Port Aransas, November 2025, an easy morning of birding an sightseeing

Our friends Dave and Jane invited us over for a day of fun at Port Aransas. They drove their van, they no longer travel with their diesel truck. It’s pretty fancy and different as we have never owned a van. The trip takes about twenty minutes, (if you don’t count the wait for the ferry, which was longer than usual this day). After crossing the ferry. we turned right and drove to the Leorna Turnbill Birding Center. They had read that a flamingo had returned to the park and as we walked to the first large salt marsh it was easy to see.

It had been seen at another marsh, far from the boardwalk, but we were lucky as it had flown closer. Of course, I felt foolish as I had only brought my phone, having left my camera and large lens at home in our fifth wheel trailer. The pictures aren’t great, and I even tried to take a small video of it as it fed by sweeping its large black bill back and forth along the muddy bottom. When feeding It sticks its whole head under water as it works back and forth along the bottom.

Of course, the American White Pelicans were present, along with Blue Wing Teal and Black Necked Stilts. Two Least Grebes, rare birds, fed below us, but I couldn’t get a picture of them before they disappeared into the tall rushes. We did not see any Whooping Cranes. We also did not see the large alligator as it was reported to be near the water tower. Our next stop was at the Jetty where we watched as ships came in and Dolphins fed. There were lots of people fishing on both the North and South Jetties, but we didn’t see them do any catching.The swells were large and a small boat, fishing near the end, rose up and down and almost disappeared into the trough. It would not be a good day for anyone with sea sickness, (I have been fortunate in that it has never bothered me). We did stop at the usual Mexican Restaurant for lunch. It’s so nice to have proper spicy food after the bland Mexican food served in most places in Star Valley. There were reporrs of a new bird, a Grooved Billed Ani. but we never saw it. It was a pleasant day, thanks Dave and Jane for inviting us along! Clear skies

Conspicuous Consumption, The Bishops Palace, Galveston

Years ago, but after we retired, we traveled to Rhode Island and toured the Vanderbilt Summer Home. It’s a classic example of Conspicuous Consumption. The Robber Barons built huge monuments to themselves with the riches they had acquired both legally and often illegally stealing money and land from the public trust.

In or about 1894 Walter Gresham built a palace in Galveston, Texas for himself and his family. We have often driven by the Bishops Palace, it was later acquired by the Catholic Church and eventually became the home of the Catholic Bishop, hence the name. When built, the palace was made from the finest materials and survived, mostly intact, the Great Hurricane that destroyed most of the Island. The self-guided tour of the Palace took about two hours and was worth the fourteen dollars per person admission. The floors were made with inlayed wood patterns, much like the home we saw in Kansas. The windows were stained glass, some with their children pictured. Some of the windows were changed by the bishop after he moved into the palace. One is on the Grand Stairway and is a picture of Holy Mother Mary. A conservatory made up one of the first floor room, alone with the reading room which was called the Silver Room.

Another room was the library filled with all the Classics.

The children were dressed in outfits that mirrored the fancy clothes of the adults. The formal dining room was decorated with wood carvings of Neptune.

Attached to that was the kitchen, also in the upstairs bathrooms, were three faucets for water, hot cold, and rainwater for washing one hair.

One of the bedrooms had been changed into a bedroom for the Bishop, and another into an Altar for the Bishop to celebrate Mass. The third floor was closed, as was the lorest level. Massive repairs are being done to save the building.We enjoyed the tour and recommend it! Its rare that I make reading suggestions, but do a search on Robber Barons of the Guilded age. The parallels to today are obvious. Clear skies

Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois

My brother told us some of our family history. Of particular interest were three brothers of my great grandmother Sarah Butler. They had enlisted in the 26th Iowa Infantry Regiment, which mustered in Dubuque, (two enlisted at the start of the war and one toward the end at age fifteen). The 26th was a hard luck regiment, (ravaged by disease as three hundred died from disease for each one killed in battle,) at the battle of Vicksburg, they were on the northwest side of the city. They were posted in a swamp where mosquito borne disease ravaged them. One of them died on the way to a hospital in New Orleans and another died in the last Federal assault of Vicksburg on the Confederate lines. The remaining brother was allowed to enlist even though he was too young. He died in the second to last Battle of the War, (Malvern Hill), and was buried at Appomattox.

