Lunch on the Lake

I was sorting through receipts, paid bills, W-2's, and 1099's getting organized to prepare Income Tax Returns, when there was a knock on the door. It was one of our Canadian friends asking if we would like to go for "Lunch on the Lake" with three other couples, all from Manitoba. I was rescued! No more taxes today!

I had never been to this restaurant on the lake, so I had no idea where we were going, but that didn't matter. It was a beautiful sunny day, temperature in the high 70's, and a gentle breeze. "Lunch on the Lake" with friends was far more appealing than sorting receipts and figuring taxes.

We filled two vehicles and headed West to the Boca Paila Restaurant located in La Jolla, Texas, on a private lake along the Rio Grande River about 20 miles West of here. We parked the vehicles in the restaurant lot and walked through the gateway to a park surrounding the restaurant, where Jane McClaren and Carole had to pose with a sculpture of a guitar playing vaquero.


















The main building was a unique interesting style, a large two story high thatched roof stucco covered hut. The outdoor bar was also different, an open bar under a high roof, with individual tables, each with a thatched roof.



















For lunch, we were seated at a table outdoors on the deck overlooking the lake. We enjoyed several drinks and a very nice lunch. Carole had one of her favorites, chicken quesadillas, and I had a buffalo burger with sweet potato fries. Carole was seated facing the sun, so she borrowed my Greek Fisherman's hat to shade her eyes, as you can see.




There were a lot of carp and catfish in the lake which had obviously been fed regularly at this restaurant as they were heavily congregated near the deck. Doug McLaren is shown below feeding the fish and the picture on the right is the carp and catfish feeding frenzy.


















It was a beautiful day with beautiful weather. The setting on the lake was wonderful. The levee along the Rio Grande River separated the lake from the river, so the Mexican border was just on the other side of the lake. None of "The Wall" had yet been constructed in this area as far as we could see. The restaurant manager was quite vocal in opposition to "The Wall" saying it was a complete waste of millions of dollars . . . and she is from Northern California.

The setting was very relaxing and we enjoyed it so much, we talked and drank until the sun was setting. As we left, the ladies stayed behind at our table on the deck watching the sunset across the lake.




Our "Lunch on the Lake" took all afternoon . . . and it was well after dark by the time we got back to "The Bus". A wonderful afternoon . . . but I still have tax receipt sorting and tax return preparation to look forward to tomorrow. Bummer!