Day 22, Corpus Christi - Holy Saturday - Best Western Waterfront

The gas down here has been good to the pocket book. The Texans give us all a break! Or was this a defunct station?

She will love me for this!!!! Looking out the window of our room on Corpus Christi, nice view.

Kings Ranch Store.

We started the day visiting the King Ranch store. It had some nice looking chairs and benches made of cow hide and some with hair on the back. It had a lot of clothing with the running W brand on it. The neat part was the saddle making area. They had a number of saddles in different states of being built.

Off to Corpus, we were headed to the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. We again had a no cost tour; we belong to U of MN Botanical Society. This is just south of the city. It has an orchid house with over 2,000 plants, Cattleya, Phaleonopsis, Pathiopedlum and Dendrobium. What beautiful colors, orange, white, purple, white with many different colored trimmings. The rose garden was in full bloom for the second time. Then there were tropical collections of bromeliads, cycads, cacti and succulents. The colors of the hibiscus, oleanders, and bougainvillea bloom nearly all year round and today were just beautiful. We walked the graveled paths around the pond with its wildlife, indigenous trees, especially the different types of mesquite and ebony trees. A nice place to visit for an hour and a half.

They recommended Andy’s restaurant, they are only open from 6 am to 2:30 pm. Turns out it has a railroad train motif. Two tracks above the eating area, train memorabilia abounds. What a neat place and I was wearing a T-shirt with a locomotive on it, by chance. The food was great, Shirleen had too much of a vegetable omelet with hash browns, I a chicken fried steak with white gravy and French fries. What a great meal and place. Rachael Ray back in 1993 did her meals on $40 dollars a day segment at this restaurant.

Now we went to the downtown area of Corpus Christi, not a lot to look at. Found a nice hotel, Best Western, five floors up overlooking the gulf and sand islands. We then walked down to Landry’s Restaurant. A nice seafood place to eat, we had shrimp scampi, fried shrimp, fried fresh catch Pontchartrain, stuffed shrimp and sautéed scallops with a delicious orzo pasta. The shrimp were over done but the flavors were just great, would not eat there tomorrow but would next month. Nice harbor area, tomorrow a historic home tour, looked nice and some other areas of the arts. We also found the Cathedral for tomorrow. More to come tomorrow – Jerr

Day 21, Tonight at Comfort Inn Kingsville Texas - Good Friday

A note I meant to put in a couple days ago - Texas Mountain Laurels are better known to us as Lilacs, like Texans they like to have there own thing.

http://tx.audubon.org/Sabal.html This is Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary. We arrived to late to view the many birds this sanctuary offers. But we did the entire walk. The first two miles was on the trails below. It was where they filmed many of the Tarzan movies that I watched when I was growing up (or have I). This area was used because of the Sabal Palms made it look like Africa.

Another Rio Grande shot, one over the sign and the green water shot with the water hyacinths washing along the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. This route was a mile walk.

This Audubon Sanctuary would be a must see. It is a nature walk in nature, the trails are not groomed nor are they covered with anything but dead leaves, palm branches, or hard packed earth, seems the only ones that can use the path besides us were red ants. Can't say enough about this area, after three hours of walking we called it over.

In the Sanctuary, there were flowers and this prickly pear was in bloom, this one although not in full bloom has a nice color to it. The other is a tree with red finger like blossoms.

Thought seeing that this is Good Friday we visited an old mid-1800 church now a Cathedral the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, and the next picture memorializes the day.





This was a 1886 cemetery at Brownsville. Right is Born 1792. The area had many old grave sites. There were many markers tipped over and broken. Vandals probably, as the monuments were on solid ground or flat concrete bases, what a shame. few had people tending after them.





Stayed even with him until I missed a shift at 70!! It is a Ferrari 512 M.



This was right before we had to go through a Border Patrol stop, he asked are you American citizens, I said yes and he said go.

We ate mid afternoon at Vermillion Restaurant and Watering Hole, a Mexican style place. Shirleen had her old stand-by BBQ pork sandwich, I fish taco, they had a nice pico de gallo sauce, nice bite with the peppers. Before the meal she offered us a taste of Ceviche, marinated fish cocktail, with fresh cilantro, diced onions, tomatoes in fresh lime juice. The fish is sliced thinly placed in the marinate and placed in the refrigerator overnight, never cooked by heat but cooked by the lime juice.

Tonight we had little choice, Chili's, only place for a wine. We had there appetizer, three small hamburgers, cheese, bacon bites with fries and fried onions. Worked out fine.
jerr

Added Tonight at Holiday Inn Express Brownsville Texas

Tried a border run again. Out in the boonies we had an electrical incident which caused minor concern. Now we are on TX highway # 4 east of Brownsville, looking at the last battle of the Civil War plaque, turns out it memorializes the battle a month after the end of the war.

