Sunday February 17, 2008

Got up early this morning and got on the road by 5:45. This is the perfect day to travel - no weather worries and not too much traffic as we go through the major cities on our way home. We fairly flew up I-95 (staying at the speed limit as there were lots of police cars about) and made wonderful time. We got home at about 4:30 PM and Amy has dinner waiting for us. We spent the first few minutes in a hug-a-thon - it was so good to see everyone! Zoe was a little hesitant at first, but she started warming up to us by dinner time. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend and giving lots more hugs! Well, this adventure is at an end, but I'm sure there will be more along the way. I have really enjoyed putting thoughts in the blog so may try to keep it up on a less rigorous schedule - we'll see. So bye to all for now . . . until our next adventure!

Saturday February 16, 2008

Our original plan was to visit with Ed and Bet and then drive down to Del Ray Beach to visit with our friends, Larry and Sandy. We talked with them yesterday and learned that Sandy's sister is very slowly recovering from heart surgery. They have been visiting her almost daily and are pretty worn out and stressed with all of the running around. As it doesn't seem like a good time for a visit - after all we are here 2 weeks earlier that we thought we would be, we decided we would head for home. As much as we are enjoying the warm weather and being away from winter, we miss home, the kids, and the grandkids. Our original plan was to crash the birthday party next weekend which the kids are having at our house - we thought we would just show up as the party was taking place, but since we are going to be home a week early, I guess we will let the cat out of the bag. So, kids, we will see you next weekend (are we invited?)!

We had breakfast with Ed and Betty this AM before we left - pecan waffles (yum!) and then after hugs all around got on the road. It was a little foggy when we got up this morning, but it didn't take long for the sun to burn it off. We had a lovely day for driving - warm and sunny - and we were listening to a John Sanford novel on the CD player. We only have 1 disc to go and neither Dave nor I are really sure who did it - the sign of a good mystery. We have stopped for the night in Fayetteville, NC and walked across the parking lot to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. We will see how far we get tomorrow - we are anxious to get home, but can only spend so many hours per day in the car. It seems hard to believe that our winter journey is almost at an end - some parts of it seems like yesterday and others seem like they happened a lifetime ago.

Friday February 15, 2008

After breakfast this morning, we drove over to Ed's and we all climbed into Ed's car (Ed, Bet, Deb, Dave, and I). Ed took us on a lovely ride through Plant City where the trees grow over the road to make a canopy that is draped with Spanish moss - really quite lovely! We ended up at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park where we started our tour with a quiet boat ride up Pepper Creek. We then walked over to the underwater observatory where we watch the hundreds of fish in the spring. Next we went to the manatee educational program. The volunteer was in the water with the manatees - he had a hard time keeping his footing as the manatees kept nudging him to remind him to feed them more sweet potatoes! They were quite insistent and would not stop even after he showed them the empty bucket. They were quite funny as they have a large flexible upper lip (a rudimentary trunk? as they are related to elephants) which they used to pick up the sweet potatoes. All of the animals in the park are native to Florida except for a hippopotamus which was leftover from when the park was privately owned. The hippo was made an honorary citizen by the governor so he does reside there quite happily. He (Lucifer) was quite a sight - 6000+ pounds of hippo basking in the sun (makes one want to go on a crash diet before swimsuit season!). They also had bobcats, black bears and a Florida panther. There were hundreds of birds - flamingo and roseatte spoonbill (today's blog pictures), egret, blue heron, sandhill and whooping cranes, stilts, vultures, pelicans . . . most of these were free to come and go at will, but a few were in cages as rescue birds - especially raptors like eagles, falcons, and owls. Some of them are nursed back to health and others will remain in the park as they will never be well enough to go back to the wild. We thoroughly enjoyed the park and spent much of the day there. We went for lunch at a nearby restaurant - Margaritagrille - which is totally decorated with a patriotic flair - they even serve American fries on the menu! The lunch was delicious and then Ed took us for a bit of a circular route back to Bushnell. We came back and took a walk around the park, stopping to play a game of shuffleboard - Dave and I had never played, but we did okay. When we got back to the house, we played a game of hand and foot (Florida style) - same basic game, but slightly different rules - didn't make any difference as the girls won again (way to go, Betty!). We went back to the motel, but arrange to meet them for breakfast before we leave.

Thursday February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We got up this morning and headed across the panhandle of Florida. It must have been cold when we first came out as there was quite a frost on the car. We have nothing of note to report on the drive except for the A-10 warthog (plane) which buzzed us on the highway. We heard it after we saw it - must have been practicing map of the land flying as it went over just 50 feet above us and was going so fast we heard it (loud) after we saw it go over. Scared the c..p out of us! We got to Bushnell about 2 and found Ed and Bet's house - Deb is here also and it was good to see them all. We had the five minute tour of the house and then went for a walk around the neighborhood and met some of their friends. Betty is doing very well after her major accident in the fall - she is walking without assistance and can go quite the distance - it really is a miracle! We came back and chatted for a while and then went out to dinner at a BBQ place (Sonny's) - delicious! It reminded us of the great BBQ we had when Amy was living in Kansas. Ed took us for a drive around the town and then we came back to the house and played a game of hand and foot. We are going back after breakfast tomorrow and will spend the day with them.

Wednesday February 13, 2008

We delayed our start this morning so that we would miss the commuter traffic into Houston - didn't seem to make much difference as we hit the traffic anyway. At one point we saw a HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane and thought - oh, good - this will get us out of the traffic . . . WRONG! The HOV lanes here are a quicker way to get into downtown - not around it! After wandering around downtown Houston for a bit, we finally found our way to a highway going north and from there were able to connect back to the road we were on originally on the correct side of the outskirts. We fairly flew through the rest of Texas and Louisiana. We thought of the houses we worked on as we passed through Mississippi and were hoping that by now they were finished and occupied. We were amazed anew as we drove through Mobile at the size of the bay - it is huge! We finally stopped in Pensacola, FL for the night. We called Ed and Bet and let them know we will be with them tomorrow afternoon. We look forward to being out of the car and staying somewhere for more than one night. We saw an interesting license plate on our drive - DEDAK8BED What do you think? Mattress salesman or professional sleeper? As tomorrow is Valentine's day, we wish our family and friends a wonderful day - we will be thinking of you all!

Tuesday February 12, 2008

We got up this morning and took down the tent, stowed everything, and were on our way by 8 AM. We drove up through Marathon and then up to Fort Stockton to get on Route 10. There was a giant roadrunner statue in Fort Stockton - very cute. We traveled further down the road and came upon hundreds of wind turbines on top of several mesas - the last time we saw that many turbines was in 85 when we were out west with the kids. They are fascinating! We also saw quite a few long bed trucks - each of which was carrying one propeller of a turbine - they are really huge! We did not run into any traffic to speak of until we came to San Antonio - there was an accident and then some construction. We finally got through that and had smoother sailing as we went away from the city. We passed a large ranch by the side of the highway and there was a herd of buffalo grazing - very cool! We stopped for the night in Columbus, TX - both of us suffering from DB (dead butt)! We checked into a motel and walked the 3 blocks (it felt so good to walk for a change) to a restaurant for dinner - the only real meal we had today. We have a call in to my brother Ed to see if he will be home if we stop by to see him later in the week. We also called Larry and Sandy Levine and had a nice chat with them. We plan on stopping to see them earlier than we had planned. Well, time to relax for a bit - will try to blog again tomorrow, but one never knows if there is internet when we stop for the night.

Monday February 11, 2008

When we left the patio last night, it was almost dark. As we headed down to the campsites, a small gray fox crossed the road in front of us. We got into bed as it was starting to get chilly and read for a while before going to sleep.

