Spring Break: Southern Travels

It takes a bit of time to get allllll the way down to South Padre Island in the very tip of Texas, so Jeff collected a list of all the interesting sites that were in the area and turned it into part 2 of our Spring Break trip.

There is usually something retro included in that list, and this time is was Pizza Hut CLASSIC -- a throw back to old-school Pizza Hut locations with dining space (NOTE: Dallas only has pickup locations). We felt like we were back in the 80's. 

Yes, we were pretty far South, but not quite all the way to Easter Island. Lucky for us, somebody put up a few replicas of the Moai on the side of the road! 

The most southern point in Texas happens to be Brownsville, so there we were. And we've got the nifty mural photo to prove it! This one was created by multiple artists -- such a cool way to capture the highlights of a city and share with countless others. (Perhaps Amigonet HQ should consider adding a mural...)

And what is there to do in Brownsville? Well, not a whole lot, but we did discover black light mini golf at Bobz World. Tip: Skip hole 9 and go around for another round!

And so while we were all the way down south, we decided Naomi and Danielle should once again experience our border with Mexico with their own eyes (ie. not biased by the news or by comments from other people). So alas, we headed to the Gateway International Bridge to make our way into Matamoros, Mexico (for a second time). Some of us were not excited about this endeavor (names have been redacted to protect the rights of the individual(s)), but we fueled up, purchased our pedestrian tokens and stuck together!

There was very little traffic heading into Mexico -- only a few other walkers and a handful of cars, no lines. (Note: the cars in the background are heading into the US)

No man's land...uneventful.

Jeff had identified a couple nearby destinations just across the border, but ultimately, we ended up just walking up and back along the main street. We did not want to venture too far off the known path, and our phones did not work there). It was all very typical of a downtown area. There were no scary people (only one single person that made anyone nervous), no line of migrants and no drug deals happening around. Everyone we saw was just making their way through the day, just like the rest of us in life.

Doubtful this would pass code or inspection in the US!

We only stayed about 1 hour, and decided to head back -- we had seen the line to get into the US and weren't sure how long it would take. But thankfully, it was super fast and easy. No chaos, everyone just waiting their turn. We did stand in line for a bit, until a nice gentleman told us that if we had a US passport we could head on up to the front. I made friends with the guy, Lawrence, and followed his lead. Turns out, he was from South Padre Island, a Cowboys fan and was NINETY-THREE years old!

We walked past about a hundred people in two different sections, and went straight to the border agents checking passports and documents. The border agent asked each of us questions individually. Danielle had to give the name of her school. Naomi had to confirm she had no bags with items from Mexico. Jeff and I had to answer what we doing in Mexico.

And by that time, we were all famished and ready for some yummy Mexican food!