B's: Brazos, San Bernard, beaches

My last free day here was about things I had on my list that I hadn’t done. San Bernard refuge was my main destination. I think I’m between seasons at the refuges – the snow geese must have headed north, and the songbird migration hasn’t begun. But it was lovely to be alone in a vast, silent wetland in the warm sun.

 

I saw some fun birds. The red-beaked moorhen I know; the others I don't. There was an alligator, too, but I didn’t know it until I got home and looked at my photos. They’re less obvious than I thought when they aren’t hauled out on a bank.

  

 

And there were some unexpected treats. One was sheer scenery: Actual trees! Green grass! An absence of scrub! Pretty little farms! The trees were mostly live oaks, which are evergreen. There were lots at the refuge, and lots of Spanish moss, too – quite a difference from the wetlands and scrub I’ve gotten used to seeing everywhere. The Brazos and San Bernard Rivers created a floodplain with better soil and moisture conditions for trees to thrive.

 

The other, huge treat was happening upon a large flock of sandhill cranes, right in the middle of a small town, feeding in somebody’s field. There must have been a hundred.

 

 

 

The trip also yielded some of my favorite Texas road signs. I liked this one (the first of three snake warnings I saw today):

But the trophy goes to this championship set of mixed messages, on a country highway. The first one said,“SLOW.” Immediately after that came “Speed limit 55 mph,” followed in turn by a stop light. Right after that came “Hitchhikers may be escaped prisoners.”

I decided to come home by a new inland route, since there was a town called Lake Jackson. I envisioned a quaint hamlet with a couple of bait shops and a good BBQ joint. I’m so naïve. I forgot that the next town over was full of petrochemical plants, and of course all those workers have to live and shop somewhere, so my quaint village turned out to be endless shopping malls and every upstanding Texas town’s favorite amenity, a morass of overpasses and cloverleafs.

Oh well. I drove through the urban splendor and got back to the beaches, just as the afternoon sun was making it the perfect time for a long beach walk. And when I finally got home, what was right outside my window?  Surprises all around. Love it!