We decided to take a day off from hiking today - our calves are still "mooing" and we badly need showers. We drove down to Rio Grande Village (the only shower facility in the whole park) and as we were showering, we threw in a load of laundry. We met a couple from Shipingsport (I believe I have that right), PA - he was a civilian who worked for the Army and she was a retired math teacher! We had a lovely chat with them and also an older couple from upstate NY. We were all chatting when 2 vans pulled up - filled with Elderhostel folks. They were stopping for a bathroom break. There was no one from CT, but one lady said her dad grew up in Norwich. We went back to camp and mucked out the car - it had been a while. Later in the afternoon, we visited with a woman who is going around the country for one year. She stops a various churches on her way and talks to the congregation about water for Africa - she is associated with World Church. When I went up to the restroom, I stopped at the bulletin board to check out the ranger talk for tonight - unfortunately, it was not at this site, but I noticed that the weather was for increasing cloudiness with a chance of rain and/or snow for later in the week. We decided that this would not be at all fun so we decided to head to FL a bit earlier than we had planned. We cooked dinner and then gave some of our leftover food to the lady from World Church and the rest to the camp host. We kept the snacks and water for our trip in the car. When we had sorted everything out, we asked our neighbor to join us for a chat. She is an interesting person. She is a retired gardner from the National Cathedral in DC and now lives in NH. At one time she owned a Great Pyrennes (I know that is spelled wrong) that she used to take to nursing homes as a therapy pet. We chatted until we all were starting to feel the chill and then said our goodbyes and went to bed.

Sunday February 10, 2008

Another day, another hike. Today we hiked the Lost Mine Trail - 5 miles and 1100 feet elevation change. The photos come from our hike today - the views were awesome. Legend has it that there was a hidden silver mines in the hills, but there is no evidence that this could be so. The good thing is that the trail out was uphill and the way back was down - so much easier! The weather was also more cooperative - slightly cloudy and a wonderful breeze. We were amazed to see a roadrunner near the top of the trail - somehow I thought they were just in the lower desert regions - obviously this is not so. We also saw several deer - two of them were fawns - very cute. We had a lovely chat at the top with a couple from Atlanta who have been gone since August. They spent a month in Death Valley and are just wandering around until they have to be home in March. Our calves are really getting toned with all the up and down hiking. We came back to camp in mid afternoon and read for awhile before dinner. We are now sitting on the patio and watching the sunset - a little different tonight as there are more clouds. They say there is a chance of rain tonight - if it rains, it will be the first time in the park. The folks that we met on the trail yesterday just came up on the patio - they are going in to dinner at the lodge behind us. We also saw our tent neighbor from this campground - he is treating himself to dinner here also. He has been gone all day and said he went into Presidio to grocery shop, wash his car, and do laundry. Here, that kind of thing takes all day as it is at least 2 hours to the nearest reasonable sized town and then 2 hours back. There are more tent campers in this park - because of the windy switch-back road to get here, the larger campers are not allowed - nor could they manage to get around the sharp curves - so we have tenters and small caravans.

Saturday February 9, 2008

The photo on the right was taken from the patio as the sun was setting last night while we were blogging. There is a notch in the mountains here called the window (hard to see in the photo as it was getting dark) and that is the hike we took after breakfast this morning. We hiked for 6 1/2 miles with an elevation of nearly 1000 feet (Dad finally figured out how to use the GPS) - unfortunately it was mostly downhill going and uphill coming back when it was hot, but it was a great hike and we enjoyed the views. Much of the trail was made by the CCC and we walked through some small treed areas. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of a mountain lion, but all we saw were white tailed deer and a multitude of birds. In the window itself, the stone is well rounded - there was a small creek running, but I am sure that during high water there would be an awesome waterfall. We didn't get too close to the edge because of the smoothness of the stone and the immense dropoff into nothingness, but we did climb up to a viewpoint above and got an awesome view of the desert below and the distant mountains in Mexico. We met a couple that we had seen before in the other campground and we sat together and shared a bench as we ate our granola bars and fruit. They are RVing full time - we didn't ask, but assume that they have no family ties. The photo on the left is of a century plant with a flower stalk from last year - it was all dried out and rattles when the wind is blowing. We got back to camp and decided to sit in the shade and read - did not want to wear ourselves out on the first day here. There are other days and other hikes. We didn't hear any wildlife last night and we miss our resident roadrunners although there are a couple of small birds who show up when we are doing food preparation - I'm sure they have been successful in the past in stealing some tidbits from people who have not been paying attention.

Friday February 8, 2008

Well, we did a lot in Alpine yesterday. We left Mc Donald's and went to the laundromat where we washed and dried our clothes. We then went to the library resale store where we dropped off several books that we finished in the past week. From there we went to a hardware store and Dave picked up a compressor to fill our mattress after we move. Our last stop was to the grocery store where we filled our cooler and got a few more dry goods. We drove back to camp and got there just at dark. We had a quick dinner and walked to the ampitheater to catch the ranger talk on Dinosaurs and Fossils of Big Bend. The ranger giving the talk was excellent - very energetic and animated. We really enjoyed the talk. We got back to our site and read for a short time before going to sleep.

We heard both the donkeys and the coyotes last night! Got up to a chilly morning (33), but it soon warmed up as the sun came over the mountains. We had breakfast and then set about breaking camp. When we had everything in the car we went up to the camp store and jumped in the shower. It felt so good to get clean! We then drove out the Chisos Basin. The campground is exactly as you would think - in a basin surrounded by beautiful mountains. We set up the tent and then of course, we had trouble with the mattress. The compressor that Dave bought in Alpine had several holes in the hose so of course we couldn't get air into the mattress. (I was about ready to go back to the thin mats on the ground). Finally, we tried the adapter that goes to the car from the new pump that Bean's sent us (that didn't fit the mattress) - it worked like a charm! By the time we got the camp put to rights, it was time to make dinner. We had a chicken and rice dish with mushrooms and almonds, broccoli for a veggie - came out great. We now are at the Basin patio (chilly, but not too bad). The two photos at the top of the blog were taken from our new tent site. The one on the left is our view when we sit at the picnic table - great view for dining. The other is the view from the front of our tent - also very easy on the eyes. We look forward to doing the hikes in this area - should be spectacular scenery. I'm not sure what the night sounds will be here - the warnings here are for bear and mountain lion as opposed to coyote and javelina in Rio Grande. Unfortunately, we have already heard the ranger program for tonight so we will either read or catch a movie on the computer.

Thursday February 7, 2008

We had to move our tent yesterday as they were beginning the irrigation in our section. We had been camped on the grass, but had to move up to the gravel pad. We are glad we moved as we most certainly would have been floating by this morning. We had french toast for breakfast and said goodbye to our young neighbors - their tour is heading to San Antonio. We decided to go into Alpine for more supplies and to do laundry. We are sitting now in the local Mc Donald's where we have been filling in the past several blogs. We will try to reach the kids a little later after doing the laundry and head back to camp hopefully before dark. We will probably move to Chisos Basin tomorrow as we feel we have done all of the hikes we can do in this area of the park. We will see how the weather is in the Basin - it is supposed to be not as cold at night, but also not as hot during the day. We haven't posted any photos this time as it takes so long, but hope to get some on again as soon as we can. It should be a bit easier at the Basin where they do have the internet access at the patio.

Wednesday February 6, 2008

Had eggs and toast for breakfast this morning and then went for a walk at Dugout Wells. They had a lovely nature trail there and we enjoyed seeing the various types of cacti. We saw a small bird with gray breast - not sure what it's name is - but it catches insects and skewers the ones it is not going to eat right way on the spines of the cacti and then eats them later - quite inventive! We then went to take a hike at Grapevine Hills - we never did find the trailhead after driving many miles down a dirt road - so we set out on our own to make a path. We climbed to the top of a hill and were rewarded with marvelous views of the surrounding area. We had a few thorns and scratches to attend to when we got back to the car, but it was worth it. We had pasta for dinner and chatted with the Ameritreks kids again for a while before going to bed. The camp host delivered our package from Beans this morning, but we discovered it was not the right part - did not fit our bed. We called Beans again and they said to call back tomorrow as they were going to contact the manufacturer.

