Amistad outpost is the first of it's kind here in Del Rio. Even though lake Amistad is well know to Texas divers for it's superior visibility (as far as lakes go)no one had ever ventured to open up a dive shop here! There were tank fill stations, but no real dive shop for any other equipment rental. Tom and Lana, the owners went out on a limb and decided to do so just one year ago! Yes, the place just completed it's first year anniversay! Since it's opening gear has slowly, but surely been appearing at the store they now offer fins, masks, shorties, and bcd's as part of their regularly stocked items. As well other smaller knick knacks that divers might find useful such as log books, bumper stickers, small lights, etc. However if they don't carry a certain item the owners are more than happy to order it for you and sell it at a most competetive price! They also do rental gear, and tank fills. The best part is that they are always 100% willing to work with you to get you the best price and if they can't then they themselves will tell you where you can! Also if previous arrangements are made they are almost always willing to open after hours for your convenience say, for example if you want to do a night dive. They open up their shop every month for dive club meets, as well the two local instructors list their class schedules at their shop, making it your one stop shop for anything diving related.

I had never rented a suite before, much less a honeymoon suite, but because it was for Valentine's Day, I thought maybe I should. I thought it was spectacular, it may have just been my naïveness, I'm not sure. There was a wet bar in the separate living room area, a tv in both the living room and bedroom, and a jacuzzi-style tub in the corner of the bedroom, as well as your standard bathroom with a stand-up shower. I was surprised to find two a/c units in the bedroom, as well as two thermostats. Everything, in my opinion, was wonderful. The only complaint I have is that housekeeping didn't clean well enough in the bathroom, and left the last person's used soap and shampoo in the shower and on the counter. (Oh, and I wasn't given the robes they show in the picture provided by Ramada.[not that I would have necessarily used them, but it would've been nice to have.])

Brett, (brett4321) contacted me some time ago to inquire about seminole canyon  and although the place is only 45 minutes away from where I live and I have driven thru there many times I have never stopped.  Despite my lack of information Brett, decided to come and check the place out.   While doing so he would spend a day here so I offered to give him a tour of Del Rio and Mexico, and since he didn't know any better he took me up on my offer!  Brett arrived on the 26th at night and my husband and I took him out for dinner to TB's bar and grill, one of our local establishments, which was featured on the Anthony Bourdain "no reservations" show some time back.  I will write a review about this place later!  After dinner we called it an early night since both Brett and my husband had to get up the next day early.  

On the 27th after his tour of seminole canyon, Brett returned to Del Rio and my friend Lisa, (texas_cutie75) and I took him into Acuña for some lunch and shopping.  We ate at Crosby's and then proceeded to do some shopping on the main street.  Brett was looking to buy his sister a Christmas present, for this year people he is an early shopper!  Don't worry Brett I won't tell anyone it was last years present you were shopping for, your secret is safe with me!  Brett came down this way looking for a wild cave adventure tour, I don't know if he got that at the canyon but he got an adventure driving around with me!  After lunch and shopping I was driving around  Acuña pointing out the highlights of the city, I was so busy playing tour guide and taking pics of my own I almost got us t-boned by a car driving down the street I was trying to turn into!  Good thing the other driver was alert and watching out for crazy tourist drivers fheeew!  After the quick tour of  Acuña we then headed back for the states and let me tell you people customs and immigration is now so serious about people having a form of identification on them when coming back across, that if you don't have one you WILL get a very dirty look from them as well as some reading material on the importance of carrying ID, in SPANISH!  Lisa forgot her purse in her car back in the states and my 2 year old, Skyler well she just plain forgot to even have an ID made!  I don't know what I'm going to do with that child!  When the customs guy took out his two pieces of paper at first I tought we were going to be pulled over but, he handed them to me and did not say which lane to pull into.  So I inquired what the papers were and he stated, "reading material!  One for the adult and one for the child without an ID"  Oh good for a minute there I though I would have to read the stupid paper myself, good thing he made it clear that my child has to read it!  Never mind that Skyler has not fully mastered the English languauge yet she now has to read in Spanish, good luck Skyler!

Back in the states I had to drop off Lisa first then I drove Brett around Del Rio to show him the highlights on this side.  I took him to the withehead museum, which we observed from the outside only since we opted not to pay the admission fee!  Good thing you can view the whole museum from the fence and if you don't mind getting wet by their sprinklers then it's also the cheapest way to see the museum!  While driving around checking out the San Felipe springs, I took Brett down a one way street (the WRONG way!)  I wanted to show him how the locals stare you down if you ever drive the wrong way here, I am quite the educational tour guide!  Finally I took him to the winery for the super short tour there, then picked up my daughter from school, and then drove him back to his car. 

