Surf's Up

Got some fresh shrimp from a girl whose father runs some shrimp boats out of Palacio, north of here, in the Gulf of Mexico. They were HUGE and were great on the barbie!  Five bucks a pound -- we got 10 pounds and split them with our pals from South Dakota (he just happens to know how to cook them to perfection, and they WERE!)

We took the ferry over to Aransas pass the other day and saw a few big tugs pushing barges through the pass. It has been foggy and hot, 99% humidity for most of last week. Everything is damp in the camper, even the dogs. Not a real big fan of this :(

Went to a board shop in Port Aransas and checked out all the cool surfboards, etc., this week.  It is very tempting...

Above:  Gorgeous, huge, and delicious Gulf shrimp on the barbie!  (Note Corona cerveza in hand of the pit master)

Above:  Lots of beautiful surfboards at the Board Shop in PA

Above:  Huge selection of board wax (can't get the Beach Boys' tunes out of my head!)

Above:  A very cool board

Above:  Big tugboat pushing a barge in Aransas Pass off the Gulf of Mexico

Kingsville, Texas

Day trip south to the King Ranch, halfway between here and Matamoros, Mexico, about 1.5 hours driving time. It was hot, windy, and humid. We signed up for the ranch bus tour, which proved to be uneventful and even a little boring; an hour and a half in a bus the size of a handy dart packed with people and featuring a poor air conditioning system, with windows that didn't open but threatened to rattle loose and fall out while bouncing over some of the ranch roads.

The driver liked to stop at every herd of cattle we came across, but motored quickly past the ranch mansion and other buildings that were photo worthy. The friends we were with had taken the tour a few years ago and said they got off the bus at a few interesting spots and got to see all kinds of stuff that we didn't today. Bummer.

So after the tour we decided to check out a seafood restaurant recommended by some people in the park here, Kings Inn in Riviera, TX, right on the bay and 20 minutes south of Kingsville. We started to get lost when our friend's GPS decided to go stupid once we got off the main highway, so I got my iPhone Google Map out, we got our own GPS out, and the backseat people were using smart phone apps, and also tried to call them on a cell phone, all to no avail. We ended up turning around and trying to find our way back to the highway when we suddenly got back on track and found the place.

It was a semi-dilapidated old beach kind of place with real linen on the tables. First order of business for the waitress was to tell us it was a house rule, men had to remove hats. Okayyyyy......

Second weird thing, they had no menus. They served everything "family style," meaning it comes on plates that you serve yourself from, and everything was sold by the pound. The waitress rattled off what they had, oysters, shrimp, scallops, and drum, that French fries came with everything, and they also had an avocado salad and onion rings you could order.

I had to go up to the front to find out prices per pound and what options you had for how the food was prepared, which turned out to be fried only, except the shrimp could also be ordered cold. I forgot that "fried" down here means battered and thrown in an oil fryer, so we ended up with deep-fried shrimp, oysters, and scallops.

The avocado salad was the best thing there, followed by the shrimp. Never had deep-fried oysters or scallops before and probably never will again.

On a good note, when we got back to the park, I bought a 10-pound bag of fresh huge prawns from a family who has shrimp boats out of Palacio, about 2 hours north of here. Stay tuned for photos of shrimp on the barbie tomorrow!

Above:  Just try to get a photo of anything at the King Ranch from the handi-dart bus piloted by a weird senior citizen.  This is a doorway into the huge mansion on the ranch.  Striking photo, huh?

Above:  Spaghetti night at the park.  Actually tasted okay...

Above:  Best thing at the King Ranch:  Alamo Crackers.  Really. 

The ranch was established pre-Civil War, and the owner was friends with Robert E. Lee and helped run cotton through Mexican-registered ships through the North's embargo...

Above:  Why do most of the major streets in Texas have at least 2 or 3 names their titles?  Like Major Tom Brown Boulevard, or John Paul Harvey Road?  Weird.

Above:  REAL happy campers

Above:  Far-away pic of the King Ranch Mansion (The driver had stopped the bus yet again for some more blasted cows that she seems entranced with)

Antelope Dinner

Our friends from South Dakota arrived here at the park on Mustang Island last week. We met them last year in Kerrville, Texas, and they are the ones who told us about this place.

