76. Port Lavaca, Calhoun County

Actually, it’s more like Port Foggy-As-Heck, but I’m not going to quibble over names. After a night in a slightly over-expensive motel and some complications due to Daylight Savings beginning, I got to the courthouse on a foggy morning after making a foggy drive the night before. I haven’t been a particular fan of coastal courthouses, but I have to cut them some slack. Hurricanes and other bad weather have no doubt taken their toll on the old locations. The replacements don’t have the panache or the aesthetic of an older age. Of course, the old ones obviously don’t have the durability of “newer” construction. Unfortunately, the Sixties and the Seventies were not a high water mark for civic design.

The cache was a virtual at the Half Moon Reef Lighthouse. The location was interesting on its own, though it was a bit disappointing for a different reason. I have a challenge where I have to get caches at different elevations above sea level and the only two I’m missing are one above 1500 meters and one below 10 meters. This is the second coastal cache I’ve gotten. The first one was at 10 and this one was at 11. That’s alright. I’ll have other chances, especially when I eventually go to Galveston, but that’s the future.

Unfortunately, this cache began the saltiness that would follow me all day and would reach a crazy pitch later in the day. The appropriate marker made strong note of the Confederate importance to the lighthouse and that featured prominently in the answer. I understand that, seeing as I live in Texas, there’s going to be some of that. I’ve even mentioned it before. Usually, I just employ the negative version of SALTS: Scowl A Little Then Stop. This morning was no exception. Besides, I was done here. I got in the car and went onward through the fog, skirting the Gulf until I arrived in…