Sunday, February 1, 2009

Gulf Waters RV Resort, Pt. Aransas, TX

This isn't the best photo, but it is of our new favorite fast food place in Texas. Whataburger is a chain that was started in Corpus Christi and the food is really good. It is only second to Steak n' Shake in our opinion and that is saying something.
HEB is a Texas grocery chain. Their plus stores are quite amazing. The vegetables, fruit, and meat are wonderful.
We are very impressed by this package. Customers can see if eggs are intact without opening the carton. Each egg is date-stamped with date by which they should be used. Note the product name in Spanish. This store carries magazines in Spanish, too.
This is one view from our coach at Gulf Waters RV Resort, Port Aransas, TX. Last year we were at a site on the other side of this pond. The Gulf of Mexico is about two blocks through the RVs in this photo. We walk or ride our bikes on the beach almost everyday. The sites in this resort are owned by individuals. We are renting one of those sites. There has been a pot-luck. a bonfire on the beach, and a pre-Super Bowl party. This Short-billed Dowitcher was about six feet from our door. There are two Coots in our pond. They are hilarious. When a Coot comes from a near-by pond, our Coots skim across the water chasing the intruder away. You can see their determination in their bird body language. We have seen an Egret twice. There are three large turtles that sun themselves almost daily at the edge of the pond. We have seen the Great Blue Heron twice and today we saw seven pelicans for the first time this year. We also saw the first Man-o-Wars on the beach today.

The University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Pt. Aransas holds lectures every Thursday for Winter Texans. They are always full. Two weeks ago the subject was "Why Choosing US Fish is Healthy for You and the Economy." The presenter was a recent PhD grad. We learned a lot. Mexico and Canada, the US, Australia, Scandanavia, Western Europe, and New Zealand have very strict safety and environmental standards for wild caught and farm raised fish. The rest of the world, not so much. Much of the fish in our supermarkets and restaurant chains comes from Asia, with no regulations. All fish sold in the USA must be labeled with country of origin. We are now checking labels in the fresh fish cases and on frozen packages.

Last week, a retired oceanographer talked about his many trips to the arctic. Absolutely fascinating.