Flew from Fort Worth to Brownsville this weekend and went to South Padre Island for sightseeing. There was a pretty good south wind – about 40kts at 3,000 feet – so the trip down took about 4 hours while the trip back north took only 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Other than the wind, the conditions were nice for flying but not that nice for sightseeing. There was an overcast layer at 2,000 ft MSL with tops at 3,000 ft MSL at Fort Worth and that continued as overcast or broken down to about Victoria where the clouds spread to scattered to broken. So for most of the trip the only scenery was clouds.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Overcast skies south of Fort Worth

AH-64 Apaches on the ramp at Victoria

After a quick fuel stop at Victoria, I continued on to Brownsville via Corpus Christi.

Padre Island

Barges on the intracoastal waterway

After arriving at Brownsville, which was exciting in itself since the winds were 150 degrees at 27 kts gusting to 35, I drove over to South Padre Island and went to the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. They are located on the Laguna Madre side of Padre Island and have some convenient boardwalks built over the marshy areas of the island and out over the bay.

Baird's Sandpiper

Note, I am not a birder. I like looking at birds, but I do not know a lot about them. I am looking them up at http://www.birdfinder.com and allaboutbirds.org, so the names I am giving them are very possibly wrong. Feel free to add corrections in the comments.

Red-wing blackbird

Solitary Sandpiper

Tricolored Heron

Least Tern with fish

White Ibis

Kildeer

Great Blue Heron

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

North of the birding center, the sand dunes are reclaiming the road.

Sand dunes reclaiming road

Top of dunes looking towards Gulf of Mexico

Not a bad trip, and a lot easier and more fun in a small airplane than in a car or the airlines.