The Merry Marsden Travels

Another update to tell about a few new experiences. On Monday, I went with 7 TG neighbours to partake in Winter Texan Appreciation Day in Progresso Mexico. Don declined the adventure since he had been there in February when I was in Arizona and didn't want to go again. Even with scary reports of drug cartel problems in the Rio Grande Valley, the Mexican border towns rely on Winter Texans coming over the border to go to the dentists, buy their medications, eat and shop. This was the day they show their appreciation and the main stree t of Progresso was closed to traffic and 5 stages with entertainment were set up and there were many giveaways of bags, hats and pins. Winter Texans love anything that is free so lots of people came over to enjoy the day. We started with a Mexican breakfast in a little cafe on the side street. Luckily one of our group could speak Spanish to help us out. The rest of the morning we spent shopp ing and getting pinned with little advertising things. Lots o

Into Kingsville - a town that grew thanks to the King Family (mostly Henrietta and her grandson Bob) bringi ng the railroad to the area so they could ship their cattle and other products. The Kin gs donated an acre of land to any church that wanted to come to the town. They also donated land for schools. Our first stop was at the King Ranch Saddle Shop. Beautiful expensive things - complete with lots of stuffed animals and a working saddle shop. Check out their products at http://w ww.krsaddleshop.com/ . Back on the bus to be transported over to the John E. Conner Museum at the Texas A&M Kingsville. It contained the Graves Peeler Hall of Horns (trophy game mounts collected by an amazing, hunter, rancher and lawman, and the saviour of the Texas Longhorn. ) It also had historica exhibits and a temporary exhibit of quilts from the Kingsville Saturday Quilters. Back on the bus and returned to Trophy Gardens by 5:30 PM after starting out at 6:45 AM - good day - lots of learning.

Back to the King Ranch trip. On the 2 hour coach trip on the way to the ranch we had a local historian - Helen Myers - give us the history of the ranch and area. When we reached the ranch, a Ranch historian (retired teacher) boarded our bus and told us lots of info on our hour bus tour of the Ranch itself. The picture on the left is their business center which was originally their general store for the families that lived on the ranch. The first home on the property was a 2 room mud hut that Richard King brought his young bride Henrietta home to. A second home was built but burnt down in 1912 and the 3rd h ome was built on the original site. Henrietta King instructed the architect to design a house that anybody would be comfortable walking into wearing boots. Driving by the front door of the Ranchhouse you see Peacocks and Peahens at the front door. These have always been on the property from early days because Henrietta was afraid of rattlesnakes and peacocks will attack and kill ratt

Time to catch up again. What have we been doing for the last 10 days? Just enjoying the Texas sunshine. Last Wednesday we did meet our friend Thery King and her cousin Wanda for a lovely lunch at Pirate's Landing in Port Isabel. Last night we played "Night Golf" - a scramble with glow in the dark balls - it was fun with 45 people out. Sorry to say cousin Don and Maureen left this morning for Winnipeg and we will miss their company here at Trophy Gardens. Today I was off on an adventure to King Ranch - a 2 hour bus trip north of us. The King Ranch is the largest family owned ranch in Texas - 825,000 acres. I wanted to tour this ranch because we have a Ford "King Ranch" pick-up truck and have passed the ranch on our way to the Rio Grande Valley for 2 winters now. So here is some info on the King Ranch. Captain Richard King (1824-1885) , a Rio Grande Steamboat Captain bought 2 Spanish land grants on the Santa Gertrudis Creek and founded the legendary King Ranch i

Time to get back on track with this blog. So the sad update on golf is that Canada lost the tournament to the USA and then this past Wednesday it was Winter Ranch (the RV Park beside us) and Trophy Garden Challenge (our park) and we lost again. Maureen and I attended a 90 minute seminar from golf guru "Steve" ( http://www.cornettasgolf.com/ ) that preachers to the recreational golfer at a nearby hotel ballroom. It was entertaining and we are hoping it helps our games. (It isn't showing so far?) So what else have we done - besides golf and potluck dinners? Don and I went on a little bus trip to a Rio Grande River Cruise last Monday. We had an hour ride on the Rio Grande River - saw the damage on the riverfront properties from t he flooding of the river last fall. The river stayed elevated for 33 days. We had a delicious lunch at the Riverside Grill where our cruise started and ended. The Border Patrol presence is certainly seen. We saw their lookout tower right beside this