Winter Olympics

Sunday was the annual Winter Olympics held at Boomerang Billy's beach bar. This function is held by the International Idiots Club.


One of the events is Ice Hockey played like shuffle board with ice pucks.

There were three rings a 5, 10 and 20 point and each contestant got three shots for a combined score.

In each event the three top teams were awarded a Bronze, Silver and Gold medal.

They were cheered on by a large group of onlookers. 

The club itself supports two scholarships to students from Port Isabel High School and is given to a student with a C/B average to give support to some of the family's who's children have to work after school to feed the family.

The Bobsled run.....

On the beach

Took a ride on North Beach and spotted this Jellyfish floating in the surf. Hadn't seen one like this before here.






























Joanne had to play with a Portuguese Man of War. There have been a lot of them washing up on the beaches the last couple of weeks. You don't want to touch the tentacles. They cause a burning sting.























































We spotted this lucky fisherman and stopped to take his picture and congratulate him on his prize catch. After picture taking he released it back into the ocean.

We came home and headed out to Boomerang Billy's for the Winter Olympics. More in my next post.

Trip to Don Wes Flea Market

Since it was to windy for the beach we took a ride to Donna TX, where we camped the first couple of time we came to the valley. They are the home to the Don Wes Flea Market. We make at least one trip here every year because of the diversity of the vendors. You can get any kind of junk you want, old or new. What we didn't realize was it was going to be just as windy there as on the island. By windy I mean steady 30mph wind with gusts. It made for an interesting time in the dirt lot the flea market is located on. I was glad I wasn't wearing contact lenses. We didn't take any photo's for obvious reasons.

After a few hours of walking around we decided to leave to go find lunch/dinner. Usually we get food there and enjoy the live entertainment but we had enough of the dust and wind. Taking the business 83 route home we ran into a Mexican Restaurant in Weslaco that was packed and advertised a lunch buffet. What a good choice. For $7.45 each we had a choice of a dozen things including large fried shrimp, fish, enchiladas, soup, rice, mashed potato's etc. We ate enough shrimp alone for an army.

We will put it on the list for next time we are in the area. By the time we finally got home it was time for Happy Hour.

Later.........

Road Trip

Yesterday was to windy to go to the beach so we decided to take a trip to visit another of Cameron County's parks. Adolph Thomae Jr. Park. Here are some of the pictures from the trip:

We ended up in Brownsville later for gas and a stop at Emilias Mexican Restaurant. We discovered this place the last time we were here while we waited for a new windshield to be installed in the motor home. Don't know what we ate but it was very good. 

Later we returned and went to see Jeff Gordon (the singer not race car driver) at the Hilton. He was good and we will go to see his show again when he returns next month.

Later..........   

Shiny and clean

Yesterday Sierra RV mobile wash came to wash and wax the motor home. Three men showed up at 9:30 and by 11:30 they were done. They start on the roof and scrubbed it clean (rain washes grime off the roof and stains the sides) even including the TV antenna. They then work their way down the sides to the wheels. After washing they hand dry before starting the wax job. They seem to have it down to a science and each knows their job and what section they have to work on.

Now for the finished product...

Many miles of hard earned grime are gone. If it would only stay this way!

After they left we packed a lunch and headed to the beach. It was in the 70's but quite windy so after sitting out for a while we decided to eat lunch in the Jeep out of the wind.

Throughout lunch we had a constant presence of sea gulls some who even flew into the wind and hovered within a foot of the open window looking for food.

 
After lunch we took a ride on the flats on the bay side of the island and took these two pictures.

Last I'll leave you with a picture I captured from a camera located on the tower at the birding center up the street.

Windy and cool

 I guess I shouldn't complain but yesterday was cool in the high 60's and very windy. We went to the beach with the metal detector to try our luck. Grand haul one very weathered penny some bottle caps, pop tops and a nail in a blog of what looks like melted lead. I haven't figured that one out yet.
By the time we left to go home for lunch there was a hole in the sand under the Jeep caused by the wind going under the car. I should have stopped and taken a picture of it. At least we didn't get stuck in it.

After lunch we were scheduled between 2 and 3 to get the motor home washed and waxed. I had it done by the same outfit two years ago and they did a fantastic job of hand wash and hand wax for $140.00. Try to get that in Massachusetts. He called all apoligitec at 2:30 and said they were running behind and could he come tomorrow. I agreed, I would rather have them fresh in the morning than rushing to finish late in the day.

It was off to Happy Hour at five. We went to the bay side of the island for the sunset at a place called BOB "bar on the bay" Thank goodness the wind had died down or it would have been chilly sitting outside. They had a live band and we were treated to a great sunset.

Once the sun went down it got cold and we headed to the Hilton to get supper and enjoy the live entertainment they have. We both got the hand made 1/2 pound cheeseburger with fries $5.98. Such a deal, it isn't worth cooking at home and did I mention the drinks are $3.00 all day and night.

The cleaning crew should be here shortly. Later............

Todays pictures 2/15/2013

Site #10 Andy Bowie Park

The bridge causeway  from the mainland

 

One big fish Port Isabella 

Waters good here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Pictures from 2/14/2013

Looking from the BOB "Bar on the bay"

Enjoying the view from the deck at the Hilton

Having a drink on the bayside

Back to the Beach

Our campsite

Lost a few days

Sorry but it seems like I have lost a few days here. When I last reported we were leaving New Orleans and headed to San Antonio. We arrived at the KOA and as we drove into the parking lot I said to Joanne "we have stayed here before" It has been I think three years but the last time we went to San Antonio we stayed at this same KOA. Small world! I go a surprise when I went to check in because when I asked for three nights I was told the Rodeo was in town and this was their busiest two weeks of the year. They had one spot for two nights so I signed up for that.



I don't know if you can read the sign on the fence but it says "Welcome Rodeo Fans" Yee Ha!

Sunday we got up and took the bus into downtown to the Riverwalk. There is a bus stop right at the campground and for 55 cents apiece we could ride into town and not have to worry about finding a parking space.

 This church was right where we got off the bus. it was built by the Germans in the 1800's if I remember correctly. From there it was just a short walk downstairs to the riverwalk.

It was nice to see flowers and greenery. 

 

A trip down the River walk has to include lunch eaten outdoors by the river. We walked around and checked out a lot of menus before we decided on the Republic of Texas. 

I got the Steak Fajita and Joanne an Enchilada. It was really really good! After lunch we went back above ground and walked down to the Market Place a combination indoor and outdoor vendors.

This was about a one mile walk from where we were and I planned on catching the bus back from that location.... OOPS
We couldn't get on for our route without walking back to close to where we had gotten off. At least we worked off the large lunch.

Some of the sights along the way.

We caught the bus and headed to the Rodeo grounds. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is held at the AT&T center and is a huge affair. We spent hours just roaming the grounds walking thru the carnival and listening to some of the entertainment. We didn't purchase tickets to go into the arena because we were pretty beat by then.

Don't you love the Cowboy Boots

Joanne had me take this one!

Monday we had to leave so we packed up and on the way out of town we made a trip to SAS aka San Antonio Shoes. We visited the factory/store and made a contribution to keep them in business for some time to come.

Not your average shoe store.

From there we traveled to Choke Canyon State Park for an overnight. This is a Texas State Park that we have stayed at before. It is out of the way but the location is so nice we decided to stop here again. We were treated at supper time to a visit by some local wildlife. 

Then overnight we had a visit from this guy.

Today we made it to South Padre Island and are settling in for a long stay.

Later..........