Saturday morning, my nephew looks at me and asks me if I was down to drop him off at a job by the beach, Gavelston, Texas. I hesitated for about a minute while I was trying to wake the rest of my brain. Gavelston has been a destination I been wanting to visit since I got here, but no one wanted to come and I had a billion excuses for not going on my own. This was my chance to head down with someone and actually get to spend some time alone. A lot of people was very discouraging about visiting this city by the gulf, they say it's not pretty, so I expected to see the worst and at the same time wanted to prove them wrong.
My nephew and I head out at around 3 oclock in the afternoon. Saturday traffic was at its prime. Armed with a bucket of 50 piece chicken nugget from McDonalds, fries and two cups of soda. We were ready for anything. We get to Gavelston and drive on the road closes to the water. This road divides the large mass of gulf water on our right and hotels and stilt houses on our left. The traffic consisted of your normal beach front, metal cows mossing along at 35mph, stopping at the white line, awaiting for the green signal to go. The area is not as isolated as one would think, considering it is November and other states consider this time as the time to bundle and cuddle up time by the fire. In Texas, this is the best time for someone to be outside and soak in the southern sun. The weather here is like Spring and Fall up north, it is perfect.
My nephew's job was located at this amazing gated community. Mostly vacation homes for the rich, each house was equipped with a watercraft of some sort in the yard and dock. It was a small community, interesting to me since I've never seen a deluxe stilt beach house community before. The community was only a few miles a way from a state park where people can camp and have a picnic by the water. It was far from the city and busy area. The place was far enough to be alone. It cost five dollars to get in but it was worth it.
As soon as I rolled in, I started snapping away with the camera. The place had some crazy concrete park structures. They looked like modern war bunkers but in actuality they were just picnic areas made out of concrete. I immediately hit the wooden bridge to climb over the sand dune and there it was, the gulf. Not the most attractive thing in the world but it was still massive and powerful. The brown shade of the water, rushing toward the land, crashing one after the other, was an interesting sight. The beach was covered with a lot of organic and none organic debris, lets just say it is not the most romantic beach I've visited. It made Seaside Heights, NJ look descent. I didn't care, I was at the beach, in Texas... in November, wearing shorts and a shirt, bear foot on warm hard sand. I really should not complain. I started up the iPod and went on for a 3 mile walk. Nothing spectacular except for families enjoying the afternoon, bird feeding and little beach creatures.
During my walk, the moment started taking me back to a place I enjoyed back home. Island State Park, NJ it was the best beach around that area. It was nice, isolated and special. My best friend told me about it awhile ago and we would go at least once a year. It brought back a lot of good memories. So happy to have those memories... moving on.
I was getting tired, 3 miles is 3 miles. I realized I should to stop and enjoy the moment. I took a seat on the hard sand and watched the water. I'm not going to lie, after going down memory lane and remembering Island State Park, I felt no magic for the Gavelston. I was getting kinda bummed about my experience. Out of the blue an orange and black butterfly flew past my face, then another. I leaned back and looked up toward the sky and there it was hundreds of butterflies, flying above my head. Flying sideways, in circles, heading south with the wind. It was an amazing sight. Imagine a sky blue backdrop with little specks of orange and blue, fluttering all over the place. It was magical, beautiful, out of this world, special, awesome, (ok one more) two french fries away from a miracle. I knew I was not going to be able to bring images of this back with me, but don't doubt I tried, so I enjoyed the moment for as long as I could, 2 hours worth of moment. It was funny as I stared up to the sky counting butterflies, everyone around me didn't really payed attention to them. Some people would look and see what I was looking at but would just go about their business after a minute. I guess they have seen it a million times and to them its a yearly thing. I understand that mentality, I do it all the time. Its a sad state of mind, we should never take anything for granted.
It was a enriching afternoon. An afternoon that makes one love life, I was glowing. later that day I looked up the phenomenon online and it was The Monarch Migration, Homies was headed for Mexico... Millions of them. It was a sight to remember.
I'm glad I went to Gavelston, Texas.