And Home Again in Life

It was a mostly amazing week. I’m glad to be home, but man do I miss those Gulf winds and that place. I love it down there.
They got smart and added a picnic table at the end of the walkway where you face the sunset. I spent time every morning down there. Most mornings I ate my breakfast down there. We were a little nervous about the weather with the tropical system bumbling around in the gulf, but it headed Texas way and we were good. In fact. it brought us some gorgeous windMs, cooler-ish weather, and kept the mosquitoes at bay. Just a few pictures to share:
The morning view where you see the sunrise. I missed it each morning by a few minutes, but it was still beautiful:

My morning view each morning - I had a friend visiting this morning:

Right after I took the picture a whole pod of dolphins started playing. I was so busy watching them I didn’t take any pictures. They were amazing.

The evening view from the same location:

Another evening shot. You can see the area the teachers fished each night (3 sharks were caught in here.) The man fishing on the point is a maintenance man who works there. He’s from Ethiopia and really interesting to visit with.

The whole week was full of beautiful moments, including the walk through the Maritime forest. (It blew me a way the first time I saw the forest - this is a barrier island. You can hear the surf the whole time you are standing in it surrounded by 200 year old oak trees. Love it there! The high point of the trip for me, though, is always the trip to Grand Isle, the barrier island we used to hold the workshop on. It was damaged during Katrina and Rita and Wildlife and Fisheries no longer house any research there. The island is changing (which they do - I know) and the buildings are going away. Some shots from Grand Isle:
This is the floor of the classroom we used for the workshop (the bedrooms and kitchen were upstairs).

Looking out the classroom:

These are the back stairs you could use to go to the rooms or down to the beach. You can see the corner of what’s left of the classroom:

A side view of the buildings. There used to be a yard, a fence, and about 20 yards of grass, then a wide beach. Now the water is under the buildings. The green roof is the building we used. The closest building is the one the staff that stayed on the island would cook for us under our last night there.

The other part of the island with special memories is Fort Livingston. Despite their last minute efforts, it’s going, too.
We used to be able to climb these stairs (the one was always off to the side, you just climbed carefully) and go to the top. A huge part of the front of the fort is missing. That shell wall led to an arch and another whole section. They’re all in the water in pieces now.

We also used to be able to go into the fort and look through the gun turrets (so not sure I’m using that word right there, anyway, the narrow windows for shooting out of), now the water is in the fort. :(

So, that part of the trip was bittersweet. My head says it’s a barrier island and they are supposed to change. My heart says not this island. Silly, I know.

I came home all in one piece. Some scratches and sores from walking through salt grasses. A little sunburned. And very tired. All that aside, if they called me and said we needed to go back tomorrow, I’d be happily packing.