No Masks! Yay!
Thanks to an awesome Trump appointed judge, no more masks
were required in the airport or on flights!
Since I am an A Lister,
we were able to get the first row on the first leg of our flight to
Harlingen, Texas.
How did I take this picture with my iPhone in my hand? Oh, I have a work iPhone also. That is what I have in my hand. I can use it for personal use also like watching TV or movies in the air.
Denver International Airport had a new Priority Pass Restaurant for Joy and me to try. We got the usual $56 credit for food and beverage. That clear liquid is their own hard seltzer.
I was happy to be able to mix my usual Wild Turkey & Coke Zero in the air on the flight from Denver to Houston Hobby while watching The King's Man. I have lots of Southwest drink coupons!
I got a nice view of downtown Houston as we were landing at Hobby Airport.
Houston Hobby Airport has lots of great restaurants including Pappadeaux!
The cajun seafood had amazing fresh Gulf of Mexico seafood! I could taste the salt water in the shrimp!
This was a cool mural showing the Rio Grande Valley at Harlingen Airport at the baggage claim. The Rio Grande Valley stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Rio Grande City along the US-Mexico border.
We picked up our AWD rental SUV the next morning at Harlingen Airport since the rental car counters close early at the small airport.
I liked that billboard in the back which says We Need Trump!
We went to tour the Palo Alto Battlefield in Brownsville, Texas on our first day of siteseeing in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Palo Alto Battlefield was the first battle of the Mexican-American War in 1845 after we annexed Texas.
Joy and I are wearing Texas Rangers gear as we tour the battlefield.
This was the Mexican Battle Line. From the flags on the battlefields, one can really see the distance between the two armies before the actual fighting began.
These cannons were from American troops. Joy and I paid our respect to the brave men who faught for our freedom here as it was Memorial Day weekend.
We figured that we could not leave Texas without going to Whataburger!
I got a Dr. Pepper shake also at Whataburger in Brownsville!
We went to Resca de la Palma as well to pay respect to the brave American troops who defended us against Mexican aggression!
We headed out to Boca Chica after the Resca de la Palma battlefield. This is Elon Musk's SpaceX facility near Boca Chica.
One of these rockets made it into space and back! Elon Musk has really earned my respect since he wanted to buy Twitter and restore free speech that the woke liberals were taking away from us conservatives!
Joy and I are posing in front of the launchpad for SpaceX rockets on the beach at Boca Chica!
Boca Chica has very rough surf! The Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico near this area.
They allow people to drive on the beach at Boca Chica! I love that Texas flag tent in the background.
We stopped at Don Chuy's Agua Fresca Stand after leaving Boca Chica.
After trying some coconut agua fresca, I ordered some homemade ice cream.
Joy and I are standing by the border fence at the US-Mexico border.
This plaque marks where there was a ferry service between the US and Mexico.
Joy and I enjoyed dinner at Vermillion in Brownsville, Texas.
I got some surf and turf fajitas. The steak was so tender!
My Spanish came in handy as this bartender at the tequila bar in Brownsville did not speak much English. Tienes mezcal?
Quiero Don Julio 1942 Por Favor Ahora! Jajajajaja!
I got some flan to pair with my drinks!
We drove to South Padre Island the next day. This is the long bridge that connects South Padre Island and Port Isabel, Texas over the Bay.
We had lunch at Cap 'n Roy's once we got onto the island.
The blackened seafood was amazing at Cap 'n Roy's!
The inside of Cap 'n Roy's had lots of cool island vibes!
Joy and I had a dolphin watching cruise booked for that afternoon on South Padre Island.
This flag on the boat we took is the famous "Come And Take It" flag which is our "f you to gun control and Mexico" from the war for Texas Independence in Texas.
Joy and I are ready to go see dolphins in the bay between South Padre Island and Port Isabel!
This is the deep water channel that was cut to allow ships to pass between the Gulf of Mexico and the Brownsville ports on the bayside.
We saw lots of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins on our cruise!
These are the dolphins from that TV show, Flipper.
We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on South Padre Island, which is right on the beach!
Here is the back of the hotel from the beach side.
Our room had a large balcony with a view of the Gulf of Mexico.
I am chilling with a watermelon margarita made with mezcal inside one of the cabanas by the pool at the hotel.
