We are headed south, for a warm winter experience. Our destination is Palmdale RV Park in Los Frenos, Texas. With the late start, we only made it to a Walmart parking lot in Baton Rouge the first day. Neither of us slept well that night and rain was in the forecast. Also, we wanted to avoid a rush hour in Houston so when Dave woke me at 4 AM and asked if I was willing to get up and on the road, I said “Sure!”

As expected, we did run into heavy rains but with the time frame we were on the road, we avoided heavy traffic during those times and also hit Houston about 1 PM. We arrived at Palmdale close to 5 PM. It had been a long day but we were happy to be there and to set up during daylight hours. We will be staying here for 2 months, our longest stay anyplace since we started this adventure.

This park is set up for long term stays, with many organized activities. Mornings have exercise programs. Afternoons and evenings have card parties. Occasionally there is a special dinner, such as the Welcome Back dinner, hosted by the part owners. I won a prize from the raffle, a free dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant. Most Fridays have a Happy Hour at 4:30 where we bring our own beverages and if we wish, appetizers to share. It is a fun hour or so of mingling. There is a potluck dinner on Monday evenings. So far, we have played cards a few times and go to the Happy Hour and pot lucks. Sometimes we lay out by the pool to get some sunshine.

Mostly, we have been lazier than I would have imagined. The weather plays a large part in that. Night time temps vary from low 40’s to mid 60’s. Day time temps can be mid 50’s to 80. It is also windy here, some days gusting to 30, ALL DAY LONG. Between the cool days and winds, we have not gotten the bike out much. The pool area has a tall fence, so it is often more pleasant there than on our own patio.

Also, we have met 4 other couples, all about our age and all full timers. We usually gather with them at the Happy Hours and potlucks. The new friends are Roxi and Tom, Beth and Todd, from Wisconsin, Laurie and John from Toronto, Jan and Phil from Texas. Jan and Phil actually lived in Minneapolis for a few years. All of us understand northern winters and appreciate southern Texas, even when it is not quite as warm as we would wish!

We are located about 20 miles from South Padre Island and about 40 miles from Progreso, Mexico. We went to Progreso once and it was fun but I’m not sure if we will return or not. We have been to the island several times and will go back. There is a lot to do there, regardless of temps. There are also neat things to do in nearby towns.

One of our first few days here, we ventured to South Padre Island.

Other times, we found places to watch NFL games.

One day we decided to go to Mexico. We had been advised that the safest town to go to is Progreso, about 40 miles away. Wow, were we surprised at how many of the local doctors, dentists, pharmacies and hair/nail salons wanted our business. Instead of merchandise vendors, we were greeted by someone every few feet, trying to get business from us.

When we went to leave Mexico, we found out I had grabbed both my old and current passport, rather than my current one and Dave’s. I was really nervous as we headed to the border crossing. Dave was very honest about the problem and was able to supply the information they needed. The border guard typed the info into his computer, then let us pass. What a relief!!

There is a really unique bar called Harley’s. If someone had not told us about it, we never would have just stumbled upon it. The barmaid on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays is Sari. She is amazing. She knows the names of all of the customers, no matter when you last visited. She runs the place (two rooms) almost single handedly and insists upon a hug when you leave. This is a favorite of both winter Texans and locals.

One day, I saw one of the retaining walls along the freeway. It is decorated with bits of Texas history and is beautiful.

January was a sad month for Dave’s family. Uncle Chuck Hawk from Ohio passed away. A week later, cousin Eric DuBois from Portland passed away. Both deaths were unexpected. I had the pleasure of meeting uncle Chuck at the family reunion last summer and had looked forward to meeting Eric next summer. These were hard losses for the family.

On a chilly day, we decided to go on a historical tour. There are two museums and a light house in Port Isabel. Tickets for all three was only $7 per person. We toured the Historical Museum and Sea Treasures Museum. We learned a lot about the founding of Port Isabel, the Mexican American War and some ships that were lost in a hurricane in the 1800’s. One of them is the site of a successful massive treasure hunt, underway for the past 25 years. We decided to skip the light house for today because my toes were getting cold! There is no time limit on using the ticket.

Before the museum, we ate lunch at El Buen Pescadore. Some people we met previously had told us about it. It is known for authentic TexMex, huge platters of food and low prices. I had 3 beef enchiladas with rice and beans. Dave had 2 cheese enchiladas with 2 tostadas. We had enough left overs for lunch another day.

