B&B: Birders to Brides

Follow the winding path between ebony and ash trees, past the wooden spire that rises through the brush. The Inn at Chachalaca Bend is situated here, on the lip of a resaca, in a corner of Los Fresnos that is off the radar of even local residents.

The eight-room bed and breakfast has hosted President Jimmy Carter, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a number of other artists and scholars. But owner Cleve Breedlove plays these visits down.

Breedlove's real triumph is the property itself - 40 well-kept acres on which native plants and birds thrive. Whistling ducks fill a crescent-shaped resaca. Wild Turkeys stalk their prey. True to form, the hotel's namesake, the Chachalaca, chatters from within the brush.

"We're sure to blend local stuff with tropical species," Breedlove said. "But it takes a lot of work, all of this, to keep it up."

He and his wife Rosemary purchased the land in 1998 and converted some of its standing structures. Local Mennonites hand-carved the building's banisters. They constructed a loft that offers a clear view of Los Fresnos.

A year later, the inn opened to birders who traveled from all over the country to birdwatch in South Texas.

For the Breedloves, it was an ambitious retirement project.

"I'm not sure we knew exactly what we'd be doing," Cleve says now.

In the last 10 years, the business has changed forms. The inn that was once intended to be a birding destination now devotes its resources to hosting weddings. In 2007 alone, 51 couples were married at Chachalaca. The shift has been great for business, Breedlove says, but bad for birders.

"Unfortunately, they're getting bumped out," he said. "I wish we could accommodate birders and wedding parties, but we can't. There's just not enough room."

Still, the Breedloves original intentions are plastered the walls of the inn. In front of every room, there is a painting of a local bird. Visitors to Chachalaca have their pick between the Green Jay Room, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird room and the Kiskadee Room, among others.

"There aren't many places like this in the Valley," Breedlove said. "Businessmen and consultants from San Antonio and Corpus Christi hear about it, and they come back to stay with us - sometimes a few times a month."

"With the regulars, it's easy. ‘Your wine and cheese is waiting,' we tell them. And off they go."

Despite the steady stream of customers, the cost of upkeep makes the profit margin slight. Breedlove wonders if his initial investment will ever come back.

Money is only one part of the equation, though. As he drives his golf cart around the Chachalaca grounds, Cleve Breedlove talks about bobcat sightings, his prized Torchwood trees and the couples who have walked down his cobblestone aisle.

Five miles from the inn, Los Fresnos is expanding in all directions. But the development stops well short of these 40 acres, where the land and its fauna remain untouched.

The Inn at Chachalaca Bend is located at 36298 Chachalaca Bend Drive in Los Fresnos.

Reservations can be made at: (956) 233-1180