It was getting hot inside the cabana with the sun so I went across the pool to get some shade. The water was great for swimming too since it was so hot!
For dinner, we went to Blackbeard's, which is a very popular spot on the island.
It is hard to resist the Gulf oysters even when I am mildly allergic. LOL.
The shrimp cocktail was amazing!
I got mahi mahi, stuffed crab, shrimp, and scallops for my entree! This was the best mahi mahi I ever had! The seasoning tasted like scampi without the heavy butter!
I got cotton candy flavor!
We enjoyed the sunset and drinks at Laguna Bob's on the bayside. I am enjoying a Garrison Brother's whiskey, which is from San Antonio.
The bayside was so peaceful!
The bar area at Laguna Bob's was cool, and they had live music too!
Joy and I took a nice long walk on the beach the next morning after getting our morning coffee.
Although it was humid, we enjoyed the walk a lot!
Just like I wrote DeSantis on the beach in Florida, I wrote Abbott in Texas to support another great freedom loving Governor!
They had an On The Border at our hotel so we used our daily Hilton HHonors Diamond credit for lunch that day. I love Tex Mex! The On The Border restaurants in the Sacramento area closed during the Covid bull shit.
We crossed over the bridge back into Port Isabel to explore that small town after lunch. This is the famous lighthouse there.
We climbed the many stairs up to the top of the lighthouse in the high humidity.
We made it up there, but it was really hot up there! The views were nice!
To cool off, we had a drink at the Rio Grande Distillery in Port Isabel.
I got a pina colada with their Corn Likker moonshine and also crushed cherries!
We had dinner at Sea Ranch, one of the fine dining establishments on the island.
The view from our table was cool.
I enjoyed my blackened seafood!
We found a cool sports bar to watch the Rangers finish off the Tampa Bay Rays and get a drink too for a nightcap!
There was a small amusement park also on the island.
We stopped at the local IGA to get some Blue Bell for the hotel room!
We stopped at Pirate's Landing in Port Isabel the next day to get lunch before leaving for the airport.
The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a pirate theme obiviously. LOL.
Joy and I loved the food there!
The seafood hushpuppies and home made biscuits were amazing!
The seared tuna sandwich on homemade bread was delicious and huge! I guess everything is bigger in Texas (and cheaper too) with better service than blue states like California!
On the way to the airport, we saw this cool rural house with Let's Go Brandon, Fuck Joe Biden, and Abortion Is Murder flags! I love the Lonestar State! They are not brainwashed Sheep like most of California!
I told Joy that one will not find a 69 cent Big Gulp in Texas! Stripes is a local convenience store which also features a local Mexican fast food store called Laredo Taco Company.
South Padre Island,
Texas has been on my bucket list for a long time. This "tropical"
part of Texas is located very close to the Mexican border down in the
Southeastern corner of the Lone Star near the city of Brownsville.
Getting there is challenging from California since the closest
airport, Harlingen, is relatively small so flights in and out of that
airport are limited. Southwest Airlines does fly there, and even
though we booked our flight for this trip months in advance, Southwest
canceled our "route" from Sacramento to Harlingen via Houston so they
had to create a custom route which took us from Sacramento to Denver
where we changed planes. Then, we went to Houston for another
plane change. In Houston, we connected to our flight to
Harlingen. It was a long day of travel, but we did not have to
leave that early. We also had enough connection times in Denver
and Houston to get nice sit down meals for lunch and dinner.
Since our flight got into Valley International Airport in Harlingen late, we took a taxi to our hotel and got the rental car the next morning at the airport. I had so many hotel points with Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt that I was able to book our first two nights for free at the Courtyard by Marriott properties in Harlingen and Brownsville. One of the big perks of my job is the corporate travel where I get both airline miles and hotel points!