Tuesday February 5, 2008

It was warm last night - in the 70's. We kept the tent flaps open until the middle of the night when it started to cool down. Woke up this morning to howling winds - 45 to 50 mph. We went out to put extra stakes on the tent. We ate a cold breakfast in the screen porch as it was too windy to light the stove. We stuck around this morning until the wind abated and then went for a walk to the camp store. Dave is working on carving a spoon so we stayed in camp today. We took several turns around the campground chatting with different folks we met along the way. We had Hawaiin chicken for dinner - it was good. A group of 14 young people pulled in next to us. They are traveling across the US with a program called Ameritreks. Most are college graduates taking a break before getting jobs. They were from England, Denmark, Germany, and Korea. They will spend two days here and then head for San Antonio, New Orleans, Memphis, DC, and finally NYC. We went into the tent after a while and watched a movie on the laptop.

Monday February 4, 2008

We slept like babies - the bed is great! Woke up briefly three times with the howling of coyotes, but they didn't keep us up. After breakfast, we drove to the camp store for a hot shower ($1.50 for 5 minutes - not bad) and it felt great. Drove out to Boquillas Canyon and walked the trail over the ridge and down to the river. Met a singing Mexican named Victor who was serenading us from the other side (Eii, yii, yii, yii). We put a couple of dollars in his bucket - we felt safe doing this as he was not selling anything. As we came back up the trail, we saw another Mexican crossing the river. Victor said not to worry, it was his friend, Manuel, coming to pick up the tips - quite illegal for him to be on this side of the river, but I suppose the chances of getting caught are slim in such a remote area. We came back to camp for lunch - took a rest in the shade of the tent - and then we were ready for another walkabout. We drove to the trailhead for Hot Springs. This was used as a health spa from 1909 to 1916 when they were forced to close due to border unrest from the Mexican Revolution. It reopened in 1927 and the owner built a motor court and general store which also served as a US Post Office. The owners sold the property to the state of Texas in 1942 and eventually it was given to the National Park Service. There were a few petroglyphs and pictographs on the cliffs, but they were in poor shape. There were also large nests in the cliffs (looked like hornet nests on steroids) - we assume they belong to a type of swallow. The hot springs are adjacent to the Rio Grande. I took off socks and shoes and waded for a bit in the 105 degree water - too hot outside to truly enjoy - would be fab ulous on a cold day. Met us with our tent neighbors there (there are only 3 tents in the whole campground - all the rest are RVs). They are from northern Arizona. We invited them for a dinner of burgers and Greek salad - they brought steamed cabbage and Dove chocolates for dessert. Had a lovely time chatting with them until about 9:30. They will be leaving for Chisos Basin tomorrow.

Sunday February 3, 2008

Slept a little better last night, but the mattress is still not blown up as it should be. Our next door neighbors, Rob and Karen from Ontario had a compressor which we thought might work. We dragged the mattress back to the rest room and hooked up the compressor to the mattress using duct tape to hold the hose onto the intake valve . . . and it worked! The mattress blew up completely! Thank you, Rob and Karen! Rob is a physics teacher and Karen is a meditation instructor - we exchanged email addresses and hope that they will come to visit Mystic some time. We called called Beans and they are sending a replacement pump, but for now we are okay. We took the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive today and stopped to hike a few of the walks along the way. We stopped at the Sam Nail Ranch - built in 1916 - which was an adobe house. The people were self-sufficient with milk cows, chickens, hogs, a vegetable garden and fruit orchard, windmills to carry water from the dug wells for ranch use and irrigation. We stopped at Blue Creek Ranch where the house still stands - built of natural stone - plastered walls - located in the bottom of a wide canyon. There was even a circular corral left made of upright sticks and small trees. Our next hike was the Burro Mesa Pouroff - this trail led to a lovely box canyon. Along the way there were several pouroffs or dry waterfalls which have carved smooth troughs into the stone. During the rainy season, this must be an awesome sight. We drove on to Castelon where a few old houses and a store remain. The store is still in business and is run by the park service. Until the border closed in 2002, Mexicans came across to purchase items here. Now they have to travel 160 miles on bad roads to get to the nearest town from their small village across the river. We finished our drive at the Santa Elena Canyon - lovely views. Drove back and stopped at Chisos Basin. They have wifi on their patio so we blogged Friday and Saturday there. They also have an outdoor TV. Because it was Super Bowl Sunday, there was quite a crowd - we finally left without finishing the blog for today as we felt people were looking for seats for the game and it was getting quite chilly. We have been having true desert temps - 20's and 30's at night and quite hot during the day (got to 92 today!). We saw three mule deer on our way back to the parking lot and then when we got on the road and were headed back to camp we saw four javelinas next to the road - they look like wild pigs, but they are really peccaries. Back at camp we walked to the ampitheater to see a program on snakes of the Big Bend.

Saturday February 2, 2008

We both woke up this morning a bit weary and sore from our weird sleeping arrangement and vowed to remedy it today. We dragged the mattress out of the tent and hauled it down to the restroom where we plugged it in to charge it. We stayed around camp most of the day - just took a short hike behind our site to the Rio Grande (about 1/4 of a mile). We saw a few grebes on an inlet and some turtles sunning themselves. The river here is very shallow and someone could easily cross into Mexico or vice versa here although of course it is illegal to cross here so we stayed on our side. There were a few places along the path where Mexicans left wares to purchase - rocks, braided bracelets, walking sticks, metal wire shaped scorpions - and a jar to put the money in if you were to buy. However, since the fine for purchasing goods from illegals is $5000, we were not tempted. We got back to camp and had a dinner of garlic shrimp and rice and then tried the mattress again. This time it filled up about 1/3 of the way after charging all day. We decided we would call Bean's in the morning as there is obviously something wrong with the pump. We went down to the local Ranger Station and watch a movie on the Big Bend - it was very good, but the room was small and it was hot in there. The temperature during the day was 80. It does get down into the 30's at night though, so we are thankful for our flannel sheets and comforter. We read for a while and then fell asleep only to be awaken by the loud braying of wild burros. We haven't seen any yet, but have saw their scat on our walk.

Friday February 1, 2008

The first shot is the view from our tent and the second is of our resident roadrunner.

After our showers this morning, we went down to the Alpine Food Basket and loaded up on produce and meat. We filled the cooler and then went back to the motel and packed the rest of our gear around the cooler. After having breakfast, we headed out for Big Bend. We finally got to the entrance gate and then it was another 30 miles to the Ranger Station. We stopped in for a break and then drove for another 20 miles to the Rio Grande Campground. We finally got our site picked out and set about getting the tent up. It was a bit slow as this was our first time with the new test, but we did manage to get it up and staked out. We then got the inflatable mattress out and this is where we really got into a mess! Apparently, we were supposed to charge the battery for 12 hours before the first use. Well, we went to Plan B which was to us the power in the car with a converter. This worked just so - so. The bed blew up about a quarter of the way and then just stopped. We just couldn't get it to take on more air. We gave up on the bed and got the rest of the gear stowed. We had some onlookers as we were setting up - a roadrunner, a coyote who wandered through the site, a woodpecker just over our heads and a rabbit. We had dinner of lime chicken (left over from last night's dinner) and rice with veggies. We then walked down to the ampitheater for the ranger program. It was quite good - all about the Texas Rangers in this area. When we left the ampitheater, we somehow took a wrong turn and ended up walking around for a while in the dark - we did have a flashlight, but there are no streetlights or anything to focus on. We finally saw a few lights in the distance which were caused by lights on in RV's. We have no idea how we got so turned around, but it was good to see our tent. When we got into bed, the fun began - there was so little air in the mattress that our heads and feet were in the air and our butts just a inch off the ground. Whenever one of us turned over, the other got seasick! We had some good laughs and then finally got so tired we just fell asleep. We woke up several times in the night to hear the coyotes howling - what a primeval sound.

