Travels with Howie

March 20, 2014  4pm cdst   68 degrees

I didn't post on Tuesday this week because we were moving to a new RV park  and have waited for two days for AT&T to come and hook me up to wireless service.  Still waiting.
So, I am at the clubhouse using the park's internet.
Well, this is what we have been doing last week besides moving.

 We have seen these towers on South Padre Island  many times before but this week we found out that they are carnival rides.  The two straight towers are a ride called Rocket.

This horrifying piece of entertainment costs $30 if you ride it alone, but for $50 they put two of you in the cage and for a heart stopping couple of minutes, you spring from the ground up about 100 feet and bounce back a few of times.  No kidding, people pay money for this.  Well, by people, I mean college age, half-grown people.  People whose judgement will some day govern our country...Scary thought.

Now, the inverted V shaped tower is called Skycoaster.  After being strapped in face down with  a pretty complicated harness, they drag you in your rigging up 100 feet to the top of another tower.......

 and then turn you loose to swing out like you were hang gliding.

 For this, you also pay handsomely ($30 single, $50 for two) and they did not seem to have any shortage of customers while we were watching.

I"m thinking it is not coincidental that these four port-a-potties are situated near where you get off the ride.

Well, we old folks don't do silly flying-thru-the-air stuff,( Unless we are on a commercial plane  headed for warm climes in November), but we take chances too.
Well considered chances.
Not  risking life and limb chances.
Nice safe chances.

  This is us going through the border fence.  OK, the REAL border with Mexico is the Rio Grande River but I still felt uncomfortable going past that fence.  We are on our way to Sabal Palms nature center which is a restoration in progress.

The restoration of the Rabb Plantation  (originally 20,000 acres)  will become the welcome center for Sabal Plams.
The original  Rabb  family  was instrumental in bringing irrigation to the valley and were movers and shakers in their time...the late 1800's to early 1900"s

The restoration is in the early stages but I enjoyed the mixtures of 19th and 21st century furnishings.

Beautiful old dining table with folding chairs and plastic storage cubes.

And perhaps today's  young decorators cannot conceive of a living room without a 

TV.

This took me back a little when I looked at the picture until I realized that was not a picture of Neil on the mantel, but the mirror just happened to catch Neil's image.

I do love this old lamp.

On the way home we stopped at the flea market and got this picture.  Are those children sweet, or what?