Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Easter Sunday

We headed into Brownsville this morning to attend Easter Sunday Services at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. By todays standards it's rather small as cathedrals go. It was built in the 1850's by a priest who began his carrier as an architect and cabinet maker. Today's service was broadcast on television across the Rio Grande Valley.

Following mass we headed over to a Mexican flea market. There were probably 200 booths selling a variety of items. Some of the goods, like boots and clothing were new but most had what I would call garage sale items. The Mexican food stands smelled great but we had just eaten lunch. We did buy some fruits and vegetables.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Laguna Wildlife Refuge

We decided this morning to head out to the Laguna Wildlife Refuge. There are a number of walking and bicycling trails throughout 88,000 acre park. It's the largest protected refuge for a large variety of birds and wildlife in the Rio Grande Valley.

The route we decided upon is 16 miles long and runs partially along the bay that overlooks S. Padre Island. There are also some long stretches of road that are almost completely enclosed by trees and plant growth.

When we reached the shore line we walked out onto the new overlook that was constructed to help you view some of the many birds along the shoreline. There are other overlooks where you can look out on the open prairie land.

While we saw a lot of different birds we didn't see any animals out on the prairie. The ranger told us upon our return that the best time to view the animals was at dawn and dusk. They tend to stay in cool areas and not graze on the prairie during the heat of the day. The Ocelot, pictured below on the sign, is nocturnal and seldom seen during the daylight hours. We're glad we didn't meet up with one on our bikes

On our return trip to S. Padre we got to experience the legendary traffic jams that occur everyday during spring break. It took us an hour and a half to the travel 4 miles back to our campground. The picture below is the 1/2 way point; see the backup of cars?

In an earlier post I mentioned that most of the bars don't really get busy until 10 or 11. With the help of our friends Bev and Sheilah we have been hitting a couple of local places that cater to a wiser and more mature group, like us. Our favorite has become Palm St. Pier; they serve great seafood and have live music 5 nights a week. The last several nights their entertainer has been Johnny Mac, playing 50's, 60's and 70's hits. We enjoyed every song he sang and could sit and listen to him for hours.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Bike/Beach

It's another gorgeous day on South Padre with temps in the high 70's and wind under 10mph.

We didn't sleep too well last night. Late in the evening a large family and their friends setup camp directly behind us. There was talking, laughing and even kids screaming until the wee hours of the morning. With the help of our AC system running and the TV on we managed to get to sleep. When we awoke we saw that the site actually had four families with a trailer, a large tent and 4 vehicles, two with air mattresses in the back. Later in the morning the park ranger informed them that they would have to split up into several sites.

With the low winds we decided to go on another bike ride this afternoon. We rode up and down the many cross streets on Padre and even looked at a couple of new condos for sale. Of course with all the stores we couldn't resist stopping in a few.

Next stop was the beach near the Radisson. The party was still going on with thousands of students soaking up the sun and having a few refreshments. A large group setup directly in front of us. Below is their group picture.

The army recruiters setup a display and a climbing apparatus for those macho enough to accept the challenge. Here is a zoomed in shot of a young gal who is close to reaching the top of the 70 ft. structure.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Port Isabel

It was a gorgeous day today! The temps were in the mid to high 70's and the wind about 8mph. As I have mentioned in previous posts the wind has been pretty strong down here and it has been difficult to ride our bikes. With the decrease in wind we decided today would be ideal for touring the Port Isabel area on bikes. Our first stop was the Port Isabel Light House. It was constructed in the mid 1800's to guide ships through the barrier islands.

After buying the tickets to tour the lighthouse Kathy climbed up 15 steps of the 76 total steps. Her fear of heights took over her senses and she turned around. She said she didn't realize the spiral staircase would be open metal steps. I continued to the top "clucking" like a chicken.

Following lunch on the water at Pirates Landing, we rode around the area checking out the homes on the canals on either side of the port. Here is a beautiful place that we couldn't figure out whether it was a one home, several condos, or a resort.

