South Padre Island, Beach & Christ of the Fishermen

Feb 21/13  Windy, Windy, Windy - Sunny - 80 and only 69 at night
Did I say Windy????  The wind just never stops and it is more than a breeze its gusty up to 35mph.

view from Isla Blanca towards the city center

With this wind the kite surfers and regular surfers just love it here.  Everyday they are out and the Red Flag on the beach is too, so you need to be a serious surfer to contend with the Riptide.  All the beaches are public and allow dogs.  

At the south end of the island there is a state park; Isla Blanca - it is the largest State Camping Park in Texas, with over 600 sites.  In the park there is a memorial  El Cristo de los Pescadores; which means Christ of the Fishermen.  The base of the statue has an inscription in spanish and english: "Father! Receive the souls of these brave fishermen who have sailed through this pass and never returned." Plaques inserted into the statue's base provide the names of all the fisherman who never returned.  The location is beautiful, right on the beach with amazing views from your motorhome; but be forewarned of the winds.  Since we are so cautious we did not want to camp there in the winter months you will take the brunt of the weather and last year we had to replace a topper awning from winds so add that $ risk into your decision to stay there.

 

South Padre Island, Texas

Feb 15 - 22/2013  Windy, Windy, Windy + warm 75 to 80, night only down to 60's

Bridge onto the island

 South Padre Island is a spit of sand that follows the Gulf of Mexico all along the border of Texax.  When I say a spit its not much more... in the city you can see from one side of the island to the other.  It might be about 6 city blocks.  

One side of the island to the other

 We road out of the city center to the National Seashore which start out ok, just a paved road with sand dunes on each side.  But then a few miles farther we found the sand encroaching onto the highway.

And then..... "Road Closed".   It becomes completely covered over with sand.  So it was time to turn around and head back to civilization.    The ride back into the wind surprised us with sand blowing into our faces, it can really sting!

time to turn around

It is always always windy.  And so there are many kite boarders and surfers and wind boarders out on the sandy seashores.  We hear it gets pretty crazy for March Spring break too!   Our campground was full for the week but you could see where the bars and restaurants and condos were getting ready for the big party.

is that a salad in your Ceasar?

Taking the Kids on the Road

Feb 15/13

Classroom + us in the middle + Family motorhome

We pulled into a KOA in South Padre Island, Texas to find ourselves wedged between two campers.  We have not been to the Keys in Florida with the motorhome but we imagine it is the same type of scenario from what we have heard - they cram as many rv's into the park as possible.  But that is the not the big news.... what we find out from our neighbours is that the motorhome is the Family ride and the truck and trailer on our other side is the Classroom and teachers quarters.  We asked them if they were homeschooling when they explained they come equipped with a young elementary teacher to school the children (3 of them from kindergarten to grade 4) on the road.  The parents from New Jersey decided to take the family cross their country for the next 6 months.  Each morning the kids go to school in the trailer while the parents have their quiet time. 
When we contemplated this later we realized what an expensive proposition this is since they have their unit + the salary of the teacher + her unit.   This is the first we have come across this arrangement in our travels!!!

Rio Grande Valley, Texas - Pharr

Feb 8 - 15/2013  Weather is hot!  up to 92 Sunday, then cooling into the 80's.  low at night is high 60's.  Very nice weather.

Only 1 main road across the Rio Grande Valley Hwy 83

We received an email from friends of Billy's (hockey buddies) that they are in Pharr, Texas and our presence is requested at a Canadian Chatham-Kent BBQ.  So we decided that it would be easy to change our route and just go from Galveston right down to the border of Texas/Mexico.   Not getting carried away we drove about 4 hours and stopped overnight at Victoria-Coleto Koa.  The Rio Grande Valley is about 75 miles along the Rio Grande River which divides Texas from Mexico and starts at the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a very busy area and we did not take the motorcycle out the whole week - just too congested for our liking.

Happy Hour in the pool at Tropic Star

Christmas Cactus

This area is Snowbird haven; there are over 450 RV parks and it reaches across about 7 different cities that run into each other - Mission, McAllen, Pharr, Mercedes, Harligen, Rio Grande City, Brownsville and Edinburg.  We stayed at Tropic Star in Pharr, Texas it is a mega RV park, with about 750 sites.  Nice place with great amenities and tons of activities. At first we could not understand why?    After spending the week we understand what draws the Winter Texan's here - the very warm weather, not too humid, cool evenings, and very inexpensive.  Now there are so many parks that the activities abound.   It is also known as the Square Dance Capital of the World.   You have to see this.  We snuck into the dance on Saturday night and it was sold out - over 500 people.  The outfits were something and the dancing looked like fun!  (The two short videos you just need to hit the arrow button to play them.)

As well we find it funny that we are 1676 miles from home and what do we do?  Get together with 30 other people the same distance from home to have a BBQ.  Ironically there were two other couples from Lighthouse Cove!   Glad we came to see this area but it is time to move on to something a little slower paced for Billy and Rosey - not so much traffic so we are headed to South Padre Island.

Mardi Gras in Galveston, Texas

Feb 3/2013  75 Sunny, Breezy low of 62

We don't know much about Mardi Gras since at home we only associate it with New Orleans and a festival or carnival with masks and costumes and beads.  It seems it is so popular along the southern coast that from Alabama to Texas all the cities have their own celebrations along with the biggest in New Orleans.  Galveston celebrates for 10 days... every day they have parties and parades.  The actual meaning of the words means "Fat Tuesday".... thus it is the last hurrah before the Lenten season begins.

So since we were here we decided to go a parade on Sunday in the historic area of Galveston known as The Strand.  It happened to be the kids parade put on by the Shriner's - so much fun, the kids were having a great time.

Galveston Island, Texas

Feb  1 - 7, 2013  Breezy from the Gulf Coast, High of 72, low 55

Ever since we got here I keep thinking of that Glen Campbell song Galveston.  And "no I am not a fan of his"  but you know how sometimes things get in your head and ramble around in there???
This city is know for its devastation in 1900 from a hurricane that had one of the highest fatalities in history - 6000 to 8000 people.  When you visit Galveston you will travel for miles along the water and a cement seawall.  After the 1900's hurricane this Seawall was constructed to keep any future storm surges out of the city.  It goes for 10 miles along the front and everyone walks and has public access to the water from it.

Seawall

There is Paradise Pier that reminds you of the Jersey Shore (although its my impression only; we have not been there) - it has a Ferris Wheel and Roller Coaster and other family rides that is open year round to the public - right out into the water on a huge pier.

We found a campground right on the seawall coast - Dellanera RV Park  it is run by the city.  It felt new with lots of pull thrus and cement sites/pads.
It was such a great spot for walking on the beach and up on the seawall and the sunset was right over the local biker bar next to us;  life is just about perfect!

Just like home

Digital Picture Frame on the left

One thing that you would not think of is how hard it is for people to buy you a present when you are living in your motor home.......
See we don't think about it because we are the recipients but we hear it every christmas and birthday.
In a motor home you do not hang pictures or put out photos typically since you don't have any empty wall space and if you did it would most likely shake off when you travel down the road.  We received a digital picture frame and it is so nice to just plug in a memory stick and presto our memories come to life.  We love it!