Hidalgo

Update: the kiddie twins where they belong - on concrete

Our resort is located in the city of Mission (pop 80,000). It is one of several in the Rio Grande Valley, each of which has a has its own special character. A little further southeast is Hidalgo (silent “H” please) - one of the smaller cities (pop. 12,000).

Although small and old (founded in 1848) Hidalgo has found a way to shine every year by putting on an event called the Festival of Lights which they bill as the largest light show (3 million lights) in Texas. This spectacular display is put on by a by an extremely poor (per capita income under $12,000 yearly) yet extremely ambitious little city.

As night falls the lights the shapes coalesce

Not just wire frames now

City Hall from the tram

We did not go alone. As a matter of fact we didn’t know about it until Cathy and Larry invited us to join their group of 16 on the 18^th for an evening of dinner and a guided tram tour of the lights. We ended up filling an entire tram car with our party.

Even the residents get in on it

Birds lookin' angry

Halfway to the Midway

Superbee

 

 

Yeah - that song about maids,lords,birds....

This was really well done - all 12 days

I drove 1,978 miles to get away from ice. Breathe. Lie down. Breathe

A warm welcome from the city

Patriotism. Excellent!

Houston we have lift off

Our tram drove though this tunnel

Great evening even though our Tom Tom thought it would be amusing to take a side trip up the flood control berm on the return trip. Did not actually get up on the dike (think we’ll do that during the day) – just rerouted and kept driving in the right general direction until I saw a familiar landmark. Jody and Paul did seem to take our perambulations well but they did get out of our car pretty fast when we finally got back to the park.

We were told that “the valley” can be pretty windy. Big deal we said (to ourselves) – we stayed at Bullhead City (Arizona) last March - they anchor everything under 100lb on the hill when the winds are up. So we didn’t think much of the high wind warning on the 20^th – until the middle of the night when the slide topper started to sound like a freight train. Slide in – noise gone. Morning check showed no damage. OK – we’ll take the warnings a little more seriously in the future.

Lots of other activities over the last few days; Christmas Party and gift exchange (21^st), Christmas Eve get together at Cathy and Larry’s (w/ Liz & Homer, Jody & Paul, Jerry & Jan) and Christmas Dinner on the 25^th courtesy of the park. All a little weird since the daily peak temperatures have been in the upper 70’s (74F on Christmas Day). Still had the time to drive up to Rio Grande City (because it’s there) and tried to eat lunch at one of the local restaurants….

Looks good from here. Parking lot nearly full. Encouraging.

Our first server could not speak a word of English. We can only put together a half dozen Spanish words and none were useful. She gave up and sent out reinforcements. Second server spoke a few English words so we ordered a couple of diet pops and said we weren’t ready. Third server could speak English quite well and took our order for chicken fajitas. When she came back in a few minutes and informed us they were out of chicken (this was on a Monday) we gave up (still pop-less). Exit gringos. Ate at Chili’s and planned Spanish lessons.

We give up.

When the weather improves (it’s raining and in the mid 50’s today) we’ll head out for Mexico (city of Progresso) and later to Brownsville and South Padre Island.

 I had these pictures left over. If you are desperate for entertainment please scroll down...

Downtown Rio Grande City

This is a bank.

We're at the edge of the valley - big estates up the hill.

Texas goats leave us flat

Way back in March we bought folding bikes at Camping World in Henderson Nevada.

Hardly ever used them afterward since Bullhead City was too hilly and we didn’t stop long enough on our return trip to merit prying them out of the back of Smiley. Too busy at home. Now that we’re back in Texas in the really flat Rio Grande Valley it seemed the perfect time to break out the bikes. Chained them to Harvey’s trailer hitch for security and climbed onto a long slow learning curve. They call this spiky little fellow a goat head:

Not sure which way is up (this is the original)

 

Could be...

Lethal to bike tires. Flat number one – my rear tire. Filled with sealant and pumped up. Flat number two – same tire (3 miles from resort). Rescued by Norene and Smiley and took the ride of shame home. Inner tube replaced (complete with Green Slime sealer already inside) by Bike Masters – all good. Flat number 3 – Norene’s rear tire. Bike Masters again. Hey - was that a guy in a Bike Masters shirt out back sowing something? Naaah – they’re too nice and it turns out goat heads are everywhere! No more grass for our bikes in Texas – parked on concrete from now on.

It's OK to say they look like kiddie bikes

Now that the weather is more normal (70’s) we made a second stab at going to the nearest flea market, Don Wes, since our last foray (in the 50’s) was just too cold (yes, we are fast becoming temperature wimps). Norene girded up for battle and I followed instructions. Lots of items competing in the worst purchase ever category and I bought the inevitable Texas t-shirts.

That's better - no jacket, mittens, earmuffs.

Now here's the plan...

What?

Locally grown and cheap!

Live band later on. Was not instructed to dance today.

Norene looked for an ugly Christmas shirt for an upcoming Ladies Luncheon and ugly Christmas shirt contest but struck out. She settled on this one from Wal-Mart:

This should be a lay-down.

Drove home on the old highway Business 83 (pre-expressway it appears). Big wide street but the neighbourhoods run the gamut from dirt poor to modern suburbia. Puts perspective on how lucky we are to have come from the prosperous north. Folks close to the US’s southern border have not fared as well.

Sky courtesy of The Simpsons.

And you thought I didn't have a soft sensitive side....

We assume the position in Mission

Wednesday December 11^th

So…. what were you thinking? Sorry – nothing torrid here – it’s all about alliteration.

Off to Mission to get stamps and to do a little walk around a residential neighbourhood.

First – the obligatory church picture… (Our Lady of Guadalupe of course)

We set off for the constitutional (read: keep arteries from hardening) in a northeast Mission suburb. What we noticed most is the variety of styles – in what seemed to be a 60’s to 70’s area the styles were all over the map. Here are a few examples:

Hedging their bets everywhere

Big wide streets are the norm

Homes in this area range from Northern knockoffs like this one….

Looks like Barrie. OK it doesn't have a basement but...

to this…

Nestled in the subdivision is this “estate”. Huge home with a seriously large property.  Across the street from the little guy above.

There is a huge home hidden back there

Norene was impressed with the bamboo grove.

Just 2 blocks from the "estate" we found a gamut of styles:

Who needs front windows?

Looks like someone got "shape" inspiration from a cardboard box for this one...

Of course we couldn't pass up some unique fauna... "Quick Honey - take a picture of that pretty green bellied bird up there!"

What bird?

Got out the electron microscope and checked it out.

Here's the green bellied bird Norene saw...

After seeing a few of today's pics Norene casually asked (at a politically correct later moment of course) "Do you still want that camera with the great zoom lens for Christmas?"

It worked.

Our mutual suffering will soon be over.

Yesterday afternoon Sol returned.