On the way back we stopped at the border patrol and called New Ulm at that stop. New Ulm Jensen's said if they did not put a new battery in, have it done and they will take care of it. Well we got directions from OnStar, they gave us directions to a Cad dealer. Then they called the Cad dealer and hooked me to him. When we arrived with the MN plates the group jumped in the car and 35 minutes we were on our way, no cash changed hands. I pulled in behind a Viper, blue and when started it snorted, neat car. The service guy had an 81 Vette, we hit it off fast. We were seated in the visitor room and then they brought in two calendars, one a GM super car and a 08 GM car's one. They sure treated us well, much like I feel when I go to Jensen's.

Here is for Sheryl and the girls. The first was a sand carving at South Padre Island visitor center, next is a tortoise by Wyland on the Whaling Wall of the convention center, the last is in a sea turtle rescue park on the Island, specie Hawksbill, the upper shell has a beautiful rich reddish brown or dark brown mottling. At the center we walked out on a board walk and looked at the many birds in the waters and mud flats.

We walked the shore for about a mile, again I was washed by the waves washing onto the beach. Reminds me of Door County with the Grand-daughters on those rocks.


This is NOT Jerry, but they invited me and had it been 40 years ago, I would have.

So where did we eat? At The Palms Resort outside by the beach on the Island. Shirleen had a nice piece of red snapper with Caesar salad, I deep fried oysters, shrimp and fish, scrumptious. The evening was at a restaurant across from the hotel, Cobbleheads Bar and Grill, we split some enchiladas, tacos and a flat taco. jerr

March 19, Pharr to Harlingen TX, Day 19, Wednesday, at a Econ O Lodge

It is starting to get hard to find places because of spring break and Easter and the Mexican families come north.

The following was sent to me and I think it describes the Rose window in the church of San Juan in San Antonio: The term rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The name “rose window” was not used before the 17th century and in all likelihood stems from the Old French word roué, meaning wheel, not from the English flower name, rose. Not sure this description fits the window you saw. Love, Mary

Yesterday I forgot to include the restaurant stops. When we were having the Cad looked at, we had to eat as it was 2:30 pm. We stopped at a Danny’s Restaurant, a chain from Laredo, but this one in Alice has been open for four months. The chips and salsa were good, the chips were thicker than usual but well done. Shirleen’s BLT and fries was good, my Enchiladas Rojas special – Enchiladas de Picadillo, was great. The meat filling had small pieces of potato and carrots, rice had some carrots also, refried beans and salad. It is a restaurant I would go to at lunch again. The evening was at an Outback, we split the Blooming Onion and a glass of wine. The fun part of the meal was watching the Orientals across the way. They brought there own deep fried peanuts, placed there plates on their napkins as there was no table cloths. The napkins were triangle up and half the napkin was on the table the other over the edge. Fun to watch customs of others.

Today we started the car and headed to Mission, Shirleen wanted to look at the pictures on the wall of a store with the hand and footprints of Tom Landry the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Before we left the room Shirleen called her cousin Rosemary and Jim who live in Donna TX. She gave us some really good ideas and we did most of them.

We took a couple pictures and off to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, we appreciate the hard work these poor people put into what they believe in. This is the floor, like the geometry.

We went to another old church but it was being refurbished, but to our luck we found a place to eat. Pepe’s on the River (Rio Grande). It was an immense pole with thatched roof. We grabbed lunch, Shirleen a chopped pork sandwich with fries, I a half rack baby back ribs and BBQ polish sausage. There were eight tables of 4 to 10 people, retirees down south. We noticed the guys got there golfing irons out and hit golf balls across the Rio Grande into Mexico. A couple of them ended up over the river. Looked like a good crossing area to me.

We went further down the line to the Los Ebanos Ferry Crossing. The crossing was used by explorers and colonists in 1740’s. it was also a salt trail from Mexico. Used by Mexican war troops, 1846, by Texas Rangers chasing cattle rustlers in 1874 and smuggling in many eras. The crossing is named for the ebony trees here. This is known as the only Government Licensed, hand pulled ferry on any boundary of the US. The men that do the work are hard working, as it is a dirty job, no nice concrete or tar road; it is sand to the entry point. The men have to pound in five inch stakes and sandbag the entry points as the ferry hits the banks to stop. There are a small number of people and three cars at the most on it. It looked about three house widths at the crossing, 200 feet? The marker is an International Boundry between the United States and Mexico placed on the US side by the ebony tree and marker.

Next to San Jose to look at the ‘Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto’. The Virgin Mary is seven foot high and purchased from a studio in Paris. Nice stop.