It was really fun playing tour guide, I think I will do this more often, any takers?

I had a conference in San Antonio, so  I flew out a day early to do a little sightseeing.  I flew into San Antonio and then drove west to Del Rio where I met Scubagirl and her husband for supper.  I spent the next morning exploring Seminole Canyon.  Then I headed back to Del Rio where I met up  with Scubagirl and Texas_cutie.  We crossed the border into Ciudad Acuna for a late lunch and a little sightseeing.  Scubagirl was an excellent tour guide and I thouroughly enjoyed my sidetrip to west Texas and Mexico.

Nestled in the South of the city amongst the old pecan and oak trees, is the oldest running winery in Texas. Val Verde winery has been making wine in Del Rio, since 1883. It is a quaint and delightful old farm, which provides its visitors with a free tour and complimentary taste of one of their wines. If you want to sample all of their wines there is a $3 charge. There are 10 wines in all to let your taste buds savor, among these wines there are some award winning wines! The tour guide is very knowledgeable on the history of the place as well, she will give you and in depth description of each of the wines. Which is a great for people like me who’s best descriptor words are “this is good” or “I don’t like this one” when it comes to wine! Not that my recommendations mean much but, amongst the white wines my favorite was the pinot grigio and amongst the reds I really liked the sangiovese. The prices are also reasonable with their most expensive bottle being the port at $30. My friend Lisa (texas_cutie75), and I went on Friday for a small tour and a sample of all their wines. We ended up walking out with three bottles of wine between the two of us, a lot of knowledge on the process of wine making, and some fun memories of me chasing my toddler in between wine tasting! I definitely recommend you make the winery one of your stops if you’re ever in the area!

If there is one thing Del Rio is not short on is Mexican food restaurants! As a matter of fact, about 9 out of every 10 restaurants here are Mexican. Some are awesome, some are okay, some are down right awful! However with so many here that are good what makes Memo's so special! Well, the ambiance of course! For starters the view you get from Memo's is the prettiest by far of any restaurant here in Del Rio! It is located on the edge of the San Felipe springs so, while your sitting there enjoying your meal you have a great view of the springs and wathever wildlife may be roaming around at the time, usually ducks and geese. They also have a piano player that comes in on Fridays for lunch and dinner and plays for you while your having your meal. The piano player is a little old lady and you can't even see her at the piano while she plays but, you can hear the music for sure! She will take requests or just play her repertoire either way your in for a treat! Memo's is not on the main drag of Del Rio so, it is know mainly to locals only! The family owned restaurant is small but, cozy and the daughter and mom who run it are always there no manager on site here. So, you know your going to get special treatment everytime when the owners are there always looking out for the best interest of their customers! Oh did I mention that the food is simply AMAZING!

Mexico border town living is unlike any other way of life!  there are things you will never experience anywhere else but in a border town! 

Culture                                                                                                                        First there's that whole other culture, many people who come here to live mention that they are in "culture shock" when they first arrive.  Yes, Del Rio has an overwhelming Hispanic population approximately 75% or more but, considering the fact that hispanics are the largest minority group in the US I don't think anyone out there has not run across some.  It is not the numbers that put people in culture shock it is the way of life.  In most other places including non border Texas towns Hispanic people for the most part are several generations into living in the US and for the most part very much "Americanized."  Not so in a border town, one of the first things you will notice is that many people in a border town won't speak a bit of English.  It is not just the older generations who can't speak the language either, in Del Rio the high school graduates quite a few kids each year that can't speak English!  While I believe that it's good to keep your "roots" I'm not really sure how big of a service they are doing these kids by not requiring them to learn English. 

Every town has it's "poor side"  usually localized on one side of the town.  Unless you live in a third world country, I'm sure some of you reading this right now are thinking "oh yeah that's the east side, or south side , or west end , the downtown area!"  Whatever the case may be there is usually a localized area for your town.  Not the case in Del Rio here it is the exact opposite.  Here there is a "rich side"  while you can drive all around Del Rio and find some nice houses unless you're driving on the north side of the town you will find a very nice house and right next to it a total shack!  While in most places you can completely avoid that "bad or poor" side of town here it's hard to look the other way when everywhere you look you see it! 

