The Gulf Coast

On the Texas trip, having driven all the way down to Boca Chica for “other things,” we of course had to go to the beach since it was right there.

I’ve never been much of a “beach person,” probably because of the crowds almost anytime you get near the beach in Los Angeles. But this was very calming, hypnotic, restful.

The gulls of a half dozen different varieties were everywhere.

As were the grackles. LOUD birds, with an attitude. (NO! I don’t have any food for you to steal!)

Pipers, gulls, shells, surf, sand.

Pelicans, flying in formation for aerodynamic efficiency.

Oh, yeah. The “other things.” Sort of hard to miss if you’re watching the skies in the area. This would be an extremely cool place to watch a launch, except for the whole, you know, DEATH part of being this close when all of those boosters light off. And that assumes that everything goes well. If that much fuel goes “boom” on the pad and you’re standing right here, less than a mile away? They refer to those in the rocket business as “a bad day.”

Human for scale. (On the elevated launch platform at the bottom of the rocket, left side.)