SPI--Day 3

The next morning we went to a bird and alligator (??) sanctuary that also had a tower with a great view of BOTH sides of the island.

So, Karen is about 5'1".  That's a BIG alligator!

And so is this guy.  Meet "Big Padre".  When I first saw him from the tower, I thought he was just a cement replica.  When I came down from the tower, HE MOVED!!

Take a minute to read his rescue story. . .it's quite funny!

If you look real close in this picture, you'll see Big Padre had LOTS of friends!

Of course, some perfect sea shells. . .completely out of reach of the tourists like me.

Oh my goodness!  There were SOOOO many birds that I took pictures of!  Len bought me a bird book for my birthday this past summer, and I wanted to know what kind of birds I saw!  Although this is a bad picture of them, I think I liked these 2 kinds the best. . .because of their rich coloring.  The pink one is called a Roseate Spoonbill (not a flamingo!), and the duck is called. . .A REDHEAD!  Profound.

This is the boardwalk that led us through the sanctuary.  It was pretty long!

Oh, and there were turtles, too!  And snakes in aquariums, but I don't like those, so I  and my camera stayed far away from them.

The tower and gift-shop building. . .the first pictures were taken at the top of it.

Another lighthouse. . .this one on the coast of the mainland.  I think we chose correctly!

 

SPI--Day 2

The next morning we woke up to a FOGGY day, but we still walked the beach & looked for sea shells.  Like my bird friend?  Well, he didn't think I was a friend.

Some local art in the sand

After our morning walk on the beach, we went to pick up these two lovies, who joined us for the night (and got upgraded to the honeymoon suite for free because there was something wrong with their original booked room).  They were doing some mission work in a nearby town.

Before heading out for supper, we had to show them the beach, even if it was still cloudy

Nice to have someone BESIDES my selfie arms take a picture of us!

South Padre Island (SPI)--Day 1

Since our anniversary was during the week, we chose the next weekend to go away and celebrate in style!  We stayed at this hotel, which had a boardwalk. . .

. . .that led RIGHT to the gulf coast waters!

They also had a swimming pool decorated for the location

AND THIS was what we walked out the front door to our first night there!

After locating the sea bird convention. . .

. . .we found an unhindered view of the sunset.  Good thing we did, too, because this was the ONLY one we saw all weekend!

This boat was all lit up, probably just for tourists like us!

The pelican in the foreground accents the long bridge you have to drive on to come from the mainland to the island.  We drove it frequently.