One more weekend over... No kids came trick or treating Friday night.  Saturday I went to Padre Island again.  This time I went further south to Malaquite Beach which is in the National Park in the area of the National Seashore.  I paid 20 to get into the Park which gave me an annual pass.  I could pay $10 for one day or $20 for a year from the day that I entered. They had a seniors rate but you have to first be a US citizen and then 62 years old so I paid the 20.  There is no parking on Malaquite beach.  1 mile past the beach you can park but they recommend 4 wheel drives.  I only went a little bit in on it.  First though I went to the welcome center right at Malaquite area.  Took lots of pictures towards the Gulf and then the other way to show how barren the land is there.  Lots of dunes etc.  They have lots of nature lessons going on at the center even bird watching hikes etc.  The campground is 1 mile the opposite way on the beach... paved area for you to park on.  For $8 a night you get washrooms and cold showers.  You can camp on the beach for free.  There are out houses on the entrance to where you can drive on the beach.  At the welcome center there are free showers and change rooms etc when it is open.
Curled again on Sunday.  Much more keen today.  They said the ice was faster because it was colder outside.  One lady said we were curling with Porcelain stones instead of granite.  I think that was my first time with that too  - at least I think all the ones that I curled with in Canada were granite.  They are supposed to run the same according to the internet but these definitely were faster today.  The ice was still 100% negative ice both directions but after awhile you start to think backwards.  When the rock falls sweeping has the opposite affect in that it made it fall more instead of trying to keep it straight... just have to think opposite to what you are used to.  Instead of hockey there was a birthday party on the ice before us.  Three times when the music played a particular song the girls started to dance... yes in texas they line dance on skates....  I really do have to learn those line dances... they even did it at our quarterly meeting at work waiting for the meeting to start....
Heres the pics of the beach... Very few people at Malaquite... lots of seaweed too.

lots of seaweed but very few people

Campground just off the beach

Campground looking the other direction

Blue heron on the bluff. ck out the vines everywhere

Hard to see but zoom in - a dead tree branches in the water with lots of Pelicans using it to roost

Camping on the beach has its challenges when it is so windy.  They have lots of stuff in the tent so it didn't blow away but it definitely collapsed.  They parked the tent right on the roadway where it was packed so all the cars driving along had to detour around them to get by and hope to not get stuck in the loose sand around them

View of the gulf from the welcome center

View out the back of the welcome center

View the other direction from the center

Even big trailers go on the beach.  Saw a big truck pulling a huge trailer. Hope he doesn't get stuck.  He drove way down the beach.

Back to North beach.  This is back in the beach I went to the first time.   I stopped there on my way back.  just wanted to see if it had as much seaweed as the other one.  This one has a lot more people and easier to drive on.  All three beaches have their pluses and minuses but they all have the Gulf and you can't beat that.  I could sit and listen to the water for hours on end.