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Published: January 16th 2011
A Birder
We're in the west Ron can wear his hat again!!We have been in the Bentson Palms RV Resort in Mission Texas for a week now. We had 3 days of lovely weather and now 4 days of rainy cold. This camper gets mighty small in bad weather! We rarely stay in private parks like this; we much prefer state or national parks. But we wanted to bird this area and this park is a short bike ride from Bentson State Park which is part of the World Birding Center in Texas. The hurricane last year affected this area and some parts of the park were flooded when they had to open Falcon Dam. They are still repairing roads and removing mud.
The area we left along the Alabama Coast had some terrific prices on shrimp and we had shrimp every day until we left. The other eatery we enjoyed in Gulf Shores was called Latimers, home of the "throwed roll". A great fun place and they do throw rolls to anyone who wants one. They also come around with big pots of "pass arounds" and you get a big spoonful on your plate anytime you want some - fried okra, onion fried potatoes, black eyed peas
Giant Great Blue Heron
They grow 'em big in Texas and greens.
Houses up on stilts still look very strange to us, but the strangest thing we saw along the road was a road kill javelin - no pictures, although we were tempted. It looked just like a little pig laying there! Louisiana had miles and miles of pillared road ways through bayous - we decided this was just a fancy name for swamps with cypress.
In Corpus Christie State park - a stop on the way to Bentson - we were walking around the campground with our binoculars when a fellow camper said the best view for birds was in his 5th wheel sitting in a recliner. He insisted we come in and take a look at his bird feeders from his big windows inside - so we did. After we were seated and remarked how great it was he left us in there… alone….and then drove off in his car! He just left us in his place to watch birds all by ourselves. Very trusting fellow, we thought.
In this park we could be busy every hour of the day if we wanted to be. The activities center around country western dancing, country western
stilted houses
This one was very close to a levee singing and country western eating. We tried the country western couples dancing class, but it really was way beyond us. We also bought $5 tickets to a show put on by the Goldwing Express - advertising country, gospel, comedy and bluegrass….. Direct From Branson. It was a family act - a father and his 3 sons. It was worth 5 dollars. We skipped karaoke last night but we still have the 50's dance to attend on the 22nd.
With the crummy weather we have been trying out restaurants in Mission. Right across the street from our favorite Caribbean restaurant, Cocina del Caribe, is a Catholic church, Our Lady of Guadalupe. The church was established in 1899, and the current structure was built in 1927. The doors were open so we went inside - it was still decorated for Christmas and just beautiful. The stained glass windows were real works of art. We have also found a Mexican bakery on Conway Street. The pastries are unbelievable. You fill a bag and they don’t charge per piece, they just weigh the bag and you pay per pound - very inexpensive. We are trying to be good, but those pastries sure do
Ron and Dave
Chores, chores, chores!! call our name every time we head into town.
CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE
Wildlife and bird report:
Bob cat - wandered into one of the bird feeding areas,
Grooved Billed Ani
Black Vented Oriole - this bird is bringing in people from all over since it is rare in the US
Roadrunner - just love these guys
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Joan
non-member comment
I love the stained glass in the church! And the Greenjay is so cool!!!!!