Contrary to the popular belief that there is no such thing as a free lunch, we enjoyed our sandwich. Then we got in line for the free t-shirt. The Mission Chamber of Commerce gave away hundreds of shirts printed with the logo below.
The town of Mission was named after the Catholic mission that was started at the tiny chapel of La Lomita. Originally built in 1889, it was relocated to this site in 1899. We traveled to see the chapel in person, taking a picture from the same angle as the one on our new t-shirts.
And of course we couldn't resist taking a picture of Denisa and her Mother wearing their La Lomita t-shirts standing beside the La Lomita Chapel.
The inside of the adobe structure is in need of some TLC, but this little chapel was designated as a national historic place in 1975. The candles lit on the altar are evidence that this place is sacred to the people of Mission.
A beautiful blooming bougainvillea plant outside made for the artsy picture of the day with the blurred cross in the background.
Because we are so close to the Rio Grande River, there is a local rumor that a border wall on that raised levee (just north in the picture below) will destroy this little piece of history. On our sight-seeing tour today, we saw protesters at the nearby International Butterfly Center voicing their opinion about the proposed wall.
Because we were so close, we had to make a stop at the Riverside Cafe. That's the Rio Grande behind us, as we stood for a group portrait on our sight-seeing trip with our visitor's--Denisa's sister and brother-in-law.
We also made the trip to Harlingen, Texas, to show our guests the famous statue from World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima. The original is on display at the National Cemetery in Washington DC. Mark is standing at the base to give this magnificent statue some scale of size.
The military academy in Harlingen, Texas, managed to get the plaster casting that the bronze statue in our nation's capitol was modeled after. That's because the lead soldier planting the flag on that pile of rocks on that island battle ground was from the Rio Grande Valley.
Harlon Block was twenty years old the day the famous picture was taken as his squadron planted that flag. Later, an artist used that photo to model the sculpture. Private Block would die six days later in a battle, and his remains are buried not far from the famous statue that bears his likeness.
After a couple warm Rio Grande Valley days, we were slammed by the lowest temperatures of the winter. We hate to complain about the cold when our friends up north have endured record-breaking frigid weather and snow. But highs in the 40's are certainly unusual here in South Texas. So when we took our guests to the local Pulga (that's Spanish for flea market), only a small percentage of the vendors braved the cold to set up.
This cold weather is a good time to dance up a sweat inside at a line dance marathon. Denisa was on the floor for every dance during the three-hour event.
Marathons are supposed to be grueling, but this was three hours of fun for Denisa. The group solicited donations before and during the marathon, and we were able to donate over $2,400 to the Cinderella Pet Rescue a couple miles down the road.
The other direction down our road, we can visit the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. We have free entry with our Texas state park pass, and we invited our friends Joel and Michelle to join us for a bike ride there. We rode our bikes to the park, and then on all the paved roads inside. We even did a little hiking, including this climb to the Hawk Tower overlooking much of the park. We have climbed this tower many times in year's past, and we are happy to say that this is the first time that we actually saw hawks from the Hawk Tower.
We've been enjoying seeing the sights around the Rio Grande Valley with friends and family!
We had a great Mexican meal in Harlingen. It was billed as a meal for two. Could have fed SIX!
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