We are already halfway through the month of November. It seems it was just the first a few days ago. The holidays are nearly upon us and I am no where near ready for them. Thanksgiving will not be at my house for the first time in many years. I have passed the torch to my youngest daughter. She lives close to both of her sisters and it is a bit shorter drive for her brother. My oldest daughter is bringing her boyfriend and his two sons, so it will be a full house with nine in total. I'm looking forward to having everyone together. the last time was Christmas 2022.
I went to Corpus Christi this past Sunday and stayed till Wednesday. Visited my son that lives there. On the way down I detoured to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge with the hope of seeing some Whooping Cranes. They spend their winters there and usually start arriving in October. This year though they are a bit late and the first family group only arrived on Friday. Three of them, I knew my chances would be low to spot them. This has been on my bucket list for years. I have followed the decline and the comeback for this rarest of birds since I was a child. It is also the largest bird in North America. Well I had luck on my side and was able to spot them with my binoculars as they were feeding. After about twenty minutes they took flight and flew close to the observation tower so I was able to see them clearly with the naked eye. It was so exciting. If I can get back down there before they head back north in March I hope to maybe see when there is a larger group. Last year they had about 180 birds total. I did a few short hikes while I was there and did see several other bird species.
On Tuesday my son and I went to the Padre Island National Seashore and had a nice walk along the beach and then a nice seafood lunch. It really was nice getting to spend a few days alone with him. He is so busy with Soccer this time of year as he is currently coaching four different teams. I brought his dog - King, a pitty mix home with me so he can get out of the apartment for a bit and run around my back yard. He'll keep me active for a few weeks while he is here.
I think this weekends workouts will be back at the gym. I went last Saturday and did 1000 steps on the stair-master and an hour on the treadmill with a variety of inclines with half of the hour spent above 10%. I'll aim for the same again.
So this time in two years I will have started my EBC trek after finishing my eight weeks of teaching in Salleri. So close yet so far. I hope that it will be a successful completion of my top bucket list item.
Whooping Cranes and other pictures from my trip to the Texas Coast.
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