Up we were at the usual time......French Roast coffee for me...and hot tea for the 1st Lady......and then we made the spur-of-the-moment decision to run out to South Padre Island and go to the S.P.I. Kite Festival. We had discussed going a few days ago, but just kind of held off making the final decision until we could get a better idea of the weather for the day. Well.....as far as SPI....the weather.com was wrong.....no sun for any length of time was seen on South Padre.
We arrived on SPI shortly after 12, drove up the island until we found the turn-off for the Kite Festival. All we had to do was follow the parade of cars and trucks who all seemed to be heading to the same place....the western side of the island...the bay side. Several hundred vehicles were already there when we drove in....and then we were shown where to park the truck.
There were quite a few kites in the air, but the winds were blowing like Hell.....and as we later learned, many of the very large kites pulled back and did not fly because of the danger of the winds to all of the large kites. We found a place to put down the ground cover that we brought with us.....and sat down to enjoy the exhibitions by various kiters....either singularly or in teams.
Some of them were really good, but there was one international team that.....well, they were simply amazing!!!! AMAZING! They were so synchronized, so detailed with their flight moves....just like dancers in the sky! And.....it was choreographed to the music that was played......I have never seen anything quite like this........the way these guys controlled their kites with two or four strings was nothing short of miraculous. WOW....WOW....OMG!!! This was well worth the trip to the Island....and the wind/sunburn that I got on my face.....had to be mostly wind as we hardly ever saw the sun. Sure it poured through those gray clouds as I have had a sunburn at the beach on cloudy days at other times.
We stayed until 3pm.....watching the kite fliers take their turns, some good, a few outstanding ones. We saw and visited with some square dance friends and then the people behind us asked where we were from....and, of course, they just happened to be from the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Again......it is certainly a small world!!!
We worked our way through the hundreds of spectators and found the truck. I turned the truck northward on the highway....and we drove up the Island just a few more miles...and then turned around and headed back to the commercial area. We stopped at a couple of those "Wings" type of stores.....bathing suits, towels, high priced shirts and shorts, etc., etc. We found nothing that we needed......
And so, we went on down to the tip of the Island....and there waiting for us was: DIRTY AL'S!!!!! Yep......once again, we pulled into a good parking spot. Then I went inside and put our names on the waiting list.....and then returned outside to join a lot of others waiting for tables. It really wasn't tooo long....perhaps 15-20 minutes and we were seated!!!!
What did we order????? Well.......there is a varied seafood menu, but we both ordered the fried shrimp....the incredibly good fried shrimp that we had last year when we ate here......and I have been talking about it and waiting for our return for over one year!!!!!! We ordered a pitcher of draft beer.....and before long, we had our shrimp!!! OMG.......again, for the umpteenth time I will have to say that these fried shrimp are THE BEST that I have ever eaten....anywhere in the world. Now THAT is quite a statement, but as my travels have taken me to 45 countries around the world and every state in the USA, I have sampled and eaten untold numbers of fried shrimp wherever I have found them on a menu.......and I have not a doubt that these are the best!!!!!!!!!!! Just two months ago I was in Egypt and Jordan....as most of you know.....and in both places we had fried shrimp.....they didn't even compare to these today. If you are in this area, or if you come to this area sometime........do not fail to stand in line for a table and then try these shrimp. Perfectly coated with a very light breading, fried just the right amount of time so they are not tough, and then served very hot and crisp with a wonderful cocktail sauce. WOW!!!!
After that wonderful experience, we went to the office of the County RV Park at the end of the Island to get some information about reservations, prices, etc., etc. We plan to return soon to spend some time with friends from F'town/Eldon who are camped in the area and at that time, we plant to drive through the RV Park to check out the sites, size, etc., etc. We are thinking about spending the 1st week of March there after our time here at Llano Grande runs out. Our plans are for us to not return to our stick/brick until the 1st of April.........and we will be staying around the New Orleans area for a few days to visit with Jeremy who is living there on this current campaign that he is managing for the November elections.
Returning to TheHowserHouse, we opened the windows and freshened the rv......and then just sat down and relaxed for the evening. I will post some of my not-so-good pictures from the Kite Festival........the colors were just so-so because of the clouds and no good sky background. But......it was a fun and a great day today........and, of course......
LIFE IS REALLY GREAT!!!!!!.......And, I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!
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