January 25, 2017. National Seashore on Padre Island.

January 25, 2017.  National Seashore on Padre Island.  The National Seashore begins at the north end of Padre Island and runs 70 miles south to the border with Mexico.  No, we didn't drive the entire seashore.  We did drive to the place where the hard surface gives way to the beach road.  Annie didn't want to go onto the beach road.  She saw danger.  She thought Harvey might get stuck in the sand.  I didn't argue. With age comes wisdom.  

The first picture today is a mobile dog-grooming vehicle.  There are several mobile RV repair services, several RV detailing services and a mobile dog-grooming service on the premises regularly. Many of the residents here have dogs.  Evidently, some enterprising entrepreneur has determined there are enough dogs here to support the purchase of a short bus converted to a doggy barber shop.   

I have twice talked about the flotsam and jetsam on Mustang Island.  There is a visitor's center at the north end of Padre.  One of the displays informs readers about trash on the beaches.  There is also a photo showing the debris left on the beach by Hurricane Ike. Pretty ugly, huh.

Also in the visitor's center, there is a hands-on table which displays materials that washed up on the beach.  Yes, that is a bowling ball and hard hat.  Next to the hat is a large lump of coal.  Bob, the interpreter seen talking to Annie in another photo, says the piece of coal probably began its journey to the beach in an old steam powered ship which wrecked. 

The large skeleton on the table is the remains of a bottle-nosed dolphin.  It was kinda sad to see a fun-loving dolphin on the table. It made me feel better when Annie opined that he likely died of old age.  I bought the theory even though the size of the skeleton was more consistent with a young dolphin.

We had a seafood lunch at Snoopy's Pier.  Snoopy's is next to Doc's, a place we visited a couple of weeks back.  We were actually returning to Doc's when we saw more cars parked in the lot at Snoopy's, usually a sign of good food.  I am glad we diverted.  The food was expertly prepared and served piping hot.  

The plan is to start home on Sunday.  We have allowed three days to make the drive.  That's assuming we don't succumb the the barn-sour horse malady.  We've been stricken by that before.  

That's all for today.  Goodnight.