Thursday January 31, 2008

Our plans for a quick dinner went awry last night. We walked across to the pizza house and after a half hour, we found that they had lost the ticket and hadn't put it in the oven yet. We left, hungry, and drove into town to a burger place. Again, we waited for a long time - the waitress kept coming back and apologizing - we thinks the first order got burned or something. We finally got our dinner and left the waitress an extra tip as she did not charge us for our drinks because we had to wait so long. Came back to the hotel and caught the end of "A Few Good Men" on TV.

After breakfast this morning, we got the cooler out of the car and emptied it in preparation for our stop at the grocery store tomorrow. We also found a number of things that we have picked up along the trip that we don't need with us - we sent them to Amy in a box and stopped at the Post Office in town to mail it off. We drove up to Fort Davis which is just north of here and visited the Fort Davis National Historical site. It was an army fort which was occupied from 1854 to 1891 with a small hiatus during the Civil War. Some of the buildings were in ruins (adobe), but many were in fairly good shape (brick). Some of the buildings have been restored and furnished to the period. Most of the work was done by graduate students in historical preservation from the University of Vermont! We spent quite a while there tromping around the grounds and viewing the museum. We ate our mini-lunch in the car as the wind is still howling day and the temp is only 40. From here, we could see the large buildings on top of a mountain that are the Mc Donald Observatory. We didn't go up however as they are only open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights. We will try to make a special trip for that. On the way back to Alpine, we stopped at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center. We walked their extensive botanical gardens and visited the greenhouse. They have an amazing number of trees, shrubs, and cacti growing in the gardens and it was interesting to look at the various types of cacti some of which we are sure to see in Big Bend. We are now back in Alpine and will go out in a while for dinner. This will probably be the last blog posting for a bit as I am sure we will not be able to access the Internet in the park. Our plan is to continue to blog each day and then post them all at once when we come back to town to re-supply (probably in a week or so). We saw a sign that the Mc Donald's in town has wireless sevice available so we will probably be using their service.

Wednesday January 30, 2008

We went out to Wentworth Ranch after breakfast this morning to see some rocks. We had to wait for a bit as the owner was out on horseback checking on one of his "girls" (cows). He gave us a tour of the house which is attached to the rock shop. The massive fireplace was faced with gorgeous rocks that came from the ranch - including geodes and a small mill stone - it was fascinating. We toured the shop both inside and out and I bought a small red plume agate and Dave bought two chunks of obsidian - he may try his hand at making points. We came back to town and checked out the grocery store - we found that it opens at 7 which is good as Friday morning we want to get a fairly early start and need to stop here for meat and produce before we go into the park. We then decided to go for a drive and took a large loop out through Marfa (very small town) and then down to Presidio (a border town). We then drove along the Rio Grande - this was an amazing ride - beautiful scenery, great colors. The two pictures in the blog were taken along this route. The first one shows the river which separates the US from Mexico and the second is just a scene from the road. We went through two abandoned mining towns along the way. Apparently mercury mining was big for a while here. It comes from the mineral cinnabar which was prevalent in the area. We actually came within four miles of Big Bend, but turned north at that point and headed back to Alpine. The entire trip was about 225 miles - it was a great day - super sights, warm weather (76 this afternoon after a morning low of 39). We stopped at the library shop and donated two books that we finished last night and are now putting our feet up until dinner. We will probably just get a pizza tonight as we have been having too many heavy dinners - can't wait to cook for ourselves!

Tuesday January 29, 2008

We went to the grocery store after breakfast this morning and bought our dry goods for camping - we figured they would be cheaper in Del Rio than one of the smaller towns closer to Big Bend. We also filled up with gas at $2.83. We stopped at the Amistad Recreation Area Park headquarters and chatted with one of the rangers about Big Bend - he gave us a heads-up on some of his favorite hikes in the park. We drove partway out across the dam, but didn't continue as there was a border crossing and we didn't intend to go into Mexico. We found a turn around and got out of the car to enjoy the view: Amistad Resevoir on one side of the dam and Rio Grande on the other. We heard loud noises and looked down where we discovered the US Border Patrol was conducting rifle practice on their range. We drove on and soon we were in new territory (beyond Langtry). This area reminded us of the Badlands in South Dakota - rolling, barren hills. It was quite windy and we saw some tumbleweeds blowing about. As we got closer to Marathon, the landscape changed - the hills were steeper and were reddish in color. We stopped in at visitor information in Sanderson to change drivers and chatted with a disabled man from Quebec City, Canada who was on a bicycle! His bike had fallen over due to the wind while he was in the visitor center and Dave helped him right it. He had been on the road since July - as far north as Alaska and was now heading to Brownsville, TX to cross over into Mexico - his final destination is Cancun - what an amazing person! We continued on to Marathon where one of the entrances to the park is and were glad that we had decided to stop in Alpine (30 miles further down the road). Alpine is a much larger town. The gas price here is $3.02 as opposed to $3.25 in Marathon. We found a motel for the next three nights and will have a good time exploring the area before we head into the park. We went to the Museum of the Big Bend which is located on the campus of Sul Ross State University (about 2000 students) and enjoyed the displays. We chatted with a fellow there who told us about a ranch where you can dig for fossils, opals, and agates - we will go out there tomorrow, although I'm not sure how many more rocks we can fit in the car! We walked around downtown and checked out a few stores and then stopped into a used book store run by the local library where we found a few more books to take with us. The woman running the shop was lovely and she said they came to this area to retire and her husband found a job teaching at Sul Ross. We came back to the motel and did a load of laundry - we want to have all clean clothes before we head in. We went to a local eatery for dinner - very good and then drove about 15 miles out of town to see the Marfa lights. These are a weird phenomenon that occur sporadically in this area. Apparently we were very lucky to see them. They looked light glowing balls being juggled way out in the distance. We were able to see three separate sets of them - white and then occasionally turning red or green for brief intervals. They have been studied by scientists quite often, but no one can positively explain what makes them appear and what is causing them. It was all very interesting - we will have to check the research when we have time.

Monday January 28, 2008

Just wanted to finish our time in San Antonio with a night time shot of the Alamo.

We got up this morning to a misty drizzle. We looked out the window of the motel and there was a steady stream of cars heading into the base. Fortunately, when it was time to go to Cookie and Ron's house, we turned in the opposite direction of the gate. We chatted for a bit and then went for breakfast at a little home cookin' restaurant. The walls were covered with pictures and posters of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and other movie stars. Dave, Ron, and I had pancakes, while Cookie, Trey, and Lettie had Mexican fare. We stopped back at the house and Ron showed us his music room. He was in a number of bands (mostly played lead guitar) - he showed us an album with photos of the different bands - cowboy outfits and all. He then showed us a contraption he built to provide a backup beat for his guitar. It attached to a keyboard and was quite ingenious - we told him he should apply for a patent. He then showed us a jukebox that he bought when a Mexican bar/restaurant closed. He put some of his own collection of 45's in the jukebox and she played a few songs for us - really cool! Finally, it was time to get on the road. We have had a great time visiting with them, it was hard to leave. We hope that soon they will come to Connecticut so we can show them our neck of the woods. Trey and Lettie may have a conference in Boston in late Fall, so we are hoping they have time to come to Mystic - we know they would love to meet our kids and get to know his Yankee cousins! We got on Route 90 and stopped for a break in Alamo Village. This was a Hollywood set town that was built on a ranch complete with the Alamo a frontier town and a deserted Mexican village. The original movie with John Wayne was filmed here as well as many other Westerns - Gunsmoke, Texas, Arrowhead - over 100 movies, documentaries, music videos, and commercials. We especially enjoyed chatting with a couple of local cowpokes in the cantina. Apparently, during the height of the tourist season, they have do gun battles on the main street of town. We decided to stay over in Del Rio (we stayed here before we went to San Antonio) and then slowly make our way to Big Bend. We can't get into the park until Friday (we have reservations) so we will just poke along and stop when the spirit moves. We may go back to Cripple Creek tonight for dinner - it was so good the last time we were here and we are getting hungry as we skipped lunch due to our huge breakfast (thanks Ron and Cookie).

