Texas Hill Country

June 20 - June 25, 2015

Fredericksburg TX, in Texas' beautiful Hill Country, is a charming little town that we visited when we came through Texas in 2013. We enjoyed our stay so much that we decided to go back. The weather was pleasant and we had a relaxing time.

Rick played some golf at the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Golf Course.

SiSi and I were thinking deep thoughts.

And we spent some very enjoyable hours at various local vineyards and wineries. 

The area between Fredericksburg and Johnson City has exploded with wine tourism in recent years. Each of the wineries offers tastings for $5 or $10. After the tastings they have lounge areas where you can enjoy a glass of your favorite wine. On the weekends, some of the wineries have entertainment and food is available. Several bottles of good Texas wine now reside in a box that we store under our bed, 

Keeping it Weird in Austin

Keeping it Weird in Austin

June 15 -June 20, 2015

Austin is a fun town. It's a combination of state capitol, college town for 50,000 UT students, and economic boom town. The mild climate and educated populace have attracted such companies as IBM, HP, and Dell, earning it the nickname of "Silicon Hills." It's also called the "live music capitol of the world," boasting hundreds of live music venues of every genre. And it's also the fastest growing city in the US.

Between the students and the musicians, Austin has a kind of bohemian vibe with cool neighborhoods with great little shops, restaurants, and clubs with live music. But as it grows in popularity and population, some fear that it is losing its quirky personality.  You see bumperstickers and tee shirts in Austin saying "keep Austin weird." 

Rick and I spent several rather wet days in Austin, but managed to have a great time. Our first night had a clear forecast so we decided to check out a free "show." We joined several hundred other folks at a small park beneath the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, including many watching from the railing on the bridge and several "bat tour" boats waiting under the bridge. Everyone was there to witness the nightly sunset exodus of around a million bats who have made numerous cave-like openings on the underside of the bridge their home. Apparently our timing was not ideal. Late July and August is prime bat viewing time because the season's newborn bats are old enough and ready to fly and hunt on their own. Because of their numbers and the increased competition for their insect supper, they tend to come out a bit before sundown, making it much easier to see them and photograph them. But the June bats didn't come out until darkness was beginning to fall, and try as I might, there was no photographing them. It was cool to watch them. As if on cue, they all began to emerge within about a 5-10 minute period. The best I can do is show you this shot of the crowd as it gathered to wait for them.

We spent one rainy day at the huge Bullock Texas State History Museum. The museum houses an immense collection of exhibits detailing the French and Spanish explorers who first came to Texas, Texas's battle for independence and statehood, and its 20th century contributions to space, industry, and technology.

During our travels since we have retired, there are several recurring themes among the places that we visit. The first is family. Traveling in an RV is a great way to visit family. Since you come with your own bed, bathroom, breakfast, etc. there is minimal imposition on those you visit, even if you're "camping" in their driveway. And since we have 5 children in 5 different states, it's an efficient way to get to see them. Another recurring theme is National Parks. There are 58 national parks (not including national monuments, national historical parks, national battlefield parks, etc) and we would like to visit all of them. So far we have visited 17 of them, and we hope to visit 8 or 9 more on this trip this summer. And one more recurring theme is American history. We've visited many historical museums, battlefields, old houses, and presidential libraries. So far we've visited 9 presidential libraries, including the LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas. 

We're really trying to be non-partisan about these libraries! Every time we get anywhere near Atlanta I suggest that we visit the Carter Library. Rick has so far found excuses to avoid it, but we're going to get there one day. So we don't have to admire the president in order to visit his library...yes, Rick, even Carter. But I really had to drag myself to the Johnson library.  I'm REALLY not a fan. And it's not just the fact that he was the father of the welfare state. On our last big trip we passed through Johnson City, TX, where we visited his boyhood home and the LBJ ranch and learned a lot about LBJ the man. He was a real jerk. He would bully people, getting up in their face nose to nose. He would bring people to his ranch in his limo and then not let them leave until they agreed to do whatever it was he wanted them to do. He was loud, profane, brash and ill mannered. Here's a famous photo of him in someone's face.

 

I actually kind of enjoyed his library, though. There was lots of sixties history and photos to remember and enjoy. And I have to admit that I love this amazing picture of him with his dog and his grandson. The expression on the little boy's face is priceless!

Dodging Bill

June 15 - June 20, 2015

As we left Galveston for Austin, tropical storm "Bill" was bearing down on the Texas coast. While Bill didn't do any major damage, he was an unwelcome visitor to Eastern and Central Texas which had suffered so much flooding in the weeks before our arrival. Luckily, Austin hadn't had any severe flooding and was able to easily handle the rain that the remnants of Bill visited on central Texas. We had to laugh that we had installed our hurricane shutters before we left our coastal Florida home, only to find ourselves running away from a tropical storm in Texas! We had one very windy and rainy night where we slept with the Liberty's slideouts pulled in out of worry that high winds might tear the canvas covers on our slideouts. But Bill and his aftermath left us with rainy weather during our entire visit to Austin.

