Tours2006pg03

Montana Travel Reports for 2006

The Museum of South Texas History started its life as the Hidalgo County Historical Museum. The first building they occupied was originally the jail, a very old jail. A jail that still has the trap door for a hangin! YIKES. We are looking UP at the trap door that would fall away during a hanging. They only hung one man in this jail before the State of Texas changed the law and all executions were taken over by the state. The door is now welded shut!

Well, my my, what have we here?? That would be from the left, Steve, Bob, John and Carol. The Museum of South Texas History specializes in tours for school children. This is part of the tour talking about the Spanish in the area, and is one of the few places the children (?) can touch the artifacts. So, the tour guide lined up 4 volunteers (?) and here ya go! We were on the tour with 5 other MOC (Montana Owners Club) families.

South Padre Island is one of our favorite day trips while we are in the Rio Grande Valley, we try to go once or twice during our stay. Left, pelicans on a dock.

We decided to go on a dolphin watching boat ride. We went on one 2 years ago, which we found to be less than wonderful, too many people on the boat and, well, the boat did not smell so good and had a lousy sound system. We decided this time to take a tour boat that only held 6 people. The boat was a pontoon boat, about 30 foot long, enclosed, and comes with its own dolphin findin dog! This cutie could hear the dolphins before we could see them, and she barked away. She is standing on the roof of the boat, she would run from the front to the back, depending on where the dolphin were.

Little Joseph, above, is a shrimp boat, a dying breed they tell us. Look in the water just in front of the bow and you will see a couple of dolphin leading the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

More dolphin watching and the bird sanctuary behind the South Padre Island Convention Center.