Blah blah blah

 I know what you're thinking.  Blah blah blah blah.....where are the pictures?  Well, here's a few from the past few days instead of a lot of words.

Petroglyphs National Monument Albuquerque

Albuquerque, NM

Galveston, Tx

Road trips: car woes

 So, our windshield was successfully fixed a few days ago, and we decided to start heading North.  We're headed home, although we're planning on doing a few fun things along the way.

Alas, our car woes are not quite done.  The left rear tire keeps reporting that the tire pressure is low.  Tesla service insisted that the tires were all fine, but during our 12 hours on the road yesterday Harvey added air three times.  So maybe it's not just the sensor going?

We're currently waiting in Discount Tires in Albequerque, NM to try to figure out what's up.  We travelled through some rather unpopulated regions to get here, and will be travelling through some rather unpopulated regions to get home and we don't have a spare.  Best to get things straightened out while we're able.

Update:  We picked up a screw in that tire, but the tire can be fixed.  Yah!  We don't have to buy a new set, and they can fix it this afternoon.  AND the fix was free.  Patronize Discount Tires when you're in the States, y'all.  

American Mexican Food

I am puzzled by American Mexican food.  No matter what corner of Latin America the food claims to be from, it is always Tex Mex.  Bland blended pinto beans, too much mild melted stringy cheese, tangy but not particularly tasty salsa, tortillas and a little bit of shredded iceberg lettuce to go with your shredded chicken or ground beef. I mean, it's generally not offensive, but it's not much like the tasty and varied foods that we've found in Mexico. 

It's really puzzling, especially given the numbers of Latinx people around.

The only explanation I can come up with is that this is America's version of Canadian Chinese food.  In Canada, every small town Chinese restaurant serves Won Ton Soup and Chicken Chow Mein and Sweet and Sour Pork, because that's what everyone expects Chinese restaurants to have. What the Chinese families that run these places eat at home is irrelevant.   

Similarly, everyone here expects bland Tex Mex burritos and tacos, so that's what Mexican restaurants serve.

The only exception I've found so far was the Mexicajun food at Tia Juanitas in Winnie, Tx (and Beaumont, TX. It's a chain.)  You can get your tacos stuffed with blackened fish or shrimp, or even alligator.  It's one of the few places where we've gotten a nice meal since Austin.

Waiting for a windshield

 It's happening!  It's really happening!  Our windshield is finally being replaced today.  As you may recall, it was broken in that hailstorm in Austin.  

Fortunately, the windshield wasn't broken so badly that we were unable to drive, but the cracks keep spreading as time goes on and light glinting from those cracks keeps triggering the automatic wipers.  Which you can turn off, but turning off automatic wipers also turns off cruise control, and no one wants to drive from Texas to Vancouver without cruise control.  (Modern first world problems, I'll admit.)  A non-first world problem is that apparently cracked windshields become dangerous when the cracks intersect.  Fortunately the two cracks that threatened to become problematic decided to veer randomly in another direction so we've had no reason to panic.  But we really wanted to get the windshield fixed before heading home.

The car is in the shop as I write.  We'll soon have a new windshield.  Yah! The hail dints in the hood and body will have to wait until we can get to an ICBC authorized repair facility in British Columbia, but in the meantime we'll have the distinction of driving the most beat-up Tesla we've encountered so far.

So, what to share this morning? How about a few more reflections on Texas?  

Is everything bigger in Texas?  Well, highway rest stop gas stations certainly can be.  Have you ever encountered a Buc-ees?  

A Buc-ees is a roadside gas station with attached convenience store -- on steroids.  I'm afraid I didn't count, but Google tells me that they have on the order of 100 gas pumps, and their huge restrooms have about 25 stalls each for men and women (or maybe more?).  

The convenience stores are huge too. The photo above was taken from the centre, facing towards one door.  They're about half the size of a Real Canadian Superstore, but instead of carrying a complete selection of groceries they have a whole aisle dedicated to various sorts of gummy candies (with separate aisles for every other type of roadside snack you can imagine), a large collection of T-shirts and home tchotchkes (with slogans like 'A real woman can do it all -- but sometimes chooses not to'), Texas-themed photo-realistic paintings you can purchase (cows and wildflowers predominate), alongside hot food to go.  Staff work continuously to prepare pulled pork sandwiches, brisket sandwiches, and burritos that go directly from their hands to warmers, so that you simply can grab what you want.  Super-convenient, right?  It is, as long as you're happy eating a burrito whose cheese component is artificially-coloured liquid nacho cheese, or truly indifferent pulled pork sandwiches on too-sweet white bread buns.  

