I kept a close eye on the weather today -- not what was happening in Wisconsin, but down in Texas, where Hurricane Dolly had her eyes (or do we just say eye) set on hitting South Padre Island and southern Texas -- close to where my sister and brother-in-law live.
It's weird, but most places hurricanes have struck and done damage are places I've never seen before the storm -- only afterward (like visiting Punta Gorda, Fla., after Hurricane Charlie). But tonight on the news, I saw what happened on South Padre (where we spent part of Spring Break this year) and the streets of Harlingen (where we flew in). That's freaky when you've been there.
I talked to my sister tonight. They live 60 miles or so inland (you may have seen McAllen on the news). So far they have been spared flooding or damage. The power flickered out but, thankfully, came back on right away. Could you imagine a day or two in the Texas heat without air conditioning? That would be brutal! And some of the unfortunate souls closer to the coast are dealing with just that.
Is it done? Probably not. I think Dolly will be rotating in more rain tomorrow but they are hoping it won't be too much.
This is actually the third hurricane my sister has been through. They've followed her to New Orleans (long before Katrina) and Atlanta and now Texas. She's a survivor so I'm not too worried. I'm more worried about my retired brother-in-law who is missing two days of pool time! (Poor St. Paul and his sacrifices.)
If you are inclined to put your hands together tonight, please pray for their safety and those around them. I'm sure they'll return the favor during our blizzard season!
Showing posts with label Padre Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Padre Island. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Live from Spring Break :: In Pictures
It felt good to wake up in our own bed this morning. But then, when I glanced out the window at the freshly fallen snow, I said, "I wanna be back in Texas!" Sigh...
I uploaded my pictures. I only took about 200. That would seem like a lot with an old camera (8 rolls of film!) but that's nothing in the digital world. I am deleting the bad, out of focus and "Robyn looks fat on the beach" photos, but here are a few highlights I mentioned this week:
St. Patty's Day at Pepe's on the Rio Grande. My brother-in-law Paul is an Irishman, Rayna and I are 100% Scandinavian, and Carter boasted "an ounce" of Irish in his blood.
The Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi had an underwater viewing area to see the dolphins before the "dolphin training" show.
As Jim is my witness, that is my finger stroking the back of the baby crocodile! My brief brush with braveness...
We learned at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center that some turtles grow to be as big as 1,000 pounds! And I thought seaweed salads were healthy!
Drumstick anyone? Carter jokes around at a stop on South Padre Island.
Do we have to go?!
What a welcome home!
I'll end this blog how I started it: "I wanna be back in Texas!"
I uploaded my pictures. I only took about 200. That would seem like a lot with an old camera (8 rolls of film!) but that's nothing in the digital world. I am deleting the bad, out of focus and "Robyn looks fat on the beach" photos, but here are a few highlights I mentioned this week:
St. Patty's Day at Pepe's on the Rio Grande. My brother-in-law Paul is an Irishman, Rayna and I are 100% Scandinavian, and Carter boasted "an ounce" of Irish in his blood.
The Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi had an underwater viewing area to see the dolphins before the "dolphin training" show.
As Jim is my witness, that is my finger stroking the back of the baby crocodile! My brief brush with braveness...
We learned at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center that some turtles grow to be as big as 1,000 pounds! And I thought seaweed salads were healthy!
Drumstick anyone? Carter jokes around at a stop on South Padre Island.
Do we have to go?!
What a welcome home!
I'll end this blog how I started it: "I wanna be back in Texas!"
Friday, March 21, 2008
Live from Spring Break :: Part 3
I would have blogged last night, but I was a bit too sunburned. What an enjoyable problem to have. I'll suffer through the pain (just this once).
Spent yesterday on South Padre Island with those crazy spring-breakers. Hubby suffered through that (just this once!).
We started the day at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center. Maybe you've seen on the news that they are doing some groundbreaking work there, trying to develop a prosthetic flipper for Allison the sea turtle, who has only one flipper. We got to meet her and several other "recovering" giants from the sea. Neat stuff. I will post some pictures when we get home tomorrow (sob, sob), but in the meantime, click here for more info about the rescue center. They are doing great work there.
The rest of the day was spent looking for shells, jumping in the waves, gawking at the scenery and lamenting on how old we suddenly felt! For dinner, we had some awesome shrimp at Dirty Al's on the island. Carter and I went there last year, too, and knew shrimp-loving Daddy would like it, too! Good stuff.
When we got home, we showered off the salt and sand and played some dominoes. We were pretty tuckered out -- all that relaxing in the sun can be a bit draining. Today we are packing up and ready to head to the airport. It's 80 something and sunny. We are reluctant to change into long pants but know a winter storm is dumping a bunch of that white stuff on our landing strip and highways heading home.
So I guess you could say our March vacation came in like a lion and went out like a lion -- and in between, with weather like a lamb, we stayed with my sister, the Lion Queen.
Spent yesterday on South Padre Island with those crazy spring-breakers. Hubby suffered through that (just this once!).
We started the day at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center. Maybe you've seen on the news that they are doing some groundbreaking work there, trying to develop a prosthetic flipper for Allison the sea turtle, who has only one flipper. We got to meet her and several other "recovering" giants from the sea. Neat stuff. I will post some pictures when we get home tomorrow (sob, sob), but in the meantime, click here for more info about the rescue center. They are doing great work there.
The rest of the day was spent looking for shells, jumping in the waves, gawking at the scenery and lamenting on how old we suddenly felt! For dinner, we had some awesome shrimp at Dirty Al's on the island. Carter and I went there last year, too, and knew shrimp-loving Daddy would like it, too! Good stuff.
