The Luther Hotel Still Stand
One morning more than twenty-five years ago, I rose early, entered the breakfast room, and poured myself a huge cup of coffee. It was in October when the finicky weather on the Texas Coast could be sultry and sticky or crisp and cold. That morning, it was somewhere in between as I stepped out of the front door of the Luther Hotel and made myself comfortable in one of the big white rocking chairs on the front porch. The briny smell from the Gulf of Mexico and the eerie call of gulls tugged at my heartstrings. I loved the Texas Coast. I closed my eyes and counted my blessings. When I opened them, I saw a roseate spoonbill glide across a crystal blue sky. I remember thinking that this is what Heaven must be like.
That was our only second trip to the historic Luther Hotel. My husband and I were there for a weekend of birding. I remember driving into town on Texas 35 South to East Bay Boulevard that hugged the coastline along the Palacios, Texas waterfront. I crossed my fingers as we rounded the bend, hoping to spot the flock of long-billed curlews feeding on the massive green lawn in front of the hotel I’d seen on my first visit. I was not disappointed. They were there as they always seemed to be, maneuvering those spiky, eight-inch bills while probing for invertebrates in the grass.
Over the next few years, the Luther Hotel became our home on that stretch of the Texas…
