Magnus On the Beach

 July 14, 2025

This trip was a short jaunt to the beach at Galveston Island. Last year we went to the bay side of the state park and hiked around on the little trails looking for birds.  If memory serves me, it was hot and there weren’t very many birds and we didn’t especially enjoy it. But we also decided to stop at the ocean side and check out the brand new campground they’d built. (How brand new I’m not sure, but I know it wasn’t there five years ago when we started camping.) We thought it looked really nice, so when I was planning an ocean trip for this summer, that came to mind.

But first we had to get there. From our house all the way to Galveston Island is a pretty ugly drive, so I broke it up with overnight stops on the way there and the way back. First up was Huntsville State Park.

We’d gone there on a day trip a few years back and the park looked very nice with lovely lake views. But that must have been at the day use area, because the campground didn’t have very lovely lake views at all. You could see the lake but only if you squinted through the trees.

Not that I minded. Trees mean birds…except there weren’t any,. Not a good time of year for birds, I’m afraid. And it was very hot and humid and not at all pleasant to walk around—I was a little bummed to be starting off a trip in such misery.

But there were trails, lots of them, and I think it could have been a nice place to hike. But a bit of a “blow”  started coming up while Molly and I were walking, so I stayed on the road to give us a better chance of avoiding deadfall. Not that there was any—I was just being paranoid.  After getting sprinkled on just a little, we managed a decent one hour walk.

Then poor Molly got left behind while Ed and I went and ate at Pappadeaux. Very expensive; very, very good. I had swordfish with cannelini beans. Lovely!

Then back to feed Molly, only a little late. On our evening walk we saw a deer, a racoon, and a Yellow crowned Night Heron. Better than nothing!