Jan 26-28

On Tuesday morning we left Mission TX, after a quiet yet enjoyable week. It was before 9 am and we headed out in our shorts and T-shirts for a short 85 mile drive south to the Gulf of Mexico and South Padre Island. Mission is at the north end of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and as you head south you pass through McAllen, Pharr, Mercedes, La Feria and Harligen. It’s a metropolitan area spanning about 40 miles with 750,000 people. In Texas, the word “snowbird” is not heard often as they prefer to call the northerners’ coming down for winter as “Winter Texans”! That term alone accentuates that they are more appreciative than other southern states. They really understand the economic value that is brought in each year for 5-6 months and truly appreciate it. So, we are in the middle of our stay in Texas as “Winter Texans”.

South Padre Island (SPI) is a strip of land off the mainland with a long stretch of white sandy beach (34 miles long). Due to its beach component it is built around tourism. The main town Padre is about 4-5 miles long and a mile or less in width. We arrived early as you cannot reserve a site in Isla Blanca County Park unless you are staying for a week or longer. We were only staying two nights. With 600 sites, we were where told earlier in the week that they were only about 80% occupied. We got site 129 close to the beach and the bay.

After setting up, it was near lunch so we took a quick walk over to the beach and as we crossed the parking area, low and behold we met up with Oscar – a 4 year old Double Yellow Amazon parrot. (see pic) An older couple from Minnesota had brought him out for the day to get some sunshine and socialize. We spoke with them and Oscar for 15 minutes and learned a bit about SPI since they have been coming here for 22 years. As we were looking for food, they suggested Dirty Al’s for the best shrimp on the island. They also told us about the free shuttle bus that runs up and down the main strip in town. Both pieces of information proved useful!

As we were hungry at that point, Dirty Al’s was just outside the park and yes the fried shrimp basket and secretly spiced fries were excellent. Hmm,hmm… After lunch we walked out of the restaurant and spotted the free shuttle. SO, we jumped on it and headed to town and took a ¾ loop and then got off for a cold beer at Wanna wanna beach bar (see pic)

Afterwards, we walked along the Gulf Blvd looking at all the condominiums, thinking this may be a future option to escape winter for a couple of months.

We picked up the shuttle later in the afternoon and headed back to camp to enjoy the warm weather and the sunset. (See pic)

Wednesday morning we woke to a very heavy fog of think sea air. Everything was dripping salty water but was soon gone when the sun finally came out in full force. Today’s plan was to bike into town in the morning and go up Laguna Blvd. The Island has 3 main Blvds. – Laguna, Padre and Gulf – pretty self explanatory! After returning we had a quick lunch and headed off to the beach for afternoon. Temps were mid – high 70’s, lots of sun and a slight breeze. Back to the rig late afternoon to watch the sunset and BBQ pork tenderloin!

No complaints from the perch this week! Yes, Jazz had fun too. Check out her pic’s of the new friends she made.

Enjoy your weekend!

Squawk later