Moving On

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday and we spent it at Mark & Dortha’s with a potluck dinner, of course.  We went over early because we had made plans to rent an ATV and explore some of the back country.

Mark was our designated driver because they had actually taken a tour of the area with the owner of the property.  He knew the roads to take us on.

We did see a hawk swoop down right in front of us, caught a mouse and proceeded to a nearby tree to eat it whole while it was still alive!!  We were all sitting with our mouths hanging open not quite grasping what we just saw so not one of us had a picture of it in action!!

And of course the Border Patrol presence was everywhere

 

Then it was back to Mark & Dortha’s for the game.  Rod and Mark barbecued some carne asada (marinated beef)and pollo asado (marinated chicken) for tacos.  Dortha made some pinto beans and everybody else brought dips, chips and all the other trimmings for the tacos.

As you can see, we never go hungry…

Can you pick the winner??

The guys were really into the game…

And before we knew it, it was all over

 

We said our good byes to everybody because Monday we left the valley and headed to San Antonio for three weeks for a visit with John & Erica.  We figured once we left the valley there would be no more Border Patrol.  We were wrong.  It’s nice to see they’re checking things.

 

We stopped for lunch at a Whataburger because it was right off the highway AND we were Whataburger virgins.  It was a pretty good burger.  We arrived in San Antonio late in the afternoon and were going to have leftover tacos and just hang out for the evening because John & Erica had already made plans.  What a surprise when John called and asked if they could come over.  YAY!!  It was so nice to see them.  We went out to Olive Garden for dinner then back to our place to visit for the evening.

We’ll be here for the next three weeks and don’t have a lot of plans to do a lot.  We’ve been here many times before but have never visited the Missions.  Since I now have a National Parks Passport and the Missions are in it I’m gonna have to go get a stamp.  There is also a Rodeo going on until the 21st and I’m thinking we may just have to experience that.  Being a “city girl” I’ve never been to one.  Don’t laugh, JB…

Still Eating in The Valley

Yep, we’re still here in the Rio Grande Valley with our RV friends and where we’re going to eat seems to be the theme.  At least we’re only eating one big meal a day.  We mostly get together for a late lunch and then we all go home for the evening and no dinner.  Soooooo, here we go….

Last Sunday we headed out to the Flea Market.  We had just been to the Flea Market in Yuma and found all kinds of stuff so we were really just going to look.  I’m glad we went to the one in Yuma cuz it was WAY better than this one.  We still managed to find “treasures” that we just couldn’t do without.  Rod even found a nasty fried onion to share with Mark & Dortha.  YUCK

Netters had to have some of it too

I preferred the tiny little donuts!!

Tuesday we went to Gonzales’s for their famous burger.  It’s a HUGE burger that everybody was raving about.  Guy Fieri needs to come here for a Diners, Drive ins, and Dives episode.  This place is awesome!!  The owner only grinds 250 lbs of meat each day and when it’s gone it’s gone.  They stop serving for the day.  That’s all they serve too.  Just burgers.

From there we headed down to the river to see the hand drawn ferry.  This ferry just goes back and forth across the river and only holds three vehicles at a time.  Very antiquated but for some reason it’s very interesting to just stand and watch it.  They even charge you 25 cents to watch.  LOL

 

Wednesday we headed out to El Tio Chuy for a Mexican lunch. 

Everybody that had chicken said it was so bland and we were all wishing we had ordered the steak tacos that Rod was enjoying.  His looked REALLY good.

Thursday we went to the town of Pharr for the Taste of the Valley.  What a joke that was.  It was held in the Convention Center but the room was WAY too small for the number of people that bought tickets.  The lines were really long and we all just got tired of waiting in the long lines for a little sample of food.  It was a good idea, just poorly run.

This is the line just to get in the building.  It wrapped completely around the front and down the side.

Once inside there were more long lines

We decided it just wasn’t worth it and headed to Rudy’s Barbecue for WAY better food

Friday Mark and Dortha picked us up and we headed to South Padre Island for some beach time.  The others decided not to go.  It was a gorgeous day finally and a great day for a drive.  We always have a good time no matter where we go with Mark & Dortha and all our other friends.  Of course we were headed there for lunch too.

  The first place we stopped at had yet another huge long line.  Good grief, it seems almost everywhere we’ve been there have been long lines.  We decided we didn’t want to wait so we headed out to another place.

This was the first place we went to and it was highly recommended.  Oh well, maybe some other time.

 

From there we headed on down the street to Blackbeard’s.  Boy, I’m glad we didn’t wait in line at Dirty Al’s because we all had some kind of seafood chef salad that was fantastic!!  Dortha and I had shrimp and scallops on ours and Mark and Rod had mahi mahi on theirs.

 

Here’s Rod’s salad

The causeway going over to South Padre Island

The beach was gorgeous

LOTS of guys fishing in the surf

The Port Isabel lighthouse

That brings us to yesterday and our Rio Grande River cruise.  We headed to the Riverside Club to catch the boat for a little 2 hour cruise on the river.

The Border Patrol presence was everywhere.  By air…

By boat…

And on land

People were doing a lot of fishing on the Mexican side

More pictures of the river

After our cruise you know we just had to eat!!  What we didn’t know was the restaurant was having some kind of German celebration going on.  The lunch special was pork schnitzel with all the trimmings.  AND somebody was having a 60th birthday party.  Well, it was also Arlene’s 60th birthday so we just pretended the decorations were for her.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Arlene!!!

The German dancing

Our table

Today is superbowl Sunday and we’re headed over to Mark & Dortha’s for our potluck.  We’re taking carne asada and pollo asado for tacos.  We bought it while we were staying in Needles and froze it for a special day.  Even though my Chargers aren’t playing I’ll still enjoy the game and our last day with our friends here in the valley.  Tomorrow we’re headed for San Antonio for three weeks for a visit with John & Erica.