Sunday January 27, 2008

We are including some up close and personal pix we took at the Wildlife Ranch. The ostrich is very interested in what Dave is holding and actually stuck his whole head and neck into the car to reach the food. As you can see, the zebra is getting a bit too close to Sandie (I was practically sitting on Dave's lap to get away from it!). We did laugh ourselves silly though!!!

We had an earlier breakfast this morning and then drove Justine to the airport. We were sad to see her go as we had a great time with her here. We came back and packed up a few more odds and ends and then headed out to my cousin's house. Their house is very near the back gate to Lackland Air Force Base and Ron had faxed us a wonderful map which got us there with no problems. Technically they live in San Antonio, but it is quite a way out of the city center. We had a lovely lunch with Cookie, Ron, their son Trey and his wife, Lettie (from Ogden, Utah) and a cousin Karen and her son Chris who is four. After lunch, we went around to the next block where Uncle GC and Aunt Lib lived. They took us out the the shop where GC used to do his lapidary work and Cookie gave us some fossils, polished slabs, petrified wood, a geode, and bags of polished stones for the grand kids - we are totally overwhelmed by their generosity. Chris kept himself busy by "washing " his polished stones in water and then arranging them on the patio table. He started bring some of the larger stones to the table, but Ron told him they were "lever" stones (as in lever where she was). We went back to the house and watch home movies for a while - some were from old family reunions and it was fun to see some of the cousins we haven't seen in a while - we also saw some photos of ourselves at one reunion and didn't recognize ourselves at first because of the dark hair - when did we turn gray??? We went out to dinner at a local burger restaurant - again, these are Texas size burgers - with cheddar cheese soup and sweet onion rings. We couldn't finish everything and we were stuffed to the gills. We took our leave and stayed at a motel just around the corner from their house where Cookie and Ron had arranged a room for us (pay back time when you get up North!).

Saturday Januray 26, 2008

We have are adding two more images to the blog today. One is of the Texas White House on LBJ's ranch and the others is of the bells at the San Jose Mission.

We woke up to warm air and clear skies this morning - this the the weather we were expecting in Texas! By the afternoon, the temps were in the 70's - hallelujah! We had a wonderful day - we started by going to the Natural Bridge Caverns and taking a walking tour through a wonderful series of large caves. The most amazing part of this cavern system is the temperature. Despite being 180 feet below ground, the temperature was a constant 70 degrees and 99% humidity! Usually caves are much cooler one you get below ground, but not here. Many of the formations were weirdly shaped so that it was a bit like cloud watching on a summer's day: we "saw" a meercat, a gnome, several skulls, a wizard, etc. It was great fun to imagine what one saw in the formations. We then drove through a nearby Wildlife Ranch. For a fee, you get some animal pellets and you drive your car through the ranch and feed the animals who come up to your car for food. All of the animals were gentle and well behaved until we got to the zebras! They stuffed their whole heads inside the car trying to get to the food. Justine almost lost her whole bag to one greedy fellow! I was busy taking pictures of Dave and Justine feeding the animals when a zebra snorted in my ear and then tried chewing on my shirt until I gave him some food. We were laughing so hard, it is a wonder we got any pictures at all!! Just as our sides stopped hurting from the laughter, we came upon the ostriches: they were as persistent as the zebras - putting there long necks into the car trying to get to the food! We had a wonderful time and when we got back to the beginning, we gave our leftover (it is amazing there was any) food to some children who were in the petting zoo so that they could feed the little goats. We all went into the shop to wash up and our hands were quite spooged. We headed back toward the highway and stopped for lunch at a Whataburger - yup! that is the name of a Texas hamburger joint that we have been seeing all over the place. They were huge and we were stuffed when we had finished. We came back to the city and took a walk down to the Alamo so Justine could get her National Park passport stamped and so that Dave could take a picture of it in the sunlight. They were having a street festival in front of the plaza and we walked through - pony rides, BBQ, funnel cakes, Mexican food, country singers, etc. Dave got up on a long horned bull and I took his picture. We then took a walkabout around the city - part of it on the Riverwalk and part on the streets. We came back to the Alamo for a sit down in the plaza and a cold drink. We decided we were not terribly hungry so we eventually made our way to the food court and had a small bite and then walked back to the Alamo. We passed by the horse carriages which were all lit up for evening rides - they were very colorful. We took a night picture of the Alamo which looked great against the dark sky. We have walked back to the hotel and will do a bit of packing tonight so that it won't be such a chore tomorrow.

Friday January 25, 2008

It was another drizzly day when we woke up this morning so we packed our umbrellas when we were picked up by Cookie and Ron. We did a tour of the missions today - we visited the four missions and found each one a little different. Cookie discovered that a friend of hers, Brother Jerome, was at San Jose so we got to visit with him. Again we have someone who should have his own comedy act. He told us a bit about the church, his life as a monk, and entertained us with a variety of stories. I know I haven't laughed out loud in church as much as I did today! There was a statue of Saint Francis behind the altar. It used to have a crucifix in one hand, but this was stolen one night so it was replaced with another crucifix which was also stolen. The statue now holds nothing in its upraised hand - but, Brother Jerome said that one feast days they are considering having Saint Francis hold a bingo card! We had to battle some light rain throughout the morning, but didn't get totally wet. We went for a typical Texas lunch at a local restaurant: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and salad. The pieces of steak were so large that one could feed a family of six! Needless to say, Cookie and Ron have enough leftovers for a few meals. We then went to the SAS shoe factory which was a shoe store as well as a general store. We had a lovely time walking around and checking out the wares. They had 5 cent coke and coffee, but we were too full to partake. There were also quite a number of antique and classic cars which Ron and Dave loved! We had a contest to see who could pack the most loose candy of every sort into a small bag ($2 for the bag) - Dave won - his bag weighed just over a pound and a half. We hope we will be camped next to a family with children as we don't intend to eat all of that candy! We then visited the King William section of town and stopped at the Guenther House which is now a restaurant and museum. Their daughter was married here two years ago. It is a lovely house - we met the chef who was a friend of Cookie's from when she used to work at USAA. We got to go up to the roof garden (covered) which was set up for a bridal party which will take place tomorrow - very fancy! We then went downtown and visited the cathedral and walked by the Spanish Governor's Mansion (which was closed by this time). We got back to the hotel and Justine, Dave and I sat around chatting (I also managed to do 2 loads of laundry) for a while. We then gathered all of our leftovers and granola bars and had a snacky supper as none of us were particularly hungry. It seems hard to believe that the week is almost gone, but we do have one more day here before Justine leaves us. It has been a busy and wonderful week.