The look of the city is a mixture of old and new and often they are adjacent to each other. Here is a beautiful old hotel that doesn't appear to be getting much use. I imagine in its day it was a showplace.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Full Throttle Beach Party

This morning we headed over to the University of Texas Pan American Aquarium. There was a large display of sea turtles, dolphins, porpoises, shark jaws, sea shells, etc. Kathy is standing next to a whale skull in the photo below.

Following lunch we thought we would see what the spring break crowd was up to at the "Full Throttle Beach Party" on the beach behind the Radisson Hotel. There were several thousand "breakers" listening to the music, participating in various competitions ranging from tug-a-war, to bull riding and dancing. The various flags you see in the photo are from a variety of universities, including ISU, and are meeting points for the students.

Click on any photo to enlarge.
Warm weather and beaches are a magnet for sun bathers in bikinis and today was no exception.

The whole crowd was very well behaved. The entire area was was being watched over by a dozen or so police officers on ATV's positioned around the perimeter. They interacted very well with the students and even posed for pictures with them. Of course there is a lot of drinking and dancing going on. There was even this old guy who thought he would try his hand at chugging a beer with the group.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Another Windy Day at the Beach

I just can't believe how windy it's been down here. Today the wind blew a steady 25mph the whole day, with gusts to 40. The temperature has been great, 70 this morning and 80 this afternoon. Our original plan was to bicycle around the area today, but not with this wind. So, we drove around the island in the jeep and checked out the local real estate market. The housing slump has not done much to the prices down here.

Last night we headed out to catch some of the night life during spring break. We had drinks at a couple of bars but there was very little going on at 9pm. The bartender told us that most of the action and music doesn't get started till 11pm.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - 3 Visits to the Hardware Store

I didn't mention in yesterday's post that we rode our bikes about 10 to 15 miles. So, we slept very good last night and didn't get up until 8:30 today. The morning temperature was an ideal 71 so we decided to take a walk along the beach.

Upon our return I thought I would look into the dampness that we had noticed in the bathroom. No it wasn't caused by me missing the pot. It didn't take long to discover that I would have to remove it to determine the cause. To make a long store short it took almost 4 hours to tear it apart, find the leak, make 3 trips to the hardware store, reassemble the toilet and test it. It appears to be working, we'll know more tomorrow.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - South Padre Arrival

We headed out at 9:30 this morning. South Padre is about 50 miles west of where we were staying in Mercedes. Our new location is Isla Blanca County Park campground at the southernmost end of the island. There are over 500 sites and we are right on the Gulf of Mexico. We managed to get the second row and have a beautiful view of the dunes and the water out of our front and side windows.

This afternoon we dropped the top on the jeep and headed north up the island towards the dunes. The road is only about 10 miles long, but the island and dunes go on for 50 miles or more. We took an access road to the beach that led us to the gulf side. We thought for a moment about heading further north along the water but decided to turn south instead.

About a mile down the beach we began seeing the spring breakers and locals with their cars parked facing the water. There were entire families with tents setup, grills cooking all kinds of foods and music playing for the next 4-5 miles. There was just enough room between them and the water for us to drive by. We drove for close to 30 minutes before we got to the next access road to the highway

Several of our neighbors at the previous campground gave us recommendations for restaurants on South Padre. Tonight we selected Louie's Backyard and we were not disappointed. It's located right on the bay and from the upstairs dining room we watched the sun drop behind horizon. Kathy had a Parmesan encrusted salmon dinner and I had their famous rack of ribs.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Prepare for S. Padre

Tomorrow we head for S. Padre Island for 8 days of camping on the beach at the county park. We visited the park a couple of weeks ago during a day trip to the area. We're looking forward to walking the beach and taking in the sights.

