Texas Welcome Center, Orange, Texas. Texas has bayous, too.
We stayed overnight here. It was fine. Really. I said it was fine. Kind of loud, very crowded, but we felt safe and slept fairly well.
We New York Ducks aren't used to rest areas being interesting or pretty. We're satisfied if the toilets flush. This is why we keep going Oooh, what a pretty potty break this was! Such a beautiful truck stop! New York State has set the bar for public interstate bathrooms so low that other states cannot help but excel. You can't spend the night there, and the upside is, you don't want to.
Squee! Texas has nice necessaries!
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| Blue Elbow Swamp |
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| I swear to you there is a bird in this picture. I just can't find it. |
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| Annie spotted him first. |
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My first feral alligator! RAWR!
(I didn't mean to scare you) |
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| When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. |
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| We are also not tortoises, please. |
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| The three of us are also not tortoises, too. |
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| Never drop a toaster into the swamp. |
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| This is a chicken. |
We've settled into a longish-term RV park here in Orange. People seem to be living here; it's a working-class neighborhood in the middle of a ranch. Boondocking opportunities here around Orange are abysmal. We'll stay a few days, see about seeing relatives, then head on to greener pastures ... literally.
33 comments:
I love pictures of alligators and turtles. Thanks for sharing all the great photos. Looks like a neat place to be.
Lovely! When I first came down to South Carolina on a road trip vacation I wanted to see an alligator. My friend and traveling companion had already been down here before and she knew just the spot. So in 100 degree weather we went out to Magnolia Plantation where there are /always/ alligators around for your viewing pleasure. Except that the extreme heat had driven them all under water into hiding and after several hours spent under the hot sun searching, we came up empty.
The alligators were clearly smarter than we were.
I'm sorry. I'll write something later when I quit laughing.
Really sorry to hear about your castle failures but I'm impressed with your stick-to-it-ivness. I'm sure I would have given up after 3 but look what I would have missed.
You made my day. Sometimes i can't always understand what your saying but you always make my day. BTW that colorful bird is a rooster. Just saying.
Oh my god you guys. A few days?
You have totally outdone yourselves here. I don't think I have ever laughed so much while reading a post, but that probably has much to do with my relating to ... to what? Oh! there are no words for the sticks are there?
A bird in there? Yah, right. Okay, here's the deal. I can offer you a free full hook-up sight on the refuge for a night or two when you leave your retirement community...but only if I can understand what you're saying. I don't need to understand what you're thinking. :) Maybe an alligator, maybe a few birds, but I can guarantee a mosquito or two. How can you pass that up?
Got a place to park, but alligators.
Hey, you can come here too & see gators! Houston is the bayou city. I lived near the bayou in Galveston county too. Downside is humidity & skeeters! I remember when they redid the welcome center - it didn't used to be that nice a few years back. Now Orange ya glad I shared that info! I'm familiar with that part of the country...at least our weather has warmed up a bit again!
Enjoy the Lone Star State!! MTM lived there for graduate school. If you can imagine that. :)
That is a mighty handsome rooster... a hen... Hahaaaa.... he was just out walking about? at the welcome center?
well, I guess if an alligator is out and about... so can a rooster... alligators eat roosters, don't they?
You always make me smile. And laugh. And guffaw. Then I usually spit my coffee all over my monitor.
Thanks (I think)
It's pretty interesting here, for sure, Russ. You are very welcome.
Becky, I think the secret is to be aloof, like when you want a cat to come to you. That's all I can figure, because I looked all over Florida for 'gators, and the only ones I could find were blue and orange.
Teresa, always safer not to laugh and type.
Sherry, now it's the strongest castle in England!
Tippy, this makes me happy! I don't mind being misunderstood if it makes someone laugh. And, still ... a rooster? Not a chicken? Hoo boy. I got back to my roots just in time.
Rubye Jack, I know you can relate. And, it's good we can laugh about it!
Gaelyn, now that we're here in the RV park, I haven't seen any alligators, only chickens and cows. Still, hazards everywhere.
Houston, eh? I do have an aunt buried up there, Cyn, but it's so BIG. But, you have gators? And, Astros? [I don't know what that is, but it seems to go with "Houston."]
Andra, the lack of architecture must have grated on his sensibilities! My dad was pretty minimalist, but that mostly meant he didn't have stuff.
Carolyn, this chic ... ROOSTER would have been awesome at the welcome center, but he's just hanging around here at the No Rest For the Weary RV Park and Laundry Center.
Kate, it's my pleasure, literally. Thanks! Sorry about the monitor.
