>Home >Vacations >Texas Trip >Journal
Texas Trip Journal
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Left Minnesota on a cold morning. Dan took me to the airport. Even though he's been given his lay off notice, his employer wants him to come into work (and look for a job).
We arrived in Harlingen on a warm afternoon. Temp was 88. Suffice it to say, I didn't bring along clothes for this warm. So tomorrow I'll have to go out and buy some warm weather clothes. As Dan says, if you've got your gate pass and a credit card, you can solve anything on a trip.
The 2 flights were quite uneventful. We were a little late on both departures. The stop in Houston was just long enough to grab a snack.
Our motel is about 40 miles west of the Harlingen airport in McAllen. Had no trouble finding it. This evening we went out to dinner with a man that works for Brad on his farm primarily driving truck. Nice guy. Dale & Marge winter down here and are planning on taking us to Progresso, Mexico, tomorrow morning.
Jim & I seem to remember that our grandparents (Coulter) wintered in McAllen several winters and brought us home pictures of their sightseeing.
More tomorrow.
Dad
Up at 5:30. Temp 73. Humidity is very high. Radio was nearly worthless in the night (Thursday). Fortunately, motel has wi-fi, so I listened to XM after 4.
Trip to Progresso, Mexico, went great. Got there about 9. Walked up & down the main street of town looking at all the wares for sale till 10. Had a roll & coffee complete with Mariachi band. Walked the streets some more and then found a "white tablecloth" place for lunch. At lunch Beth wondered what Tacos Cabriata was. So I asked the waiter what was Cabriata. He said, "baby goats". Ugh. (Beth didn't order it.)
On the way home from Mexico, we stopped at a couple of John Deer tractor dealers and Jim priced a new tractor. Then we visited Dale & Marge's park where we priced several different sites & trailers. Jim wants he & I to buy one. Maybe…
One of the interesting sceneries to view is all the different kind of farm crops they raise around here and the different growing stages of crops. For example, we've seen sugar cane nearly ready for harvest, corn just barely up, cabbage being picked, sorghum in full bloom, onions a month before harvest, etc. On some of the land in fact, they raise 2 crops a year. Very interesting.
Tonight for supper we went out to a Luby's Cafeteria. Had a good supper with lots of good conversation. Must a spent more than 2 hours in there.
As I prepare for bed, the temp outside is still 63 (and muggy).
Tomorrow we're going to South Padre Island.
More later.
Dad
Up at 5:30. Temp 66. Plymouth is 7 this morning. I wonder if it's ever going to start warming up back home. Ugh.
Continental breakfast at hotel. It's not large, but it's adequate.
Today we're off to South Padre Island, Texas, which is about a 2 hour drive from our hotel, maybe about 60 miles east of McAllen where we're staying.
Upon arrival on the island, we stopped at visitor's bureau, to pick up maps and use the facilities. Next we drove up the island to beach entrance number 22 where we parked and walked on beach. Surf rated high. Sand warm. A little hazy. Beautiful.
Next, we walked to a nearby restaurant called Roven's and had breakfast. Then we drove to the north end where highway ends. Of course, here we had to again walked on the beach and look back down the island.
Then we drove down access number 5 off the main road to the actual beach and drove about 7 miles north right on the beach where people were camping, picnicing, flying kites, etc., etc. Wonderful place.
Finally we left the beach and drove to south end of island to the jetty & channel between the island and the mainland. Again, we walked on the beach watching all the people having fun.
Then we boarded a boat to tour the harbor and to see dolphins in the wild. It was a 2 hour boat tour and most enjoyable. And we saw lots of dolphins. At one point for about 5 minutes at one stretch, we had a pod of about 6 dolphins swimming right beside our boat swimming as fast as the boat went. They were most interesting.
Finally we drove to a very nice restaurnat called Blackbeard's where Theresa & I ate back in 2001 when we were here before.
After a quiet drive home, we collapsed into our beds after an exhausting but most enjoyable day.
More tomorrow.
Dad
Up at 6. Temp 70. Nice. Our plan today is for a leisurely breakfast with Dale and then to drive to Corpus Christi to see the USS Lexington air craft carrier museum. And then to drive on to San Antonio for the evening.
