Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2005 > November > 27 > Entry
Fun on Follett’s Island
Recreation: Three generations of Barneses gathered — as we have for 40 years — at Surfside Beach over the weekend. Two from the first generation, 12 from the second (includes spouses) and 12 from the third. We enjoyed blissful weather — other than the rainy Saturday — with mild winds, not-too-chilly Gulf waters and burnt orange sunrises and sunsets.
There was cooking, reading, noshing and, of course, game-playing. It’s a competitive group. The two faves this year were Blast from the Past (a trivia game best played with intergenerational teams) and a Suduko set with graduated levels of difficulty (Kip made it to No. 93, I believe). Sadly, video versions of the Longhorns game outranked the real nail-biter with A&M among the third generation.
My contributions to the victuals were short-order eggs each morning — fried, scrambled, baked, poached, shirred, migas, breakfast tacos, frittatas, omelets and eggs Benedict. The final menu selection proved to be the most popular. If you make the Hollandaise sauce a bit in advance and in a blender, it’s not that difficult.
We shared the Calypso rental house with eight canines: Two Labs (our Nick and Nora), two miniature schnauzers (Alfred and Libby), an English mastiff (Rocco), a Lab mix (Dodger), a terrier mix (Bandit) and a shepherd mix (Bella). You can imagine how this pack looked, mostly off-leash, as we pranced down the deserted beaches above Surfside proper. Nick was the only eager swimmer; Nora moved well through the water, but was intimidated by the waves.
Calypso was not our first choice among the Brannan Resort Rental properties. It’s got character — weathered wood and a convivial, high-pitched public area — but no working phone, no dining room table, partially broken stove and modest trash removal facilities. Well, duh. The Brannan folks told us later it was usually a prom party rental and the owner didn’t bother to keep it in good condition. Next year, back to Trade Winds, which we also rent for our major nonfamily event — the Reading Week — in February.
Other than the numberless shorebirds and seabirds, other avian fancies awaited us on the nether side of Follett’s Island — osprey, kites, harriers, spoonbills, ibixes, white pelicans (to go with the more numerous brown), coots, buffleheads, snowy egrets, tricolored herons and a single reddish egret.
We also explored the land my brother almost purchased — 85 acres for just $150,000 — but could not quite nail down, for reasons that were never clear to me, other than the obvious: Most of it is under water and vulnerable, as is the entire island, to storm surges. Still, there’s a freshwater creek, a mere few strides from the Gulf, a potential fishing paradise, were a cut made under the narrow highway. But that’s a gamble I wouldn’t make.
As he showed me the ownership maps, I noticed that it abutted land labeled “Stephen F. Austin.” It didn’t dawn on me until later that this meant it was one of Austin’s land claims. Although few Texans know Surfside, alternately Follett’s Island, it lies at the old mouth of the Brazos River and was the gateway to Austin’s colonies at San Felipe, Columbia, etc. In fact, the island’s now-disappeared old Valasco was, briefly, the capital of Texas during the Revolution, and remained a popular resort in the late 19th century. Until you-know-what happened in 1900.
When you think of how inhospitable — and completely vulnerable to hurricanes — the Texas Gulf Coast can be — or was, without modern improvements such as air-conditioning and storm barriers, it makes sense that Austin chose this lovely, slender little island at the base of the state’s fertile heartland as a starting point.
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