Blog Archives

Yippee-Kiyay!

3/26/2023

Considering the weather extremes around the country, I shouldn't even mention this, but our four days on South Padre Island were plagued by clouds and wind. However, we still had a great time. Tuesday was another blustery day, so we did a little shopping, made a trip to the end of the road (SP 100), and visited a sand castle display.

Letha, Vince, and Don spent one afternoon on the water chasing the wily fish. Despite pelicans, pirate ships, and the Coast Guard, they had some success.

We also did a beach walk one day before we went to a small bar for some impromptu music. More wonderful shrimp, this time with noodles, finished the day.

Friday we headed back north to Dallas for a short but delightful visit with Don's daughter, Christi. She took us to the Cattle Drive in Fort Worth--a dozen or two longhorns are driven down the street by a few cowboys. The longhorns were very well behaved and walked rather sedately, but the length of some of those horns made my neck hurt.

We wandered around the District for a bit soaking up the cowboy culture. I was especially intrigued by a brewery named Second Rodeo, as in "not my first...", the sculptures and creative water features. We also did a little shopping in nearby Grapevine and started a trek back to Iowa on Sunday. All in all, a great trip!

0 Comments

Way South

3/21/2023

0 Comments

Although we Iowans have continually reassured ourselves that this winter (past, I hope) could have been much worse, a week ago Don and I began a trek to find a little warmer climes. As we loaded the car, a couple of Canadian geese kept watch from the neighbor's roof, and from the sound of their honks, I think they might have been taunting us with terms like "Shame!" "Cowards", etc.

Our first target was Allen, Texas, in the north suburbs of Dallas, home of my son Pat and his wife Jill. Two days of driving got us there, and although we arrived with temps in the low 70s, the next day's high was 56--the same temperature as when I left home. But we got a warm welcome and spent a few great days there. We went to the George Bush Library and Museum. I had been there before but always enjoy a visit to a presidential library. The 9/11 exhibit there is especially moving. We also got to celebrate Jill's mother's birthday with her and all of Jill's family.

After three days, we left at 6:00 am for another long day of driving to about as far south in Texas as you can go. Old friends Letha and Vince winter on South Padre Island, so we are enjoying their hospitality for a few days. Yesterday was in the 60s, but pretty blustery. The forecast today is for windy, and tomorrow windier. But there may be some sunshine in the offing. So yesterday was a good day for a drive. We returned to the mainland and visited the Space-Ex installation south of Brownsville. An especially interesting feature to us campers were three lots of Airstreams, apparently housing for employees.

We did a little shell-seeking on the beach, stopped to pick up some Gulf shrimp, and returned to a South Padre bar for a little music and dancing. That was followed by a great supper at 'Daddy's' and then the hot tub. So a full day!

0 Comments

Yippee-Kiyay!

Way South

Author

Archives