Brownsville TX. is a sleepy
little Texas town on the Rio Grande across from Matamoros Mexico.
Our visit here was somewhat 
initiated by a desire to slow down
and catch up with much of the things we had put off when in areas
of high activities. Mostly writing, as we found ourselves many
articles in arrears. But Brownsville is not without its
interesting places. Our first activity was to try to find a place to
walk along the Rio Grande river. Just south of Brownsville, the
National Audubon Society runs the Sabal Palm Grove Sanctuary. The
Sabal palm is a tall magnificent tree that in its adult stage
rivals the giant palms of Hawaii. Its requirement for a wet
environment has led to its reduction in the area, as
farming and
natural activities have steadily decreased the available water,
while the heat has increased. An imported European house plant, similar to Kutzo
has invaded the area further damaging the young palms and many
other plants. Marty Smillie, the naturalist 
we met, explained the
various differences in the palms, then sent us off on a self
guided tour of a half mile trek of land which is home to many
different birds. After we had completed the trek, Marty directed us
to a trail leading south away from the office with instructions
to take the road at the end and then a small trail that ran off
it, which would eventually lead us to the Rio Grande. We wandered
through the foliage and over ant hills occupied by large red ants
and through some short grass to a hill overlooking
the Rio
Grande. I worked my way down the embankment and found an animal
trail at the edge of the river. From here I could survey the
manicured lands of Mexico on the other side. The next day we drove out
to Los Fresnos to pick grapefruit but the farm which reportedly
allowed such activities, had closed for the season. This had 
not
reduced the availability of citrus fruit which comes across the
border daily. We returned to the center of town and the Historic
Brownsville Museum, which is housed in the old Brownsville
Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot that was built in 1928
as part of the extension into the Rio Grande Valley. A fine example of
Spanish
Colonial Revival architecture, the depot features a tile roof,
arcades, curvilinear parapets and other ornamentation common to
that style. The inside is a mixture of historic items that relate
to the local area. Laura couldn't help stopping at the old time
switch board to simulate a call. She confided that she had always
wanted to operated a switch board. There was a separate military
room which displayed the attire of the soldiers who served at
Fort Brown. Likewise, I had fun 
playing railroad engineer as I
swung from the rear of a caboose which is mounted outside the
museum.
A project of a local scout
group, the car is a nice added
touch to the train station atmosphere. The next day we drove down
to Boca Chica beach where the Rio Grande dumps into the Gulf of
Mexico. On the way back we were stopped by a Border Patrol road
block looking for
illegals. The term is now politically incorrect. The new term is
undocumented. 
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