January-February 2013 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

When we are not wintering in southern Texas, we base out of our house in the Ozark Mountains near Eureka Springs, AR.  The community is called Holiday Island. I built a retirement house there many years before I met Daisy and have several wonderful friendships that have developed over the years.  Most are people who have RVs and like to travel.

Nothing like having friends come to visit who can bake yummy cherry pies!

Two couples I met in the Holiday Island Campground were Carol and David and Darlene and Rick.  We were all in various stages of building our houses in the local area.  Darlene and Carol had their RVs in the campground and stayed in them monitoring construction while their husbands commuted from jobs in the surrounding states.  My house site was 2 miles away, so the campground was a perfect place for me to stay as well. Every day we would compare notes on our progress, or lack thereof, over meals and drinks.   We developed a friendship that has helped us weather David’s death as well as my divorce. Now, they have also welcomed Daisy as a friend.  I was the first to come to Texas as a winter retreat and decided to stay in the Rio Grande Valley. Rick and Darlene followed and fell in love with the San Antonio area to be their winter base of operations.  This year Carol decided to come and visit to see what all the fuss is about. She spent two weeks with us and stayed in our truck camper, which is parked next to our fifth-wheel RV and makes a great guest house.

One plus thing about Carol is that she is a great baker. I especially like her fruit pies that I became addicted to when we stayed in the Arkansas campground.  So to me it made common sense that since she was staying next to us in the resort that her contribution to our Texas evening meals might as well be desert.  She provided delicious treats for our benefit!

A visit with Holiday Island friends on the Riverwalk in San Antonio

We planned several activities while she was here, including traveling to San Antonio area to visit Rick and Darlene who were wintering there.  Another Holiday Island couple, Skip and Mary (recently from Alaska) were also in San Antonio at the same time. So I guess what we had was a Holiday Island/Winter Texan reunion.  There was only one place to meet, and that is the “Riverwalk.”

The Riverwalk at dusk

Buckhorn Saloon bar in San Antonio

Mary, Skip, Daisy. Rick, Darlene and Carol at the Buckhorn

With Daisy and Carol we drove 240 miles north and stayed in a hotel on the Riverwalk, and all the others had to do was take a quick city bus from their campground to meet us.  There are many places to have fun at so we decided to sample a few. We only stayed overnight, but as they say, a good time was had by all.

Riverwalk musicians and Carol at a Mexican eatery

Scotcheggs at the British pub

I am still trying to figure out who the guy is with Carol at one of our pub stops!

When we got back to the “valley,” there were several places we wanted to go to and things to do in the next several days.  So we got started.

On Tuesday afternoons, the Mustang Lounge is a popular dance venue for Winter Texans.  The features include live music, happy hour prices, and a discounted food menu.  Another reason we go there is to support the music performer who is from our park. Ruthi is her name, and her forte is providing excellent dance vocals, so she has quite a following in the valley.

We went to one of our favorite bootkicking dancing places to stirup some dust.

Lee and Jay, our best buddies, joined us for some country music fun.

In the middle is Ruthi, our star music performer at the Mustang Lounge

South Padre Island and its Gulf beaches are also major draws here.  During the winter, you can drive your vehicles on the beaches, hike and camp, swim, surf fish, and eat at the restaurants without major crowds except for college spring breaks.   Mostly it is a very tranquil and windy place.  The day we picked to go allowed us to wear shorts for the 73-degree weather and onshore breezes. We first stopped at the Palm Street Pier for fresh fish dishes.  

A winter day from the bay at South Padre Island

Carol is smiling because it was sleeting back in Arkansas

Oysters on the halfshell

 We then drove to the end of the island beach road which went from two lanes to one due to drifting sand.   We parked with one set of wheels on the pavement and the other in the sand and hiked across the barren dunes to an open stretch of beach.  We had this section to ourselves for about an hour until a large family with boom box and ATV decided they wanted to be next to us.  We soon decided to leave and let them have this area of the beach.

The sand often covers the upper stretches of the Island road.

This is a typical beach scene any time but during college break.

Yep, definitely a beach bunny

Setting sun on the bay means it is time to go home.

On our way to do a little beach store shopping, I called my college roommate to see if he and his wife happened to be at their beach condo nearby.  They were and we dropped by after shopping to visit with them and got a look of the bay from their vantage point. Then we enjoyed some more seafood before heading home.

Our friends Ed and Jane were at their condo.

Evening condo view of the Bay

One Sunday, after church and going out to eat, as a special treat we took Carol to a cultural folk event that presented Mexican music and dances in costumes reflecting the traditional cultures.  I learned that depending on the folklore traditions of the various Mexican states, there are many diverse styles of costumes and music. 

Carol went with us to a ballet folklorio of Mexican cultures.