At the Cemetery, open but closed due to the shutdown, a worker told us how to tell the difference between Union and Confederate graves. The Union gravestones had rounded tops, and the Confederate had a triangular top with a point. Some of the graves, all of Illinois Regiments, who fought had their names engraved, but the other Union Graves were simply marked Unknown. The Illinois Regiments had shipped the bodies home with names after the Battle of Fort Donelson. The Iowa Regiments had been buried at Donelson were marked as Unknowns and were later disinterred before being reburied at the Butler National Cemetery. The Confederates had died in the prisoner of War Camp located on the south-west side. Not prepared for the cold winter they suffered terrible losses as pneumonia ravaged the camp, (although many did escape or were exchanged until a wooden wall was built to enclose them). The National Cemetery had graves from soldiers and sailors who died in all the Nations Wars. The Spanish American War. First and Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam were all marked with the servicemen’s names. Visiting the National Cemetery. There were so many graves. The Cemetery was a sobering experience. Later we talked of our plans for our own burials, (an important topic as we are in our seventies and eighties).

A Family reunion with my Siblings

It had been nine years since we had last seen my brother Mike, at our Daughters wedding,, so when we decided to visit my sister in Illinois, she called Mike and asked if he could visit while we were there. I then called him, and we both were surprised as it had been nine years, and we were long overdue for a reunion. The plan was to meet him on the 20th of September. We of course drove from Wyoming, and he would fly from his home near Raleigh, North Carolina. We arrived on time, but the government’s idiotic shutdown was so screwed up that the air traffic was either delayed or cancelled across the country. He was lucky that he made it only eleven hours late on the 21st. We were all staying at Connie and Gary’s house and so the next morning we started to catch up. Of course, we do call each other often but so much is missed. The first few days were almost nonstop visiting as we shared memories of our parents and of growing up in Iowa. I, being the youngest, learned the most as Connie and Mike told me of things before I was born and talked of relatives I would never meet. Neither one had anything good to say of my Great Uncle George. I didn’t even know he existed. Mike told about having a paper route and having his papers stolen by another paper boy. My dad took Mike to the boys house, knocked on the door and when the father asked what the hell he wanted, grabbed him, thrashing him against the door. The man then apologized, and Mike got the money for the papers. I knew Dad was a fighter, after all he had seven brothers….

I made some of the breakfasts, and Renita and I also did the dishes. One of Connies favorites are my crepes and so I made several days’ supply. She, and Gary, then made Monkey Bread. It’s made from bread dough, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, in a bunt pan. She next allowed it to rise in the fridge and baked it the next day. It was great and I ate the most! On another day my nephew Danny and his wife Janelle drove us to a smokehouse in Springfield, it was perfect! We also ate lunch at a Maderite, an old Iowa favorite. Its a name for a loose meat hamburger. The days went by too fast but before we left, we went to a National Cemetery looking for gravestones of great uncles and members of the Iowa Second infantry who had fought and died in the civil war. But that’s another story. Thank you, Connie and Gary, for the reunion. Every day is a blessing, and these days were the greatest! Love and of course clear skies

Crossing Nebraska and Iowa

We left Wyoming and headed into Nebraska. Our destination was North Platte. The North Platte River meanders from Wyoming and into Nebraska. It’s the location of the largest concentration of Sandhill Cranes in North America. The migrating cranes all funnel through a small area. They stop to feed and it’s said that in the morning and evening flocks of ten thousand birds rise into the air as they go out to the daily feed. The number of sandhill cranes this spring was estimated at seven hundred and twenty thousand birds. I can’t’ imagine the sound of that many birds with their raucous rattling call.

