A New Year with New Adventures

Formal night with Jane's crew

Formal night with Capt. Larry's crew

Nathan & Kristin celebrate their 6th

Hannah's & Sadie's favorite waiter

Mimi and Brennan

The Dog Lady celebrates

Madison parties!

Re-boarding in Cozemel

After spending -most of 2012 fixing worn out body parts (Capt. Larry's knees, Jane's drooping eyelids), we were mended well enough to enjoy a wonderful holiday season and begin our travel adventures in earnest again. To kick things off, we rang in 2013 with our children and grandchildren aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise to Jamaica, Grand Caymen Island, and Cozumel, Mexico. There were 13 of us, and we filled up 5 staterooms. It was the first cruise for many, and the first cruise we've been on in which we celebrated a holiday. Everyone was free to pursue their own interests during the day, both aboard and in port, with only two requirements- that we all dine together in the evening, and we take one family photograph. We worried that the grandkids might get bored, but it wasn't the slightest issue. The youngest, Hannah and Sadie, thoroughly enjoyed the ship's daycare program with Hannah making a good friend from Scotland. Sadie won the prize for eating the most ice cream cones from the self-serve machine. Granddaughter Madison enjoyed doing what most preteen girls like- shopping and eating. She probably explored and knew more about the ship than anyone else. But grandson Brennan was the biggest surprise. We worried that he might not blend in well, because he seems so quiet. Baloney! Every teenager aboard seemed to know him. We randomly asked two girls getting off an elevator if they knew Brennan. "Sure we do!" was their response. Turns out Brennan must have some dancing skills, because we heard a story that a couple of Russian boys wanted him to teach them to dance. We know that everyone had a good time, because they all kept thanking us and even bought us gifts when they went ashore- something that we are not accustomed to!

The Gulf from our SPI balcony

South Texan humor!

So, we finished the cruise and what do we do? After disembarkation, we drove home, laundered our clothes, repacked the car, and went to bed only to arise at 0430 the next morning and drive 11 hours to our condo we rented for 2 months in South Padre Island, TX. Yep, we are officially Winter Texans and snowbirding in warmer weather. Unfortunately, the weather turned sour about a day after our arrival and we found ourselves nested in our condo with high winds, rain, and near-freezing temperatures raging outside, conditions that aped those in Louisiana. Aside from our daily exercise walks, we didn't venture out much and met very few other seasonal visitors. At Jane's insistence, we did attend an event called "Market Days" at the South Padre Island (SPI) convention center. This was a rather large crafts, arts, and vendor show and we stayed until Jane found everything she wanted

The Shrimp Outlet

Shrimp Outlet parking lot

Here's where you get them

This is what we do with "dem tings"

The weather finally improved and we started to explore the area. We drove to Brownsville to purchase a piece of wood Capt. Larry could mount the satellite radio antenna on to allow reception. We briefly drove around parts of Brownsville, but since we didn't have a detailed map to show us where to go and were not terribly impressed with our surroundings, we decided to head back to SPI. When we got to the Brownsville Ship Channel, we detoured to see if we could find some shrimp to buy. We found lots of shrimp boats, but didn't see any fishermen or seafood markets. We finally spotted an old Mexican fellow sitting in the back of a pickup by the road. We got directions, in terribly broken English, and were able to find our way to the Shrimp Outlet, one of the establishments we saw advertised in the tourist papers. We were a little hesitant, at first, because the front and sides of the property looked like a 1940's-1950's junkyard. We entered the gate and bounced through some China-deep potholes and got out of the car waiting for some mean junkyard dog to attack us from whatever direction we were not looking. Once inside we met a very nice gentleman who stuck up a conversation. When we told him where we were from in Louisiana, he said that they take their shrimp boats to Dulac, LA each fall for maintenance and repairs. Small world. We discovered that buying shrimp in Texas south of Galveston is a lot different than buying them in Louisiana, as they are caught by freezer boats and are all headless and frozen. We also are not sure exactly how they size them when headless, because when we decided to get 5 pounds of 26/30 count, he pulled out a bag that would easily go as 16/20 at the seafood markets we use in Louisiana.

Whew! Sixteen minutes flat!

Our condo buildiong

We ended our second week with a Saturday meet and greet potluck that was held at the condo complex for all of the winter visitors. We knew that a potluck was being planned and were waiting for the announcement of the date and time to be put out. Unfortunately, the announcement was placed in the elevators and, although we are on the third floor, we always use the stairs for the exercise. We returned to the condo after our morning walk and found out the potluck was happening in 15 minutes. Most people would be would be unable to whip anything up in such a short time, but being boaters and having completed the loop, we were professionals. Capt. Larry cut the summer sausage and cheese while Jane arranged them on a platter with the crackers. Add a jar of sweet pickles as a side and we were in attendance. We counted 32 people and were able to meet a couple of the condo owners who encouraged us not to rent through an agency but through them in the future. Turns out we were the newbies this year with everyone else wintering here before. One couple we met had been coming here since the mid-70's.

Sunset over the Gulf