December in South Texas

We just returned from a trip to south Texas, not far from Corpus Christie where my husband was born and raised. My next travel post will be in March, about springtime in south Louisiana, where I was raised, if not born.

The featured image at the top of this post is a pretty view of the cattle guard and gate to the fields at my sister-in-law’s home near Bayside.

One of my favorite things to do when traveling anywhere away from home is to eat regional foods and take in regional scenery. While Texas might be known for cattle and good steaks, the coastal area is also known for seafood. Rob had a steak and I had salmon at the 5D Steakhouse in Yorktown. It’s really difficult to find a perfect steak for him, but my dish was perfect to me.

My other favorite thing to do while traveling is see the landscapes and plants that are different from our own.

Yorktown was on the way to Weesatche, which was on the way to Goliad. A few years ago, I painted a re-imagined colorized scene of Rob’s great aunt’s homestead in Weesatche. My reference was a very small sepia-toned photo from the 1940’s. It looks nothing today like it did when Rob used to spend time out there, and even less like the photo I used for that painting reference. Now it’s just an overgrown ghost town. Once it was a thriving German immigrant community.

Along the way we stopped on the side of the road so I could hike through tall grasses to get closer to a windmill. There are lots of modern-day wind turbines in south Texas, but once there were lots of old-fashioned water pumping windmills. I love these relics from history and one day want to paint a series of them from the photos I’ve taken. Here’s the one from this trip:

Always in places not familiar to me, there are plants to see. Some are familiar but adapted to the different climates, like this ball moss and prickly pear cactus. Ball moss is a cousin to the Spanish moss from where I grew up. Here in northwest Arkansas, we don’t have either of those. But we do have other types of moss. Usnea is the closest to the ball or Spanish moss.

We stayed in a little cabin on piers in Rockport. Lots of pelicans and seagulls around there, because it’s right near the coast. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the cute little sea turtle and mermaid decorated cabin. But I did get some pics from Copano Bay, or rather, the marshes next to it. This scene is also on my list of things I’d like to paint one day.