left soon after that.
I hadn’t gone far when I came to this railroad crossing.
Train. Notice the dead pig on the other side of it? Lower left.
The train was so long, there was a helper engine in the middle!
The further inland I traveled, the sunnier it got. So I was really able to enjoy the beautiful countryside and all of the wildflowers.
I’m a sky watcher. I just love the ever-changing colors and textures of the sky. Especially during sunrise and sunset.
Unfortunately, I’m not great at capturing them. I mean, I’ve gotten some interesting shots. But there’s got to be a way to capture the colors in the sky without ending up with too much light.
The problem with both is that the sun is usually glaring right into your camera. Automatic settings will adjust for that light, so everything else will be too dark. Adjust for the darker sky and you let WAY too much light into the camera. Sigh…
The sunset as seen from Port Aransas on Sunday was amazing. Yes, Janet, I was thinking of you!
I didn’t plan ahead. I just happened to notice the colors in the sky as I left the restaurant where’d I’d eaten dinner. So I drove over to the eastern side of the island, found a spot overlooking the bay, and grabbed a couple of pics. A “couple” in this case means about 60. LOL.
Colorful sky, captured with the zoom lens.
To be honest, the cloud cover had been so low and dense for most of the day, I didn’t expect to see much of a sunset. As you can see in the next pic, the cloud cover was quite low on the horizon..
Low, dense clouds. Captured with wide-angle lens.
I snapped some images in quick succession, alternating between the zoom and wide-angle lenses.
I’d about given up, thinking it couldn’t get much prettier, when the sun made an actual appearance as it dipped lower.
Here comes the sun.
I had to edit these pics a bit to get the lighting right. And flatten my horizon. That’s another issue I sometimes have, remembering to make sure my horizon is flat.You know, so the world isn’t unnaturally tilted.
One day, I’ll figure out the proper camera settings for this light…
Fiery sky.
Nature’s pink palette.
The sun was moving quite fast, so I didn’t have time to dally.
One of my favorites, since you can see the blues in the sky, too.
I’m glad I noticed the wave clouds in the distance. I think this next image captures them perfectly.
Wave clouds.
Isn’t it funny how the sun looks like a pixelated, flattened ball?
My favorite. I think.
Which shot do you like best?
My next post will have more critter pics. I’ll bet you just CANNOT wait. LOL.
— In case you didn’t read my last post, this is part three in a series of posts about my recent Texas road trip. The first post can be seen here. —
I didn’t have an itinerary for Sunday, per se, just some places I wanted to see. The whole point of the road trip was to get outside and enjoy some warm weather.
My Home-made Sign
Sunshine would have been nice, but that was not to be. Not that I’m complaining.
Overcast skies are actually better for pictures. When the sun is too bright, images get washed out, you have to contend with shadows, you constantly need to worry about the position of the sun, etc.
I set my alarm Saturday night so I could see the sunrise. At least I think I set it. When I woke up at 8:30, much later than expected, I didn’t remember having turned the alarm off. And, looking at my phone, wasn’t able to tell if it had actually been set or not. I was a tad disappointed until I looked outside. It was FOGGY. So, if I had gotten up, I wouldn’t have seen much anyway.
The extra sleep was actually kind of nice. I didn’t waste any more time, though. I grabbed some coffee from the breakfast buffet and then headed off to the the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. It’s actually right in Port Aransas, so it only took me a few minutes to get there.
Before I go much further, I should warn y’all that, as my post title implies, this day was all about birds. I find being out in nature relaxing. And I’ve always enjoyed bird-watching. As it turns out, there were LOTS of birds to be seen. Not only was I in a coastal environment, I was also in a completely different part of the country. Port Aransas, Texas is at about the same longitude as Tampa, Florida. It’s not often that I get to the coast or that far south.
I did take pics of some other stuff, but it’s mostly birds. In all, I shot over 450 pictures. I won’t share them all here, but I did post about 90 on Flickr (link follows this post).
Oh, and one more thing. I’m not a bird photographer. I knew I wouldn’t be capturing stunning bird images. My goal was just to get reasonably clear images of the critters. Bird photography is challenging. You need skill and really good, i.e., expensive, equipment. You try capturing clear images of a bird in flight and see how well you do. With that said, I’m happy with the shots I got. They’re not National Geographic quality, but, for the most part, the birds are at least recognizable.
Of course, I had to spend some time identifying them after-the-fact since most were birds I’d never seen before.
The parks were within minutes of each other. I actually went back to the birding center (hoping to see the resident alligators, to no avail) and moseyed around town a bit. I was hoping the fog would lift a bit so I could see the beach.
It didn’t.
Foggy Beach
So I grabbed some breakfast for lunch…
Two-thirds of my buffet breakfast.
I’d intended to grab a sandwich. But when I saw that there was a breakfast buffet for $8.95, all I could think of was BACON. I was quite surprised when they offered to prepare eggs for me, any way I liked. Usually buffets have those nasty pans of scrambled eggs. I ordered two over-medium, but they brought me three, along with a nice order of fresh hash browns. I ate about a third of the meal before I remembered the picture. Despite the late hour (around 1:00 PM), everything off of the buffet was still warm and fresh.
Yes, I pigged out.
Gingerbread House Sand Castle
Then I headed back to the birding center. Slowly but surely the day appeared to be clearing.
American Coot (they have very strange feet)
Blue-winged Teal
Green Heron (crow-sized)
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck (love that blue bill!)
Green Heron
Brown Pelican diving at a crazy angle.
The foggy finally started lifting in the late afternoon, so I did actually get to go to the beach. I even walked in the water for a while.
Ah… toes in the sand. And water.
It was lovely.
I even shot a quick video so you could see what the beach was like.
To my surprise, there were even cool birds at the beach.
American Oystercatcher
Royal Terns
I actually spent a couple of hours on the beach. I did a bit of shopping before dinner. I wasn’t very hungry (surprised?), so I popped into Whataburger for a lite and fast meal.
Good thing it was fast. I hadn’t been paying attention to the time. Upon exiting the restaurant, I noticed the sun was setting.
I hustled back to the Port Aransas Nature Preserve, which is actually on the eastern side of the Corpus Christi shipping channel, and captured some sunset shots.
Painted Sky
I actually thought I’d missed the main event.
Painted Sky
It actually got better. I’ll share a couple more sunset captures later.
If you can’t wait and/or want to see more pics from Sunday, they’re on Flickr and can be seen here.
Thanks for touring along with me. Did the bid shots bore you stiff?