We went to a kite fest on the Island one day, with our friends Phil and Jan. There were many large kites but they were for decoration only, at least on this day with almost no wind. The contest were smaller kites, flown in unison and synchronized to music. It was a very interesting day, followed by refreshment at Pier 19.

The next day, we gathered with Phil and Jan, Beth and Todd and Roxi and Tom at John and Laurie’s trailer to play Giant Jenga. Fun!!! Dave and I were happy that neither us us were the ones to pull the blocks down.

On another day, we visited Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park. This is where the first battle of the Mexican American war was fought. About 20 miles away is the site of the last Civil War was fought, a month after the end of the War.

I was happy that we did not encounter the resident Diamondback but Dave was disappointed. I kept my eyes peeled the entire walk because we had been told it was perfect temperature conditions to bring him out and it would not be unusual to find him on the walkway.

One cool Saturday, we drove to the town of Donna, to visit a Flea Market. We were looking for the game Pegs & Jokers, which we first played last summer with Hans, Nettie, Mike and Bridget. We had searched for it on line but it was very expensive. We found the game at one of the market stalls and purchased it with some of our wedding gift money.

One day, Dave and I drove to Boca Chica where we could drive on the beach and have some lunch. This reminded us of our beach picnic last year, on our drive from Mississippi to Florida.

On an 84 degree day, we planned a trip to “the island”. Our first stop was lunch in Port Isabel.

There were several dining locations at the Shack. We chose a patio table in the sun, out in front. We were able to “people watch” in the shadow of the light house as we ate.

Next stop was the Turtle Sanctuary Sanctuary at South Padre. We had attempted to see this previously on a very cold day but returned today. We saw many turtles of varying sizes (age), with different maladies. Some had lost buoyancy, others had lost up to three appendages. Whenever possible, the turtles are returned to the sea after they are healed.

This turtle, probably close to full size, had returned to the sanctuary 3 times. He kept washing up on shore. It was finally determined he was healthy but too “civilized” to live naturally so will have a home at the sanctuary for life. His name was originally Geraldine but when they determined he as a male, his name was changed to Gerry.

During the walk across the lagoon on the boardwalk, I kept looking for the alligator that lives in the lagoon. Dave wondered why I wanted to see it, since alligators terrify me. He was in hiding that day.

Last stop for the day was Clayton’s, touted as the largest beach bar. On a Thursday, which this was, beer was $2 and wings were a quarter. We had made plans to meet our friends Jan and Phil. We also ran into the rest of our campground friends.

That was the last day of warm weather for a while. The next day, the high was 45. But, it was my birthday and Dave and I decided to celebrate. We had a gift certificate that I had won a few weeks earlier at the campground so that was our supper destination. First stop though was Pirates Landing for Hurricane. Last year in New Orleans, I had my first Hurricane, to start that memorable day. We wanted to repeat the experience.

Mid February found the perfect day. Temps were in the mid 70’s, sun was shining and there was barely any wind. Wow, despite what people think, it is hard to find that type of day down here. We decided to take advantage of it and took the bike out, for a trip back to Mexico. Dave wanted to compare some pharmacy and dental prices. The first time we were there, we had been hesitant to buy food from the food trucks but some acquaintances at the park had told him it was safe, so we bought some tacos from a street vendor. For $4 each, we had 5 super delicious shredded beef tacos. We sat down at an outside bar and had $2 Dos Equis. What a wonderful lunch!

On the way back home, we rode past a bar with a neat looking patio, so decided to stop in. Nana’s was so unique! The patio was brightly covered and had so many photo ops! We ordered a jalapeno popper that turned out to be super HOT and a margarita, before heading out.

Since Dave had taken me to the greatest dive bar in Mississippi for Valentine’s Day last year, he wanted to continue the tradition this year, so we headed to Harley’s. Harley’s is a few steps above Nick’s, but in the same general category, as far as “class”. We always enjoy the atmosphere, bar tender Sari and often see some of the same clientele. Another Valentine’s Day in the books!

The weather this week continues to be nice.

On Saturday, Phil and Jan hosted a brunch, to say good bye to all of us. They are leaving on Sunday, for Hill Country, further north in Texas. Jan had made home made cinnamon rolls. Delicious! We will miss them but plan to meet up with them again when we are in the San Antonio area next month.

We know the warm days are numbered, so after brunch, Dave and I headed for the island, to spend some time on the beach. It is about 10 degrees cooler here but it was fun. We watched the fog roll in and roll out again. That was a strange experience because it only lasted about 15 minutes. Shortly after that, the sun left and it became too chilly to stay on the beach, dressed in swim suits.

