2nd Trip to South Padre Island!

February 4, 2016February 5, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

I am holding a puffer-fish!!

Today was exceptionally wonderful. Charlene planned a full day of activities at South Padre Island. We started the day at a turtle rescue facility. It was amazing to see all the turtles! Some were missing flippers from previous trauma.

A previous Arizona Wildcat fan was given the honor of painting one of the turtle decorations at the Turtle Rescue.

We enjoyed meeting this friendly turtle who was missing a flipper.

South Padre Island-2

When then went on a dolphin cruise in the bay and say beautiful sites around South Padre Island. It was fun to see the seagulls flying around our boat. The crew placed a net behind the boat to collect different creatures. This highlights were a sea anemone, a puffer fish, and a sting-ray.

The crew showed us the big tooth in the front of the puffer-fish!

Charlene was able to touch the sea anemone!

Look at the HUGE stinger on the sting-ray!

After seeing the creatures from the net, we went near the entrance to the bay and watched several groups of dolphins!

We loved the opportunity to watch dolphins in the bay from our boat!

There were many seagulls flying around our boat!

The wind was fairly strong and stirred up some big waves along the beach!

South Padre Island, Texas

February 2, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

Beautiful South Padre Island!

Silly me, but I keep forgetting that Texas has beaches. With all the places I have visited in Texas for year and years, I have never seen a beach. However, there is beautiful South Padre Island in the Rio Grande Valley. We love it now, but it is probably a good place to avoid when nearby universities are on Spring Break.

South Padre Beach

It has been years since Charlene and I were able to walk along a beach together. It may be winter and cold in many places, but it is beautiful beach weather in South Padre Island! The water was too cold for swimming, but it was fantastic to walk along the water!

horses on the beach

At one point, we saw some people riding horses along the beach. Horses are common in Texas, but this is the first time I have ever seen horses on a beach!

Charlene South Padre Island beach

Charlene discovered crabs in the sand. She touched one 3 inch crab burrowing in the sand and he came up with one claw raised to challenge her! We saw several small crabs running quickly along the sand.

crab

Rio Grande Valley, Texas

February 2, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

After apartment living in Amarillo for the holidays, we decided to hit the road again to find some warmer winter temperatures. We had the motorhome de-winterized and then we headed straight south toward the Rio Grande Valley. We keep discovering how huge Texas is! We drove and drove the first day and stopped in Junction, Texas, just south of Interstate 10. The following morning, we drove through San Antonio and then south into the Rio Grande Valley. Without exaggeration, I think it took us around 13 hours driving to get all the way from the Texas panhandle in the north of the state, to Mission, Texas at the far southern tip of Texas. The drive was worth it as the winter weather is beautiful here!

We called ahead and reserved a site in a beautiful RV park right next to a state park and the Rio Grande River. The temperatures have been beautiful with highs in the 70s and 80s. We have really enjoyed wearing shorts and flip-flops again!

Many people make the Rio Grande Valley their winter home base. Next door to our RV park is a related development that has casitas and homes with attached RV ports. It was nice to go through some of the open houses and see the setups many people have used with their RVs. Sorry, no photos just yet.

Wildcats Win the New Mexico Bowl

December 19, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We LOVE going to bowl games! It was very fun to attend the New Mexico Bowl and have our picture taken with the game trophy.

The game was between the University of Arizona versus the University of New Mexico

The Pride of Arizona (The UA marching band) made a block A during the pregame show.

More than 30,000 people attended the game.

It is so much fun to attend bowel games! We really enjoyed our first New Mexico Bowl. The University of Arizona beat the University of New Mexico. However, the game was quite close (45 to 37) and it was within the final minute until we were confident of a win.

Charlene and Wilbur celebrated the win!

The Arizona Wildcats won 45 to 37

Battle of the Bands

December 18, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We really had fun being with the tuba players! They were really enjoying themselves.

We really had fun at the pep rally that was called the Battle of the Bands. After we found the location of the pep rally, we went to the side for the University of Arizona. It was fun to intermingle with the band members, twirlers, pomp-pomp girls, and cheerleaders. A master of ceremonies from the New Mexico Bowl set up a series of challenges for both schools. Mostly it was fun series of songs between both bands.

band 3

football sign

Charlene and I decided the tuba players had the most fun in the band, so we stood just behind the tuba players. I have never been so close to the Pride of Arizona. It is so much fun being in the midst of all the students on the band. Both groups of students were excited to celebrate their schools and have fun together.

Charlene & Ed

Afterwards we ate dinner at an independent Mexican restaurant and then went back to the hotel and people watched to see all the fans, coaches, and players. It is a very fun evening!

Go Wildcats!

December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We arrived in Albuquerque for the New Mexico Bowl!

We are excited to make it Albuquerque for the New Mexico Bowl! We just arrived at the hotel and we are staying at the same hotel as the football team. Bowl games are always fun and it is nice to get back to Albuquerque again. It is fun to see the University of Arizona banners and balloons celebrating the bowl game tomorrow throughout the hotel! We have seen a few of the players walking around the hotel.

balloons

It’s Snowing!

December 13, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

The big beautiful snowflakes were gorgeous!

This morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground in Amarillo! On our way to church, it started snowing nice big flakes. After church, it really started coming down! It was very beautiful and refreshing!

Oklahoma City Thunder

December 10, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We were excited to attend our first Oklahoma City Thunder NBA game!

Charlene was very popular with the Thunder cheerleaders since it was her first game.

We drove for 5 hours today, going from Branson, Missouri to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We found that the Oklahoma City Thunder were playing a home game, so we decided to be spontaneous and buy two tickets way up in the nosebleed section. We were laughing that we had the opportunity to do something unexpected and spontaneous!

Charlene received a button since it was her first NBA game!

Although we have driven through Oklahoma City on multiple occasions, this was the first time we actually stayed in the city. It is always fun to learn about a community, walk around different areas, and meet new people. We also like discovering new, independent restaurants. We looked online and talked to several people about where to eat and selected an Italian restaurant. We had fun talking to our waiter because he was a Kansas City Chief fan and I was wearing a Kansas City Royals t-shirt.

After eating, we headed to the arena for the game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Atlanta Hawks. It was Charlene’s first NBA game, so it was extra fun. The Thunder gave Charlene a big button that announced it was her first game. A local group of “cheerleaders” was excited to meet Charlene since it was her first game.

Our seats in the arena were high up. We joked that we could not tell who the players were because they all looked the same from our height. I really enjoyed watching Kevin Durant play live and in-person. Everyone left happy because the Thunder won!

Court

Dixie Stampede

December 9, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We absolutely LOVE the Christmas season!

Tonight we were treated to the Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede! It was really fun to have dinner and watch a superb Christmas show. The only thing weird is that they served dinner and did not provide utensils. We each ate a whole chicken (that was delicious), corn on the cob, baked potato, biscuit, pork, and turnover. It was a huge amount of food! I was amazed they could feed an entire arena of people and everyone receive such as nice meal.

Riders in a snow storm

The horses and program were quite impressive! We loved watching all the activities in the arena. Now I understand why the arena sells out so frequently!

Christmas in Branson

December 9, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene is telling Santa what she wants for Christmas!

Ed loves all the Christmas decorations!

Today we had a chance to enjoy many of the beautiful Christmas decorations in Branson. The businesses really have a fun time dressing up the community. It is very fun to enjoy celebrating the Christmas season in a new community!

Charlene is excited to find a Missouri mug with her name!