South Padre Island

 

I've brought Barbara to another beautiful, empty beach.  Spring Break, anyone?

Actually, a bit chilly, even Pemba has her red winter coat on. No hotties in bikinis, either. 

The drive down from Rockport looked like Don Quixote's nightmare - hundreds, maybe thousands, of gigantic wind turbines to slay. Quite impressive, but hard to photograph.  Some nice contrast to smoke-spewing refineries, with turbines all around.

Yesterday was an interesting day at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Like the beach, almost empty. I counted about four cars total in the 115,000 acre preserve. Highlights included seeing the Whooping Crane, one of the rarest birds in America. Unregulated hunting and habitat destruction reduced the population to c. 23 birds in 1941, but has recovered to over 800 birds now. 

Turkey vultures aka buzzards get a bad rap from most Americans, but are an essential part of the ecosystem. 

Lousy picture from just the cell phone.

About 20 turkey vultures are in this shot, but the flock was over a hundred, who all took off right after this click. Big birds, their wingspan is 63-72". Spectacular, at least for this non-birder.

We saw the local Big Tree, a Live Oak.  The leaves on live oaks look totally different than northern species of oaks. "Live" oaks mean they stay green all winter. 

Barbara is wearing two hats to keep warm.  

Another day, another park.

Escaped butterflies (Corpus Christi)

There about a dozen butterflies in this picture, taken just outside of the Butterfly Pavilion at the South Texas Botanical Garden, near Corpus Christi. Sadly, I could not find any INSIDE the Pavilion. Two mother were gabbing while their four children ran in and out and in and out of the pavilion leaving all  four doors open, right under the sign that pleads "please to make sure no butterflies are on your clothes and escape". I closed the doors, and that southern belle, bless her little heart, said,"Oh, did I leave the door open. I am so sorry." As I walked away, the kids ran through and left open all the doors again. I let the garden manager know, but nothing happened, of course. 

Overall, this botanical garden has opportunities for improvement. They did have some nice parrots and macaws, though.

If you do want to see a really nice butterfly exhibit, the Houston exhibit is fabulous.

The waterfall is about five stories tall.

Lots of various butterflies, well designed signage, and some other animals such as turtles and iguanas. Overall excellent exhibit.

Great Owl butterfly - about six inches

Between Corpus Christi and South Padre island is the famous King Ranch.

The King Ranch, Inc. is the largest ranch in the USA with about 825,000 acres now, larger than RI (776,900 acres). It was founded by Richard King in 1853, and originally had most of the lands between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, Texas. It is still privately owned by his descendents.

The Origin Story is he was an indentured jeweler in NYC, escaped to Florida, learned to captain boats, made money on the Mississippi, moved to Texas and bought a 10,000 acre ranch. 

Somehow, not clearly described, he made a lot of money and kept buying ranches until he had some 1.2 million acres. Easy, right?  

The histories don't mention much of the uglies, as usual.

Texas was a slave state. The current official histories basically ignore this. He had something like 10,000 to 30,000 acres of cotton, which at the time could only be profitable with free labor, i.e.,  enslaved people.

His first 10,000 acre plot cost him $300. (Total, not per acre) Two years later he bought a mare for breeding for $600. Somebody is making a lot of money.

The real fortune came during the Civil War. The Cotton Trail was the route for smuggling cotton, the world's most valuable crop, out of  the South to Europe, and then import weapons for the Confederacy. The Union closed almost all trade with the South, but Mexico was an independent, neutral country. He flagged his ships in Mexico.

He was a blockade runner, smuggler, and arms dealer. The Cotton Trail, transporting cotton from east Texas and Louisiana to the Rio Grande, crossed his ranches, so he collected exorbitant fees for food for the horses and mules. He ran the ferries across the Rio Grande, then he collected landing and storage fees in Mexico, and profited on breaking the Union blockade. He also sold his own cotton, of course. He brought lead back from Mexico to make more bullets for the war.

After the war the US tried to arrest him; he fled to Mexico. President Johnson, our first impeached American president, pardoned many traitors besides Richard King, such as Robert Lee and Jefferson Davis. 

The King Ranch Inc is now famous for breeding cattle, significant oil and natural gas development, and diversifying into six countries. We wanted to take the tour, but they filled up every bus to the max, masks optional, and the windows don't open. The clerk basically sneered at us, "We don't have to require masks or have social distancing." This is Texas.

The museum was interesting, and the tours probably are worthwhile once covid goes away. 

Happy trails,

Krem and Barbara