Life has been so topsy turvy lately and we both just needed a break. We decided to take a day and visit a favorite park of ours, Brazos Bend State Park.
There is a don’t touch or pester the alligators rule and as long as everyone behaves there are no issues seeing the alligators via their natural habitat. They are not caged or fenced and people just know to leave them alone and enjoy the park. There are also several wonderful birds, turtles and old mossy trees to enjoy making this a truly unique experience. Boots and Alien Cows is a post from a few years back if you are interested.
On our way to the park I kept a look out for Alien Cow. It had been several years since we’d seen him, but we ALWAYS look just for fun.
But, the universe had another idea on how we were going to spend our day. The park closure changed our day big time. Alligators wander off from the park during the best of times, but the flood waters were 4 1/2 feet in the park and the estimate is that 300-350 alligators just floated out of the park in floodwaters along with several venomous snakes. There was a pretty informative article here if you’re interested. Here are some images from GOOGLE to give you an idea of what a trip to Brazos Bend is like.
Personally I fear the cotton mouth snakes more than the alligators. The park itself has been flooded during the last 3 BIG floods – Memorial Day 2015, April 2016 and Hurricane Harvey 2017 which was the worst and forced the park closure so pathways, ponds and signs could be re-created. This time they lost several buildings too. The wonderfully informative Ranger at the front gate told us they were slated to re-open November 7th so we will try again after that time. I’m anxious to see how it’s changed.
So we decided to head for the coast, Freeport in particular just because we had never been there, but once again the universe had another idea as a HUGE fire detoured us. Fortunately it was a very nice day and we went with the flow to Surfside Beach.
The beach was absolutely perfect and many people were out enjoying it just like us, including the pelicans and surf birds.
This is an area that builds its house on HUGE pillars because of strong storm surges during storms and hurricanes. While most places appear to have gone unscathed here, there were several still in need of repair and many already undergoing a rebuilding.
And no road trip for us would be complete without major roadwork in our path.
All so similar here. The everglades and parks are all still flooded too, and same damage along the coastal areas.
Doesn’t surprise me at all. It will be a long road to recovery from what I’m still seeing in town. There are still piles and piles of wallboard, furniture and carpeting to be picked up here in town. So sad 🙁
Yep, same here, the roads are still lined with debris here in Fort Lauderdale and over on the SW side too.