Sat. Dec. 6th to Fri. Dec. 12th – A Week In Review at Fun N Sun RV Park, San Benito, TX

Our daily highlights of our 2^nd week at Fun N Sun.

Sat. Dec. 6^th

I continued my morning walk with Tony and Sharon, twice around the park!

Today brought another wonderful day that started with a little overcast.  We started out at the park’s Garage Sale that took place in the Rec. Hall.  We could find nothing that we could live without so it was back to the Ti for lunch. 

Our visit to South Padre Island started by picking Sue and Doug up just after 1:00 PM. The drive took about 45 minutes that took us through a 30 second, 25-drop rainfall.  We arrived to sunny skies and a nice on shore breeze.  We parked on the beach and walked about 1-½ miles north up the beach and saw a few fishermen trying their luck.  One person did get lucky just as we went by him.  He caught a fish that was about 18” to 24” long.  Not sure what kind of fish it was, but the guy and his wife seemed really happy!

Following our walk on the beach we visited a Turtle Rescue Centre.  One piece of information that I did not know was that turtles are very sensitive to temperature and if the air/water temperatures drop too low (like they did last year) the turtle can end up with being Cold Stunned.  As the name indicates the turtles are stunned and are totally disoriented and cannot survive.  The relatively small Rescue Centre brings the turtles back to health with the sole intent to release them back into the wild.  The odd turtle has either been hurt by boats or has lost a flipper (or two or three), or otherwise injured to the point that they could not survive in the wild.  At this point they will keep them.

Another bit of information that I did not know was that turtles like to eat Jelly Fish (up to their own weight daily) – yea!!  I do not like those things at all – turtles are good!!

We then drove to a bar on the beach called “Clayton’s” to meet the rest of our group.  We stayed there about an hour and then moved on to our goal, a restaurant called Louis’. 

Boat Parade

At Louis’ we could have supper and then watch the Christmas Lights Boat Parade.  The restaurant was facing west, right on the inside waterway (between South Padre Island and the mainland).  Following dinner we watched the boat parade that consisted of about 8 or 10 boats and some surfboard paddlers.  We headed home about 8:30 PM and ran into some pretty heavy rain for the last 10 miles or so.  The park had been receiving rain for most of the afternoon and there were some major puddles around the park. 

We had a great day!

Sun. Dec. 7^th

Weather was warm today but overcast and showers for the day. 

Following the morning walk with Tony and Sharon, I veg’d around the Ti until about 2:00 PM when Diane and I met Tony and Sharon at the indoor shuffleboard court for some lessons on how to play the game.  We played 2 games, which we both really enjoyed and will probably try it again.

We finished the day off with a visit to the Rec Hall for the weekly Ice Cream social (our weekly indulgence).

Mon. Dec. 8^th

Well, today is not a nice day, while it is warm outside we are getting rain on and off; actually to the point of having Tony and I cancel our morning stroll.  We tried under a “Scotch Mist” type of drizzle for about 15 minutes, but we were getting pretty damp.  No sense getting a cold out of this so we stopped.

We spent the rest of the day in the Ti.

Tue.  Dec. 9^th

Resumed my morning walk with Tony, twice around the park.

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This little snail was crossing the path, it
will take him most of the day!

Today we visited the Saba Palm Sanctuary and the Historic Rabb Plantation House and did about 2-½ mile stroll around the sanctuary.  We finished a tad early before dinner so we (Tony, Sharon, Diane, Sue, Doug and I) went for a brief stroll around Kohl’s.

It was then to Dirty Al’s for a gourmet dinner (sarcasm).  A group from Fun N Sun Park arranged the dinner, the meal was excellent, however, the staff was a little overwhelmed due to the size of our group (about 60).

We then visited a Christmas display that was made up of small displays that were is about 10'x10' "cases", there were about 20 of them in a semi-circle around a local park across from the Zoo.  Very nice.

Wed. Dec. 10^th

Golf this morning with Diane, Paul, and Doug.  Maybe my game will improve?  Definitely NOT!  Not a good round.  Oh well, I don’t think I could have done much worse, should have walked with Tony ;-).  However, on a positive note, we found that Diane came in the money for low puts; she placed third – way to go, a whole dollar!  Diane also won another dollar the previous week!  Wow, big bucks, and a star golfer.

We were scheduled to meet some other Ti owners at Victoria Palms RV Resort (about 35 minutes from Fun N Sun) for dinner tonight.  Prior to the get-together we (Diane, Sue, Doug and I) went to Don Wes, which is essentially a large Flea Market.  Unfortunately they were closing fifteen minutes after our arrival so we could not get a real good look at the place.  I think there would be lots of stuff there I could not live without – maybe next time.  We still had some time before dinner so we just had to go to Costco, it was close, awe, and I had to be dragged there of course.  We picked up a few things and then continued on to Victoria Palms for dinner.  Dinner was very good and inexpensive.  We had some great conversation with Don, Leslie, Anna, and Peter.  Very enjoyable evening.  We got back just after nine PM, way past my bedtime!

Thu.  Dec 11^th

Around the park with Tony (almost sounds like a mini series), continued for the last time at Fun N Sun today as we continue our trek west tomorrow.

Diane and I hosted an informal Happy Hour at the Ti in the afternoon that John, Dave, Myrna, Tony, Sharon, Sue, Doug, Jane, and Paul attended.  We had drinks and tried “Bake Apple” Liqueur that we purchased in Newfoundland, nice taste.

Following Happy Hour it was time to go to the Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum for their annual Christmas tree showcase.  This is where both businesses and individuals can decorate Christmas Trees and have people view them and pick their favourite.  There were many trees that were beautifully done. 

We also had the opportunity to enjoy wine, beer, and small sandwiches and a self guided tour of the museum.  The focus of the museum was the beginnings of Harlingen in the late 1800’s.  Outside the main buildings they had the original buildings of the founder of Harlingen as well as the Hospital, Paso Real Stagecoach Inn and Santa Rosa School Bell that I believe had been dismantled and brought to this site for re-assembly.  Very nice evening.

Since we were leaving early in the morning we bid everyone a fond farewell after the museum.  We had a great time and Fun N Sun in San Benito, thanks goes out to Tony, Sharon, Paul, Jane, John, Carol, Dave, Myrna and especially Doug and Sue who toured us about introducing us to the different places in the area – great time and a big Thank You to all.

Fri. Dec. 12^th

We woke to an overcast but warm (67 F) morning that is very good for driving.  We got away about 7:30 AM and started north then west towards New Mexico and then Arizona.  We arrived at the North Llano RV Park about 3 PM and set up.  This is a smaller park; well kept and very nice sites.  It was a KOA until 2011 when it went private and Good Sam, we would definitely stay here again.  Diane went for a walk and got some pictures of Sparrows on a fan fern type shrub and deer at a local feeding station at dusk.