Mico Tour

Mico Fire House and EMS Barn

For more information on the Mico Fire Department go to their web site at:

Mico Fire Department
The Mico Fire House is where the volunteer fire department calls home. More than that, however, it is used as our community center as it is the only public building other than the church with enough room for a meeting or a get together. It is also the seat of government. We have never incorporated so we are not actually a town but when something needs to be decided (which isn't often) we all meet at the Fire House. The elected officers of the Fire Department are as close as we come to having a local government. We do have an auxiliary Fire House on the west side of the dam but it is just a garage for two of our fire trucks. The EMS Barn is our newest addition to Mico. Until we got it our ambulances came out of Castroville and regularly took 45 minutes to get here

Mico Fire House and EMS Barn
For more information on the Mico Fire Department go to their web site at: Mico Fire Department	The Mico Fire House is where the volunteer fire department calls home. More than that, however, it is used as our community center as it is the only public building other than the church with enough room for a meeting or a get together. It is also the seat of government. We have never incorporated so we are not actually a town but when something needs to be decided (which isn't often) we all meet at the Fire House. The elected officers of the Fire Department are as close as we come to having a local government. We do have an auxiliary Fire House on the west side of the dam but it is just a garage for two of our fire trucks. The EMS Barn is our newest addition to Mico. Until we got it our ambulances came out of Castroville and regularly took 45 minutes to get here

Mico Post Office

The Mico Post Office is another new building. It has just been completed at great expense, and boasts a stamp vending machine, a bulletin board and some post office boxes. It is about 10 feet by 20 feet and has no staff, just a mail carrier who comes by once a day.

Mico Post Office
The Mico Post Office is another new building. It has just been completed at great expense, and boasts a stamp vending machine, a bulletin board and some post office boxes. It is about 10 feet by 20 feet and has no staff, just a mail carrier who comes by once a day.

Mico Bridge

In the summer of 2001 we finally got a new bridge. It has two lanes and is a few feet higher than the old bridge so it should not flood as easily

View below the bridge.

This was the old bridge that joined east and west Mico, It spanned the Medina River just below the dam and, as you can see, it was only one lane.

This picture was taken when the lake was full and water and was going over the spillway of the dam. This happens every few years and can last a few days or a few weeks. The detour caused by this adds about 30 miles to get from one side of town to the other.

Mico Bridge
	In the summer of 2001 we finally got a new bridge. It has two lanes and is a few feet higher than the old bridge so it should not flood as easily
View below the bridge.
	This was the old bridge that joined east and west Mico, It spanned the Medina River just below the dam and, as you can see, it was only one lane.
This picture was taken when the lake was full and water and was going over the spillway of the dam. This happens every few years and can last a few days or a few weeks. The detour caused by this adds about 30 miles to get from one side of town to the other.

Medina Dam

Monument

Of course the dam is the only site that people actually come to Mico to see. This is of course the Historical Monument on the Dam. It is a little hard to read at this size but if you click on the picture it, like all the other pictures on this page, will take you to a larger version of it

It is hard to get to a place that you can get a picture of the dam that does it any justice. I'll add more pictures at a later time.

A large colony of vultures (I have counted 200) roosts in the trees below the dam and in the cooler morning they migrate up to the rails and hang around till the air heats up enough to start a thermal. The Dam evidently creates a large thermal and I think that is the reason we have so many vultures in the area. In the right season you will also see a number of Great Blue Herons nesting in the trees. The dam puts you above the treetops.

When the temperature is right and the thermal starts warm air upward the vultures take off. It is quite a site to see hundreds of big birds spiraling to great heights without a single wing stroke.

The view from the North of the Dam is of the lake which is not a constant level lake so it is a constantly changing view. This is what it looks like when it is about 26 feet low.

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Maggie and Bill Finley
21 March 2002
finepots@texas.net

	Monument Of course the dam is the only site that people actually come to Mico to see. This is of course the Historical Monument on the Dam. It is a little hard to read at this size but if you click on the picture it, like all the other pictures on this page, will take you to a larger version of it
	It is hard to get to a place that you can get a picture of the dam that does it any justice. I'll add more pictures at a later time.
	A large colony of vultures (I have counted 200) roosts in the trees below the dam and in the cooler morning they migrate up to the rails and hang around till the air heats up enough to start a thermal. The Dam evidently creates a large thermal and I think that is the reason we have so many vultures in the area. In the right season you will also see a number of Great Blue Herons nesting in the trees. The dam puts you above the treetops.
	When the temperature is right and the thermal starts warm air upward the vultures take off. It is quite a site to see hundreds of big birds spiraling to great heights without a single wing stroke.
	The view from the North of the Dam is of the lake which is not a constant level lake so it is a constantly changing view. This is what it looks like when it is about 26 feet low.