Terrific Day on Turtle and White's Bayous

Saturday morning, we woke early to get our canoe and gear ready, then had a breakfast of burritos with peppers, onions, and left-over pork chops in them. I wanted us all  to have lots of energy to spend on the gorgeous  day.

Paddlers waiting for the rest across from a trailer park

By the time we were ready to leave for a day of paddling with friends on one of my favorite bayous, it was already shirt-sleeve weather.  Natalie, Ellen, me and the Zootie dog were all planning to paddle in Natalie's big tandem, known as big red, although the last time it looked more than pink was probably several decades ago.(I'm still dealing with a shoulder problem and paddling, especially with doubleblades, aggravates it). We got to the put-in at the intersection of White's and Turtle bayou and joined the rest of the group who were already loading up their boats and getting ready to paddle off.

Paddling up Turtle Bayou

 Then came the question, " where should we go?"  Since no one would admit to being the trip leader, I suggested we paddle upstream on Turtle Bayou and paddled off. Soon we were all headed up that way on a warm day that felt like spring. We had blue skies, fluffy white clouds, a lovely group of eleven people, and three dogs.  Soon after we crossed under the I-10 bridge, we lost sound of traffic.  But there are lots of houses along the bayou so we were never far from civilization. We spent about two and a half hours paddling up to where there were too many trees in the stream to navigate our big canoe and the tandem kayak through and then returning to the put-in at White's Park and gathered up our lunches and went to a covered table and enjoyed sharing food and conversion.

Missy and Flynn in the center hatch of their tandem kayak

Natalie took this picture of Zootie and me

The only possumhaw we saw

Carole took this picture of us sneaking under a log

And this one of all of us

After the leisurely lunch, we were ready to head out again.  This time the consensus was for paddling White's Bayou, a lovely small, twisty stream through high sandy banks where there is a wonderful mix of trees from cypress to hollies, to magnolias to pine. Because of the high water, we went further than any of us had been before.  We turned around and got back to the put-in around 4: 00 P.M.

Bob and a Beautiful American Holly

Another view of White's Bayou

That tree looks like a stopper and was

Flowers of an unknown bee tree - do you know it?

Zootie enjoying the view

 The next suggestion was that we go to Turtle Bayou Bar for a drink and a little more conversation.  The place had boiled crawfish, one of my favorite things to eat. BUT they had sold out!  I was very sad but plan to come back.  I even got to discuss how the crawfish were cooked with the chef. The guy who cooks them adds mushrooms and pineapple to the traditional corn and potatoes. I can't wait to try them. Zootie and the other dogs got to hang out with us along the bayou.

At Paddle's End

 Finally we gave everyone a last hug and started home.  But we were too hungry to drive over an hour, so stopped again for a dinner of seafood.  We had told Ellen we would go to the Mardi Gras parade in Galveston but were a little too late to go to it.  We got to hear it on the seawall, only 4 or 5 blocks from the house as we arrived home.

Good weather, good company, beautiful relaxing paddle, and wonderful food.  Who could ask for anything more?