Thursday January 24, 2008

We woke up to cold, clouds, and wind with a 30% chance of rain so we dressed warmly and pocketed our umbrellas and set out for the day. Our first stop was the Tower of the Americas. It was built for the 1968 world's fair. We got a combo ticket which allowed us to go to the top by outside elevator and take in all the views of San Antonio. Fortunately, it was just cloudy and not foggy like yesterday. We took in the 360 degree views and then descended to the first floor where we went to a 4-D theatre about Texas. We had a lot of laughs as it was more than having the chair move and vibrate. There was one scene at a rodeo where a clown tries to hide from the enraged bull by jumping into a barrel. The bull looks inside the barrel and snorts and at the same time, our faces were misted with water! Another time we encountered a 3-D rattlesnake and as he turned to strike, we had a blast of air hit our bodies. We laughed a lot and had a great time. We walked over to the Institute of Texan Cultures which was a wonderful museum about all of the different ethnic groups which make up this state. They had photos and displays about all of the home countries. There was even one which we weren't familiar with: Wendish which we found was a type of German culture. We spent quite a long time wandering around and then walked through HemisFair Park (again from the 1968 fair) and over to La Villita district which was San Antonio's first neighborhood. The families of Spanish soldiers lived here and now all of the homes are art galleries or small craft shops. We went down to the river from here and ate lunch before exploring the shops. Our lunch was huge: Justine and I each ordered an appetizer since it was so late and neither of us could finish. When we had finished exploring La Villita, we walked back along the river and then back to the hotel where we put our feet up for an hour before heading back out. Someone emailed me and asked if "putting our feet up" meant "taking a nap" and the answer is no. It means we kick off our shoes and read - just a bit of down time. We went out at 6:30 after a granola bar dinner and went to another IMAX show (the second show is half price). We saw "The Mystery of the Nile". Now this is where we know we are getting old as partway through the film we realized that we had seen it before a number of years ago. The good news is that it was excellent the second time also! We then walked over to the Alamo and joined up with a Ghost Tour. The guide was excellent - very funny and entertaining! I can't think of when we have laughed so much. There were only 8 of us on the tour which was wonderful. It was very cold (35), but the walking and the laughing kept us fairly warm. He had a lot of hi-tech equipment: color spectrum glasses, temperature readers, and an infra-red camera. We had a lot of fun and walked back to the hotel still laughing. We got in about 10:30 and then read until our eyes got heavy.

Wednesday January 23, 2008

We woke up this morning to dense fog. We thought Cookie and Ron might cancel, but since it was not out and out raining, we decided to go. They picked us up at the hotel and we headed north. We had a wonderful day exploring everything LBJ. We visited the house where he was born, the one in Johnson City where the family moved when he was 5, and then the Texas White House which was a family ranch very near the house where he was born. The large ranch house was quite lovely - large live oaks in the yard where LBJ used to entertain guests. The tour of the ranch was on a small bus and apparently when Lady Bird was alive, she used to come out and greet the bus visitors or at least wave to them from her garden. We saw the barns, the old cars - including an amphibious one, the Hereford cattle, bison and many deer and antelope which live on the ranch. Now that Lady Bird has passed away, the ranch house will also become part of the tour (as soon as the daughters have removed all of the personal items that they wish). We also saw several films during the day and were amazed at the number of environmental and educational bills which were passed during his tenure - I guess you tend to forget who does what when you don't particularly pay close attention to politics. We did enjoy the ranch - unfortunately, we couldn't see the promised lovely vista as the fog hung on all day. We did have a lovely lunch at a nearby Texas style restaurant. We also got to visit a living farm nearby - saw some baby pigs and lambs and talked to a guide who told us that they had made sausage the week - he explained the process and it was quite interesting - they still make it the way the original German immigrants to this area did. We got to the town of Fredricksburg late so we didn't get to the Museum of the Pacific (Admiral Nimitz) which I know Dave would have loved, but we did find a couple of stores that were still open. One of them was Dooley's - a real old-fashioned five and ten cent store (although everything costs as bit more now). They had everything in there: clothing, kitchenware, toys, candy, sewing items, tools, etc. It was great to wander up and down the aisles. The other store we stopped into was a real trip - RamblinRob's sells salsa, jams, pasta sauce, flavored oil, flavored peanut butter, fudge, etc. and you can taste everything before you buy! They have baskets of wheat crackers out and one jar of each thing they sell. We had a wonderful time tasting the most delicious things - we could have made a meal of it. We bought a jar of blackberry preserves to take camping with us, but we also took their catalog so we can order some of their wares when we return home. We stopped at a lovely park which had an octagonal Lutheran church (closed, but we toured the outside) and took a few pictures in front of the statues. We then headed back to San Antonio and stopped for dinner at a BBQ place called Rudy's. It was casual dining with picnic tables inside and we had a variety of things: sausage, brisket, ribs, beans, potato salad, and the best creamed corn I have ever tasted! We got back to the hotel about 8:30. Cookie gave me 2 pendants that her father had made - they were wonderful - one was of moss agate and the other was dinosaur bone! She gave Dave a lovely ring that Uncle GC had made and she even had a beautiful pendant for Justine. It was such a lovely thought and we were overwhelmed when we saw what was in the packages. We hope we didn't wear them out with all of the driving we did yesterday, but we did make plans to meet again on Friday to go to the Missions.

Tuesday January 22, 2008

Well, as you can see, we went to the zoo this morning. One picture is of a gazelle in mid air - she was jumping straight up in the air and put on quite a show! The other was of one of our favorite animals at the zoo - a hippo. There were actually a pair of them and they were wonderful. Our other favorite animal was a baby gibbon, but he was too fast to catch on film. He was adorable, but had learned that he could squeeze through the holes in the chain link fence and was fond of escaping, but not for long as he always went back to mama. They had docents watching to make sure that he didn't get too adventurous. The weather was much warmer today and sunny most of the time which is why we opted for an outside thing to do today. The zoo also had a wonderful reptile house which has some snakes we had never seen before. It was just a wonderful time. When we got back to the hotel, we walked down to the Riverwalk and took a boat ride, taking advantage of the lovely weather. Our guide was great - keeping us informed of wonderful tales of buildings and places we were slowly passing. It was a perfect day for being on the water. When we got back to the hotel, we put our feet up for an hour before leaving to meet Justine's cousin. We went out to the car and discovered that there had been a shower while we were inside - we were so lucky to have done what we did today without getting wet at all! We drove up to San Marcos which is halfway between San Antonio and Austin (where Justine's cousin, Jack, lives) and met him at the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. We had a lovely time chatting and he and Justine caught up on family chat. We took a few pictures of the two of them together and then parted ways. We got back to the hotel and Dave unloaded the camera so that we could send the pix to Justine - she will email them to Jack when she gets home. We talked to cousin Cookie and arrange to meet tomorrow at 9:30 for our sojourn to Fredricksburg. It is supposed to be colder tomorrow with a chance of showers so we will layer when we get up in the morning.

Monday January 21, 2008

It was raining this morning, so after breakfast we got in the car and went to the Witte Museum - dinosaurs, ancient peoples, archaeology, local birds and animals and even an Egyptian mummy! They also had a wonderful interactive children's museum which was very interesting. We went to a store nearby called Central Market which sold everything food related. They had a wonderful selection of sandwiches, soup, and salads - we each bought what we wanted and then ate in their little seating area. There was even a Cooking School upstairs where they have several classes a day. The produce area was awesome - about 10 different kinds of potatoes (including purple ones) and some fruits that we had never seen before. We had a great time wandering around after lunch and then headed back to town. We parked the car at the hotel and decided since it was still rainy to take a trolley ride. We got off at Market Square and had a great time poking through the various stalls of Mexican goods. Justine bought a few miniature creches to take home as souvenirs. We then took another trolley ride through a section of town named after King William - large turn of the century houses and then got off near the Alamo and walked through the Rivercenter mall. Justine picked up a salad to eat later and Dave and I will have our granola bars - we are all still full from our lovely lunch. It turned out to be a busy and great day despite the weather. We are hoping for clearer skies tomorrow.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

We had a lovely dinner last night with Cookie and Ron. They took us to a steakhouse not too far away - good food and better company. When we finished dinner we went on a night tour of San Antonio - quite a lovely city. We enjoyed catching up with family chat, etc. We will be going to Fredricksburg with them on Wednesday. We picked up Justine at the airport today - getting there was no problem, but getting back was quite a chore as the exit we needed to take to get on the correct road was blocked off. We eventually found a gas station and got directions to the right road. We got Justine settled in to the hotel and then walked down to the Riverwalk and got tickets to the IMAX movie about the Alamo (many people had suggested watching the movie to make the site more meaningful). After the show we went into the Alamo and toured around looking at all of the exhibits and displays - amazingly about 3 million people visit the Alamo each year. We came out of one building and chanced into a ranger who was giving a very animated lecture on the Alamo - he was very good. We then went through the last exhibit and at the end we were able to catch the last showing of a 15 minute piece put together by the History Channel. It was nice to have all three of these explanations (IMAX, lecture, and History Channel) as I felt that I learned a little bit more with each retelling of the story. We were getting hungry so we went down to the Riverwalk and found a lovely restaurant (but ate inside as it was getting chilly again) - we had a great Mexican dinner and walked back to the hotel. Justine called her cousin who lives in Austin and we are going to meet him for dinner on Tuesday night. It is fun to combine the tourist thing with seeing family. We made a couple of plans for tomorrow depending on the weather - there seems to be a chance of showers most of the week - we will finalize our plans at breakfast tomorrow.