Then on to our next stop ‘Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle’ in San Juan. Absolutely beautiful it is hard to describe, but if you get close, stop in. They have an alter with carved figures in it and centered with the Virgin in a purple cape. When we walked around to the alter it turns out that there are hundreds of 2 X 6 inch lite candles, as more are put behind the alter where people sit and pray, Yes a room specifically made for the candles, hand carted in flats of 18, four or six flats pushed by a little old lady where they are put into a candle room to burn out. There is another room that has the clothing of individuals who have died, some with pictures on them some with names and dates. Really a different display

We then headed for the shed, we ate at the Marriot. Nice and quiet, split a rib eye with fresh fried mushrooms and veggies with fries. They gave us complimentary Margaritas, nice of them. Jerr

March 18, Kingsville to Pharr TX, Day 18, Tuesday, at a Comfort Inn

I posted the verbiage for yesterday this morning but the web connection was to slow and it botched it.

We are 8 miles south of Edinburg Texas where the State of Emergence has just taken place because of the raging brush fire. When we went though three hours ago, there were many emergency vehicles posted along the road. The sky's to the West were bellowing smoke, orange sky and smoke smell. Glad we got through before that as they are closing the highway. 17,000 acres are burning.

Another Announcement, from Mike and Connie B. who we had dinner with in Wichita KS. Here is a pix of our new grandson born last Friday. Roy and Miriam's son in Colorado Springs.

We are 8 miles south of Edinburg Texas where the State of Emergence has just taken place because of the raging brush fire. When we went though three hours ago, there were many emergency vehicles posted along the road. The skies to the West were bellowing smoke, orange sky and smoke smell. Glad we got through before that as they are closing the highway.

We started the day at the King ranch – running W brand, an 850,000 acre ranch. http://www.king-ranch.com/ look in Wikipedia for more info. From the beginning 1853 the owners worked hard for being kind to there employees and to the environment. Even the fencing is raised a foot to leave small wild animals transit the area. The area has also been designated a national wildlife area. They have nature tours that get you to the best areas, we didn’t have time. We did see wild deer, turkey’s and coyotes on our tour.

The Santa Gertrudis, which were recognized as a breed in 1940, was the first American breed of beef cattle. The Brahmans — which were bred specially to thrive in South Texas' hot climate — were crossed with the ranch's Beef Shorthorns to produce this trademark stock. They do have another stock, Santa Cruz cattle along with world famous quarter horses, cutting horses and sheep and goats.

The first cattle were brought up from Mexico, the long-horn cattle. They were not fit for this land but many are still found along the road. He also brought the Mexican people that were raising the cattle he brought north with him because he was afraid that they would die without the cattle. These people came to be called "kineños," or "King's men." King's, some of those descendents still work the ranch.

Captain King was first a hide and tallow operation but found after the civil was that the cattle brought two times the amount of money up in Kansas City. He drove many hundred of thousands north for the better money. This is a must see. This is an old cowpoke talking about life on the range, living, branding and his family working together.

Well we had a problem with the new Cad. For the four time we had a dead battery. Couldn’t even call OnStar because it was dead dead, nothing no lights nor any door opening. Called on cell phone and they got a guy to jump start within 30 minutes. Then we went to Kings Ranch and then back to Alice TX. Turns out you can’t go to a dealership that doesn’t service Cad’s as the Chevy dealer in Kingsville. Again they found nothing, comforting thought. Later - Jerr

March 17, San Antonio to Kingsville TX, Day 17, Monday, at a Quality Inn

Someday I will understand how these pictures go in, tonight I tried all to the left and this is what I got, with the problem at the bottom.

What a waffle!
I started the day with the waffle made in an iron in the shape of Texas. We sat with some people from northern MN. The hotel had some interesting happenings their. It was known even up to the mid 1920’s that hangings were done in the prison (our hotel), they were conducted on the third floor and bodies dumped through the second floor (our floor) to the first and removed. It turned out that so many people would come to watch the hangings that they closed them to the public.





San Antonio Botanical Garden, The garden was in bloom, colors abound, bun poppy’s, tulips, and much more. It was a nice walk and would enjoy doing it again.

Clover for St. Patrick's Day.


After driving by a couple of the Missions yesterday, we went to visit them today. Back to the mid 1750’s, they are neat to see, the craftsmanship of ages in them. They have a real reverence innate in them and people respect it as they visit. The Rose window is a fashion statement in town and came from San Jose, but no one knows where the name originated. A must to see.





















Rose Window at San Jose Mission




















Good Friday's Easter Symbol, fresco on a side alter wall











Flat Stanley with a young boy at the Mission with brothers and father

























Aqua Duct in use since early 1750's, they used this to water thousands of acres of plants which made the area useful.



We ate at a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q, good fried chicken, I two chopped pork sandwiches, next time I would get the ribs, they looked great. Down the road we went the land went from a hilly tree line road to low shrubs and a flat look to the land, ranch land. We are in the King’s Ranch area and probably going there Tuesday. So we ate a Chili’s, not much to choose from in Kingsville. Split a rack of ribs, original and a chipotle flavored one.jerr