TimesToCome

We travelled to visit Oahu for a few days recently.  It was totally different than I expected.  I thought it would all look like it does on the tv show ‘Lost’, which is filmed on this island.

But the mountains get about 160″ of rainfall a year.  It falls off 10″/mile as you head out of the mountains.  High in the mountains it is like a rainforest; down low it is like desert.  I thought it would all be rainforest like. The north most beaches have large pines all over them, very much like Cape Cod but the pines are huge.

The beaches are gorgeous all around the island.  On the south east side it is driest.  There are several cities of tents along there some were quite big.  Oahu has a very large poor population.

Some beaches are covered in white sand and some in volcanic rock.  The water is so clear you can see bottom, even when the water is deep, 50′+.  The water varies in shades of bright blue to greenish blue.  The dark spots are  volcanic rock under the water.  There are whales and dolphins in the water.

There was far less wildlife than I expected.  There are tons of wild of roosters and chickens, you can hear them everywhere you go.  They sound more like song birds than poultry.  There are some cardinals and a few other birds but not many species and not many of them.  Most every critter is black, white or grey.  However, there are a few critters with bright red on them.   No squirrels on the island. There are mongooses instead.  They were brought in to control rats and mice, but they are awake during the day, and the rats and mice at night.  You can see them slither past frequently and often hear them catch some poor bird that wasn’t paying attention.

We went to a luau one night. It was a lot of fun. They played Hawaiian music and we saw several of the local dances. Mostly we visited botanical gardens and hiked. We made it up Diamond Head one day. The mountains are all volcanic walls. So they are extremely steep and thin.

We visited several botanical gardens. I was encouraged since several of the plants are ones I grow or see about town. They too grow on sand and clay, so I might yet turn the backyard into a tropical garden. The plants are much larger there then they are here. I wouldn’t have thought they were the same plants if they hadn’t been tagged.

Honolulu is full of upscale stores, perhaps more than NYC.  Behind the main street with all the fancy shops are flea market type shopping areas.  In parts of Honolulu you could feel as if you were in NYC with all the tall buildings.

In the middle and north side of the island are the farms and plantations.  The islands are about 3000 miles from anywhere.   I think I’d start feeling very claustrophobic if I was living there.

Today we wandered along Hwy 82 to Hwy 27, part of the Creole Nature Trail in Louisiana. It was beautiful even in mid January and full of life. There were various hawks and king fishers all along the route. Next time we’ll follow Hwy 384 as well, I didn’t see that section until I started writing this post and looking up links. Some of the trail runs along the ocean, some through the plains and bayous of Lousisiana. It’s a pretty trip, even in winter.

We stumbled upon Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. The website says it is closed to the public but there was a board walk and trail about a mile long through the swamps that was open. It is really cool and very worth a trip. We saw alligators, white and brown ibis, red winged black birds, spoon bills, egrets, heron, many ducks, a few alligators sunning themselves, other assorted water birds, crawfish and a nutria. All this in mid January. I can’t wait to go back when the weather is warm.

It was the first time I saw a crawfish up close. The little guy really hammed it up for the camera and even tried to beat the camera up. What cool little critters.

Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge is almost as far south as you can get in Texas. There are about 15 miles of driving trails through the park.

There were osprey everywhere along the bay catching fish. The seagulls would fight with the osprey over the fish. One seagull we saw was in between the legs of an osprey trying to steal his fish. We also saw some green jays, lots of roadrunners, javelina, armadillo and many other assorted critters.

In the dry lake beds you could see the large cat prints and the prints of the javalina being chased by the cat. The lakes had all dried up. I am not sure if that is typical this time of year or if it has been a dry year?

We visited Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge last week. The refuge is along the US - Mexico border, one side of the refuge is bordered by the Rio Grand. We saw armadillo, alligators, green jays, road runners, and bobcats while wandered about the park trails. The park has walking trails only, we traversed most of them. It was very dry when we visited, not sure if it always is in the winter or it has just been a dry year or two?

The Spanish moss in the park is amazing. Several trails have large sections where the moss covers about everything. I kept expecting a wizard or fairy to appear through the moss. There were several impressive tropical plants which have existed since prehistoric times and you could imagine a dinosaur coming by to munch on one.

You can see the Rio Grand from a distance up high on its banks. Occasionally you see green trashbags and assorted wet clothing where someone had made it across the border.