Follow the Frog

  Despite getting to bed late I woke up to my 5:30AM alarm hopeful to see a notice saying there would be a hatchling release this morning. I was just about to give up hope when the post popped up exactly one hour before release at 5:45AM. I hurriedly jumped out of bed and got everyone up and dressed and drove a few minutes up the road to the beach access point where the release was to take place. It was so cool to get to watch 147 of the little ones run to the sea. Sea Turtle Inc. is the conservation organization that helps rescue, rehab, care for, and protect the Kemps Ridley sea turtles that nest on South Padre Island as well as other species that need care. They have a  facility that we were able to visit later in the morning and see their residents that cannot return to the sea as well as the turtles they are rehabbing. A lot of those turtles come from the rocks in the jetties around Bocca Chica. The turtles go to feed on the algae on the jetty and then the tide changes tr...

 On our way to South Padre Island we stopped by Santa Anna Wildlife Refuge. We were 100 ft from the Rio Grande River but with the volume of brush, the heat, and mosquitos we were unable to take the trail to the river. I actually have a good dozen or so welts on my arms and a few on my legs and I hardly if ever get bitten. We got to climb a tower and see birds soaring and walked across a suspension bridge before heading back to the car to continue to the island.  We got to our hotel, dumped our kit, and headed to a local pub for dinner. We made it back in time for fireworks from the hotel room before trying to get some sleep in the hopes of maybe seeing a sea turtle hatchling release tomorrow at dawn.

  Sam has been really struggling with the heat so Bryson suggested they stay home in the nice cool air conditioning and just chill while everyone else went out.  USS Cavalla USS Stewart USS Texas undergoing Renovations The Tall Ship Elissa Ocean star Oil Derrick Lunch View Where the spice nutmeg comes from. Beautiful yellow, pink, and purple fish in a tank at Rainforest Cafe that I cannot figure out what it is. 

  Today was a day of errands since our booking for tattoos was lost. Sam and Bryson helped with laundry and packing and we changed the oil in the car, got quilts for future hot weather camping, and aired out the tent. While Sam and Bryson helped me with the laundry, Roman, Noah, Megan, and John all got online and on a conference call and played MarioKart for a while. The smack talk was most entertaining.  As a reward for all of the adulting we went to inside out 2 and absolutely loved it. Tomorrow we adventure to Galveston Island!

Despite the discomfort of last night we were perfectly aligned as planned for a stop in the French quarter of New Orleans. It was a whistle stop tour to be sure but I ticked all of the boxes on my list. I could imagine the streets packed at night with revelers hopping bars as well as the electricity of what Mardi Gras would bring.  While I have no pictures as we could not stop, we passed the post war home of the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The home was used as a confederate civil war veteran’s home until the last veteran died there in 1953. It was then converted to a museum and library per the instructions left in the will of Jefferson Davis’s wife.  Jackson Square and Cathedral  Did I get coffee and beignets…yes…yes I did! Did I get enough to bring my sister a treat? Absolutely!! We even saw a huge cemetery on our way out of town. It was huge!