Walking at the Park in Seabrook

On Sabbath afternoons we frequently go to a park in Seabrook. It's about a 20-minute drive from our house, which includes beautiful view of the sailboat-filled bay.

The drive feels like a little mini-vacation, because the road goes along the coast and you can see houses up on stilts or pilings, beach-style restaurants, bay overlooks, inlets with waves rolling in, and water birds (pelicans, seagulls, plovers, egrets and herons) skimming the beach. It reminds me of Florida, because there are so many palm trees and tropical plants near the bay. We enjoy the walking path and .... the drive to get to it.

After parking, we start off on the trail. My first question always is, "Do you think we have time to get down to the pier and back before it gets dark?" And, Jason always says -yes! We sometimes make it, and sometimes don't--that depends on how much we find to gawk at along the way. We thoroughly enjoy all the scenery along this path and waterway, because we get to see and hear a variety of animals.

We always see herons and egrets. Sometimes we see a King Fisher or a Skimmer. We usually see deer and pigs (domestic pigs that have become wild). We always see rabbits. One time, Jason saw an alligator there sunning himself on the cement slab near a drainage pipe. And, Once we saw an owl--which was my first time to see one in the wild. That was pretty incredible, although our view of him only lasted a few seconds. Owls are very elusive, and come out after dark. Both of these traits make them difficult to spot.

Lately, we have been hearing a variety of frogs singing--which is really interesting, beautiful, and sometimes comical. On our most recent trip, we were surprised to see wild lilies dotting the embankment. It was quite unusual, a really nice treat. There were also hundreds of blackberry bushes...but none were ripe yet. We saw jumping fish--the ones that seem to part fly and part swim down the bayou.

We went down to the pier, but didn't walk out on it this time. In the past, we have watched people fishing on the pier (a guy caught "a big one"...which turned out to be a small stingray--he threw it back). One other time, we walked on the pier and observed jellyfish bobbing in the waves like cabbages(there was an overpopulation of a certain type of jellyfish--so they were EVERYWHERE). Instead of walking on the pier, we sat down on "our bench/gazebo" to watch the offshore oilrig lights flashing in the distance over the tossed waves. We enjoy debating about which flashing lights are oilrigs, boats, or towers (on the other side of Galveston island). And, I dreamed of Kemah (where Jason proposed to me). It's a great spot to sit and think and talk about life. For some reason that bench always gets me into a thinking mood --it must be the ocean breeze and the sound of waves lapping against the rocky shore. No, Houston is not the Carribean...but I do enjoy being so close to the ocean (albeit murky-water). There's something soothing and refreshing about walking along the beach or just stairing off over the waves. It's therapeutic.

Oh, and yes, we did make it back to the car before it got dark...well before it got too dark.