It’s hard describe Independence Day in the heartland. Here, fireworks are allowed on the 3rd and 4th of July. Yes, our small city has a big fireworks show over a lake near downtown. Yes, other organizations will put on shows as well.
Personal Essay
A Great Mountain Hike
Driving south of town, you watch the two-lane blacktop curve back and forth around slight slopes of evergreens. You catch glimpses of a rushing creek bed on your left. Then, a large and beautiful pond, clear and shining, appears, and you almost miss your right turn on to Spruce Road. The scent of pine needles wafts in your windows in the cool mountain breeze.
Childhood Sun, Sea, and Wind
Take either the short ferry from Port A. and drive down Mustang Island, or cross the Intracoastal Waterway from Corpus. Take Park Road 22 south down Padre Island, passing by beachfront parks and condos and Bob Hall Pier. Keep going until buildings disappear and sandy flat vegetation stretches out on either side. Keep going as the road ribbons onward. Keep going to the entrance to a little known national park, Padre Island National Seashore.
2016 Poker Run at Bird Island Basin
Pay your entrance fee, and keep a sharp watch out for the first turn westward, away from the Gulf and the pounding surf. A short drive, a cluster of cars, then you see colorful sails dancing like butterflies across the water. The sailboard rigs fill the water as they skim, race, flutter, flip, and tip.
Welcome to one of the best windsurfing spots in the world: Bird Island Basin.
Memories of Younger Years
Sunlight shines on the bay waters of the Texas Gulf Coast in a unique way. I took the longer route down the coast whenever I could, eschewing the faster interstate for the smaller highways and roads, weaving my way south past nearby smaller towns like Lake Jackson, Bay City, Palacios, and Tivoli.