I had a number of things to do before we depart and first on my list was to replace the door hinge that arrived via UPS yesterday. You will recall on the trip down here that the wind swept the door handle out of my hand and bent the hinge. In the process it popped the screw heads on 6 of the 10 screws hols it to the door. Removing the hinge was pretty straight forward, the hard part was drilling and tapping new holes. It's all fixed now and the door works great.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - 100 Degree Rodeo

The temperature hit 100 today in the valley and it's a new record. The average temperature for this time of year is the high 70's to low 80's. Fortunately the relative humidity was a very low 7%.

Following tennis in the morning and the pool in the afternoon we headed back to the fair to take in the evening rodeo. Prior to the start we stopped by to see the FFA cattle judging. Some of these cows were pushing these kids around the arena.

This was the first Rodeo we have ever attended and really didn't know what to expect. The Rodeo started with a dozen gals on horses riding around the arena with changing formations and weaving in an out of each other at high speeds.

The first event was a bronc bustin competition. Some of the cowboys were locals but most were professions who follow the circuit. We never did figure out the scoring except you had to stay on the horse and keep your free hand in the air until the buzzer sounded. Next was the calf roping where they timed how long it took you rope a calf, upend it and tie 3 legs. There where a couple of other events that were somewhat similar. In between events they drug the arena dirt with a tractor and the gals on horses preformed riding tricks.
There were also clowns in the arena telling corny jokes over the P.A. and music between each of the rides. They also had events for the kids. One was a Mutton riding contest for kids age 4-9. They would dress these kids up in chest protectors and helmets, then lay the kid on the back of the lamb, holding onto to the wool and let the lamb run. The kid that held on the longest won!

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Average Day

Not much to report on today. I played tennis with the group this morning. I'm really going to miss not playing every morning when we head out on Sunday for S. Padre Island. Maybe I'll find a pickup game at the courts on Padre.

We ate at an excellent Mexican restaurant last night. We both chose the enchilada platter and we were not disappointed. There were large chunks of chicken and the red sauce was the best I have ever tasted. I had gotten a tip on this restaurant from a couple that plays tennis with us each morning. We told them how disappointed we were with the Mexican restaurants we had experienced and that we had better Mexican meals in Des Moines.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Mercedes Livestock Show and Rodeo

The weather was gorgeous this morning as well headed out to play tennis. Unfortunately both of us should have stayed home. I played terrible, I was always a half a step behind. And Kathy's ankle, the one she broke last year, started bothering her so she quit after 1/2 hour. Oh well, at least we got some exercise.

This afternoon we headed to the Mercedes Rodeo. It was a lot like our state fair but much smaller. Of course there was a lot of animals in the competitions.







There was also a number of entertainers. The gals in the photo below are originally from SW Iowa, but currently traveling the country performing a show call "Wacky Women of the West"



The food at the fair or Rodeo as they call it in Texas is pretty much the same as the Iowa State Fair. We loaded up on junk food, soda and root beer floats and headed over to watch the kids compete in the Barrel Racing event. Believe or not there was a little 4 year old girl racing in the 0-7 class.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - An Ordinary Day

Sort of a standard day today. I played tennis with the group in the morning and Kathy worked out at the health club. This afternoon I spent some time at the wood shop sanding my table. I think I've got it all ready to stain when I return home next month. I plan on trying to match the cherry cabinetry in our motorhome.

This evening we headed to Harlingen to catch a movie. We decided on "The Other Boleyn Girl". It was the only movie with a decent rating we haven't seem. It was the story of Ann Boleyn, King Henry's mistress and later his wife for whom he broke away from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England. It was a very good movie.

The temps were in the mid 70's today, tomorrow the forecast is for the 80's and Friday's the 90's.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Table Assembly

(Note:I finally got the photos to publish for the last 3 days. Scroll down to view them. You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.)

Another morning of tennis for the two of us. It's been nice getting the exercise in the morning to get us going. Maybe I'll lose a couple of pounds. The group I play with only had 2 extras this morning so I played pretty much 2 hours straight.