We set up camp in a Texas state park on the outskirts of Austin, called McKinney Falls. The park had several nice trails to waterfalls and other scenic vistas, but muddy conditions kept us close to the RV. We had a lovely shaded and private campsite with water and electric hookups. For those of you who aren't RVers, "hookups" refers to the kind of utilities which are available in any given campground.

Most national park campgrounds offer "primitive camping" which means there are no utilities available. We are fine with this for a few days, as long as it's not too hot or too cold. We carry 28 gallons of propane for cooking and heating. We have 3 water tanks onboard. One tank holds 78 gallons of fresh water, another contains 57 gallons of "gray water" which is the waste from your kitchen and bathroom faucets and shower, and the third contains 43 gallons of "black water", and well, you can guess where that comes from!

Other highlights include a 10 gallon hot water heater which runs on either electric or propane, a 4 door refrigerator which also runs on either electricity or propane, and a propane range for cooking. In addition to the engine battery we have two additional batteries and an inverter that power our lights, water pump, and tv. And we have a generator which produces enough power to run our two air conditioners and our combination microwave/convection oven. It can also recharge our batteries when they get low.

Many state parks, like McKinney Falls, have water and electric hookups, which means that we have power for all of our electrical appliances, and a water spigot to which we can connect a hose. We have to be cautious not to use more water than our waste tanks can contain. When we leave camp we can stop at the park's "dump station" which is a receptacle in the ground leading to the campgound's sewer pipes or septic tank. I have decided that this is "man's work" and am very glad that Rick has never challenged that.

And, of course, "full hookups" is the gold standard for RVs, meaning that in addition to the water and electric hookups, you have a connection for the RV's sewer pipe, making it easy to stay indefinitely in a given campsite. In addition to the full hookups, many private campgrounds, and a few public ones,  offer a cable hookup and/or wifi. Unfortunately, most campgrounds' wifi tends to be so slow that you're lucky to get your email to load. We have a Verizon "mifi" box which provides us with an internet connection. But, of course, we have to have a cell phone signal in order to use it, and we have to conserve our data usage if we don't want a huge cell phone bill at month's end. For me, the most important of the hookups is the wifi. I'll conserve water for a week in exchange for a fast free internet connection!

Galveston

'June 9 - June 15, 2015

We've been on Galveston Island for a few days. Galveston is a funny kind of mix of an industrial (oil and shipping), agricultural (cotton), and resort town. And its history is equally interesting. In 1817 the pirate Jean Lafitte had a settlement on the island. The town was abandoned and burned when the US forced him out a few years later. During Texas' revolution for independence, Galveston harbor served as the port for the Texas navy. It continued to grow in size and importance and by 1890, had become Texas' wealthiest city. But Galveston was practically wiped off the map by a hurricane in 1900 where 6000 people died. The island was flooded by 15 feet high seas. Although Galveston was eventually rebuilt, it took another big hit from Hurricane Ike in 2008. Many homes that were lost in that hurricane have not been rebuilt.

We have landed on the Western tip of Galveston in a very nice new RV park. The west end is known as "the quiet side" with mostly expensive beach front residential properties. This has meant we have enjoyed peaceful practically empty beachs, but it's a looong drive up the island in order to reach any of the usual beach town hoopla. We've enjoyed watching the amazing variety of birds that freqent a pond that's nearby our very peaceful campsite.

                       bird refuge next to our campsite

 We've mostly really enjoyed Galveston, though we were disappointed in the color of the ocean. We had anticipated a Gulf beach with beautiful clear blue-green water. Instead the water is a muddy brown, caused by all of the mud brought in by the 3 rivers that empty into that part of the Gulf.

While in Galveston, in addition to beach time, we've had a city tour, shopped in the cute downtown area, went to a party at a brewery, and shopped at a farmer's market.   

We're headed to Austin next.

Big Easy

June 5 - June 8, 2015

We spent the weekend in New Orleans visiting my daughter Abby and son-in-law Joe. Abby and Joe were married last September, and this was the first time that I've seen her since her wedding day. Since then, they have done extensive renovations to their house, and Abby has started a new job, having graduated from Tulane law school last spring. It has been a big year for both of them.

The renovations to their house turned out so well. It's so New Orleans! They know that the house is more than 100 years old, but are unable to give an exact year as the documentation was lost in an historic New Orleans fire. Here's a shot of the antique chandelier that she found.

