Whoo -- chilly in the woods this morning! Funny, Brandy had said it was in the 90s when she came down this way about 2 weeks before...weird. We pack up camp -- oh look, there's the hole in the mattress...guess we need to get a patch kit sometime today -- and make our way up to the office to register the campsite. But before we go, I want to take a couple pictures of where we stopped -- hey, there's a river over the grassline next to the campsite! Cool! We found out later that it was the San Antonio River. Neat!
Well, we had planned to wander through the mission before we left the park, but before that, I wanted to get a shower. Angela's still a little iffy on the idea of using the public showers at the State Parks, but I guess growing up going to public schools and dealing with communal showers for P.E., I just plain don't think anything of it. Of course, these aren't always the best quality showers....the hot water was fine, but there was perely any water pressure -- I was wedged up against the wall trying to make sure everything got wet -- and that wall was cold! shivers
As I was drying off, my phone buzzed, and I checked it to see a very tender e-mail from Brandy telling me how much she missed us. With a soft smile, I began mentally composing what I would send back to her a little while later.
Angela and I walked around the mission, and were duly impressed by our surroundings, although neither of us is particularly religious. Angela lit a candle for her grandmother, and I got to ring the bell! The museum was interesting, showing how the Spanish missionaries converted the native peoples, and had several artifacts displayed related to the clothing, pottery, and stonework that was manufactured there. We saw a sundial that was little more than angled lines carved into a stone and a stick to create the shadow -- I think it was accurate, too! Oh, and best of all -- we saw a fox! Angela was giddy about seeing that fox for the rest of the trip.Finally, we opted to push on, figuring we would make our way south, eventually going through Port Aransas, for the sole purpose of riding the ferry to the island. I can't think of very many ferries in Texas, so if you've never been on one, I recommend it if only for the unique experience -- unfortunately, it doesn't last very long...just a few minutes.
We made our way down to Mustang Island State Park, where we found the beach to be pretty much empty. The red tide was mostly cleaned up, although we saw some dead fish here and there on the beach while collecting some shells. The wind was blasting away at us, but we looked forward to camping on the beach.It occured to us that we should probably consider what we planned to do for dinner...on our way out, I asked if it was permitted to have a campfire on the beach -- turned out we were allowed a small fire. Cool! Camping on the beach and a campfire! I was looking forward to getting back. We ended up buying some sausage, shrimp, and of course marshmallows....I even picked up some chocolate and graham crackers. We grabbed a small bag of firewood and some firestarters, and made our way back to the beach, where I pitched the tent......in the dark.....again. Then I dug a quick hole and struggled to keep the firelighters lit long enough to really catch while the wind was fighting me to blow them out. Eventually I got a little fire going, but it quickly became merely coals....the wind was not goign to allow me to get a decent cooking fire going, nor did it seem it planned to let the tent stand up either -- the dome was looking more like a squished nerf ball from the pressure the wind was putting on it. Sadly, it looked like we would not be able to feasibly remain on the beach, unless we planned on sleeping with the roof of the tent in our faces all night. Too bad, though -- the moon was full, the beach was empty, and the ocean was gorgeous. It was a glorious night, and we soaked it in for a while before we buried the fire, crammed the sandy tent into the trunk and made out way to my parents' house in San Antonio. On the way, I spent time on the phone with Brandy, which was helpful in keeping me awake when Angela dozed off.
Finally a bit after midnight, we rolled in, said brief hellos to the parents, then found a mattress and passed out.
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