We headed back to Pier 19, hoping to catch site of the dolphins but did not see them. We enjoyed a beverage and appetizer, which actually became our supper. Yummy! Have you noticed, we like jalapeno poppers???

 

One chilly day, we had a different kind of pool day. Dave and I went up to the club house to play pool (cue stick, hard balls, green felt table). Let’s just say, I am no good at it but it was fun!

We have been wanting to see more of Brownsville and there have been some days too chilly to go to the pool or the beach so we picked one and headed to Brownsville. First, we went to a trio of museums, to learn more history of the area. Some of this was review from our earlier excursions but still very interesting. Then we took a walking tour in the downtown area where there were 19 buildings that played a part in this town’s history.

Before leaving town, we checked out a little bar that sits by a resaca (water inlet), recommended by some of our friends, called Cobbleheads. We walked in and Dave instantly recognized the bartender who had made our hurricanes at Pirates Landing on my birthday. He remembered us too. We were going to have an appetizer before returning home for supper so Dave ordered nachos. The serving was so large that we could not finish it. It ended up being our supper with left overs for a future lunch.

One Friday we hosted a gathering of our camp friends, to play Bocce Ball. It was a fun afternoon.

 

On the 23rd, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Wow, this year has gone by so fast and I am constantly amazed at how lucky I am to have found this guy. We have so much in common and enjoy all of our time together. Our celebration was a steak and shrimp dinner, using gift certificates we had been given as wedding gifts.

The weather was perfect for our last week in south Texas with highs in the upper 70’s and low 80’s, light winds. We decided to make the most of it and see some things we had missed and revisit some others. One of the things we did was buy a bag of oranges. We frequently see fruit stands along the roads with oranges and grapefruit. A screw driver with fresh squeezed juice sounded good. We didn’t realize how much work it would be!!

 

We made another trip to Brownsville and took the walking tour of old Fort Brown. This is on the campus of Texas Southern Most College and most of the buildings have been incorporated into the college. This is where the American Mexican War started and was named after the General Brown who was killed there.

I love palm trees and this is the tropical portion of Texas so we have seen many. I never knew before, just how messy they are. As new fronds grow, old ones drop away and fall to the ground. Someone has to pick them all up for disposal.

Dave’s uncle Ken Cantine lives nearby in McAllen. His son Jay was visiting from the Minneapolis area so we went to Ken’s to visit. We had a wonderful lunch with them. They are both delightful. Ken is FUNNY and I love meeting more of Dave’s family.

We had to make a last visit to Harley’s, to say goodbye to Sari.

Although we had seen some dolphins while at Pier 19 one day, I really wanted to see more but thought we had decided against taking a tour. One evening, Dave sat at his computer and without telling me, made reservations for us to take a dolphin boat tour. What a guy!

We took the Captain Murphy’s tour, a third generation family business. All three generations were former Coast Guard before forming or joining the family business. They played an integral part in helping with recovery after the causeway was struck and broke in 2001 where 8 people died. This accident severed services to the island, (phone, water, electricity) and the Murphy’s ferried people off the island.

Our tour was great, starting with some facts about the cove. It is only 5 to 6 feet deep here and is the 3rd most saline body of water in the world. The staff dragged a net along the bottom of the cove and later held a science lesson to discuss what was caught.

Now, on to the part of the tour I was really looking forward to.

I learned some interesting things about dolphins. They shed their skin once every two hours. That is how they keep clean and dry. They are unable to drink the water but gather their liquid from the 60-65 pounds of fish they eat each day. They need to keep surfacing constantly to get air, so are unable to sleep as we know it. Instead, they are able to shut off half of their brain at a time. When they shut down the right side, that side sleeps. When it is rested, they shut down the left side to rest or sleep.

We headed to Clayton’s for a last Happy Hour. We had not sampled the $ .25 wings on our first visit. While there, we shared a table with some folks from Wisconsin. As I was looking around at the crowd, I spotted some of our friends from St. Peter. We knew they were going to be in the south but had not realized they were on San Padre Island the whole time we were here!

Meanwhile, back in snowy Minnesota, Dave’s dad celebrated his 92nd birthday.

I captured some more of the flowering plants in the park.

We relaxed at the pool a couple of days. The weather will drop here after the weekend and it will also be cooler in San Antonio where we are headed so we wanted to soak up the sun.

I planted our flowers. Last year, we kept them alive until we left for Minnesota in November. Let’s see how well we do this year.