They had already left when we got there but we did hear a few near the Audubon Society’s Birding Center. The volunteer told us that we could make reservations for next spring’s migration. She did say that the field trips always sell out early.

From Nebraska we drove into Iowa and met my cousin Pat and Her Husband Greg Hudson. They moved to where their children are located, in Ankeny, Iowa. We met them for lunch and of course I had to have a pork tenderloin sandwich. It was great to catch up on all the cousin gossip. We both forgot to take any pictures of the four of us definitely a senior moment…. After lunch we headed to Keosauqua, where Renita’s sister Pam and her Husband Camp Host at Lake Sugema County Park. We were going to surprise them but decided instead to call just before we got there. Arriving at their site a party was in progress, along with a huge corn hole tournament. Renita and I played against each other, and she won. We spent the night in the Grand Hotel in Keosauqua. The next morning, we stopped and said our goodbyes. They also come down to Texas and camp in the same park we do so we will see them soon. Clear skies

Illinois and Texas Bound, A wild Stallion in the Red Desert

Our place is in the mountains. Two years ago, we got twenty-one feet of snow and we hire a man to shovel the snow off our roof, The forecast for today is for sixty mile per hour winds and for six to fourteen inches of snow. Thats why we left last week) We looked at the weather forecast and the winds were predicted to be over forty miles an hour with snowstorms. Two of the passes were expecting heavy snow. That made our decision on our route for us…

The route we chose was to go south over Salt Pass and then east, crossing the Wind River Mountains at Atlantic City, (which is almost a ghost town). Crossing the Red Desert north of Rock Springs, we kept watch for wild horses. We did see a group of three, but they were too far away. A little further we saw a car stopped. A lady was taking pictures of a wild mustang, and we pulled over. The beautiful horse stood proud and gave us a perfect profile. At one point it turned and looked directly at us before walking away. Continuing we drove east and passed a rock shop. It was open and so of course we stopped. Renita mentioned that she thought we had enough rocks, but she was wrong. We added to our collection with some cabochons, already cut. The ones we purchased were Graveyard Plume Agates, from Washington State, green aventurine, a blue optical fiber piece, and five pieces of red carnelian, (one of five gems mentioned in the bible).

While I make my own cabochons and love making them, these save me about two hours of work for each piece. I am simply buying time, which is the most precious thing one has. I also bought two slabs of Teepe Canyon agate from the Black Hills and a slab of Montana moss agate from the Yellowstone River. Renita purchased a ring made of moonstone set in sterling silver. We were both excited about our purchases, and when we arrive in Texas I will set mine in sterling and 14 K gold-filled wire. Clear skies

Fishing the Bitterroot, Hamilton, Montana

Our time up North was drawing to a close, we still had one thing to do, and that was to visit our daughter Jen and her husband Eric. Of course, the main purpose was to see them, but we had also never fished on the Bitterroot. It’s one of the classic Western streams that contains native Cutthroat, introduced Browns, and even some rainbows. No fishing trip would be complete without going to the local fly shop and buying flies, both dry and wet. The owner was very knowledgeable and talked us into spending about one hundred dollars, he also told us that if it was a clear sunny day and the fish wouldn’t be biting. Walking out of the shop we enjoyed the warmth of the bright sun.

A hatch was occurring of tiny, and I mean tiny mayflies so besides various nymphs, wet flies that sink, I purchased some size 22 and 24 dries that matched the hatch. The Bitterroot runs from south to north so we drove to a public access point to the north and if the first spot didn’t work would drive south fishing other access points if needed, At the first stop Jen and Eric walked upstream while Renita and I started at the bridge. I was throwing a streamer, which resembles a minnow, and Renita tied on a size 14 purple haze, (which he also said worked and it’s a fly we use a lot in Wyoming). Neither of us had any takers, or even lookers so we walked upstream. I waded out to a small island and saw two fish taking something off the top. Changing flies, I put on a dry purple haze and on the second cast a fish rose and took my dry! I was so excited I pulled the fly out of its mouth and missed it. After numerous casts, I switched to a tiny size 24 mayfly but still no luck.