Saturday Janurary 19, 2008

The sun is shining! We left this morning and got on the road toward San Antonio. We stopped at a little town called Castorville that my cousin had told us about. It was a charming little town - saw many of the houses on the walking tour. Although it was founded by a Frenchman, many of the first settlers were German Lutherans who came here to found a church. Many of the houses reflected the German heritage. It was also an antique center. We chatted with a woman who owned one of the shops and bought a few pieces of petrified wood for the boys. We started talking about stones and fossils and she gave us a small bag of Texas fossils! We told her we had found a few fossils near Seminole Canyon and she told us of a nearby place where she has found some. We drove out there and found the road was running water from the rain. We decided not to drive across, but stopped the car and hunted the overflowing river bed and found two for sure and one possible - great fun! We then got to San Antonio and had a devil of a time finding our hotel - after stopping twice for directions, we finally made it! We called my cousin Cookie and she and Ron will pick us up for dinner tonight and we will make a plan for the week. We then went for a walk to orient ourselves for tomorrow when Justine joins us. We are about 2 blocks from the Riverwalk and 3 from the Alamo - great location. We also finally found a few postcards to send to the grand kids - we have been looking since we left Bay St. Louis. Someone could make a fortune here by offering decent postcards of the area. Last night's dinner was a blast! The place that was recommended to us was inside of a sporting goods store! The dinner was fine and then we went to the movies and saw "The Bucket List" - we both enjoyed it. We are looking forward to seeing Cookie and Ron - it has been a couple of years since we saw them at a family reunion.

Friday January 18, 2008

Have added 2 more pictures from yesterday. The first is a shot of the Pecos River with its beautiful cliffs. The second is on Judge Roy Bean's saloon and courthouse (one and the same building) - he called himself "the law west of the Pecos".

We went to the laundromat after breakfast this morning and I stood around in my shorts and tee shirt while my long pants and sweatshirts were being washed - brrr - it is still chilly here. We then drove to Uvalde and visited the Aviation Museum. It stood on the site of the field where civilians were trained to fly during WWII. There were several gentlemen there who had served in the Korean war and they were thrilled to show us around. They have amassed quite a bit of memorabilia, a number of uniforms, and several planes. One of the planes is a L-4, a light observation plane used during the war, and one of the guys flies it every Friday (but not today as it was drizzling). They were an interesting bunch and had lots of "war stories" to relate. We then stopped at the local library which is brand new, but built from bricks of the old school which used to exist on this piece of land. It is a wonderful building - light and airy and they were having a book/bake sale to help pay for a new computer system. We bought a few books (surprise, surprise!) to supplement the ones we brought with us. We also bought some peanut butter cookies for munching either today or tomorrow. One of the fascinating things about this town is that there are a number of huge oak trees growing in the street - they paint the bases white up to about 8 feet and the cars just drive around them - have never seen anything quite like it. Our next stop was to the John Nance Garner Museum (now, before you read on, how many of you honestly know who he was!). It is the former home of Garner who was the vice president for two terms under FDR. It was filled with pictures, clothing (inaugural tux and dress), and letters from his time in office. There were not as many papers as there might be though as he burned his important documents when he returned to Texas from Washington. He was ticked at FDR for running for a third term - he thought that he would be the next president! I found the information about his wife very interesting - she was his secretary as well as an accomplished knitter, needle pointer, cook - she was a master of time management! There were also some letters from Will Rogers who was a friend of "Cactus Jack" Garner. All in all, we had a great time learning about someone we knew so little about. We drove around and looked at some of the houses the town boasts of, but while they were interesting to look at in this setting, many of them were built around the same time as our house was - something that is old here, is not old by our standards. We found a motel with Internet access and will go to dinner soon - the ladies at the library sale recommended one to us. We then may go to the cinema - will have to see what is playing.

Thursday Janurary 17, 2008

We finally got the camera unloaded and you can see the man of war (one of thousands) that we saw at Pedro Island. We had a lovely, but cold day today - the high was only 41! We drove about 45 miles west of Del Rio to Seminole Canyon. We took a tour of the pictographs (see other photo) which were 8000 years old and quite well preserved due to the arid weather and the fact that they were drawn in large overhangs in the canyons which are naturally protected from the elements. The guide was an amazing fount of knowledge (you could only go to the caves with a guide to protect them from damage). He explained the history and culture of the people who drew the pictographs in as much detail as is known. There were only a few other people on the tour: a couple from Dallas, and a couple and their 7 year old daughter from VA who are traveling around the country for a year and home schooling their daughter (obviously geology and history will be easy for her to learn). We then headed west about another 20 miles and stopped at a few scenic overlooks. At one of them we stopped and picked up a few fossils in the cut of rock next to the road - found some petrified shells and worm tubes - very neat! We ended up in Langtry where we visited the original saloon (and courthouse) of the infamous Judge Roy Bean. The building itself was interesting, but the displays were outstanding. They also had a lovely cactus garden that we walked through. We came back to Del Rio and will go to dinner soon. Dinner last night was wonderful - we asked at the motel desk and a place called Cripple Creek was recommended - excellent food! I will call my cousin who lives in San Antonio tonight and touch base with her and make some plans while we are there. Our good friend Justine from Mystic will be joining us on Sunday for a week of touring in the area. One thing that I forgot to mention about Corpus Christi - we were taking our walk-about and passed a restaurant that advertised not Tex-Mex, but Chech-Mex (spicy potato dumplings perhaps???)!

Just got back from "Pizza Mutt". We have been doing nicely with the free breakfast at the motels and a granola bar lunch. I think we were still full from last night's meal so thought we would have a light dinner tonight. I did talk to Cookie this afternoon and we will meet for dinner Saturday night and hash out some plans for the week. I'm not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but we will make a plan before we go to bed. Heard that the kids are all having a birthday bash at our house in February to celebrate those who have birthdays in the first quarter (5 out of 8) - we are so glad that they get together even when we are not at home AND that they are too old to trash the house! (ha, ha)

Wednesday January 16, 2008

One more picture from Bay St. Louis. This is all that is left of the church on this site. The congregation meets in the Quonset hut at the side.