For instance, in the eastern part of the country, the Spanish costume shows the men wearing white baggy pants and shirts, red waist sashes, and straw hats. The women wore white lace dresses with shawls, and they had their hair pinned up with combs and carried large fans. The music had a strong flamenco flavor. Western Mexican traditions featured the men wearing big sombreros and the traditional Spanish charro suits with silver studs on the pants and a big bow tie. The women’s folklorico wear is a ranchero design dress with unmistakable Indian influences in the brightly colored ribbons. This is the national representation for Mexican dancers with which many of us gringos are familiar. Trumpets and violins and big bass guitars of the mariachis influence this musical style. We had a great time as well as learning more about Mexico.

Carol and Daisy also did some things without me.  I did not have any interest in going to the quilt show. At least that is where they told me they were going! And they did have photos of quilts to document their excursion.

Carol and Daisy went shopping and found a drive thru booze store.

What do you think this is?

They told me they were going to a quilt show!

Our friend Sharon hosted a belated wedding reception at her house for us. It was complete with wedding cake, snacks, and wine.  The party featured a showing of the video from our wedding day. I was the only male allowed to attend. No matter how many times I see that video it moves me, which is a good thing.

Sharon was the host. She calls me her little brother.

Yes we are cutting the cake again.

Francine, Diane, Lee, Sharon, Daisy, Carol, Patty

We also went to a basketball game. The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are a 2007-08 expansion team in the NBA. A bus came to the park and we filled every seat. The first stop was for dinner at a local restaurant, then we enjoyed the closely contested game, made even better by a Viper victory.

 

Here we are at Tony Romas before a basketball game.

Our resort fan having fun during the game.

Carol wearing her Viper team colors at the game.

The next week, several carloads of folks from the park had a caravan to a newly discovered German restaurant. The food and social time were great.

Carol was a hit with many of our friends in the park.  They even had a ladies luncheon in her honor just before she went back to the cold country. But she said she would return…

Sauerbraten and red cabbage

Potato pancakes with beef stroganoff

Amy, Hagar, Lynn, John, Rich and Carol

Ladies luncheon given in Carol's honor

Sharon, Carol, Lee, Laurie

Yep, its a purse hanger!

Daisy's Chile Relleno

We dropped Carol off at the airport on Saturday.

We restocked the bread, milk, and eggs on Sunday.

We picked up Daisy's cousin Jean on Monday.

Daisy’s cousin Jean from Virginia came to visit us just a couple of days after Carol left. We had tried to orchestrate their being here together so that they could get to know each other, but that was not in the cards for this winter. Jean came with her passport so we put it to use right away with a trip to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico, which is only about 25 miles from the park.  We pay $2.00 to park on the U.S. side, then a 50-cent per person toll to stroll across the Rio Grande Bridge to Mexico.  We were shopping for light weight clothing that might be considered cruise wear (another story for next time), and Daisy bought a couple of colorful blouses. We also purchased some items in the local pharmacy at discounted rates and picked up some imported libations for the bar.  It is more economical to purchase booze from Mexico, even considering the fact that Texas charges $3.75 tax per 750 ml. in order to bring it back into the state.

Jean and  Daisy on the bridge heading to Mexico

We cleaned our plates after Mexican food.

We parked on the US side and walked across the border.

If the truth be known, we bribed Jean to come visit us by promising her that we would go to music venues, and we did not disappoint. She attended a rock and roll music dance here at the club house, took country line and two-step dance lessons with us, did a duet with me on karaoke night in the clubhouse, country western danced with several people at the Mustang lounge where Ruthi was playing, and strutted her stuff in Mexico at the Galeria to a Mexican band.

We took Jean to the same dance hall we took Carol to.

Jean lives to dance.

Ruthi was there.

Jean also made a resort ladies luncheon.

Palm Street Pier on the Island

Life is good.

We had even better weather on the beach than when Carol was here, so of course we forced ourselves to visit Port Isabel and South Padre Island for a day out.  This time the winds were light and breezy and no one else invaded our area of the beach.  Jean took off her sandals and went exploring by herself then returned to relax in her chair and enjoy a book.  Gentle waves lapping on the beach and the cries of shore birds made this time very pleasant. 

A beach day on the gulf with Daisy and Jean

Isolated peace for showing school colors

Foot Tracings

Is she thinking about the snow and ice in Virginia today?

Nothing like bare toes in the sand

The end of a Jean's first visit.

Jean’s visit was shorter than Carol’s, but I bet the next one will not be.  Jean is going to come visit us in Arkansas so she will meet Carol then. They have a lot in common and we enjoy their company.

We were sorry to have Jean leave, but we had other things to do.  One day after her departure, we took off for our next adventure, driving to Florida to leave on a western Caribbean cruise to Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico.

 More about that in the next issue of this blog!