Enjoying South Padre Island

     Well, we've survived our first week here at the South Padre Island KOA, and we seem to be staying pretty busy.  The area south of us was actually the site of the final battle of the Civil War.  I never realized that the waterways down here played a vital role in supplying resources for the Confederate forces, and was also the port where slaves were taken out of the country and put on ships bound for Europe.  The most unfortunate part was the fact that the final battle occurred about 4 weeks after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.  Guess the mail was a tad bit slower back then.

We continued on past the battlefield site and ended up on the beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.  If we had driven south a short distance we would have arrived at the border with Mexico.  Going north we would arrive at the northern tip of the Boca Chica peninsula overlooking the south end of South Padre Island. The beach was deserted and we decided not to venture too far either direction  We don't have a tremendous amount of experience driving in the sand, and discretion tends to be the better part of valor.

      Heading back toward Brownsville, we headed for the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park, which preserves the site of first battle of the U.S.-Mexican War in May, 1846.  In that battle, Gen. Zachary Taylor moved hos forces south from Port Isable to break a seige on Fort Texas.  Gen. Arista moved to block this southward movement, and spread his forces a mile across in front of Gen Taylor.  Though outnumbered, Gen, Taylor's artillery maneuvers were able to decimate the Mexican forces, and ultimately end the siege at Fort Texas.  The
Texas territory north of the Rio Grande in U.S. hands.







     On Thursday we climbed aboard the local tour boat for a tour of Brownsville Harbor. Very interesting tour, and Debbie really seemed to enjoy the complimentary shrimp which were provided on the return end.

     I worked at fishing both in the surf and from the jetty down at the county park, but luck wasn't with me this year.  I was told a story by the local bait guy that the sheepshead wouldn't start running until the white flowers came out on some local plant.  Do you think that was true??  But I always have my GMG smoker, and for Valentines Day, we feasted on surf and turf at the campsite.
   
      Our Canadian friends, Al and Nancy, finished up their family visit, and our last 3 nights in SPI seemed to include extended Happy Hours.  The first two nights we seemed to have forgotten food, but our last night, we were treated to a wonderful night out on the town, with dinner at The Painted Marlin.  The girls enjoyed some "girly" drinks, which Debbie described as delicious.

It was a very lovely evening and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Unfortunately we had to say goodbye for 2 years, as Al and Nancy will be RV'ing through New Zealand next year.  But we've already made tentative plans to meet back in SPI in 2018.  They should have lots of stories to tell and photos to share.  We strongly encouraged Nancy to start a blog so we can keep up with their travels.  We'll have to see how she does with that.  The group photo was captured by the waiter.  I hope he keeps his day job!

     Our 2 weeks went by very quickly, which often happens when you're enjoying the location and the company.  We are truly fortunate to be able to do these things.  Our plans take us north to Port Aransas, and a visit to the Padre Island National Seashore.  Then we'll be over to Florida for March and part of April, taking in some baseball and who knows what else.