The Military                                                                                                                             The one unique thing to Del Rio that no other border town has is that it's home to an Air Force base.  This would not mean much but, military towns also tend to have a slightly different culture for the most part.  Making Del Rio even that more unique in lifestyle than even other border towns.

I have written about Del Rio before so, I wont' go into details about all there is to see and do here for that you can view my other blog if you like, "a tribute to Del Rio",   http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/10274/A-tribute-to-Del-Rio-Del-Rio-7    I mainly wanted to depict the lifestyle of this place on this one.  I will also include reviews here.  Enjoy!

The firehouse, once upon a time Del Rio’s original firehouse, city hall, and jail! Now it is the center for promoting arts and culture. The firehouse offers an array of classes anything from music lessons, to painting, ceramics, photography, and dance lessons. The firehouse, participates avidly in promoting the arts here in Del Rio. It is one of the places that participates in the first Friday art walk. On the first Friday of each month the Del Rio city council has set up a walk where you can go from gallery to gallery viewing the work of local and regional artists. The firehouse is one such stop on the walk. However it does not have to be a first Friday to enter this gallery, you can visit this place anytime and get a guided tour if you call ahead. Besides participating in the art walk the firehouse is also the place to go if you want to find out what is playing at the local theater and they play a big part in getting companies to come down and perform in Del Rio. They also (as mentioned above) teach classes for the local community, the classes vary from semester to semester it depends on who they enlist and what they’re individual talents are. If you have a talent that you want to share with the community all you have to do is go down to the firehouse and sign your class up! My daughters have taken a creative writing class and a painting class there before and I personally signed up for a black and white photography class where I learned to develop my film as well as “take better more artsy pictures!” This is also the place where my husband and I took our salsa lessons.

The emporium is one of my favorite ice cream shops to go to here in Del Rio. Well it's the only "real" ice cream shop here! I mean what Texas town doesn't have a dairy queen right? That's beside the point though ;) The emporium serves ice cream in a variety of flavors as well as other delicious treats like bana splits, root beer floats, sherberts, and well you get the point! The place looks and feels like a soda fouintain from the early 1900's. When you walk in you order your treat and then sit at a ricketty little table on ricketty little chairs and they bring out the ice cream to you. Then when you're done with the ice cream you can do a little shopping, this is the place where I get my scrapbook paper. They sell obviously scrapbooking suplies, educational toys and books, jams & jellies, and other knick knacks! A really a fun place, located in downtown historic Del Rio. Today 1-21-08 my oldest and I went into the emporium after her eye appointment, I really like taking my girls here individually after appointments of some type or another, it gives us good one-on-one time! Anyway she had a scoop of the chocolate chip cookie dough and I had a scoop of the mint chocolate chip, yummm!

In 1989 in Leon Springs, a small community in the Texas hill country, right outside of San Antonio. A star was born, The name of this star was Rudy's "Country Store" & Bar-B-Q, Rudy's for short. Self proclaimed the "worst bar-b-q" actually nothing more than a sales gimmick, in fact probably the best bar-b-q place ever! This week Rudy's opened it's doors here in Del Rio, TX. Now 20 some odd stores in Texas and even one in Oklahoma. So, today (Jan. 11) on his way home from work my husband stopped off at Rudy's to bring home what we believe to be the best bar-b-q in Texas! Rudy's sells it's food in the form of a meat market in other words you buy in bulk. One pound of brisket, 1/2 pound of ribs, one serving of jalapeno sausage, 1 pint of Rudy's famous creamed corn, and another pint of their peach cobbler is what he brought home today! If you choose to eat there you would get your food on butcher's paper and that is how you would take it to your table, no plates served here! One of the things I've noticed about "home town" restaurants that start expanding, is that once they begin to grow quality of food and service begins to decline. Not the case with Rudy's however, this place did not let me down the food was just as awesome as it is in the original Rudy's. If ever in this area of Texas you have to stop in at a Rudy's and by all means order their creamed corn (this is a must), the meat is all good, and don't forget to add their own bar-b-q sauce which comes in "original" and " sissy" style. Oh and before you leave if you have a long drive ahead of you can also fill your cars tank here as well!

Today we are taking off for Kansas.  We have a grueling 12 hour drive ahead of us but no matter because the time we spend with family is worth any and all sacrifices!  We are also looking forward to meeting up with Mark (travelman727) my first travbuddy meet up, yay!  Anyway, I won't be on as much while in Kansas just to communicate with Mark really so, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year  bring with it lots of joy for all my new travbuddy friends!