Had a leisurely breakfast with Dale & Marge. Then began our trek to San Antonio with a stop in Corpus Christi. The first leg took us about 3 hours. The tour of the USS Lexington was even better this time than when Theresa & I did it back in 2001. It's been cleaned up a bit. And a very nice movie's been added.
After the ship tour, we headed for San Antonio. Since we hadn't eaten for several hours, we started looking for a place to eat. Several that we stopped at were closed. Several were fast food types. Finally we had to settle for a Bar & Grill. The remainder of the 2 hour drive went smoothly.
Upon checking into our hotel in San Antonio, Beth was informed that the pool & spa were down for upgrading. Suffice it to say, she was not "a happy camper." However, my hotel room is very nice; king size four poster bed, nice amenities, clean, etc.
In the evening, we ended up going on a Riverwalk and cruise and then getting some ice cream. Nice cruise; quite informative.
More tomorrow.
Dad
Up at 6. Temp 55. Suppose to get up to 88 today. And I see that Plymouth, MN, is already at 28. Must be a warm spell. Hope it lasts till we get there tomorrow evening. And then continues on into March. Perhaps the worst cold is over.
I think the plan today is to do sightseeing in San Antonio all day. Of course, that means the Alamo.
What a big day! We did lots of things today… saw lots of sights
About 8, we took the trolley to a place called Market Square where we had a leisurely Mexican breakfast in a restaurant with thousands of Mexican decorations including an autographed picture of President Clinton in running clothes. You'll just have to see the picture.
Next we walked across the street to the Imax theater and saw "Deep Sea 3D." It was a most informative and enjoyable movie about the ocean.
Then we took the trolley to the Alamo and spent a couple hours touring those grounds. The Alamo is an historic old site of a Texas/Mexican battle. But I think you have to be from Texas or Mexico to really appreciate it. I've been there about 4 times and am never very moved.
By now, it was lunch time, so we took the trolley to Market Square again for a Mexican lunch. Had a wonderfully, delicious lunch served by a very pleasant Mexican gentleman waiter.
After lunch we took a different trolley to the Tower of Americas which is a tower built in 1968 for the world's fair when it was here. The tower gave us a nice view of the surrounding city and metropolitan area. Before going up to the top, we were treated with a a 4 dimensional movie called Skies Over Texas. It included vibrating seats, jerks left and right, air movement and into the face, jabs in the kidney, and water mist on you. A little gimmicky, but okay.
Finally, we took a bus back to the Riverwalk restaurants for Mexican dinner. Again, very good.
Lastly, we walked back to the Alamo where we rented a horse & carriage for ride around the city ending at our hotel.
So it was a big day. But a most enjoyable one. Tomorrow, we head for home.
More tomorrow.
Dad
Up at 6. Much cooler today. High 66. This morning's job is to get packed up again.
Well, we walked over to the Riverwalk in order to see it in the daytime. We took a few pictures.
Then we checked out of our hotel, drove to the airport, & flew home. All quite uneventful.
Thanks, Dan, for picking me up at the airport. And thanks, Dave & Garth & Hannah, for taking me out to dinner.
What a nice trip. The weather was wonderful. The sightseeing was great. The people I traveled with were so sincere and so warm. Thank you Beth, Brad, Diane, & Jim. I hope I can someday somehow repay your generosity.
Dad
No, this isn't a supplement to my last message to everyone. I've been traveling again. This the final report on a week I spent in south Texas with my brother, Jim, and his wife and family. My relatives are all helping me to getting use to doing things without Theresa. I'm makin' progress, but it's slow. Anyway, this was another wonderful trip with relatives to a place that was a lot warmer than Minneapolis.
Again, I'm sending this message to all of our friends &
relatives. If I miss someone, feel free to pass it on. I know I'm missing e-mail
addresses for my cousins, Kathleen & Sherry (use to be Laue). If anyone has
those addresses, please send them to me.
When Theresa and I used to go on vacations, we used to write a daily journal
report to the kids. I've continued that tradition and have posted my journal
reports along with lots of pictures on our family web site -
http://roger-theresa.n0kfb.org
This report is kinda late because it took me this long to recover and get myself
organized. Anyway, enjoy the journal & the pictures.
Roger