More family! More friends!

Currently in San Antonio
Next Up: Austin, TX and then Big Bend National Park on our way to Arizona

My sister Cecile and her husband Bill live in San Antonio and we were lucky enough to spend the day with them.  First, we remembered the Alamo!























While the Alamo started out as a Catholic Mission, it then became a military fort and was critical to the history of Texas.    Texas has been under a total of 5 flags: Spanish, French, Mexican, the Confederate States and the United States.  We got a bit of a lesson in the loading and shooting of muskets during the time of the Mexican siege.

The Alamo itself looks different from the other times I have visited.  The church, the barracks and other ruins are still there, but the grounds are much prettier with the addition of a garden.

Later in the week we toured the church, San Fernando Cathedral, that houses the remains of some of the heroes of the Alamo: among them Bowie, Crockett and Travis.  The Cathedral dates back to the mid 1700s and still has much of the original stonework.

We thought it would be fun to see the Texas Ranger museum too, since the day turned out to be somewhat cold and rainy.  Off we went to the Buckhorn Saloon and museum.

The original owner would give a free shot of whiskey to anyone who would donate a set of horns.

Thus began a huge collection of animals that have been preserved through taxidermy, including this  Irish Elk; the species has been extinct for 9,000 years.

He also created this collection of chairs made out of animal horns.  Very unique.

Another cool thing in the animal section was the Tree of Life from Thailand.  It took over a year of constant work for the artist to create it.  Now I know why the Animal Kingdom at Disney has one!

Once we moved on to the Texas Ranger part of the museum, we learned a bit about the history of the Texas law enforcement.  The Rangers were started in the mid 1800s with 12 men directed to keep settlements safe from Native Americans.  Today they are a division of the Texas state bureau of investigation.  The Texas Rangers were involved in bringing down Bonnie and Clyde.

This guy is still on the lam.  They need to up that reward money!

I took a peek at this collection of law enforcement badges at the museum.

In the old days, the Rangers hung out at the Saloon  - and so did we!

Finally, over the weekend we were able to catch up with some friends that we met at the rally we went to last May in Tennessee.  We started out at the oldest bar on the Riverwalk - The Esquire.

And we moved on to a classic Tex Mex restaurant.  So fun to catch up with this folks!

Art in Harlingen

Currently in San Antonio
Heading West!

The art work in Harlingen is on the sides of buildings!  Some of the most beautiful murals I have ever seen.  We saw at least 20 of them, although there are dozens inside and outside of buildings.  The town is very proud of the murals.

This is a mural installation that shows the history of Mexico in murals, although they almost look like mosaics.  The art was originally in Los Angeles at the California Museum of Science and Industry but is now permanently in Harlingen. It's not only beautiful to look at, but tells the story of Mexico from a unique perspective.

Finally, the Marine Military Academy is located about a mile from our RV park.  It is a boarding school for young high school men.  There is a museum where we watched a video about Iwo Jima and looked at some other artifacts.  The statue below is the original plaster model of the bronze statue at Arlington National Cemetery in DC.
One of the soldiers in the statue, who died during the battle, was from the lower Rio Grande Valley.  The marines were raising the flag high enough so all the soldiers on the island could see it and stay motivated through the long and bloody battle.

Nature Walks - they never get old!

Leaving for San Antonio tomorrow!
Then we will be in Austin and then Big Bend, Texas
Coming up: Las Cruces, NM on our way to Arizona

We went on 2 hikes/nature walks while we were in the Rio Grande Valley.
In Laguna Atascosa we saw a lot of wildlife, including birds, native to Texas.  Bird watching is a big pastime here in Texas.

Here are 2 of the most common birds we saw at the Laguna.

Green Jay

Hooded Oriole

This Wildlife refuge is focussed on saving cats - ocelots, mountain lions and bobcats- but we didn't see any of them.  There are feral pigs in this refuge since they are common in Texas.  Ugh.
We also saw a couple of white tailed deer about 40 yards from where we were walking.  Not quick enough to grab a photo, tho.  I was able to catch this armadillo having lunch.

As an aside, the Laguna Atacosa was private land that was eventually donated to the government by ranchers that want to keep the land undeveloped.  Because of that, there is an old Texas cemetery on this land that was preserved.   The markers date back to the early 1900's.

We also took a walk through the Hugh Ramsey Nature Park in Harlingen.   Although there are many bird species here as well, we actually looked at the plants.  Lots of cactus here!