We picked up our AWD Chevrolet Trax rental the next morning at the airport, and we were off to go explore old battlefields from the Mexican-American War in Brownsville. After we annexed the Great State of Texas in 1845, there was a border dispute with Mexico over where the US-Mexico border now was. The US said it was the Rio Grande River, and the Mexicans said it was more north at the Neuces River. President Polk wanted not only the border to be at the Rio Grande River, he wanted all the lands northwest including current day California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, etc. So, he offered $30,000,000 to Mexico for that. The Mexicans refused. Not only that, they started the conflict by moving their troops into the Brownsville area which was north of the Rio Grande River. Our brave American forces gave the Mexicans one good "beat down" at the Palo Alto Battleground. Our artillery was more advanced that those Mexicans, and after quick victories on Texas soil, we quickly moved the war south and eventually took Mexico City. Mexico was the clear aggressor. After Mexico surrendered, we paid $15,000,000 for all the land that President Polk wanted, and we had achieved our goal of Manifest Destiny! Since it was Memorial Day weekend, Joy and I paid our respects to the brave me who died on the battlefield too.
After touring the first battlefield, we got a Texas style treat! I took Joy to Whataburger for lunch! Whataburger blows away California's In & Out. The food is cooked to order, and their service is amazing. It is Southern Hospitality! They featured a Dr. Pepper shake so I had to get that!
We toured one more battlefield before heading out to Boca Chica, which is a stretch of beach from the Brownsville channel to the Rio Grande River on the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musk build his SpaceX launch facility here also. As we made our way to the beach, we could see the rockets and the launchpad! Starbase was really cool! Elon Musk has really impressed me lately. Not only is he trying to restore free speech on Twitter by buying it and taking out the leftist censors, he also said he is voting Republican now! I think he also got with Amber Heard when she was hot. LOL.
At Boca Chica, we could see the rough surf, and we were able to drive on the beach! Good thing we had that AWD SUV! There is a famous song called "Gulf Coast Girl" by Caroline Jones. In that song there is a verse that says we can surf Boca Chica. After seeing the rough surf, I could see why one can surf there! On the way back, we stopped at a Aguafresca stand to get some Mexican style treats.
Once we checked into our hotel, we went down to the US-Mexico border, and we got to see the Rio Grande River through the border wall. The river was narrow here too like we had seen in El Paso last year. I was happy to see we had a large border fence too. President Trump wanted to keep our nation safe by building the "wall," but the liberal idiots in Washington are trying to stall that. Not cool! Joy and I hecked out a Mexican grocery store too so we could buy some Mexican style conchas, or cakes. We also got some cool pottery for my mother.
We enjoyed a great Mexican dinner at Vermilliion before going to a cool tequila bar in Brownsville. Our bartender spoke little English so I busted out my Spanish and said, "Tienes mezcal?" Si! Tengo mezcal, senor! Yay! I got my mezcal, and then I got a Don Julio 1942 over ice. We also ordered a delicious flan.
The next morning, we headed out to South Padre Island. After crossing the long bridge into the island, we found a casual seafood and Mexican restaurant called Cap 'n Roy's. We enjoyed lunch there before our dolphin watching cruise in the Bay. Our two hour tour left South Padre Island and took us into the jetty that connects the Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. We saw a bunch of the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins there. Afterwards, we went back into the Bay, and we saw more dolphins. Also, we could see SpaceX from a distance too since Boca Chica was on the other side of the Bay. It was hot and humid on shore, but the breeze from the boat felt great!
I booked the nice Hilton Garden Inn on the beach at South Padre! We had a nice ocean view room with a huge balcony that gave us a view of both the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay. Our hotel featured an On The Border restaurant too. I always loved Tex Mex so even though it is a chain, their food is great! The three in my area closed due to the unneccesary strict Covid protocols back when the pandemic began. As a Diamond guest, Joy and I got a daily food and beverage credit also. After checking in, I got a watermelon margarita and hit the pool. There were nice cabanas around the pool so I found one and just chilled inside. To keep cool, I got jump in the pool for a few minutes. LOL.
For dinner, we enjoyed an island favorite called Blackbeard's. We just missed the big dinner rush since that this place is known for long waits. I loved the Mexican style shrimp cocktail and oysters followed by my trio of seafood delights. The Gulf shrimp had this cool salt water taste to them so I could tell it was fresh! My entree had an amazing Mahi Mahi with a scampi style seasoning on top! It was just delicious! After dinner, we enjoyed the sunset over the Bay at Laguna Bob's outdoor bar. I got a Garrison Brother's whiskey in one hand and my wife in the other and took in the beautiful sunset. There was live music too.
