Favorite Spots in the Valley
March 18, 2007
It was time for us to leave “The Valley” so we did all the things we love down here one more time. We played trivia with Bob, Mary, Connie and Evelyn (What wonderful people!) in Harlingen then headed to Brownsville, home of Gladys Porter Zoo. 
The zoo is only about an eighth of a mile walk, but the enclosures are all close by and you can see several at one time. For example while standing at the giraffe enclosure watching the seven giraffe move about, you look beyond to see the lions sleeping, the wild dogs running and the long horned deer grazing. First enclosure you come to is the gorilla’s. There are eleven of them counting the baby. We have grown to adore them all: Mosha is the dad of all of them and Silverback for the group. Penny, Martha and Mary are the three sisters. Herubie and N-Zinga are brothers. Osha and Pella are the young girls. Bangor and Megan are the two little ones and there is a new baby that has no name of yet. The newest enclosure is the aviary filled with cockatoos and parakeets. They are fun to feed and play with. The tigers have adjusted to their new enclosure; they came from a private owner in February. They no longer pay attention to our antics at the glass; they sleep mostly. The chimpanzee enclosure used to have a snake that scared them; it seems to be gone now and they have settled into people watching. We really like the zoo and will miss the animals here.
We drove out to Boca Chica Beach. It is located on the southern most tip of Texas with three miles to the jetty across from South Padre Island in one direction and three miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande River that separates us from Mexico in the other direction. We parked in our usual spot at the end of the road. We were sharing the Roadtrek story with a couple from Brownsville. She was from Columbia; he was from Peru. They asked about this beach and we were saying, “This beach is know by many as dangerous with drug deals, illegals crossing, and drunken parties, but we have not found that during our stays. It is quiet and very peaceful. Right now is Spring Break here in the county so there were lots of families camping on the beach.” Just then two police cars zoomed past and turned toward the river. Minutes later four fire trucks showed up. Seconds later the two police cars zoomed past going toward the jetty. It seems a call came in that two cars crashed and one flipped over. They were hunting for the accident. About an hour later they hadn’t found one so everyone left.
The next morning we sat enjoying our last beach time. Stars gave way to sun, sand,
seagulls and surf. Will flew his kite letting the breeze carry it higher and using his strong arm muscles to steer his kite into spins, dives, figure eights punctuated by the occasional sudden landing. Kathy collected shells with tiny holes, crocheted, and read. Piles of pelicans glidying in formation, swarms of seagulls screaming “mine, mine”, pickets of plovers pecking precociously on the beach and six hundred billion tons of seaweed mixed with blue jelly fish that give the appearance that someone threw plastic bottles around fill our view.
Sunday evening we drove off the beach, and made a stop at Stalman’s for Ruby Red grapefruit. We bought the big bag this time! We arrived at Harley’s and ordered a bucket of beers. We sat in the back and listened to John Harley and the Bayview Bushriders. They are great musicians. Johny Gee plays a great harmonica and the fiddler is fantastic. Andrew keeps beat with his bass guitar and Bill keeps the rythem on the drums. John Harley pulls it all together with is whispy voice. Couples dance, groups sit and chat and before you know it John announces “road kill” is ready. We stay til the music ends then walk across the street to our parking spot for the night. We settle in for some West Wing; we are continueing with season seven.
It was time for us to leave “The Valley” so we did all the things we love down here one more time. We played trivia with Bob, Mary, Connie and Evelyn (What wonderful people!) in Harlingen then headed to Brownsville, home of Gladys Porter Zoo. 
The zoo is only about an eighth of a mile walk, but the enclosures are all close by and you can see several at one time. For example while standing at the giraffe enclosure watching the seven giraffe move about, you look beyond to see the lions sleeping, the wild dogs running and the long horned deer grazing. First enclosure you come to is the gorilla’s. There are eleven of them counting the baby. We have grown to adore them all: Mosha is the dad of all of them and Silverback for the group. Penny, Martha and Mary are the three sisters. Herubie and N-Zinga are brothers. Osha and Pella are the young girls. Bangor and Megan are the two little ones and there is a new baby that has no name of yet. The newest enclosure is the aviary filled with cockatoos and parakeets. They are fun to feed and play with. The tigers have adjusted to their new enclosure; they came from a private owner in February. They no longer pay attention to our antics at the glass; they sleep mostly. The chimpanzee enclosure used to have a snake that scared them; it seems to be gone now and they have settled into people watching. We really like the zoo and will miss the animals here.
We drove out to Boca Chica Beach. It is located on the southern most tip of Texas with three miles to the jetty across from South Padre Island in one direction and three miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande River that separates us from Mexico in the other direction. We parked in our usual spot at the end of the road. We were sharing the Roadtrek story with a couple from Brownsville. She was from Columbia; he was from Peru. They asked about this beach and we were saying, “This beach is know by many as dangerous with drug deals, illegals crossing, and drunken parties, but we have not found that during our stays. It is quiet and very peaceful. Right now is Spring Break here in the county so there were lots of families camping on the beach.” Just then two police cars zoomed past and turned toward the river. Minutes later four fire trucks showed up. Seconds later the two police cars zoomed past going toward the jetty. It seems a call came in that two cars crashed and one flipped over. They were hunting for the accident. About an hour later they hadn’t found one so everyone left.The next morning we sat enjoying our last beach time. Stars gave way to sun, sand,
seagulls and surf. Will flew his kite letting the breeze carry it higher and using his strong arm muscles to steer his kite into spins, dives, figure eights punctuated by the occasional sudden landing. Kathy collected shells with tiny holes, crocheted, and read. Piles of pelicans glidying in formation, swarms of seagulls screaming “mine, mine”, pickets of plovers pecking precociously on the beach and six hundred billion tons of seaweed mixed with blue jelly fish that give the appearance that someone threw plastic bottles around fill our view.
Sunday evening we drove off the beach, and made a stop at Stalman’s for Ruby Red grapefruit. We bought the big bag this time! We arrived at Harley’s and ordered a bucket of beers. We sat in the back and listened to John Harley and the Bayview Bushriders. They are great musicians. Johny Gee plays a great harmonica and the fiddler is fantastic. Andrew keeps beat with his bass guitar and Bill keeps the rythem on the drums. John Harley pulls it all together with is whispy voice. Couples dance, groups sit and chat and before you know it John announces “road kill” is ready. We stay til the music ends then walk across the street to our parking spot for the night. We settle in for some West Wing; we are continueing with season seven.
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