RESACA DE LA PALMA STATE PARK

Well, the rain decided to stop for a few days and I can say that the weather has been gorgeous.  This weekend I went to South Padre Island and visited their convention center.  They were having Market Days and had a lot of vendors.  When I had my business, there was always a vendor at the shows that sold soup mixes.  This company sells about 10 different varieties of soup mixes and I am a fan of about 4 of them.  I had 1 packet left and guess who was at Market Days on South Padre?  Not the same person, but the same company. This company did not carry as many varieties of their coups and dips and the other.  So, my purchase was 1 package of their soups.

Today, Mr. W and I decided that we needed to do something outdoors because by Wednesday evening, the rain starts again. Ugh!  So, Mr. W decided that we needed to visit Resaca De La Palma State Park.  Now, for those that have known Mr. W for a long time, did you know that he is a bird watcher?  Well, neither did I!  When did this happen?  I live with the man and it wasn't until we were retired that he came out of the "nest" and announced that he wanted to go to bird centers to see certain birds.  He wants to do what?  For all of you bird watchers, lovers, feeders, etc., sorry, but birds are not my idea of an exciting time.  (She said as she yawns......)  Birds are not even my idea of a fun, a good, a pleasurable, even an OK time.  But, I have tried to be a team player and go along on bird looking trips a few times since retirement.

So, we load up the bicycles and head out for the park.  We arrive at the park and notice the sign. A state park AND a world birding center.  Great.......oh I mean, Great!

 

As you might know, Texas State Parks are terribly under funded and many things are happening because of that.  One of the things is that the parks' visitor centers are closed several days a week.  Such is the case here.  The visitor center is open Wednesday-Sunday but is closed Monday & Tuesday.  The park is open 7 days a week.  However, there is a tram that goes around the park to take visitors from trail to trail and it does not operate on the days that the visitor center is closed.  So, you can still visit the park but you would have to either walk through the whole park or ride a bicycle.  No automobiles are allowed to drive past the visitor center.

Mr. W unloading the bikes

The road that leads to the visitor center

We arrived and Mr. W took off the bikes and we went to the visitor center to see if there was a map or any information about the trails.  There was a lady working inside who was nice enough to let us in to use their bathroom and Mr. W got information from her.  He told her that he wanted to see a green-jay and an oriole.  She told him that right around the back of the center there were many to see.  They had set up bird feeders to help attract the birds.  There was a blind for people to stand behind to keep from scaring the birds away.  She was right.  There were many green-jays.  Even though I poke fun at Mr. W about liking to look at birds, I have to admit they are pretty birds.

Can you see all 4?

We had not ridden very far on the road when we saw this sign.

Don't worry. I will stay on the trails!

A couple of the many trails were too muddy to ride.  Most were in pretty good shape.  One that I rode on was not muddy but it was so bumpy, I thought I was going to bounce right off the bike! If you stayed on the main road (trolley road), the riding was good.  If you went off on the hike/bike trails, not so good.  Next time I'm going to have to insist that all bike paths are paved.

Mr. W on one of the first trails we took.  This one wasn't so bad in parts of it.  It wasn't muddy, but it was bumpy!

You have to watch out for all the cacti along the path.  This was one of the smaller ones.

Do you know what a Resaca is?  Well the definition is :  the dry channel or the former often marshy course of a stream.  So, here's the reason for the name of the park.

They had several look out points through out the park.

One of the look outs

They also had benches throughout the park.  They were on the hike/bike trails and also along the main road where the trolley picked up.

Remember the sign?  This is why you stay on the trail. Yikes!

This was a pretty butterfly that kept flying around us as we walked on one of the trails.  I'm not into butterflies either, but you have to do something to keep yourself busy while "someone" looks for birds. :)

It was a pretty cloudy day which kept the temperature nice for our hiking and biking.  On our way out, we stopped by the feeders again to see if we could get a pic of the oriole that Mr. W wanted to see.  As we were walking up, sure enough one of the orioles was on one of the feeders.  I tried to sneak up closer to get a pic as quietly as I could but it flew off.  Mr. W did get to see it but we didn't get a pic.  All in all a good day outdoors.

Several different kinds of birds sharing one of the bird feeders.

 

Me standing by another one of the cactus.