The next day, Joy and I took a nice long walk on the beach after getting our Starbucks. I had the urge to write Abbott 22 in the sand too since I think he is one of the GREAT Governors in our country today like Governor DeSantis in Florida. Unfortunately, California has a piece of shit leftist idiot hypocrite. For lunch, we enjoyed On The Border. Afterwards, we went to Port Isabel and climbed the old lighthouse and took in some amazing views. To cool off from the humidity, I went to a local distillery and got some moonshine based drinks. We also found a cool open air market which featured lots of artistic pieces from all over the world. I found some good African accent pieces for my Safari themed guest room.
For dinner, Joy and I enjoyed the fine dining establishment, Sea Ranch at the south end of the island. I enjoyed blackened seafood once again! We also started out with the oysters. I am normally allergic to Gulf oysters, but I did fine this time! Afterwards, we found a nice sports bar to watch the end of the Rangers game. I loved watching my Rangers on TV in the Lone Star State! The only bad thing is that my MLB.TV app blacked out the Rangers game on my phone since I was in the Rangers market. LOL.
The next day, Joy and I had some time to enjoy lunch at Pirate's Landing in Port Isabel before heading out to the airport. This iconic place on the water was decorated in a pirate theme, and the food was not only good, the portions were Texas sized! On the way back to the airport, I loved seeing a house which had a Let's Go Brandon and Fuck Joe Biden sign. Biden has really messed up our country big time with his green agenda and other leftist policies! Gas prices were "high" for Texas standards, but they were still much lower than the $6-$6.50 a gallon in California. Fortunately, my company pays for the gas for my company SUV even for personal use. I can see how a lot of Americans are struggling. Joy and I are also very fortunate to be in a very high income group to where the inflation has not hit us at all. We are still living "large," and I say to the idiots who are struggling and voted for Biden, "let them eat cake." LOL.
Since our flight got into Valley International Airport in Harlingen late, we took a taxi to our hotel and got the rental car the next morning at the airport. I had so many hotel points with Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt that I was able to book our first two nights for free at the Courtyard by Marriott properties in Harlingen and Brownsville. One of the big perks of my job is the corporate travel where I get both airline miles and hotel points!
We picked up our AWD Chevrolet Trax rental the next morning at the airport, and we were off to go explore old battlefields from the Mexican-American War in Brownsville. After we annexed the Great State of Texas in 1845, there was a border dispute with Mexico over where the US-Mexico border now was. The US said it was the Rio Grande River, and the Mexicans said it was more north at the Neuces River. President Polk wanted not only the border to be at the Rio Grande River, he wanted all the lands northwest including current day California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, etc. So, he offered $30,000,000 to Mexico for that. The Mexicans refused. Not only that, they started the conflict by moving their troops into the Brownsville area which was north of the Rio Grande River. Our brave American forces gave the Mexicans one good "beat down" at the Palo Alto Battleground. Our artillery was more advanced that those Mexicans, and after quick victories on Texas soil, we quickly moved the war south and eventually took Mexico City. Mexico was the clear aggressor. After Mexico surrendered, we paid $15,000,000 for all the land that President Polk wanted, and we had achieved our goal of Manifest Destiny! Since it was Memorial Day weekend, Joy and I paid our respects to the brave me who died on the battlefield too.
After touring the first battlefield, we got a Texas style treat! I took Joy to Whataburger for lunch! Whataburger blows away California's In & Out. The food is cooked to order, and their service is amazing. It is Southern Hospitality! They featured a Dr. Pepper shake so I had to get that!
We toured one more battlefield before heading out to Boca Chica, which is a stretch of beach from the Brownsville channel to the Rio Grande River on the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musk build his SpaceX launch facility here also. As we made our way to the beach, we could see the rockets and the launchpad! Starbase was really cool! Elon Musk has really impressed me lately. Not only is he trying to restore free speech on Twitter by buying it and taking out the leftist censors, he also said he is voting Republican now! I think he also got with Amber Heard when she was hot. LOL.
At Boca Chica, we could see the rough surf, and we were able to drive on the beach! Good thing we had that AWD SUV! There is a famous song called "Gulf Coast Girl" by Caroline Jones. In that song there is a verse that says we can surf Boca Chica. After seeing the rough surf, I could see why one can surf there! On the way back, we stopped at a Aguafresca stand to get some Mexican style treats.
