Photos: Larry Ditto OCTOBER 2019^33
sanctuary Frontera Audubon is
another butterfly hot spot in town,
while just outside the Weslaco
city limits awaits Estero Llano
Grande State Park. This 231-acre
park is home to a unique specta-
cle: a thriving colony of Western
pygmy blues, the smallest butter-
fly in North America. Estero Llano
Grande also happens to be the
place where a shimmering Mexi-
can bluewing alighted on my shirt
sleeve, an unforgettable experi-
ence that a fellow onlooker in-
formed me is also an ancient sign
of good luck.6 P.M.
Music in the Air
Situated just down the road from
Estero Llano Grande, Nana’s Ta-
quería beckons with lonches, a
variation on the taco that em-
ploys fried Mexican bolillo
bread in place of the traditional
tortilla. Come for the delecta-
ble street-food-inspired fare,
but stay to enjoy live mariachi
music and the signature chamoy
(a sweet and spicy condiment)
margaritas in the spacious
open-air patio.Sunday
9 A.M.
Vamos a la Playa
The beach is a little more than
an hour away from Mission, but
it’s well worth the drive—even
more so if your arrival happens
to coincide with the monarchs
pausing at South Padre Island
on their journey from Canada to
central Mexico.
The most recent addition to
the Valley’s network of ecotour-
ism destinations is the South
Padre Island Birding and NatureCAMP OUT
Bentsen Palm Drive, located near
the National Butterfly Center, is
lined with RV parks catering to na-
ture enthusiasts. One popular op-
tion is Bentsen Palm Village RV
Resort, which borders Bentsen
Rio Grande State Park and offers a
wealth of hiking and biking trails.
In addition to RV sites, the resort
also offers cabin and casita rentals.
956-381-1500; bentsenpalm.com/
active-adult/rv-resortCenter, situated on the Laguna
Madre side of the island’s main
thoroughfare. Every year in late
October, the center hosts a Hal-
loween weekend event called
HalloWings, scheduled to coin-
cide with the arrival of migrating
monarchs. The exact date of this
spectacle is impossible to predict,
of course, since the monarchs’ de-
parture depends on factors such
as a cold front arriving to give
them a little extra push in their
southerly journey.
My trip, which I’d planned for
the second week of November,
happened to come a week too
late. Still, park naturalist Javier
Gonzalez showed me a video
he’d taken of a single evergreen
tenaza tree pulsating with the
incredible sight of hundreds of
butterfly royalty. “For one or
two days,” Gonzalez said, “our
gardens are filled with monarchs.
Then they’ll just keep going.”
All the more reason, I thought,
to hit the butterfly trail again
next year.