Prickly Pear Cactus

Blue Agave

We weren't sure what this cactus is.  It may be a form of the Prickly Pear or may be the Lady Fingers.

This is the only flower we saw in the whole nature area! The beautiful anemone..

Retired People Spring Break

We're still in Harlingen, TX!
Leaving for San Antonio this week

So we had to see what all the fuss is about in South Padre Island.  The entire island is hotels, restaurants and bars.  And of course the sand and water.  It was a cooler day weather wise, but we still had fun at the beach.

Here's all the retired folks enjoying the day.  I'm sure they will be replaced by people 40 years younger by March 1.

We spent the afternoon at an outdoor bar called Clayton's.

This day included Johnny's 3 favorite things (besides me): beach, booze and a band.  Wahoo!

Other random stuff we did on the Gulf

Currently In:  Rio Grande Valley
On to San Antonio and Austin before we head to Big Bend National Park

We did a couple of other things when we were in the Corpus Christi area.
First, we took a ferry over to Port Aransas and Padre Island.

Here is the view coming into Port Aransas from the ferry.

 We drove over to the Bob Hall Pier on Padre Island. It was a bit chilly due to the wind!

The pier

Padre Island Beach

 We also found out that RVs can pay $12 to drive on the beach and spend the night there - 3 night maximum.  The RV would need to be self contained, obviously.  Batteries fully charged, fresh water tank full, and an empty black tank.  We saw several RVs doing this type of camping.  Maybe someday we will try it....

Someone else's RV camped at the beach on Padre Island

 Finally, we visited the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.  It was very well done with video, several eco systems, presentations by staff and lots of fish!  Here are some shots of the other animals we saw.

Loggerhead turtle

There is an otter hanging out on top of the rock.

 The entrance to the shark exhibit!

 The flamingos were really pretty.

Caribbean Flamingos

There were also lots of birds in the Caribbean area.

Blue throated McCaw

If you have ever been to a museum with Johnny, you know that we were there for most of the day.   He sure knows a lot about animals!

Winter Texans

Currently In:  Harlingen, TX
Next Up: San Antonio and Austin

I am a bit behind in these posts because our WiFi was somewhat intermittent in Rockport, TX.  Hoping we have better luck now that we have moved south.

We found out the other day from a permanent resident of Texas that we are not Snowbirds like Florida.  Winter Texans are folks who spend part or all of the winter in Texas.  So, I guess we are Winter Texans right now.

When we pulled into Rockport (outside Corpus Christi), we knew something was wrong.  We saw a building with the roof off.  Then we saw a couple of boarded up houses.  Turns out, Rockport took a direct hit from Hurricane Harvey.  This is a boat storage area that was completely destroyed.

We saw several boats and RVs, like the one below, sitting on the side of the road waiting to be picked up.  Scary.

There are lots of trees in the area.  I can just imagine how beautiful it is when they are all in good condition.  But now most look like this - although I'm not sure I captured how bad it was.

As the debris is collected, and believe me there is a lot still sitting at the side of the road, they stage it in the huge median of the highway that runs through town.  Then the debris is incinerated and more is moved in.

The people we met are still fairly traumatized, as you can imagine.  But they are "Rockport Resilient"  and everything will slowly come back.

Johnny and I still found plenty to do in this cute resort town.  We took a walk on the Tule Creek Trail and did some bird watching.  We found the Shellcrete Historic site.  Shellcrete is kind of like coquina (like St. Augustine) in that it is a material made of shells and sand used for construction. It was used heavily when this area was created.

We also went to the Fulton Mansion,  built in 1877 overlooking Aransas Bay in Fulton.  It was a very progressive home for the time including indoor gas lighting and flush toilets.  It is closed for repairs for the Hurricane, so we just appreciated the outside architecture. 

Right behind the Mansion is a tree with a metal windmill stuck in it from the hurricane that hit in 1919.  The tree grew around the windmill and still there from Harvey!  Very touristy.

Finally, because this is a resort area, there were tons of RV parks.  I mean a lot.  Some were up and running, and some were not.  We stayed in a really fun RV park.  The people were great and they had lots of activities, some that we joined in.  The band below played old time country music.  Yea!

We also decided to join in this fun time.  Didn't win a thing, tho.

Johnny had never played before - can you believe it?? The people were serious, but lots of fun.

We did see a couple of other things in the Corpus Christi area - more on those later!