Feb 13, 2012 Week in review

We had a great dinner and fun super bowl – and we were snuggled back in our condo on wheels by 9pm, and asleep before 10! 

Monday morning we slept in – and then we got ready and went to a little hole in the wall place called ‘Gonzales’ burgers – where the burgers were so huge we shared them and it was plenty to eat!  They must be ½ pounders!  Of course, we also got onion rings and fries!  You would never guess it is a restaurant – there are NO signs, and they do NO advertising – they open at 10:30 for orders and that place was packed by 11:30…people were standing waiting on orders and places to sit!!!  This is a definite do-over. 

When we left there we went to Target, where I found my black and red rugs for the motorhome without rubber backing!  Woohoo!  It doesn’t take much to excite me :)

We then went to the movies and saw Red Tails – I highly recommend it if you like movies about war.  We certainly had tears in our eyes a time or two!  Of course we stopped at DQ and his ice cream for dinner…

Tuesday we had a plan and we pretty much stuck to it!  We went to the little bakery/restaurant I discovered and had a fantastic breakfast, Ron and Kathy also decided it was a keeper.  The plan was to catch a boat tour of the Rio Grande river, and we had reservations for noon.  While having breakfast, they called and said the boat was full, would we come at 2…so we went home a while, then off to the river tour. Remember, click on the pics to make them larger :)

It was $18 for two of us, and well worth the money.  We glided down the middle and got pics of both the Mexican and American side of the river.  The guide said that occasionally they got stopped and everyone had to produce their picture ID’s, but that did not happen to us!  He was very informative and there are a lot of disaster pictures that we took – a hurricane came through in 2007 (Alexander) and changed the course of the river somewhat, and took out a restaurant/giftshop/boat tour place, and much of a park that had just been completed.  Also a big Mexican park that was very well attended was actually cut in half by the river.  I’ll post some pics here but they in no way do justice to what we saw!

After the boat tour we had decided we wanted to do a Mongolian Grill, as Ron and Kathy had never been to one, and we had seen one on our travels up and down Hwy 83 Expressway.  So off we went, and when we got there they were not open, only doing ‘training’ – so we followed David’s camera and went off to another one – and it was closed too!  We ended up eating at a Texas Roadhouse, and it was very good – also we had enough for another entire meal with the addition of a salad later.

All good things must come to an end and on Wednesday we got up to rain rain rain – but because we HAD to be in San Antonio on Thursday we hooked up and pulled out of Mission TX, heading for Hondo.  Our gps sent us up 281 and then onto Hwy 16…what a mistake!  It did save about 23 miles, but the road is terrible – there is a lot of fracking going on along there, with big trucks which made the road totally washboard – and when we were almost to Jourdanton, the windshield started whistling – and it got louder and louder.  So we are going to have to call the insurance company and have it fixed before we start out trip mid-March!

We got back to LSC about 3:30, went to Social hour at 4, and attended a potato bake and brown bag auction – it was great fun but I forgot the camera!

Thursday we went to San Antonio for the appointment for David’s ears – there were no surgeons available, so we go back on the 27^th.  We DID go to a Mongolian BBQ for an early dinner and it was fantastic – it was HuHot and we will go there again!

Friday we just stayed home and tried to get some paperwork done – Saturday we were supposed to go to the Winter Texan lunch in Uvalde, we drove over there and could not find the place…we had lunch and shopped at Wal-Mart and came home – Sunday we got up to freezing temps, and David has some kind of stomach bug, lots of pain and gas, so we did nothing and it was a good day to do that! 

That brings us up to date once again!

Feb 5, 2012 Pleasant Valley

We arrived here at Pleasant Valley on Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm, and then it was off to the races...no, not real races, but what we do when we are trying to pack in 8 months of visiting with our friends, Ron and Kathy Bernard, and sightseeing and eating in a week!!!  Whew :)

First night - RV park put on a feed - burgers or hot dogs (2), chips, drink & dessert for $3.50 each - followed by some pretty fair Karaoke!  Followed by several hours of chatting...

Thursday morning we got up and headed to Harlingen and the Tropic Winds RV park where Ron & Kathy spent the last two years - and Kathy's hometown.  We picked up yet another friend, Doris Padilla and went to lunch at LaPlaya.  This was undoubtly the best mexican food I've had in a long, long time.  You know I always try different things, and this was no different - their 'speciality' is a fried avacado, so let me start by saying I am not a big avacado, but this has made a believer out of me! They skin and take the seed out, then put in fajita meat with seasoned cheese, dip in batter and deep fry...pure heaven!  You do not need any kind of salsa on it or anything - it was so yummy!  Everyone was happy with their meals!

After that we visited with Doris a bit at her house, then we went to visit the Marine Museum and ORIGINAL Iwo Jima Sculpture.  http://harlingenedc.com/QualityOfLife/Recreation/Museums is where you can read about it!  The 30 minute documentary is SO worth  the time!  We learned a lot about Iwo Jima that we didn't know.    We finished off the day by having popcorn for dinner because we were still so full from lunch!

Friday Kathy had to work, so Ron, David and I took off to a bakery/restaurant that I found that had good reviews - they were not kidding - it was fantastic and on 1st Street downtown Mission.  I ordered something completely different, and it was so good I couldn't believe it - and David got huevos ranchero and said they were the best he's ever had...Ron had biscuits and gravy and they were also excellent!  Mine was shredded chicken inside whole wheat tortilla's, with a bean sauce, cheese and chorizo on top...the pictures don't do it justice, it was so very good!  Then, because it IS a bakery, I got blueberry cream cheese empanada's for dessert for dinner.  Since Kathy worked, I made dinner - Taco soup and it was very good :) 

Saturday morning we got up and drove to South Padre Island for the Kite Festival.  The kites were amazing, but we were not impressed with SPI - far too commercial for our taste, and if there was public beach access, we couldn't find it!  We did go for a very late lunch (2ish) to Dirty Al's Pelican Station, where 3 of us indulged our seafood cravings...Shrimp bisque was good but not great, but the shrimp platter with fries and cole slaw was wonderful!  We did not get dessert although it looked fabulous, since we planned to stop at the Hygeal Dairy in Harlingen for ice cream - and that is what we did!!! 

This morning we got up and drove to the Don-Wes Flea Market in Donna TX - it was cold (54 degrees) and rainy when we started out - but the good thing was that many people did not show up, so it was good shopping!  I got 5# of vidalia onions for $2, and  a really neat foldable straw hat for $5...and a mah jong game for $35!  We found some clips that we needed for our curtains for .50 each, and I got a few things for our brown bag auction at LSC when we get back...

Kathy is making a pork tenderloin for dinner and a salad, I'm making baked sweet potatoes and a lemon pie...and we plan on eating about 5 - followed by the Super Bowl and snacks...don't know OR care who wins, it will be fun to watch the commercials!

That brings us up to date...