When we got home, we showered off the salt and sand and played some dominoes. We were pretty tuckered out -- all that relaxing in the sun can be a bit draining. Today we are packing up and ready to head to the airport. It's 80 something and sunny. We are reluctant to change into long pants but know a winter storm is dumping a bunch of that white stuff on our landing strip and highways heading home.
So I guess you could say our March vacation came in like a lion and went out like a lion -- and in between, with weather like a lamb, we stayed with my sister, the Lion Queen.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Live from Spring Break :: Part 1
Greetings from the Lone Star state! We're already on Day 2 of Spring Break 2008 in Pharr, Texas. I meant to blog on Day 1 but I was too blasted tired. We all were.
We were supposed to fly out of Minneapolis at 6 a.m. Monday but we actually had a SNOW delay. Can you believe it ?! The de-icing process was mildly interesting but the whole thing made us really glad to be leaving the Midwest! Despite the delays, we were able to hit the pool right around lunchtime. Temps were in the low 90s. Thoughts of snowy runways were melted into the past.
In the mid afternoon, we donned our St. Patty's green and headed for Pepe's on the Rio Grande. Neat open-air, thatched-roof saloon on the river (a.k.a. U.S./Mexican border) that Carter and I enjoyed last year when we were "breaking" in Texas. Wanted to share it with Daddy this time. I even managed to get a dance out of hubby. I know I would have gotten more dances -- it was an entertaining musical duo on stage -- but we headed out early.
Carter's ears were bugging him. They were still plugged from the plane ride and he was in a bit of pain. After a stop at Walgreens for ear drops, followed by naps (or should I say "siestas") all around, we were all restored to normalcy for dinner and a card game (a new version of 3 to 13! By the way, Carter and I played 3 to 13 on the plane and it sure helped pass the time.)
Today was a very, very windy day -- and rainy -- but that was fine. We drove up to Corpus Christi (less than 3 hours away) and enjoyed the Texas State Aquarium (indoors). The rain held off for the dolphin show. Got some good pictures I'll have to post online when I get home. There's even a picture of me petting a 2-year-old crocodile (see how brave I am on vacation?)
After the aquarium we drove over to Mustang Island, the north end of Padre Island, where hubby camped during spring break back in 1985! It's gotten a little crowded in some places but it was still uninhabited for the most part. We drove down to the beach a few times to see the big waves (due to the high winds). While trying to take pictures, the tide sneaked up on me and I couldn't escape. So I had a 3-hour ride in wet shorts and underwear. Well they dried after an hour or so, but that doesn't make a good "woe is me" story, does it? It was sincerely entertaining, though. Carter said he'll never forget that image of me tring to outrun the tide. Too bad I was the one holding the camera!
On the way home, we drove through an area of smoke and emergency vehicles and noticed an orange glow in the distance. Turns out there is a massive wildfire out of control and that same highway we drove on is now closed with some 500 homes in that area ordered to evacuate. I guess the windy conditions, along with the fact that they've had no measureable precipitation since November, really fueled that fire. (Note to self: Bring snow with me next year. The Texan landowners will welcome it and the Wisconsinites will love to see it go!)
Well I better hit the hay -- I think that's what they say in Texas. I have go to bed and NOT set the alarm! Ahh, vacation...
We were supposed to fly out of Minneapolis at 6 a.m. Monday but we actually had a SNOW delay. Can you believe it ?! The de-icing process was mildly interesting but the whole thing made us really glad to be leaving the Midwest! Despite the delays, we were able to hit the pool right around lunchtime. Temps were in the low 90s. Thoughts of snowy runways were melted into the past.
In the mid afternoon, we donned our St. Patty's green and headed for Pepe's on the Rio Grande. Neat open-air, thatched-roof saloon on the river (a.k.a. U.S./Mexican border) that Carter and I enjoyed last year when we were "breaking" in Texas. Wanted to share it with Daddy this time. I even managed to get a dance out of hubby. I know I would have gotten more dances -- it was an entertaining musical duo on stage -- but we headed out early.
Carter's ears were bugging him. They were still plugged from the plane ride and he was in a bit of pain. After a stop at Walgreens for ear drops, followed by naps (or should I say "siestas") all around, we were all restored to normalcy for dinner and a card game (a new version of 3 to 13! By the way, Carter and I played 3 to 13 on the plane and it sure helped pass the time.)
Today was a very, very windy day -- and rainy -- but that was fine. We drove up to Corpus Christi (less than 3 hours away) and enjoyed the Texas State Aquarium (indoors). The rain held off for the dolphin show. Got some good pictures I'll have to post online when I get home. There's even a picture of me petting a 2-year-old crocodile (see how brave I am on vacation?)
After the aquarium we drove over to Mustang Island, the north end of Padre Island, where hubby camped during spring break back in 1985! It's gotten a little crowded in some places but it was still uninhabited for the most part. We drove down to the beach a few times to see the big waves (due to the high winds). While trying to take pictures, the tide sneaked up on me and I couldn't escape. So I had a 3-hour ride in wet shorts and underwear. Well they dried after an hour or so, but that doesn't make a good "woe is me" story, does it? It was sincerely entertaining, though. Carter said he'll never forget that image of me tring to outrun the tide. Too bad I was the one holding the camera!
On the way home, we drove through an area of smoke and emergency vehicles and noticed an orange glow in the distance. Turns out there is a massive wildfire out of control and that same highway we drove on is now closed with some 500 homes in that area ordered to evacuate. I guess the windy conditions, along with the fact that they've had no measureable precipitation since November, really fueled that fire. (Note to self: Bring snow with me next year. The Texan landowners will welcome it and the Wisconsinites will love to see it go!)
Well I better hit the hay -- I think that's what they say in Texas. I have go to bed and NOT set the alarm! Ahh, vacation...
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