THE ADVENTURE RESUMES: Condo Trip 2022

This is Part One. Please read them in order. All the pictures from the entire trip are available here. 

Sunset over Laguna Madre from our condo's deck

 A stroke of good luck: Nancy's flight was 3 minutes late; Jeff's was 11 minutes late. So they each arrived in San Antonio at exactly the same time, from opposite sides of the country. It being just after lunchtime, we made our first stop at Beto's Alt-Mex, not far from the airport, for some excellent fish tacos (and something else, also excellent, for the member of our party who doesn't care for fish), then headed off down the highway for the coast.

Corpus Christi skyline

I looked on every website I could think of for interesting things staged between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. There are none. The South Texas Plain sweeps relentlessly to the Gulf without a pause for interest, or history, or culture, or even whimsy. The only thing remotely worth investigating is the Lipantitlan Battlefield, about 30 miles west of Corpus, where the Spanish in the 1780s -- and later, the Mexicans -- erected a sorry excuse for a fortress (one historian compared it unfavourably to a "second-rate hog pen") to exercise control over the area, when sovereignty was threatened by outsiders or, later, revolution. In 1835 a detachment from the Texian revolutionary forces at Goliad, flush with a small victory there, came to Lipantitlan to push out the small Mexican garrison, who happened to be away at the time. The next day, the returning Mexican forces attacked the Texians, who had superior weaponry, and suffered a small defeat before retreating into Mexico and leaving only the garrison at Béxar within the borders of what is now Texas. (Later, of course, that garrison would surrender and retreat, after which a major army would march north under Santa Anna in a doomed effort to exact vengeance and re-establish control.)

There is absolutely nothing left of the fortifications at Lipantitlan, but that didn't stop us from standing there in the tiny state park and speculating knowledgeably about Texas history and military strategies. It was a nice diversion on the otherwise-dull three-hour drive to the Island.

We got to our condo a couple of hours later than planned, because of those two stops, and found that the registration paperwork left for us was incorrect. Office closed until Monday, so won't worry about it until then. Friday evening we drove over to Snoopy's for dinner. That's a seafood place that stands on an island bordering the Intracoastal Canal. The name, in gigantic letters on the roof facing our condo across Laguna Madre, makes it kind of a landmark for owners at Puente Vista. It's traditional to eat there at least once every time we come to town. Sometimes it's especially good. Last time I was here, 3 years ago with Mike, we were there for sunset, which, from a table on the back deck, was spectacular; this time, a little earlier in the day, and from a table in the darkest corner of the dining room, right under a loudspeaker announcing whose orders were ready, it was less wonderful. But the margaritas were adequate for requirements, and I controlled myself by ordering a Greek salad with a mediocre crab cake added. No one was seriously dissatisfied, so I suppose that counts as a win. 

The rest of the evening was spent on our back porch, staring out across the Lagoon and solving all the world's problems; something we do as well as anyone.

Saturday started with breakfast at a Mexican restaurant a little way down the island. The food was pretty good (I'll give it three and a half jalapeños, out of 5), as was the value (also three and a half); the ambience was a little on the loud side (two and a half jalapeños) and the service was very good until we were ready for the check, at which point it ground to a halt (two jalapeños). Still, I'd go back. That was followed by  three hours glued to the television while Liverpool scraped past Chelsea in the FA Cup Final (6-5 on penalties). We'd planned to watch it at a bar, but couldn't find one that was open before noon. Apparently a city of 300,000 is too small for that level of opportunity to drink. Our plans were saved when it was discovered that Nancy's Disney-Plus subscription includes ESPN+. And she had brought her Fire Stick.

I don't know what that is, but it worked.

Three hundred thousand is not too small, however, to offer a good distillery, which I'd read about in Texas Highways, and was interested in because they produce a version of chartreuse liqueur. I sampled that, and found it refreshing, while the others shared two flights of various boozes produced by the house (gin, vermouth, whatever...). It was relaxing if not cheap. That stop was followed by the obligatory visit to HEB to stock up on essentials for the condo. 

After a scintillating round of miniature golf (which I did not lose) a leisurely dinner followed, at an Italian place with enjoyable live music and fair-quality food and service. Afterwards, we went back to the condo and played Hoopla until bedtime.

The rest of the weekend was taken up by a trip up to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a couple of hours up the coast from here. It was kind of a disappointing trip, in that we saw very little in the way of wildlife -- one alligator eating a bird, a few others unmoving in the water; a few herons, a handful of other birds, scattered deer. But nothing to really get excited about. No snakes, no bobcats, no spiders, not even a distant peccary. It was like all the wildlife was away at a seminar.

The photo album for this trip can be seen by clicking this link.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

 

Just Wondering...

 Like most people, I've been sort of following Russia's war of conquest in Ukraine this past week. I have no military experience, and I don't really know what things are like over there. But I've been fascinated by the week-long saga of the "40-mile-long convoy" approaching Kyiv from the north. Satellite photographs of the slow-moving gaggle of Russian trucks, tanks and other military vehicles have been all over the internet and the news since it started. I heard one American military expert say that the vehicles have to stick to the roads because the ground is not "frozen hard" as it normally is this time of year, and it won't support the great weight of these Russian vehicles.

 So I'm wondering, how come the Ukrainians haven't tossed some anti-tank weapons in the back of a Land Rover or some other off-road vehicle, and driven out there, and destroyed some of these vehicles? I mean, it just seems like (a) everybody knows where they are, and (b) they're moving really slowly. Seems like a few excursions to put two or three of the leading vehicles out of action would block the road for a time and bring the already leisurely advance of the column to a complete halt. It seems like it ought to be a turkey shoot.

 I'm sure there are reasons why this hasn't happened. Or maybe it has, and nobody has reported it. But I sure would like to hear an explanation of why it hasn't. Hell, if that sort of invading column were creeping down US 36, advancing on Denver, you know the fields either side of the road would be full of good ol' boys in Jeeps and on ATVs taking turns blowing up a tank here, an armoured personnel carrier there. I know from previous reporting that Ukraine has the sort of weapons needed -- some of them, anyway. Why haven't we seen video of Russian soldiers trying to push destroyed tanks off the roadway?

 I'd just really like an explanation.