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.