San Antonio, Ft Stockton, El Paso TX and Rodeo NM

 De 23, 2021: We made a few stops on our 250 mile journey from Mercedes TX to San Antonio TX.  We left the resort at 7:15 arriving at our hotel on the Riverfront at 4:15.  We made a few stops along the way.  The traffic was light once we got out of the valley and until we hit San Antonio. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm once we got out of the fog north of Edinburg. 

Javalina

Nilgai

view from our 8th floor window onto the Riverwalk.  

Oh Boy it was really crowded with lots of people and lots of family.  No economic issues here.

the city is all decorated and ready for the Holidays.

We looked and looked for the Flame-colored Tanager yesterday afternoon before going to our hotel.  No luck.  But today, Dec 24, we arrived at the site by 7:45 and seen him within 2 minutes!  not just a brief look but good looks and then once more before we moved on.  Luck was on our side.  Life bird!!

also found this little lost Christmas tree on the river!

The sky was pretty overcast with little wind before the sun came out about 1:00.  We stopped at the Pearl for a wonderful crawfish roll lunch. 

 Nighttime on the Riverwalk was not as crowded as last night and not as many restaurants were open and some of them had limited staff.  We ended up at the Irish Pub for Shepards Pie and fish and chips.  We had to sit for quiet awhile before out food came but we were done walking and had no place to go, so it was all good. 

Merry Christmas Texas Style

Christmas afternoon looking over the Riverwalk while enjoying a beverage.  No pool time at this hotel as too many people and kids in the pool.  

Sunday Dec 26: we left at 7 am for our 300+ mile drive to Fort Stockton.  It was very foggy for abut the first 100 miles.  We did manage to stop to walk and bird in the fog. Our first stop being at Cibolo Nature Center.  Very nice area with lots of diverse habitat. 2nd stop was at a lake in Boeurne but it was too foggy to see anything on the lake. 3rd stop was at South Llano River state park.  Nice paths but few birds.  It's now 1:00 and we still have 205 miles to go!  We did stop a few times at the rest areas for a walk around.  Our final stop was to see Paisano Pete

another 2 more miles to the hotel at 4:30.  Whew that was a very long day.  

Dec 27: today we head to El Paso TX with a detour to Carlsbad NM to look for another rare bird, the Blue Mockingbird.  After 2 hours of standing pretty much in one spot we found the Blue Mockingbird.  We got quick looks and no pictures.  New life bird, #540 year bird!!

Really??

Linda Lake basin was dry

We arrived in El Paso too early to check in to our hotel. we are here for 2 nights at the Hilton Garden Inn El Paso Airport. We went looking for the Lewis's Woodpecker at a local golf course.  We found it!  

After checking in we were Off to celebrate our life and year birds we ended up at: 

We only eat outside, so we pretty much had a private dining room as we were the only ones outside!  that does happen quite a bit here in Texas.  Our food was good, our service was good and the temp was good.  The inside of the restaurant was very very crowded...

Dec 28:  Our temps are getting cooler, 60 for the high today but sunny.  We found a few places to walk, they seemed to all be right on the border.  Beautiful scenery wrecked by the Wall..

After a much needed nap we went to Kona Grill for dinner.  We were looking for something light and we found it.  Happy Hour had great prices on appetizers, beverages and meals.  Our favorite was on the menu, Potstickers.  Eric had a shrimp and chicken lettuce wraps, I had the Lemongrass clam chowder.  Seems like a lot of people knew about the happy hour menu as the outside (and assuming the inside) was pretty well full..  

Dec 29: we head to Rodeo NM about 210 miles from here. We have reservations at the Cowboy room.  We stayed here last April on our way home.  The Mountain Valley Lodge in Rodeo has an RV park for about 6 small RV's and 3-4 rooms.  Our room is the same as last April.  We like the private yard and parking space. The internet is pretty spotty and NO TV but we like it all the same. 

What??

We went into Portal AZ for a bit of walking etc. we had a decent day on Thurs but Friday was a bit rainy.  We had a few movies to watch and did get a little walk or two in. 

we found some Pronghorn Antelope

Our yearly bird count was very respectable thanks to our wonderful trip to Alaska.  We ended up with 541 year birds!  that made us #43 in the USA!  last year we came in at 76 with 100 less birds..  We upped our World Life total to 724 a gain of 33 birds.  our US life number came in 660 with 36 new birds!  

We are grateful for our ability to go out everyday and walk and bird and enjoy our surroundings. We lost a few family members and friends this year and we made a few friends.  We found new places to walk and bird and we revisited some of our favorite places.  We were able to enjoy Thanksgiving with Friends that we love so much.  In spite of Covid we were able to both enjoy our neighborhood friends from years ago.  Eric had a good crowd at the lake house, Kathy was able to go to South Carolina and South Padre Island to visit with great friends. Our delayed trip to Alaska was fabulous. We had a great time, met some great people and seen some great birds. And the food was great too! 

We are off to Green Valley for 3 months.