Last night we had a real treat. They invited us across to their spot for dinner. We had antelope steaks which Tom had got hunting a few months ago. We barbecued them and wow, super tender and juicy and flavorful! First time we've tasted it, and we're giving it two thumbs up!

It was about 90 F yesterday and very muggy. Then the wind came up last night and cooled it right down to about 41 F this morning. It heated up nicely with the sun to about 66 F, but now some clouds have rolled in and the wind feels a bit brisk again.

We are thinking about heading out of here on February 5th because we really would like to explore new frontiers. Just trying to decide where to go -- maybe the Rio Grande Valley, about 4 hours south of here. We'll see ...

Los Pelicanos

The brown pelicans are all decked out in their beautiful silvery plumage for breeding season. There is a big old pier about a mile up the beach that. Lot of guys fish from. They seem to catch a lot of little stingrays and have to put them back at the risk of getting stung. Anyway, the pelicans hang out on the pier and are pretty tame, you can walk right up to them.

There were also some guys skim-boarding on the beach there. Their boards are bigger than the ones we had in the olden days and are pointed instead of round. They spent a good deal of time waxing them up. They skim along the sand and then turn into the waves. I guess it could be fun but I remember how hard that sand is when you wipe out!

I LOVE this Pig! Wee -- WEE WEE WEEEEEEEEeeeeee!

Maxwell the Pig goes zip-lining:

Below is the first one I saw last year.  He is very cool:

We're Heeeere!

Pulled into Pioneer Park on Mustang Island on Monday around 5:00 pm, just after a big storm had passes through earlier on that dumped the only hard rain they've had here in about a year and a half. It was extremely windy all night and into Tuesday afternoon, but the 20-mile-an-hour breeze died down to nothing by 4:00, and the sun shone brightly through it all.

The dogs are noticeably happy to be back at the beach, too. We have a great spot with lots of green space all around. The pelicans are already decked out in their finest plumage for breeding season and were fishing only a few feet from the shore yesterday before dusk.

Above:  Outdoor cooking at Guadalupe RV in Kerrville, Texas

Above: According to a Kerrville cop, this is one of the three things that Texans hate to see (a Yankee with a U-haul).  Can't tell you the other two cuz this is a family show...

Above: At a local Mexican eatery on Mustang Island

Above: Some weird little town names in southeast Texas, like Peggy and Swinney Switch

Above: This trucker also had a big stuffed Foghorn Leghorn riding shotgun in the tractor cab, too :)

Hightailin It to Texas

Yesterday morning a quick decision was made to get out of Roswell before another winter storm hits with snow on Sunday. We left around 1:00 and made it to Fort Stockton just after dark. The trip down Highway 285 South is pretty bleak, being the northern tip of the Chihuauan Desert, very flat, and a lot of low brushy brown vegetation.

Redneck Christmas

Well, now that all the festivities have tapered off through Christmas and New Year's, I figured it was time to give y'all a taste of what the holiday season is like here in New Mexico.

First off, it wadn't 'sposed to snow like it did.  We literally had 12 inches of snow on the ground over a 2-day period just before Christmas.  Chuck, from Santa Fe, was here over the holidays, and he was shaking his head in disbelief, saying they expect that up north in Santa Fe, but certainly not down here on the desert floor!

Deb and Erin, the RV park owners, cooked up a lavish fare for the Christmas feast we were invited to.  They had a lot of family staying over from different parts of the state.  Erin and Shawn got busy on the big ol' smoker in the backyard and produced two huge smoked turkeys and a mouth-watering smoked ham.  Dinner was served with all the fixin's, including the most delicious pecan pie we have ever tasted in our lives!  Wow, is all I can say.

After Christmas dinner, around 3:00 p.m., everyone jumped into pickups and drove a few miles out to the Pecos River and did a little target practice with their rifles, shotguns, and hand guns.  Here's some pix:

Old-time family Christmas shooting

Above:  Youngest there, she's 12 years old, same age as me when I got my first .22 rifle

Above:  Sunset coming on, still blasting away

Above:  David just entered the police academy here in Roswell

Above:  Yep, that's an AK-47

Above:  Tailgate party New Mexico style

Oldest guy there, Boyd from Montana