Tag: coast

Winding up Texas Coast Time

As we moved to our third camping spot on the coast, we made a stop at the Patton Center/Marine Science Institute at the suggestion of one of our number, Diane. It was free and worth a visit. Plenty of parking.

We moved on to a free camping area on Indianola Beach next. Amenities: Pavilions with picnic tables, bathroom, and an outdoor shower (for swimmers). Enjoyed watching the sea/coastal birds including a number of brown pelicans & listening to the waves constantly coming in. Occasional ships and fishing boats could be seen in the distance. We also found a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant with great seafood. All of our time on the Texas coast was a bit hot and sticky but helped by coastal winds.

TEXAS. APRIL.

A Couple Creatures from the Aquarium at the Patton Center/Marine Science Institute
Unexpected Ferry Ride
Along the Texas Coast

Olympic National Park

Next, we headed out of Oregon and into Washington. One thing that has come out of traveling full-time is that I am being educated geographically regarding the western side of the country. For example, I didn’t know Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, are basically the same metropolitan area, separated by the Columbia River. Although it was interesting to discover this, as usual these days, I am quite happy to leave big cities in the rear-view mirror.

Olympic National Park was probably the biggest surprise for me to this point, as far as national parks are concerned. I found it to be the most diverse of all the ones I’ve visited – from beaches with amazing low-tide creatures to towering snow-capped mountains.

Redwoods SP/NP Area

Certainly, the Redwoods state and national parks and coastal areas are beautiful but unfortunately, my bad California luck continued in a big way here. The memories are still fresh several months later, so I will not choose to record those unfortunate events here since the goal is to ultimately forget what happened. Instead, I’ll only mention the good–and usual beautiful–parts and then we’ll move on. (More info in the photo captions.)

Bodega Head and Stump Beach, CA

I had forgotten to pull images from my phone, so I’ve included a few more here from Bodega Head, but the majority are from a really nice hike in the Stump Beach area. I highly recommend a visit here–especially in April of the year. Although I didn’t include many photos of them (long story), the wildflowers here were amazing.

I decided to try something different for this post and make a video instead of creating a regular gallery. I’m interested in feedback on video vs still photos. Thanks!