Judy, woohoo! Really? Email coming your way! I can talk regular and stuff while we're there, honest.
www.turtleshack.com
The above link advertises...get your tortoise at the turtle shack, claiming that there is still time to get them before Christmas. I would be afraid of getting my tortoise there because they could just take a turtle out of water, dry it off and tell me it is a tortoise. I would never know and the poor waterless turtle can't tell me. "I am not a tortoise."
Are you afraid of being identified answering on your own post? (anonymous, indeed).
I was wondering why you never saw a gator in FL in all that time. That's where I saw gators - in the Everglades.
Those turtles sure are touchy!
The pretty big bird is a rooster, or also known as a He-Chicken.
Nancy, that cracks me up! You're absolutely right - they towel him off, then pass him off. One of those "turtles" looks like one of the swamp guys. Maybe they were telling me we are not turtles, thanks.
Tesaje, I was being stealthy. Like a turtle. And, I thought that bird was something like a chicken.
We wound up in Orange when our alternator went out. I didn't know it existed until then. LOL I remember stopping at a cafe just off the interstate for some coffee. It had business cards embedded in the table! Have those pics but forgot the name of the place.
The local paper I read while we were waiting said they were restoring/revitalizing/expanding their waterfront area. Not sure how that project has gone but it might be something to do if you stay a little longer.
P.S. That rooster looks like my fighting cockerel. (My boy was rejected for being a lover and not a fighter so we took him in. LOL)
Penny, thanks for the tip! I'm embarrassed now. I never knew Orange had a "waterfront."
Aw, poor guy. I'm glad he got out of the business before they gave him the business.
Thanks for tip on the toaster. If I have a choice, I'll drop my better half's hair dryer into the swamp. It's so noisy it would be worth chancing a shock... ;c)
Ha! Either that hairdryer goes, or I do! Why choose?
Why be embarrassed? I didn't even know Orange existed and not only am I a native Texan but I've zipped passed several times! LOL
Okay, we either ate at Gary's Cafe & Family Restaurant or Taste of Orange. Based on Google's street view, I think it's the latter.
In case you haven't picked up a local paper yet, they have the free community papers outside by the door.
I have to admit, I'm curious about what happened to their project. They mentioned having bad luck before.
After you mentioned waterfront, i looked online for waterfronty things to do. There may or may not be a bayou boat tour. There's an art museum, and the Presbyterian church. I'd be interested in a boat tour, but I only saw it listed on a sketchy website.
Started wondering what the 'waterfront' looked like. Is 'swampfront' equally interchangeable? LOL
I admit to a desire to live vicariously. I grabbed those free newspapers and asked the locals but didn't get to explore.
We wound up leaving before checking anything out because my traveling buddy (Uncle) got an emergency client call. My son and I were both bummed.
Orange doesn't look super fabulous but hey, adventure is adventure! LOL
I see "bayou tours" so possibly "yes." I'm not too choosy about my adventures, so I'll take Orange.
Given the derth of options, I'd choose a bayou tour too. LOL
Alligators and ducks...don't think so! Hey, you guys need to check out Eugene, OR....Now there is a duck-loving town!
Several people have said we would like Eugene, and I've heard that you don't have to be a duck to live there, but it helps. Kind of a crunchy town? That would be my style.
That rooster looks seriously undernourished - but perhaps that's his strategy. Pretty cagey (wait...there's a pun in there somewhere).
Dough, Dirt & Dye
Annie, he's seriously free-range, so maybe nothing's cooking on his range. I suppose bug-pickins get scarcer in the winter.
I have a little history with Orange & my husband ran the WalMart in Bridge City, which is the neighboring city to Orange. Fortunately, we could not find a house there....that didn't flood..so never moved there. Whew! OK, so for a fun time, drive to Bridge City from Orange if you like Bridges. You will find the Rainbow bridge, the tallest bridge
in Texas. If you are working your way to Galveston, let me know & I'll give you a route to go so you can visit the bay area & Kemah. And the space center if you're interested.
Here's info on the Rainbow bridge
http://www.bridgecitytex.com/dynpage-print.php?pageid=114
More info on it:
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGulfCoastTowns/BridgeCityTexas.htm
Prove it's a chicken.
Swamps always remind me of serial killers. I'm funny like that.
This was sort of hysterical.
Thanks. ~Mary
Cyn, it turned out that my aunt also had a story about the Rainbow Bridge, one that will haunt me until I lose my memory. Please let it come soon.
FrankandMary, this made me snort like a chicken (IT IS SO A CHICKEN). I assume you'll accept DNA evidence as proof? Swamps make me think of my father, who did not go by three names which is like DNA evidence that he was not a serial killer.
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