We decided this morning to go back to Padre Island to check out what shells the tide had brought up after the storm we had yesterday and last night (we got an inch of rain). We got to the visitor center and found that the beach had disappeared! We hope that all of the cars who were parked along the beach further down got out in time as there was just a narrow strip of beach on which to walk. There also were no shells - they had all been sucked out to sea! We then got back into the car and headed for Del Rio - talking smaller roads. We had asked a number of people yesterday if they had been here, but no one had. We had read that there were caves with ancient pictographs and we thought it might be interesting to see them. We went through ranch lands and much drier country as we got away from the coast - many mesquite trees and large prickly pear cacti. We got here around 4 and make sure that the Internet worked before we settled into the room! We will check out the dinner options soon, but I wanted to get caught up on the blog first. It is warmer here, 70 degrees, sunny and the sun is just going down now at 6 PM. We will check out the caves tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The skies were very gray when we got up this morning and the wind was howling. We got breakfast which was on the 11th floor and had a great view of the harbor and then took a cab to the History and Science Museum. It was an interesting museum, but it was hard to figure out the plan. They had a large gem section which was back to back with a history of Corpus Christi and then the next room was about Christopher Columbus and the blending of the old and new worlds. They had the replicas of the Pinta and Santa Maria outside the museum, but we skipped going out as it was pouring rain at that point and we had seen them when they were in New London. We then battled the wind and rain to walk to the nearby Art Museum of South Texas. We had lunch in the cafe - lovely sandwiches and salad. Dave ordered a piece of cake for us to share and it was huge! We couldn't eat the whole thing - our kids will know how big it was if I say that it was the size of the cakes we were served at the Bubble Room on Captiva Island!!! We then walked around the museum which was quite odd: a room of 70's modern and abstract art, one of giant birds on weird background, one of children's drawings, and one which was interesting about the art of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Took the trolley back to the hotel and spotted a small store called Betty's Attic. We went in and found a little bit of everything - kind of like an enormous flea market indoors. Next door was the Surf Museum which was free and dedicated to the history of surf boards! We went back to the room and decided to have granola bars for dinner as we had eaten such a large lunch. It was still raining and blowing outside and it felt good to be inside.

Monday, January 14, 2008

We intended to visit the Maritime Museum on our way out this morning, but we arrived an hour early and the building looked tiny so we decided to skip it and took the slow road across Mustang Island to Padre Island. Dave got his Golden Eagle pass at the gate and now we will not have to pay the fees. We got the the National Park visitor center and took a long walk on the beach. We saw lots and lots of beached Portuguese Men of War. They were everywhere! We will publish a photo when we next unload the camera. We picked up a few shells and barnacles and then headed back to the car. We drove down about a mile and discovered that the rest of the island was only accessible by driving on the beach. We drove for 3 1/2 miles and found that the sand was getting too soft to safely continue so we turned around and drove back. Obviously, one needs a 4-wheel drive to go the entire 60 miles! We decided against staying on the island as rain was predicted for the next day and drove into Corpus Christi. We found a hotel right on the beach and once settled, got out and walked around to explore the city. This is the oddest city we have ever been in. There is no downtown, no shops! There are many large business buildings, a few restaurants, and some nightclubs. All of the shopping is at malls on the way into the city. We went to dinner at the Oyster House right behind our hotel and then went back to the hotel as it was eerie walking around in the dark with nothing open. We read for a while and then went to bed.

Sunday January 13, 2008

I am really writing this on Wednesday as the last few places we have stayed promised hi-speed internet, but it was either down that day or broken (yeah, the check is in the mail).

First, the photos: This is what I meant about steps to nowhere. Many of them go up to empty land, but this set gos to trailers and a porta-potty.

The next photo is a Katrina cottage. They are the shelters that FEMA sent down for people to live in while they attempt to rebuild. As you can see they are quite small.

Now back to Sunday's blog. We had to laugh when we came down for the continental breakfast. The choices were mini bagels, donuts, or Hostess chocolate cupcakes - quite the choice! We packed the car and headed down to the Texas gulf coast. We were glad that it was Sunday as we drove through Houston - there was plenty of traffic for us as it was. We stopped in Rockport and found a place to have the oil changed in the car - it was needed with all the driving we have been doing. It was still too early for dinner so we found a movie theatre and asked what was playing at the time. It turned out to be "No Country for Old Men" - we do NOT recommend it - very bloody, weird, and ended badly . . . ugh, 2 thumbs down! We went to dinner at a restaurent by the water and had shrimp again (while in Rome . . . ). We then called the kids to catch up with what is happening with them. All were doing fine.

Saturday January 12, 2008

We had a lovely dinner with Carol last night. She had quite a bit on damage to her house due to a river overflowing into a pond in her yard. The front of the house was pushed in - all windows blown out and 11 feet of water in the downstairs. Of course, the sheet rock, being drenched, just fell off the walls into a jumble on the lower floors. They weren't able to get in to check the house for 2 weeks. They cleaned up what they could and then headed back to CT to start gathering what they would need to repair the house. Things like lumber, windows, and sheet rock were not to be had in this whole area. It took them a month to gather all of the needed supplies which they shipped down in a Pod. The house is pretty much done - there are a few things that need doing, but it is lovely and very livable. We got back to Lagniappe about 9, chatted with some folks who were also leaving in the morning and then went to bed. We got up this morning and started packing up. We left after breakfast and went up the street to the laundromat. It is so nice to pack clean clothes. We then went for a ride down Bay Shore Drive in town and took photos of various damaged homes. There were only 2 or 3 that are being rebuilt at this time on the waterfront. We got on the highway and headed out. There were only 15 miles of MS and then we were in LA. Most of the state along the highway is swampy. We did pass some oil fields and rice fields and of course we went through New Orleans. There is still a lot of damage to the houses we could see from the highway - blue tarped roofs, etc. We stopped at the Texas welcome center and picked up some literature to help us decide where we will go next. We stopped a few miles into the state for the night. We brought all of our clean laundry into the room and sorted it - we will send all of our work clothes home as soon as we can find a box. We went into the diner next door for a light supper - chatted with an older man at the next table - he was in North Africa and Italy during WWII - quite interesting. We look forward to sleeping in a real bed and taking a real shower!

Friday January 11, 2008

Well, we didn't get to dinner with Carol last night. She called about 4 and said that she was stuck in Gulfport because of the severe weather. We will go to dinner at her house tonight instead. We called Ruth and went over to her house to deliver the spoon. She loved the spoon and she showed us around her Habitat home - it was lovely - 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. She used to own a bakery in town, but decided not to rebuild after Katrina came through. She still makes wedding cakes out of her home though and in fact was working on one for Saturday. We came back and ate here and then just sat around chatting after dinner as it was pouring outside. There was a break in the rain at 9:30 so we ran back to our little home away from home before it started up again. We woke up to clear skies this morning - chilly in the morning, but warming up in the afternoon. We made all of the window frames and the kids from Adelphi pre-painted them. We then continued to hang doors. We got them all in except for the ones in the closet. We also framed up the access hole to the attic. Came back and fastened the whale to the plaque - Dave hung it - we will take a photo before we leave and post it on the web. We are now all showered and will head out for dinner soon.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

First, I have to make a correction: I said that the water in the hospital was knee deep after Katrina - it was waist deep. I also wanted to let you know that Dad is feeling much better now that he is on drugs. I talked to Nick last night and he is taking today off for rest and recovery. He feels a bit beat up, but is getting better. We left early after breakfast this morning and scoped out the way to Ruth's house - she is the lady Dave made a spoon for. We then found the Gothie's house - we wanted to see where it was during the daylight. We will be going there tonight for dinner. We got to the job site at 8 and started hanging doors. Most of the kids worked outside as the cement was being poured into the forms in the carport and the front porch area under the steps. The kids put their initials and hand prints in the wet cement in the carport forms - we passed on the opportunity. We all went to a nearby park where we have been eating our lunch each day. They have several small covered pavilions. While we were eating we heard thunder, saw lightening, and the skies opened up. It is a good thing we were under cover! When the rain lessened, we went back to the house, but decided that it was too dangerous to use power tools with all of the lightening around. As we were cleaning up, a contractor came by and told us that we were in a tornado watch. We got back to Lagniappe and showered - have been sitting in the common room since as it is pouring out and still thundering and lightening. We hope it lets up soon and we are supposed to head out in a while to go to dinner.