We walked further upstream and at a sunken tree I spotted probably the biggest cutthroat I have ever seen. Casting my fly, the trout simply swam into a mass of roots, all I could see was its tail. It never looked at my fly! I should have taken a picture with my phone as I didn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of catching it. Even if it had taken my offering, it would have simply swam into the roots and broken my leader. Meanwhile Renita headed to another spot and tried again without any success. Jen and Eric met us and I told them about the huge trout. They never saw the fish as it had moved deeper into its lair. We decided to move to another access point, without any luck. To add to our misery there were quite a few fish taking very small flies, which we couldn’t see. I switched to a size 24 dry, but it didn’t matter, The sun was still shining brightly, (note the excuse from the fly shop owner)! A bald eagle flew overhead deciding we were no threat to its food source, (do you like the way I change the subject)? Jen hadn’t caught any fish either and talked about spotting a school of large fish feeding on the bottom. They were probably Mountain whitefish, a tasty white meat fish, but they wouldn’t bite on our offerings. As we prepared to leave, the sun was still shining brightly! Renita and I both kept casting until Jen told us we had to go, as we had reservations at our favorite steakhouse. It wasn’t the first time we had been skunked. We will be back! Clear skies

Part 1 Continued, A bear and a coyote at Grand Teton National Park

From the moose encounter we next headed to a place where our friends had seen a black bear. As we neared the location, we saw a large number of people taking pictures and watching something below by a pond. Parking we grabbed our cameras and looking down could see a black bear munching berries. It would bite on a branch and then pull the branch through its teeth stripping the berries into its mouth. The bear was unconcerned about all the people and moved about the branches. As it neared the top of the small tree it slipped and fell but caught itself and climbed back up.

Nearing the top its head and shoulders were visible, which is a rarity when they are eating in thick brush. Finally filling up for the moment, it climbed down to take a long drink from a small stream below us. After slaking its thirst, it moved toward the people but stopped and decided it would be better off to go back to the first tree and make sure it had gleaned all of the berries. Its typical bear behavior, eat till its stomach is full, then take a long drink from a nearby pond, before returning to fill up.

The bears are all in hyperphagia and will eat for up to twenty two hours each day. Several years back we watched a bear go for a swim before returning to eating berries). This is the time the females eat enough to be sure that the fetuses will grow inside them and emerge as cubs next year. The sows, if not fat enough, will reabsorb the fetuses and will not produce cubs, (by the way the sows will mate with multiple boars and may have multiple fathers in their litter of cubs.

After taking lots of pictures we decided to go looking for a grizzly bear, Driving to Leeks Marina without spotting any grizzlies we saw a member of the wildlife Management team parking at a place where we have seen grizzlies. Pulling in we waited but no grizzly appeared and so we drove to Pilgrim Creek. Nothing was happening and returning to where we had spent time waiting, we saw people rushing to watch a grizzly bear, bear 1063, as it was heading into the woods. Getting back in the car we drove to Pilgrim Creek where the bear might be headed.

The only excitement at Pilgrim Creek was a lone coyote that paraded in front of us. It was wearing a collar which is never a good sign for its survival. Coyotes and Fox are only collared when they start to eat human food, they have been fed! If they continue to eat people food, they will be euthanized. If you feed wildlife, remember a fed critter is a dead critter, be it bears, coyotes, fox, etc. You might as well shoot it, you are not doing any kindness. The last sight of the day was that of a rescue helicopter with two first responders hanging below it on a long rope. If you blow up the picture you can see them dangling far below the copter.

What a ride!It had been a great day watching four moose, a bear, and a coyote. Time to head home. Clear skies

A great Day in Grand Teton National Park A face off between two bulls!

