Settling into Texas

The weather is not cooperating for us to settle into Texas.  First we come back from San Antonio pretty sick but mainly the weather is overcast and cold.  Now mind you, it is much colder in Tennessee and even just as cold in Naples. Florida.   But here we find ourselves in a new place and ready to settle in for a warm 3 months in a new environment.  After a couple of days, Fitz felt well enough and the seas had settled enough to go fishing with a bunch of guys from the RV Park over on the Gulf.  He brought home some delicious red snapper and some new friends.  The trip took place on honestly the only warm sunny day of the week but he still kept on his winter coat—not good.  We have met many nice people—the only illness that has hung on has been a cough when we laugh or talk so we aren’t quite as sociable as normal. 

Cute houses and restaurants line the 2 main streets of South Padre Island

Brown hard sand and condos line the beach

There had been some people there but mainly deserted

We visited South Padre Island on the next nice day and found it pretty dead.  You can see that during Spring Break and the summertime it would be a great place to party and the brown sanded beach looked like a good place to walk but for now –no people. 

Louie's was suggested for lunch by a local

 

Pretty water

 The highlight of the first few weeks in Texas has been a visit to the Iwo Jima Memorial in Harlingen.  WWII was fought on 2 different fronts.  First came the European Campaign which was over in 1944, afterward the Pacific Campaign (with the Japanese) drew 100% of the armed forces attention.  Iwo Jima was a strategic island about 70 miles from Tokyo that held a lot of communications that warned the Japanese when our planes were near to their mainland ready to drop bombs.  The taking of Iwo Jima is considered one of the most important events that has saved Americans from eating sushi with chopsticks for the last 70 years. The bronze statue commemorating this event is the American flag being place on the peak of Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima by 6 American soldiers. This bronze statue stands in Washington DC at Arlington National Cemetery, the artist (Felix de Weldon) donated the plaster model to a Marine Academy here in Harlingen for caretaking.  It is very impressive.

 

Nice Museum

 

Remember this from Marina Jack in Sarasota

 

Really big!

 

Notice the jacket