Houston Johnson Space Center, Jan. 2013

 

 

Houston, Texas Area

 

Leaving Harlingen, TX

 "Daddy! Wake up!  It's time to get "on the road again"!

It's  always fun to move on but always hard to say "So long".

 

On January 30, 2013 we headed out to Houston Texas

 

  Just a Road Check

 

On the east of Houston, we stayed at a campground in Baytown, TX.  At first I thought the sign said Raytown and I took a double-take.  It turns out that when Tom first was registering the website for his engineering company, GDS Engineering, it was already taken by a company in Baytown.  His cousin Jerry happened to have done business with this company and gave Tom his coffee mug.  What a coinsidence!

 

 

Tom's cousins, Jerry and Stella Cairns, live in Mt. Belleview, TX which was close to our campground (as we planned).  In our busy lives raising families, we never had much time to spend with each other in the past, so the days there were very special to us.  They were so gracious and devoted their time showing us the area and their lovely home.   Thank You!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Padre, Texas

 South Padre is a popular place to visit when we are in south Texas.  Beautiful beaches.

 

 

  Tom and Cousin Larry Hockett

Kite Flying is Very Popular Here

Tom bought a new metal detector so was trying it out on the beach for the first time.

 

 

 

We then decided to head to the northern end of South Padre Island

 

 

 

No that's not snow!  It's blowing white sand.   Nice!

This is where the road ends....

  Larry and Edna Hockett

This is a beach you can drive on (if nuts).

All Wars Memorial of Texas

We traveled to McAllen, TX with Hoods to see the "All Wars Memorial of Texas".  It is still under construction but we enjoyed learning from the part they have completed.  It will be done sometime this year so we can't wait to go back on our next visit.  If you are ever in the area, treat yourself to a visit..

Finally a good internet connection!

I wanted to say how much we enjoyed our visit with cousins, Terry and Marcia Hood.  We felt fortunate to have this time together. (Mid January)

Daughter, Sheila, friends and family enjoy visiting the "Worlds Largest" Anything.  So, in their behalf we ventured to Hildago, TX near the Mexican Border - home of the "World Largest Killer Bee".  It was a nice little town and one of their claims to fame is that it was the point where the first Killer Bees entered the US.

The town lights up completely at Christmas time and the Hoods were just a few of many people traveling through there at Christmastime.  They said it was quite spectacular.  The bee is still dressed in it's lights.

 

In the town is the home of Ramón Ayala (born December 8, 1945, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México) is a Mexican musician, composer, and songwriter of norteño and conjunto music. Known as the "King of the Accordion," Ayala has recorded over 105 albums for which he has received four Grammy Awards. )

 

 

There were 3 buses lined up next to him home preparing for a road trip but we did not see him.

  This blog is frustrating because it won't let me turn the photos the proper way