We were busy packing when our neighbors Becky and Fred told us about their trip to Grand Teton National Park. They had made a quick trip to the park and in only six hours got to watch two moose and a black bear! The weather here has been crazy with daily heavy rains, but the forecast was for a one-day break before the rain and cold weather returned. So the next day we got up early, at six am, and headed to Jackson for a quick breakfast at McDonalds before heading to the park. Taking the roundabout, we drove towards Kelly and quickly ran into a moose jam. Stopping, we talked with a person who told us four moose had been in an open area but that they had just disappeared into a thicket of willows,

Looking further north we saw people still taking pictures and so we parked, grabbed our cameras and joined the group photographing a huge bull moose guarding a single cow. At one point the bull turned and looked at us but he decided we were not a threat.

A smaller moose calf fed in the willows. Suddenly a small bull moose appeared across the Gros Ventre River.

He was smelling the cow and walked up to the water before the huge bull made an appearance.

The much smaller bull seemed to lose interest, and the large bull decided the challenger wasn’t worth the effort and the cow laid down for a siesta. The young bull decided the time was right to try and sneak across the river as the smell of the cow in estrus was driving him wild.

It’s rutting time and it was the first time we have ever seen two bull moose squaring off over the cow. The young bull started to wade across the river. It would take a few steps and then paise looking for his opponent.

Slowly he approached the south bank of the river when suddenly the huge bull stood up and appeared on the bank.

We have never seen a moose move as fast as the young bull as it splashed away to escape the massive rack.

Discretion can be better than valor. The young bull decided to leave the area and disappeared in the willows on the north bank of the Gros Ventre. What a start to the day

. Clear skies In spite of the government shutdown, the park was open, but without any services besides the restrooms. The entrance booths were unoccupied, not that it mattered much as we both have Senior Passes.

Prepping for the winter

It is almost time for us to leave Star Valley. The Star Valley Rv Resort has announced the closing day on October 15th. Th water lines will freeze if they are not drained. Otherwise, we would stay longer as we love it here. Its been an incredible busy six months, most of which we have already written posts about. We have played more pickle ball than ever before and at times the best we have already played. However, its getting harder to move so some of the shots go flying past us. I have a bunch of things to fix so I can continue to improve on the depth of serve, being in the ready position, hitting with the ball on lobs, and working on my backhand, are just a few. I did play in one tournament called “the dink a thon”. I entered the 3.5 level group and quickly realized I was in the wrong group. Oh well, someone has to be the anchor.

We hope to hold a similar tournament in South Texas as many of our players are lacking in dinking skills. We also play in two round robin groups. One meets on Monday afternoon and is limited to 3.0 and 3.5 players of any age. Another meets every Friday and is limited to players who are seventy years old and above. There are a lot of people in this group, many of which are above our skill levels, (4.0 and above. New partners are drawn for each game ). It’s a good way to meet people and the better players will often suggest changes to better our play! Thanks to Nora for organizing both activities.

We had hoped to go to Grand Teton National Park but it’s shutdown with the government closure. We are heading to Jen and Erics for some flyfishing, before heading to a small family reunion at my sister Connie and Gary’s house in Springfield, Illinois. We also have several more doctors’ appointments before we can leave. Hopefully all will go as planned and we hope to arrive in South Texas November First. To all our friends who are traveling we wish you safe travels, and to others we hope to see you down the road. Clear skies Ps our blog visitor numbers since inception are now almost 480,000. Thanks to all who visit! I probably should have accepted advertisements but that would defeat the purpose, (and I hate blogs where the advertisements go on and on}. Our blog is a journal for us to remember where we have been since retirement. We make no money from it.

Hiking to Phelps Lake, Grand Teton National Park

We spent two days looking for bears in Grand Teton Park, with no luck.