We've stopped at a couple of Buc-ees because Superchargers are sometimes located there.  It's definitely an experience.

Other thoughts on Texas?  Well, there's a lot of money here.  The majority of the bird sanctuaries we've visited are actually privately funded by groups like the Audubon Society, the Texas Ornithological Society, or private conservation groups (notably, the Artist Cove Coastal Heritage Preserve).  The latter organization (largely the founder, Karla Klay) has raised tens of millions of dollars in only 10 years to preserve some of the last remaining rural land on Galvaston Island from development. 

Most of these preserves have excellent facilities, like flush toilets, boardwalks, and even raised tree-canopy walkways, like the one Harvey used at Smith Oaks to take sunset photos.

In other words, these privately-funded and operated preserves have facilities of a quality that you might expect to see in a major National Park in Canada.

Other indications that Texans, or at least, bird-watching Texans have a lot of money?  The number of locals who mentioned their "second homes" in casual conversation and the ubiquity of Swarovski binoculars.  For those not in the know, Swarovskis cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2000-5000 Canadian.  Only the most dedicated (and affluent) birders around Vancouver carry them, but they seemed almost like an obligatory birding accessory here.

 

A birding we shall go, a birding we shall go, high ho a merry-oh...

So I no sooner let everyone know that I'm blogging about my trip than I go incommunicado for 6 days.  What gives?

Birds.  Lots and lots of birds.  Dawn to dusk birds some days.  And on the days when we took it easy and only started birding at 9 or 10 am (or quit early at 4 or 5 pm) we generally didn't have wifi.  Alas, most of you aren't birders, so you won't be impressed with the fact that we saw 2 or 3 "lifers" every time we went out by ourselves, and up to 11 when we went out on a group tour that was part of our Featherfest excursions.

Do we have pictures of all of these fabulous birds to share with you? No, not really.  We are not photographers and we didn't even bring along our ancient SLR.  In general we much prefer spending our time trying to see ALL the birds, instead of trying to catch that one good shot of one or two birds.  

But Harvey couldn't resist getting a few cell phone pictures through our spotting scope.

Female and male painted buntings, bathing

Indigo bunting bathing

Solitary Sandpiper

Seaside sparrow

White-faced ibis

I could go on.  And on.  And on.  But most of you are probably bored already, and haven't even clicked the short videos above to view them! So I'll close today's entry by letting you in on a big secret that I've just discovered.

This part of South Texas features a number of nature preserves, mostly along the coast, that were ostensibly created by the Audobon Society to harbour birds making landfall after migrating across the Gulf of Mexico.  They are lovely places, full of trees, water features to allow birds to drink and bathe, and even have a rookery for cormorants and egrets.  And look at that sunset!  The sanctuaries draw birders from all over the world.

Sunset at Smith Oaks Sanctuary

But I've learnt the truth about why they really exist, and who created them. 

It was Big Mosquito.

On my first visit to Smith Oaks, I wore long sleeves and long pants and slathered myself with DEET, and still got about 30 bites in 30 minutes.  And yet, I'm eagerly looking forward to going back tomorrow.  What gives?  

Have I been infected with something similar to the "zombie ant" fungus that's convinced me that it's all going to be worthwhile?  Or is it as simple as mosquitos using hunan agents to spread rumours of a "fallout" of warblers to atrract birders?

However it works in detail, I'm convinced that Big Mosquito created these reserves to ensure they'd have a steady supply of human blood to breed their babies.  And I'm helpless to resist the conspiracy.

Wish me luck.

Austin, TX

So when my brother-in-law learnt that we were about to get to Austin, TX, he got excited on our behalf.  So much music!  In seconds he identified two must-see concerts in the upcoming days:  Herbie Hancock and Tyler Childers.  Well, the first was sold-out, and after a quick visit to YouTube we discovered that the second was unlikely to be to our taste.   So, what to do?  A quick google revealed an overwhelming amount and number of concerts at an overwhelming variety of venues ranging from large formal concert halls to bars and coffee shops.  In the end we attended a single concert, by a Texas Swing Band at the cafe attached to a high-end grocery store in one of Austin's many sprawling suburbs.  

