January 24, 2010 by Rick and Tinka.

My cardiologist said to me, “Do you remember what you did to build up the plaque in your system?”  Following my affirmative response, he added, “Well, stop it.”

So, the week following my procedure and with out of town guests here wanting to dine out, we visited many of the wonderful contributors to my heart issues.

In Mission, Texas, we stopped at Pepe’s on the River to watch our friend Ruthi perform.

Pepe’s has some outstanding nachos.  It takes at least two people to tackle a piling order of this dish. We enjoyed an afternoon of dancing.

My favorite restaurant south of the border is Angel’s in Progreso.  They have the best salsa I’ve ever had.  The place was teaming with senior citizens. Imagine that.

Then it was off to South Padre Island and lunch at our favorite restaurant on the island, Daddy’s.   The dish called the Cowboy Joe’s is absolutely wonderful. It is a ribeye with a shrimp, spinach and 3-cheese sauce.

We also visited two fine Mexican restaurants, Costa Messa Restaurant in McAllen.  I’m not crazy about chipolte anything, but their chipolte salsa is great.  The second restaurant is Casa Del Tacos in Weslaco.  It isn’t just a house of tacos.  You’ll find a wide menu that includes homemade soups and good steaks.

Finally, we went to Donna, TX to visit Gonzales Burgers.  This place doesn’t even have a sign except the one that says “OPEN”.  You need to get there early.  People start lining up at about 10:30 AM.  Even if you are first in line, you may wait about 30 minutes for your order.  The burgers are enormous.

You can see the huge patties.  The burgers fill the over sized buns.

If that won’t clog your arteries, nothing will.

Ok, my Nutrisystems food just arrived.  Now I can work toward better health.

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December 21, 2009 by Rick and Tinka.

Apparently, the growing love for motorcycles is an international phenomenon.  On a recent visit to Progreso, Mx, the city had the main street roped off to allow for a large group of Mexican bikers, led by the governor of the state of Tamaulipas.  The group was on a journey from Renosa (near McAllen, TX) to Matamoros (near Brownsville, TX.)

This photo was taken by Tinka’s cell phone from the balcony of her favorite Progreso restaurant, The Red Snapper.

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December 5, 2009 by Rick and Tinka.

We had a nice visit, last weekend, from some of our Dallas/Fort Worth friends, Linda, Bill, Carla and David.

Across the border we headed for a nice lunch at Rick’s favorite restaurant, Angels.

Carla was having a little fun with the tortilla chips.  We wanted to thank David for treating us to a nice meal.

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November 13, 2009 by Rick and Tinka.

Well, we can’t believe it.  Having spent a lot of time in Mexico over the past few years, we have come to understand what is meant by Mexican time.  The term “mañana”  doesn’t always mean tomorrow.

Our previous blog entry (Click Here) questioned the logic in beginning a massive sewer project as the busy season approached.  You can see by the two photos below that the project is now successfully completed.

While we were there, we visited a bar named Arriba, which is located about 5 blocks south and a block west of the border crossing, in the Progreso Market.

Click to enlarge map.

The Arriba bar is very modern, clean and everything is reasonably priced.  They also have a nice dance floor.

You can see that during the daytime,   the clientele consists of mostly Winter Texans.

Tinka decided to chow down on nachos.  A very good choice.

A report on our trip out of Mexico will follow tomorrow.

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November 7, 2009 by Rick and Tinka.

Nuevo Progreso, Mexico is located just across the border from Weslaco and Progreso, Texas. (Click on Photo to Enlarge)

The town is a fairly sleepy place to go to from April through October.  During the winter, however, it becomes a bustling mecca for “Winter Texans” taking advantage of the great restaurants, shopping, visiting one of the hundreds of dentists, and stocking up on medications from nearly as many farmacias (pharmacies).

I don’t know who’s idea it was to begin a major street and sewer project at the beginning of their busy season, but somebody deserves the “Bad Timing” award for this one.  When you cross the border at the Progreso Bridge you find yourself on the main downtown street.  They have torn up the entire street.  This is normally a major parking location for visitors and residents.

These photos were taken last weekend.  We’re heading over there today and will see how much progress they’ve made.

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