Now all she has is fun. Using scrapers as magic wands, the duo performs artistic alchemy, transforming mounds of grit into citadels of medieval fantasy. McDonald fashions walls, stairways and arches. Wierenga scrapes overhanging roofs and smoothes turrets. Wrapping upward from the tip of Texas, South Padre is part of the barrier island chain that hugs the Gulf Coast.
Waves wash ashore on one side.
Laguna Madre's tranquil shoals border the other. The rest remains wild and natural. Wierenga, born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., migrated here for a teaching job. McDonald, once a news photographer, came to visit a friend and never left. The two have worked together for more than a dozen years.