My dress smells of campfire smoke, my hair is tangled by the wind, and my boots are caked with mud. And I couldn't be more content. We are visiting Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, straddling the Tennessee and Kentucky border for a weekend of camping, cooking, and hiking with friends.
It is March and we have just had 3 inches of snow. I had been lounging in bed when I looked up and gasped. It's snowing!
After spending days in South Padre Island, here we are on the northern tip. While there are still sand dunes, they are smaller and quickly give way to grassy wetlands. As Padre Island National Seashore is to South Padre Island, Mustang State Park is to Corpus Christi. Here, the bayside residents can get in the wilderness to camp, swim, fish, and kayak. There is an extensive parking lot for RVs. I can only imagine how crowded this place gets on the weekends. We were there, though, to get our feet wet.
For the first time in our entire trip, the border patrol stopped us. Usually, we drive up, confirm that we are citizens, no one else is in our truck, and that is it. And, yet...
Spanish guitar strummed in the background as we watched the sun set over South Padre Island one last time. Despite the soothing heat and the reviving air, our colds still linger. We decided we'd spend one more day in the heat to heal before continuing our travels. So, this evening we took a walk to enjoy the sunset and it did not disappoint.
They float serenely in the water. They are super cute. They are sea turtles and they can be found all around South Padre Island. If you are lucky, you can swim with them in the wild. Yet, when they are unlucky, there is a place that will help them: Sea Turtles Inc.
Padre Island is a major birding destination. The island protects a salty, shallow bay, ideal for many birds to rest and eat during their migrations between Mexico and the rest of the USA. The South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center is perfectly located at a mixing of fresh water and salt water. It is a destination for birds of every variety, and those who wish to see them.
Thousands of miles from Death Valley yet only a couple weeks later, we wander a new collection of dunes. Very little of South Padre island is developed. The rest is rolling sand dunes for the crabs and clams and birds.
As far as I can divine, March on South Padre Island is an extended period of debauchery known as Spring Break. Wave after wave of college students descend onto the small spit of land along the Gulf Coast for each of their respective weeks off to experience everything that their parents earnestly told them not to do in the last eighteen years of their lives.
I have now resorted to using chapstick on my raw nose. Too many tissues have left my nose in unseasonable competition with Rudolf. Being sick on the road certainly is a mixed bag.