I headed back to the wood shop this afternoon to assemble the table I'm building. You may recall it's a sort of drop leaf coffee table. As you can see, both sides of the table collapse down towards the center so the table can be easy stowed while in transit. Here are a couple of shots to show how it works.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Outlet Mall

The change over to daylight saving time last night didn't take away an hour of sleep from us. We slept in till 9am. So the morning went real fast.

Kathy finally broke down and decided to check out the big outlet mall down the street from us. I'm surprised it took her 3 weeks to get there. I ended up going with her and bought a couple of pair of much needed Dockers and several shirts. Kathy found two of her favorite stores and traded dollars for garments.

This evening we decided to take in the resort's entertainment. The show was titled "Tucker's Little Bit of Branson" and was really pretty good. Tucker has a deep and powerful voice and sang mostly country songs from the 50's and early 60's. In between songs he had the audience laughing at his boyhood stories and anecdotes.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Classic Car Show

We sure got our exercise this morning. First we played singles tennis for a little over an hour. Kathy's got her form back and is hitting the ball very solid. She's not going after the difficult ones because she doesn't want to put any unnecessary strain on her back. For the remainder of the morning we road our bikes around the entire complex covering each of the more than 30 streets.

This afternoon we headed over to Mission Texas(about 20 miles)to attend the valleys biggest classic car show. We weren't disappointed; there were over 100 classics cars on display. Here are a couple of our favorites.

Kathy's favorite was the white '56 Corvette. I overheard the owner saying he had won every car show he had ever entered. I'm not sure what it's value was, but I bet it's in the $40-50,0000 range.

In addition to car accessory booths, displays and food there was some great 60's music being played by a one man band with a synthesizer. He had a Frankie Valle type of voice.


Late Saturday afternoon we decided to attend mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe, a beautiful church built in 1925. They have 7 masses on Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the high number of winter Texans.
Following dinner we put on our dancing shoes and headed down to the recreation complex for the evening dance. They had a great band "Jealous Heart" that play a good variety of music. We had a good time dancing the Texas Two Step and got a chance to practice the line dancing from the lessons we've been taking every Tuesday. These dances are very popular and tonight was no exception. We estimate there were 250-300 people at tonight's dance and as you can see from the photo they all come to dance.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - A Cold Day in the Valley

The cold front came through here last night. By morning the temperature had dropped into the low 50's and the winds picked up to 20-30. The cold weather scarred away the tennis group that was scheduled to play this morning. I was the only one that showed up.

Kathy continued her work on shortening the front drapes while I headed to the wood working shop to sand the table I'm building. I hope to assemble the table next Monday and shoot some photos for the blog.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Maintenance Day

Not much going on today. This morning, Kathy played tennis with the B group and I played with the A group.



Following lunch, Kathy shortened the drapes that cover the front windshield when we're camped. For some reason they were 7 inches too long and drug on the dashboard. I on the other hand spent the day washing and waxing the motorhome. I'm about 80% done.

We had a beautiful day today, temps in the mid 80's. About 50 miles north and throughout the rest of the state it rained off and on. Tonight it's suppose to turn colder and drop temps into the 50's. Tomorrow the high will only be in the 60's By Saturday it's suppose to go back into the high 70's.

Wow! These cold fronts are tough!

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Just Another Day

Not a lot going on today. I played tennis with the A group this morning. Kathy thought I was too good to be playing with the B group that I played with yesterday. This group was much better, they all hit the ball very solid. I held my own, but I'm still pretty rusty.



Following tennis we headed for the line dancing lessons that we began last week. We went over the same 4 dances that we learned last week. We are both doing better than we did last week. I guess it's true that repetition is the key to learning.




After lunch Kathy worked on the plants and seed trays she began last week. The large plant is a "Bird of Paradise". Her goal is to have the sprouting seedlings ready to transplant into her flower garden when we return. We finished the day with a trip to the pool and dinner at Big Daddy's, a local barbecue restaurant.