It appears we really will be leaving Port Lavaca tomorrow morning early. Roger has someone coming in late afternoon tomorrow to stay for a week, and Josh’s mom broke her ankle, so he’ll be commuting from Houston for the next week or so.
Perhaps most important is the fact that Chelsea and I are really wanting to find a place where we can get settled in for the next ten weeks so we can finish our book(s).
Though we like Port Lavaca, Roger keeps telling us that we would like Rockport better. We did like the looks of it when we got our quick tour last week, and it’s got the advantage of being closer to Corpus Christi. We keep hearing that Rockport and Corpus Christi are much prettier than points north on the Texas coastline, mostly because the water isn’t the usual muddy brown of both Louisiana and north/central Texas Gulf Coast.
We’ve spent another wonderful week here in Port Lavaca, doing more of the same we’ve been doing. Sunday night we discovered that Roger and Josh hadn’t been too concerned about us leaving; in fact, they seemed to want us to stay. Since we’d been having so much fun, it was an easy decision to stay.
Sunday night was so much fun in fact that we found ourselves at Wal-Mart at eleven at night, looking for a DVD player and for a Jeff Dunham DVD. We were still up at one a.m. laughing at the Jeff Dunham show. Chelsea and I had never even heard of Jeff, so it was all new to us. We laughed until our faces hurt – we especially liked Peanut.
Tuesday we got out on a short eleven-mile ride, but the humidity got to Chelsea in only the first four miles. We’re not sure what it is, but high humidity causes her to have difficulty breathing, as though she’s not getting enough oxygen. Then she slows way down, which makes our ride take a lot longer, never mind the fact that she’s not feeling well the whole time.
It all reinforces our very strong intentions to find a place to stay to wait out the heat and to write our books. We infinitely prefer the riding to be a lot more fun than to be a matter of feeling awful day after day and just trying to get through each day…
We had several wonderful meals at La Parilla again, some with just Roger and at least one with Josh and Roger. I so love those chile rellenos! Chelsea always got a to-go box, so we got to enjoy the leftovers the next day too.
One very fun thing for the week is that Chelsea got to try her hand at cast-net fishing again, this time with a ten-foot net instead of the five-foot net she learned in North Carolina. She did wonderfully. In fact, on Thursday night she caught the most bait (tiny squid, shrimp, and finger mullet), which we then took down onto the pier and used for catching trout.
We love the whole fishing pier experience – it’s completely new to us. Since the fish are more likely to bite later in the evening, the whole pier is very busy much of the night (it’s primarily Mexican families). We have left several times well after midnight, in fact, closer to one a.m. or later, and the pier is still busy. It’s its own whole community out there!
Chelsea and I have seen skimmers out there every night – still a fun experience for us – and we’ve seen black crowned night herons, too. I got a really close look at them Thursday night at the entrance end of the pier while Roger and Chelsea were fishing. I did take photos of them, but it was so dark I think all I got were white blobs. But I got a chance to observe them in detail for quite a while. Very fun!
Chelsea finally got a chance to learn to cast with a fishing pole – Roger took the time Thursday to teach her. She did really well, and had great fun learning. If we do get a place in Rockport we’re pretty sure that Roger will come visit us to go fishing, as he really likes it there, and says the fishing is much better than here in Port Lavaca. That would be wonderful, as Chelsea really wants to get competent at the fishing.
One final fun aspect of the week was the stargazing from telescopes on Wednesday night. Both Roger and Josh brought out telescopes and set them up to look at the almost full moon. We spent a while gazing through them, then went on a midnight walk around the pavilion.
Since Roger left yesterday it’s been really quiet. We spent a day resting; today is errands, laundry and packing. We’ve had an absolutely awesome time here, with all the adventures and laughter and good food, and we are excited to see what’s ahead of us.
We’re not looking forward to the heat of the ride, but we’ll try leaving at six a.m. (sigh…) and hope we make great time. We’re trying to get somewhere for the day by no later than ten, as the winds start picking up and the thermometer will be inching over the hundred-degree mark by then. It’ll be easier to leave on a Sunday, as we won’t be tripping over the guys as they get ready for work; we’ll have zero distractions, and the traffic should be very light.
Chelsea has finished up the photos, so be sure to look at our photo gallery if you haven’t checked it yet.
Signing off from Port Lavaca…