We love living on the beach!

After three days at Seawind Resort, we're on the road headed north once again. Our destination today is the campground at Mustang Island State Park. They were booked solid for the weekend, but we managed to get reservations for Sunday through Tuesday nights. We were glad to have those reservations, because our campground on the beach was full every day. From our spot, it was a five minute walk across the dunes to get to the beach. Of course that's exactly what we did as soon as the motor home had the electricity plugged in.

It's cloudy, but a nice temperature to be near the water. We love living on this uncrowded beach!

We walked all the way down to the granite jetty, and then all the way to the end where the waves were breaking onto the huge boulders. We couldn't help but think how many kitchen counters could have been made from this quarter-mile of granite boulders.

From dipping our toes into the surf, we knew the Gulf water was still cold. The surfers behind Mark can only tolerate the water temperature because they are wearing full wet suits.

We had front row seats to a surf show, as these guys were catching the waves breaking at the end of the jetty.

After a night of listening to the surf from our motor home, we were at another beach the next morning. We made the drive to the North Padre National Sea Shore, about 15 miles south of our campground.

Even though it's a protected national sea shore, we were surprised to see that RVs can actually camp right on the sand. We like our spot at the state park better, where we have electricity hook-ups and a little distance from the salt water.

We walked several miles on the beach, picking up an occasional sea shell. Even though its a national sea shore, visitors are allowed to pick up five gallons of shells per visit. Let's just say we were well below that limit! We realized that this sand is packed hard enough for a good bike ride. It fulfills Denisa's criteria of being the ultimate flat trail, and we took off down the beach for another form of exercise.

You might guess that Denisa is taking pictures of the resident wildlife as we made those trips up and down those two beaches.  You might also guess that we are amateur bird identifiers, who might have completely misidentified our feathery neighbors. We'll tuck all those pictures together, as we try to identify the shore birds. We think this is a tiny sandpiper, reflected in the surf.

Laughing gulls are one of those birds that don't mind you getting very close for a picture.

This willet seems to be tip-toeing through the water this afternoon.

For some reason, these orange-beaked terns always look a little sinister, with their black toupees that cover their eyes.

This is the "before picture" when they are resting on the beach . . .

and the "after picture" of this flock of terns turning skyward as we passed by.

A great white heron was taking great steps through the water.

We've seen many birds that looked like they only had one leg, only to see it was simply tucked up within their wing.

But when this pair took off, a hidden leg never appeared. This one-legged willet hopped on one to keep up with its partner.

A flock of pelicans flew overhead, and we could hear their huge wings beat the air.

Besides walking the beach, we also hiked the nature trail in the dunes across from the national sea shore. Of course, Denisa has to add the first wildflower picture of the spring. An Indian blanket was blooming through the sandy dune.

We also saw this heron,  shrugging his shoulders in front of the tall sea grass.

We enjoy long walks on the beach, and the sun was beginning to set as we saw this familiar silhouette.

A great blue heron was watching us as we made our way back towards our home on the beach. 

We like picking up sea shells, trying to identify our feathered neighbors, and listening to the constant roar of the waves. We love living at the beach!