The Hawthorne Trees are filled with berries. However, the foliage is so dense that unless you get lucky you can’t spot the bears. We never got lucky. Still, we had beautiful spots for picnics, the days were smoke free and on the second day we hiked to Phelps Lake. Rating the hikes, Phelps Lake is the easiest. It’s normally 2.2 miles but the normal route is closed due to black bears. A temporary route is open which adds another 1.2 miles to the round trip, making the round trip 3.4 miles total in length.

The elevation gain is only two hundred and twenty-five feet and its rated as an easy hike. We spotted a doe and fawn black tailed mule deer. They were healthy, unlike the doe and fawn we see in our rv park, dying from chronic wasting disease.

Returning to our car we next drove to Sawmill Pond where we spotted a belted kingfisher. A moose had been visible, but it had disappeared just before we arrived. It was still a nice place for lunch. After lunch we drove the Teton Park Road. Lots of people, lots of people with electric bikes, but very little wildlife. The parking lots at Jenny Lake and Lake Taggert Trail were both jammed with cars, many being forced to park alongside the road.

We saw quite a few people at the Black Tail Pond Overlook. A juvenile bald eagle was soaring overhead, and we got a pretty good image. It’s a huge bird and the beak it unmistakable, the beak of an eagle. It’s not unusual for us to miss seeing any bears. Normally we see bears for about one day for every three days we visit. We’re not sure if we will get back to the park as our time is getting short and we will be heading south when our park closes. The water is shut off, on/about October 15th. Clear skies

Hiking to Grand View Point, 2025

Earlier this summer, our Daughter Jen joined us for a hike to Taggert Lake. The next hike on our list, and the most strenuous, was our yearly hike to Grand View Point. It’s listed as an easy hike but at seventy-three, there really isn’t any such thing. Arriving at the parking lot we put on our hiking boots. Starting up, I asked Renita where we headed and she promptly answered, “To the Top”, (thanks to Steve Gardiner for telling the story in one of his books of hiking with his daughter up Snow king).

The first part of the trail had mud puddles, and we realized it had rained shortly before our arrival. We didn’t see any bear prints, always a good sign. Some years we have seen grizzly prints on the trail, so we were carrying bear spray. As we entered the forest canopy the trail was covered with debris from the rain and the rocks were slippery. Stepping carefully, we avoided any slips and falls, perhaps due to our trek poles. The trek poles give us extra balance as at our age balance is a problem…At one point Renita spotted a flock of Dusky Grouse.

Stopping frequently to catch our breath, we didn’t notice dead trees form beetle kill. Most of the trees looked to have survived the year. The only berries we noticed were snow berries, a white berry that humans can’t eat but one of the foods for hungry bears. About two thirds of the way up we were passed by a younger retired couple from Pennsylvania as we visited another retired couple stopped on their way down. They were from Virginia. It was like a mini happy hour on the mountain. We wished everyone safe travels and headed for the top.

The forest opened as we approached the top and we stopped for views of Two Ocean and Emma Matilda Lakes. At one of the openings there is an excellent view of the Tetons, almost as good as the false summit.

On the summit we met a family with five kids who ranged from ages ten to two years old. They must have carried the two-year-old girl. The parents had their hands full! They were also on a yearly hike to Grand View Point and like us from Wyoming. On top, three young women from Texas were taking pictures.

The real summit has a sign on it and after some pictures we headed down to the best view of the Tetons and our favorite lunch spot. Some clouds were forming, and I became concerned about the possibility of lighting. It has happened to me before and it’s not fun to huddle in an exposed position as lighting flashes and thunder booms all around you. (I have been caught three times on mountain tops, twice on Devils Tower and once while on the summit of Darton Peak in the Bighorns. Hurrying our lunch we headed down. The pace going down was so much easier but we had to stop and rest. It was taking more effort than usual as the rocks under the canopy were still wet. My legs were feeling like jelly, so we found a tree stump and took a brief respite. The storms moved away from us, and we continued to the car. We had reached the top! Clear skies