Once we checked into our hotel, we went down to the US-Mexico border, and we got to see the Rio Grande River through the border wall. The river was narrow here too like we had seen in El Paso last year. I was happy to see we had a large border fence too. President Trump wanted to keep our nation safe by building the "wall," but the liberal idiots in Washington are trying to stall that. Not cool! Joy and I hecked out a Mexican grocery store too so we could buy some Mexican style conchas, or cakes. We also got some cool pottery for my mother.
We enjoyed a great Mexican dinner at Vermilliion before going to a cool tequila bar in Brownsville. Our bartender spoke little English so I busted out my Spanish and said, "Tienes mezcal?" Si! Tengo mezcal, senor! Yay! I got my mezcal, and then I got a Don Julio 1942 over ice. We also ordered a delicious flan.
The next morning, we headed out to South Padre Island. After crossing the long bridge into the island, we found a casual seafood and Mexican restaurant called Cap 'n Roy's. We enjoyed lunch there before our dolphin watching cruise in the Bay. Our two hour tour left South Padre Island and took us into the jetty that connects the Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. We saw a bunch of the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins there. Afterwards, we went back into the Bay, and we saw more dolphins. Also, we could see SpaceX from a distance too since Boca Chica was on the other side of the Bay. It was hot and humid on shore, but the breeze from the boat felt great!
I booked the nice Hilton Garden Inn on the beach at South Padre! We had a nice ocean view room with a huge balcony that gave us a view of both the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay. Our hotel featured an On The Border restaurant too. I always loved Tex Mex so even though it is a chain, their food is great! The three in my area closed due to the unneccesary strict Covid protocols back when the pandemic began. As a Diamond guest, Joy and I got a daily food and beverage credit also. After checking in, I got a watermelon margarita and hit the pool. There were nice cabanas around the pool so I found one and just chilled inside. To keep cool, I got jump in the pool for a few minutes. LOL.
For dinner, we enjoyed an island favorite called Blackbeard's. We just missed the big dinner rush since that this place is known for long waits. I loved the Mexican style shrimp cocktail and oysters followed by my trio of seafood delights. The Gulf shrimp had this cool salt water taste to them so I could tell it was fresh! My entree had an amazing Mahi Mahi with a scampi style seasoning on top! It was just delicious! After dinner, we enjoyed the sunset over the Bay at Laguna Bob's outdoor bar. I got a Garrison Brother's whiskey in one hand and my wife in the other and took in the beautiful sunset. There was live music too.
The next day, Joy and I took a nice long walk on the beach after getting our Starbucks. I had the urge to write Abbott 22 in the sand too since I think he is one of the GREAT Governors in our country today like Governor DeSantis in Florida. Unfortunately, California has a piece of shit leftist idiot hypocrite. For lunch, we enjoyed On The Border. Afterwards, we went to Port Isabel and climbed the old lighthouse and took in some amazing views. To cool off from the humidity, I went to a local distillery and got some moonshine based drinks. We also found a cool open air market which featured lots of artistic pieces from all over the world. I found some good African accent pieces for my Safari themed guest room.
For dinner, Joy and I enjoyed the fine dining establishment, Sea Ranch at the south end of the island. I enjoyed blackened seafood once again! We also started out with the oysters. I am normally allergic to Gulf oysters, but I did fine this time! Afterwards, we found a nice sports bar to watch the end of the Rangers game. I loved watching my Rangers on TV in the Lone Star State! The only bad thing is that my MLB.TV app blacked out the Rangers game on my phone since I was in the Rangers market. LOL.
The next day, Joy and I had some time to enjoy lunch at Pirate's Landing in Port Isabel before heading out to the airport. This iconic place on the water was decorated in a pirate theme, and the food was not only good, the portions were Texas sized! On the way back to the airport, I loved seeing a house which had a Let's Go Brandon and Fuck Joe Biden sign. Biden has really messed up our country big time with his green agenda and other leftist policies! Gas prices were "high" for Texas standards, but they were still much lower than the $6-$6.50 a gallon in California. Fortunately, my company pays for the gas for my company SUV even for personal use. I can see how a lot of Americans are struggling. Joy and I are also very fortunate to be in a very high income group to where the inflation has not hit us at all. We are still living "large," and I say to the idiots who are struggling and voted for Biden, "let them eat cake." LOL.