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Winter trip 2026 - Day 12: Texas Coast

We decided we would leave the beach today and not come back this time. I was starting to get depressed over how much plastic trash was covering the beach. This is what we picked up last night and this morning.
Took the road north, back to Port Aransas, but this time we got on the ferry. This ferry is run by Texas DOT, and since it's considered part of the highway there's no charge. Probably the shortest ride in existence - less than 10 minutes from driving on the boat to driving off.
We tried our best to stay near the coast today, but there were a few parts where that just couldn't happen.  Near Rockport, we came across this wildfire, it had started the day before but still was pretty big.
Just before getting back to the coast, we drove through the town of Freeport, which looked and smelled like one big chemical factory, thanks to Dow. Luckily we got through there quick, and back to the coast. This section took us through cute towns with houses of every color, past hundreds of rentals, and ended at our spot for the night, Galveston Island SP.
After getting checked in and finding our site, we walked the beach for a bit. We drove across the street to the other half of the park on the bayside, hoping it wouldn't be quite so windy. This area is supposed to have a lot of birds migrating through so we took the binoculars. Just 200 feet down the trail and I saw the biggest bird of my life, huge and black and three feet tall. 
Saw a few other (living) birds, but the mosquitoes were out of control. I had long sleeves, pants, shoes and socks and was fine, but poor Joe was getting eaten alive. We cut the hike short. 
We hung out back at our campsite for a bit, drove to the bathhouse for showers, and had burgers for dinner. 

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