Well we are back happy 2008 everyone!  Just wanted to update the hours spent driving it was more like 16 hours of course there was a dinner stop and two gas stops.  I din't want anyone coming back to me angry at me cuz' I misslead them, lol!  Also just another tidbit that I think would have been helpfull to know.  Interstates in Kansas are toll roads!

As the "proper" military spouse that I am, I have on my wall that stereotypical plaque that states, "home is where the Air Force sends us!"  These plaques come in all shapes and sizes as well, they are made for every single branch of the military the US has.  They have dangly attachments that you buy separately on which you can have the name of every place they ever send you to.  These plaques are cute but, definetly not my style (they're very country!)  Anyone remember the geese decor of the 80's?  Well, these plaques fit in perfectly with that style of decorating!   None the less, one hangs on my wall as in every other military household I've ever been in! 

Why do spouses buy these little plaques anyway?  Well, while some may actually like the style for the grand majority of them I would have to say they just like to show off all the places they've lived!  My mother-in-law proudly displays one on her wall that has about 10 bases, which include two European countries.  I don't yet have that luxury!

So I bought it for the message it sends, "home is where they send you" or, better yet for the message I interpret out of it "the place they send you to is, what you make of it!"  While some places can be "dream" destinations others.... well, not so much!  However, one can spend their time hating the place and being miserable and not really LIVING there at all!  Or one can make the best of the place go out and explore it, get involved in things, and make memories!  I will always choose the 2nd.  This blog is going to be about the places I live at and all the best things each place has to offer!  I will include reviews of my favorite places while I'm there.  If you ever come around to one of these places long after I'm gone at least you can have an idea of what to look for.  You can always say Joan sent you!  Who knows they may give you a discount at one of them :)

I am all packed up, my grandma will be here in the morniing she'll be watching the girls during this cruise.  Hooray for grandma!  My husband is still not packed he probably won't pack till the day we leave, MEN!  Anyways just sitting around watching the weather hoping for sunny skies.

For the outdoorsy people among you if you like motor boating, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, jet skiing, swimming, snorkeling, scubadiving, cave exploring, geology, rock climbing, nature watching, hiking, or any other thing you can think of to do outdoors, then perhaps you should consider Del Rio for a visist.  Lake Amistad is Del Rio's biggest attribute, but that is not to say there is nothing else to do here.  Del Rio offers some pretty interesting sites, which I'll get into more later.  For now let's just start with the lake.

For the outdoorsman or woman  Lake Amistad was built in the 1960's as a reservoir along the Rio Grande 74 miles up , 25 miles up the Devils River and 14 miles up the Pecos River.  The water is clean and warm, and although there are few beaches the shoreline is mostly stony, the lake is fine for swimming and an abundance of water sports.  A popular activity is scuba diving, since the water is unusually clear, and there are interesting underwater rock formations including submerged caves. Diver from all over come to our lake since it is renowned as one of the best diving lakes.  Lake Amistad is 850 miles of spectacular limestone cliffs dotted with ancient caves for exploring, rich with Native American pictography.  The lake is a boaters paradise with plenty of open water as well as, narrow walled canyons, and many "beachy" coves.  Excellent for fishing (another thing the lake is famous for) and camping.  If you're into nature watching this area is famous for birding, there is the seasonal migration of the monarch butterfly, and the area is home to at least 40 individual species of reptiles.  This area is a dessert and most people tend to think of desserts as dry and barren, but desserts are 2nd only to rainforests when it comes to abundance and variety of flora and fauna.

A little more to do in Del Rio  Del Rio is home to it's very own winery.  Established in 1883 by Italian immigrants, Val Verde winery is actually the oldest running winery in the state of Texas!  Good wine too!  If you come for the wine tasting, Del Rio is home to 2 quaint and cozy bed and breakfast's.  We also have the Whitehead museum, where Judge Roy Bean aka "the hanging judge" is buried.   The San Felipe Springs another natural attraction of this town, is a series of about 10 springs that run along side the town, known to be the fourth largest springs in Texas.

Shopping  ok so if you travel to a place for the amazing shopping then perhaps Del Rio is not the place for you!  Unless you are willing to cross the border and venture over for a little Mexican curio shopping.  Perhaps a margarita or two at Crosby's.