Apparently this band plays the cafe every second Friday, and as you can see, there is a group of regulars who attend to dance the early evening away.   It wasn't the best music I've ever heard, but it was charming that a random supermarket cafe features live bands, and that pickup bands like this one go on for dozens of years having fun playing local gigs for appreciative audiences.  I guess that's Austin.

The other really charming thing we found in Austin was also something we discovered by chance.  In an attempt to find a nice inexpensive meal, we decided to try a high-end Italian food truck.  When we arrived, we realized that instead we'd found ourselves an experience.  A local independent theatre company has kitted out the treed courtyard of their building with picnic tables and a food truck, and serve the masses great food and fancy drinks outdoors in the warm dry evenings.  You line up for food, you line up for drinks, but the atmosphere is pleasant and relaxing, and it all made for a very nice evening out.

Despite the expression on these people's faces, the atmosphere was really pleasant!

But other than these two things, I'm afraid we didn't find a lot to like about Austin, sadly.  It didn't help that we got caught in a hail storm almost as soon as we arrived.  And when I say hail storm, I mean we were pelted by golf-ball sized chunks of ice on an expressway.

Photo taken after we'd reached safety, about half-an-hour after the storm ended. The hailstones have melted some and are smaller than the ones that hit our car.

We were too stressed to get a video of the largest hailstones.

Our car was damaged. 

The storm was not necessarily Austin's fault, admittedly, but it definitely set the tone.  As did our visitor's impression of the city.  

Yes, our windshield definitely needs replacing.  We have an appointment booked.

Going anywhere at all involves getting on a freeway and travelling 20-40 minutes in heavy traffic through the most intricate assortment of exits, entrances, merges, flyovers, and highway splits that I can readily imagine.  How do people live like this?  Why would they want to?  Getting places was complicated and stressful. I can't imagine living here.

Texas, 2024

 Why Texas?  Well, the total eclipse of the sun, of course.  Which we did see, despite the weather.  (Harvey summarized our Eclipse Day well in this photo album, so I don't feel the need to tell you about that.  Click on the first image to show it full size, then click the i icon to display the caption.)

Otherwise, I've never felt a strong desire to visit Texas.  But here we are.  So what have we found? What's interested me so far?  What's surprised me?

One thing of note is that every small town of any antiquity seems to have an overwhelmingly large central courthouse.  

Like this one in Meridian Texas (population 1,415). 

Or this one in Hillsboro Texas (population 8,548)

Or even this one in Austin (population 974,447).

 Are courthouses really that necessary?  Or important? Is crime in Texas so rampant and significant?  For comparison, there isn't a single public building that impressive and central in Wakaw Saskatchewan (population 985 or 9,850 in US terms). 

Harvey pointed out that the courthouse in each town might originally have been constructed as a symbol of imperial colonial power -- which makes sense when you realize that Texas was the literal Wild West frontier at the time that the older courthouses were constructed.  (We viewed the eclipse from Hico, Texas, home of the Billy the Kid museum and neighbour to Hamilton Texas, the location of Billy the Kid's grave.)  So perhaps the courthouse looms large in the Texas imagination because the courthouse symbolizes law and order and the creation of the state. It would make a certain amount of sense.

But speaking of colonial power, another thing that's really struck me is the way that Texas history is discussed in public places.  Canada has a lot to answer for and a long way to go, but at least we've begun the process of decolonializing our public history.  Here every insignificant settler and trader is somehow notable, but even the names of the local First Nations are not deemed to be important -- except very occasionally when they are mentioned in the context of having been "savage enemies" that colonial heroes needed to defend themselves from.  I haven't seen a single thing that acknowledges these peoples' continuing presence, or that describes places, things, or historical events from the perspective of the First Peoples whose lands these have always been.  

It reminds me of how history was told in my childhood.

To end on a high note, the most unexpected and beautiful thing that we've encountered are the Texas spring wildflowers.  The department of highways plants them on roadsides, but they also grow in ditches and pastures and parks.  They're everywhere! They're gorgeous.  They're also hard to capture in photos, especially at their most impressive, when they cover large areas with blooms.  But here are a few examples.