Visiting a museum

We went to Edinberg, TX, to visit the Museum of South Texas History.  Edinberg is the county seat of Hidalgo County and home to the University of Texas Pan American and the Rio Grande Bible Institute.

This is the exterior of the building.

This part is the old county jail constructed in 1912.  It was closed for refurbishing.  It seems that some of the walls were in need of repair.

The interior was very interesting and well done in our opinion. 

The history of South Texas was told from when the first Spaniards came up until the present time.

The story of the irrigation projects was told.

They have lots of groups of students from around the area that visit.

Around McAllen, TX

We spent the day in McAllen.  Using the "Winter Texan" newspapers describing activities all around the valley, we came across the following.

This was held at the McAllen Convention center. 

Since admission was free, many folks decided to go and we wanted to see what it was about.

People were lined up and we enjoyed the weather and flowers.  Some in the crowd were grousing about the "too warm" weather.  They left northern climes to leave winter behind, but you cannot please them all.

There was a small exhibit area dealing with travel to Florida, Canada and Mexico.

A stage promised entertainment all day long but we left after a half hour.

The McAllen Convention Center is indeed a beautiful place, built in the past five years.

Nearby is the Texas War Memorial which is about 75% finished.  

The obelisk is surrounded by commemorative stones remembering fallen veterans from the Rio Grande Valley.

A memorial to those who served as Women Marines.

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We visited Jim and Jan who have purchased an apartment in the Village were we live in Fergus Falls.

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Busy 10th Street near our motel.  We love the fajita tacos  at the Taco Palenque which are good and inexpensive.  

Friends

We visited friends in the Rio Grande Valley.

Jerry and Bonnie are friends from a camping group named Go-Fer-Fun.  We belonged to that group when we had our RV.  Now they are full-timers in the RV, their home in the Twin Cities is rented, and they are enjoying the winter here in the valley.

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In 1996 a group from the bible school we attended visited Rio Bravo, Mexico.  Rio Bravo is directly across from the McAllen area where we are staying.  At the time, Al could speak no Spanish at all and the inability to communicate was frustrating.  On the last day of our visit, Al spoke through a translator to Pastor Carlos that the next time he saw Carlos, Al would speak to him in Spanish.  In 2000, Sue and Al attended a language school in McAllen and became conversational in Spanish.  

Every week Pastor Carlos travels to Weslaco, TX, to speak on this Spanish language station.  So it is simple to contact him by arriving at the station at the same time.

Since Carlos speaks only Spanish, it is a time for practice.

He has a great sense of humor and enjoyed being a cowboy wearing Al's hat.

During the time we were learning Spanish, Carlos and his wife Ana have become good friends.

Here from left to right is Ana, Carlos, three grandsons and their daughter-in-law, Daisy.

Port Isabel, TX

We went back to the Padre Island area stopping at Port Isabel where the causeway takes off to the island.  Sue's parents, Frank and Eleanor, used their trailer, "Bluebonnet" to stay at an RV park here.  We wanted to see what they did and to note that change would be the most common thought if they could see the area now. 

This is the Port Isabel lighthouse and this was one of the landmarks that they saw.  It has been here since the war with Mexico in the 1840's.  Famous generals of the Civil War were here as junior officers such as Robert E Lee.

It is possible that this was the park but we do not know. It is close to the water and Frank took many pictures of fishing boats in the area.

This boat on blocks and the development beyond represent the changes in the last forty years here.  Frank predicted and rued the day when all the development would take place.

Perhaps this would look familiar

After seeing the traffic returning from Padre Island, we skipped visiting there.

South Padre Island now is a major tourist destination and many live permanently on the island.  Further north is a protected wildlife sanctuary.

One pelican to a post.

We chose this place to have lunch.

South Padre Island Kite Festival

We went to Padre Island with Mary Sue and Dick. The purpose was to view the Kite Festival held there in early February for the last thirteen years.  Unfortunately, this was to be the last one.

This is the official symbol of the festival.

Getting a stacked kite to fly.

Lots of kites.

A rubber ducky and a parrot kite.

A dog, actually hanging from the kite line of a kite overhead.

A very large crowd, mostly Winter Texans, watching.

We got there early and had a front row seat.  Along with Al and Sue are Mary Sue and Dick.

This fellow was guiding two kites at the same time.

A team of six named the iQuad from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia fly kites with four lines each which allow the pilots to have the kites stop and do all kinds of maneuvers.

Men of A-Chord

We went to the Winter Green Estates RV park to see and hear our friend Don sing.

This is the recreation hall of the RV park where many individuals and groups come to perform.  This form of entertainment goes on all over the Rio Grande Valley.

This is the entire group consisting of men from states and provinces of the USA and Canada.    They sing at many RV parks all over the Valley.

There is Don, an attender of the Naz church in Fergus Falls

He really sings well.

Hidalgo Pumping Station

We visited the Hidalgo Pumping Station which served to pump water from the Rio Grande river, lift the water nearly 25 feet and discharge the water into irrigation canals serving Hidalgo county which includes McAllen, Mission, Edinburg and Pharr. 

The confluence of farmers from the Midwest, land developers, steam engines and many Mexican nationals fleeing the 1910 Mexican revolution evolved into a plan to irrigate the entire Rio Grande valley.  This pumping station, along with others, was built to move water to fertile fields for agricultural products sent north.

Water was pulled from the Rio Grande river by these large intake pipes.  

Mesquite wood was harvested for fuel for these boilers to create 150 psi steam to power engines.

Steam engines, including a Corliss engine, were replaced in time by engines powered by oil and then natural gas.

This is one of the pumps used to move great quantities of water.

Output water was sent through these gates into the canal system.

A photo, courtesy of Google Maps, of the area around Pharr, TX, showing the canals and grids of agricultural land.  These canals extended all the way to Brownsville, said to be the largest irrigation system of its type in the world.

Lisa was our tour guide around the site.  Exterior landscaping and bird sanctuary areas have been added by donations and grants.