Texas Part 4 - Rockport and Aransas Wildlife Refuge
My back mysteriously stopped hurting last night. I have a bit of a theory. My body knew that I had these days off and took that opportunity to remind me to pay attention to my core. And it reminded me of the pearl that Debbie Rosas gave me the last time I was in a FAB playshop; to ease off and stay with it. My tendency is to always press on injuries, or stretch them or manipulate them as if to coerce them into healing. So yesterday, I committed to relaxing and moving gently. Giving my body a safe place to heal, rather than an imperative.
I think the pain also helped ground me more in my body. This morning, as I shared my passion with a group of woman that seemed very thrilled to receive it, I was sure to give lots of attention to level 1 and bringing relaxation and silence. I left feeling like a palpable change had overcome the studio.
It turned out to be an amazing day, but didn't start out so great. I checked the night before and learned it takes about ten minutes to drive to the studio. So, in the morning, I was leaving about 40 minutes before class, to get to there early. I entered the address of the studio in my navigation and off we go.
Only ten minutes later I wasn't there. Not even close. I was driving over some water, and I thought I remembered that the route was pretty close. Walkable even. But I was stuck and had to traverse the long bridge anyway. Besides, my navigation was telling me I would arrive at the other end, so I plucked up courage and moved forward with a hopeful smile... Which quickly faded as I found that 802 Main St. was two guys in a pick up truck in front of a vacant lot. I asked them for directions the the yoga studio and they said I was probably supposed to be in Rockport. Well, yes, I am! They told me I was in Lamar and how to get back to Rockport. I thanked them and regrouped.
Here's the part where I really goofed. I left my phone in the motel room. So I couldn't call my host, Doreen, nor could I ask Siri for his help. I got back into Rockport, but was starting to panic, because I couldn't find the motel room. I never did navigate to the motel, because they didn't provide a street address, so I had to use Siri to get me there. So I relaxed and let my mind create a solution. I remembered seeing on the map last night that the studio was on the corner of Main and Church, so I tried searching the interactive map on the Mini until I found a Church or a Main sti. Fortunately Rockport isn't a big town. I finally found Church St and then found Main St!! So I navigated to that intersection and finally got to the studio over ten minutes late!
The first thing after I park, Dorene comes running out and says not to worry, "we're all on island time", so everyone is just now arriving and can she carry something for me... Whew!!
There were quite a few people brand new to Nia and also one brand newly licensed White Belt. Rockport is ready to grow. It's a young and vibrant startup Nia community. That I'm excited to see grow over the upcoming years.
So I started at the Motel 6 in the middle of the map was supposed to go south to the 802 Main St. below it. I went, instead to the 802 Main St. up north on the other side of the water.
This map shows nearby San Antonio and Houston, to give perspective to how much ground I covered today. It's the same route as above, zoomed out a few times.
After class, I went back the motel 6 in the middle of the map and took a shower and gave River a walk. We got in the car and drove up I-35. I was so focsed on getting us to Aransas Wildlife Refuge that I forgot to get gas before leaving Rockport. I had to go a bit out of the way, all the way up to Trivoli to fill up with gas. Then we went in and explored the refuge.
First of all, it's beautiful. Secondly, tons of mosquitos. So I couldn't stay in any one place for too long without running back to the car. Lots of the trails looked like this, with lush vegetation and swampy grounds. Mosquito paradise. I took some video before I scooted out of there.
Of course we eventually found the 'beach' which was too windy for mosquitoes....
After playing in the water, it's always nice to roll in the grass.
And it's also nice to climb a giant oak tree on a lazy afternoon.
We climbed up this giant observation tower to see the salty marsh from a birds-eye view.
We saw an alligator. See it? It took me a while...
And I don't know what River saw in there, but he was focused on it for a while.
After a full two hours of wildlife enjoyment, we hit the farm road back to I-35.
This time all the way to Corpus Christi, where the lower Motel 6 is, on the map. So we did quite a bit of back and forth driving today.
We stopped to get some BBQ in Corpus Christi before settling in for the night.
I plan to do laundry here later tonight.
I think the pain also helped ground me more in my body. This morning, as I shared my passion with a group of woman that seemed very thrilled to receive it, I was sure to give lots of attention to level 1 and bringing relaxation and silence. I left feeling like a palpable change had overcome the studio.
It turned out to be an amazing day, but didn't start out so great. I checked the night before and learned it takes about ten minutes to drive to the studio. So, in the morning, I was leaving about 40 minutes before class, to get to there early. I entered the address of the studio in my navigation and off we go.
Only ten minutes later I wasn't there. Not even close. I was driving over some water, and I thought I remembered that the route was pretty close. Walkable even. But I was stuck and had to traverse the long bridge anyway. Besides, my navigation was telling me I would arrive at the other end, so I plucked up courage and moved forward with a hopeful smile... Which quickly faded as I found that 802 Main St. was two guys in a pick up truck in front of a vacant lot. I asked them for directions the the yoga studio and they said I was probably supposed to be in Rockport. Well, yes, I am! They told me I was in Lamar and how to get back to Rockport. I thanked them and regrouped.
Here's the part where I really goofed. I left my phone in the motel room. So I couldn't call my host, Doreen, nor could I ask Siri for his help. I got back into Rockport, but was starting to panic, because I couldn't find the motel room. I never did navigate to the motel, because they didn't provide a street address, so I had to use Siri to get me there. So I relaxed and let my mind create a solution. I remembered seeing on the map last night that the studio was on the corner of Main and Church, so I tried searching the interactive map on the Mini until I found a Church or a Main sti. Fortunately Rockport isn't a big town. I finally found Church St and then found Main St!! So I navigated to that intersection and finally got to the studio over ten minutes late!
The first thing after I park, Dorene comes running out and says not to worry, "we're all on island time", so everyone is just now arriving and can she carry something for me... Whew!!
There were quite a few people brand new to Nia and also one brand newly licensed White Belt. Rockport is ready to grow. It's a young and vibrant startup Nia community. That I'm excited to see grow over the upcoming years.
After class, I went back the motel 6 in the middle of the map and took a shower and gave River a walk. We got in the car and drove up I-35. I was so focsed on getting us to Aransas Wildlife Refuge that I forgot to get gas before leaving Rockport. I had to go a bit out of the way, all the way up to Trivoli to fill up with gas. Then we went in and explored the refuge.
First of all, it's beautiful. Secondly, tons of mosquitos. So I couldn't stay in any one place for too long without running back to the car. Lots of the trails looked like this, with lush vegetation and swampy grounds. Mosquito paradise. I took some video before I scooted out of there.
Of course we eventually found the 'beach' which was too windy for mosquitoes....
We climbed up this giant observation tower to see the salty marsh from a birds-eye view.
We saw an alligator. See it? It took me a while...
And I don't know what River saw in there, but he was focused on it for a while.
After a full two hours of wildlife enjoyment, we hit the farm road back to I-35.
This time all the way to Corpus Christi, where the lower Motel 6 is, on the map. So we did quite a bit of back and forth driving today.
We stopped to get some BBQ in Corpus Christi before settling in for the night.
I plan to do laundry here later tonight.
Comments