And I love how she hung these paintings. The two on the bottom right and the one on the bottom left are Abby originals.

While in New Orleans we attended the Cajun-Zydeco festival and ate at several wonderful restaurants. 

Here's Abby eating some crawfish:

And Abby and Joe under one of New Orleans' gorgeous live oak trees.

On Sunday Abby and I got pedicures while the boys played golf at the Audubon Park golf course. It was a really fun and relaxing weekend. I miss her already!

Gulf Shores, AL

June 3 - June 5 2015

We spent two nights in Foley, AL, which is a few miles north of Gulf Shores. We really like Gulf Shores. This is our third visit there. 

Gulf Shores and the surrounding area is a quiet but fun beach community. The oil spill from a few years back is well behind them. BP poured so much money into the community that it may be better off than it was before the spill. The wide sandy beaches are clean and the sand is beautiful. There are lots of casual restaurants serving good seafood and other beach resort fare with a decided influence from nearby New Orleans. 

On our previous visits we had stayed at Gulf Shores State Park which is an amazing state park. The campsites are spacious with full hookups. There's a very nice and inexpensive golf course (so I'm told) and a huge swimming pool for those days when you're tired of the beach. This time I succumbed to the email advertisements that I had been receiving for several years from a place called Bella Terra RV Resort. Bella Terra is an "ownership" resort. This means that the pad where your RV is parked is privately owned...kind of like a condo for RV's. Each owner improves and landscapes their lot to their own specifications. Ours had a screened gazebo with seating and a built in gas fireplace. We enjoyed our stay, but next time we'll be back in the State Park.

Rick played some golf and we did a bit of outlet shopping, but I forgot to take pictures of anything, so I stole this one from the internet.

Waaaaay Down Upon the Suwannee River....

June 2- June 3, 2015

We finally pulled out of IRCC just before noon on the 2nd. We stopped for the night in White Springs, FL at the Stephen Foster State Park. We have been very impressed with Florida's state parks, and this one was no exception. We had a lovely large campsite shaded by southern slash pines and gorgeous old live oaks, dripping with spanish moss.

We had stopped at this state park once before, several years ago, but hadn't had time to really explore it. This time we spent the morning of our departure checking out the on-site museum and gift shop before heading out to our next stop.

A gold star to anyone who can identify the man in this rather strange painting. You win if you said Stephen Foster. Foster was a civil war era songwriter who wrote such classics as Way Down Upon the Swannee (sic) River, I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair, Camptown Races, Old Kentucky Home, Oh Susanna, and My Old Dog Trey. He sold the rights to Swannee River to a traveling minstrel who made it famous for $15. Neither Foster, who was from Pennsylvania,  nor the minstrel had ever seen the Suwannee River, and, in fact, the original lyrics were "Way down upon the Peedee river," but he decided that the Suannee River was more melodic.   

This strange painting, which is hanging in the museum, shows the composer at his desk.

The little museum contains a number of dioramas with moving parts depicting scenes from his most famous songs. This one is my favorite. The steamboat moves across the scene.

Another highlight of the park is the carillon bell tower. The bells play short concerts of Foster's songs several times each day, supposedly at 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm. We had an impressive thunder storm the night that we arrived with extended downpours. I can only surmise that the electrical storm somehow reset the computer controlling the bells, because we were "treated" to bell concerts at midnight, 2am, and 4am.

                    The carillon bell tower

Here we go, we're at it again, we're moving out, we're moving in...

2 June 2015

We're on the road again. When I look back at my final post in 2013, I'm amazed at how much our plans changed. The trip that we had planned for Fall of 2013 didn't quite work out as anticipated. 

In the Fall of 2013 my daughter, Emmy, began a master's program at Penn State in theater directing. She moved from New York City to State College, PA where she didn't know a soul. She had been there for less than a week when she tripped while walking her dog and broke her ankle. Badly.  

To make a long story short, after botched surgery to repair her ankle, she developed multiple pulmonary emboli, and almost died. I ended up living in her apartment with her for the entire fall semester. She was completely helpless and very sick. Two years and another surgery later, she is mostly recovered, though she still walks with a limp and some pain and has dead spots in her lungs.

So anyway, we didn't travel that Fall. Affter returning home, we decided to put our house on the market and began looking for a new one. Between crime in the neighborhood, some horrible neighbors, and voracious biting "no-seeums" that were smaller than the holes in our screens but left welts the size of a dime, it was time to move!

After a bit of searching we found a great house in an amazing country club model 55+ community called The Indian River Colony Club (IRCC).  We've made many wonderful friends there and have been having so much fun that we were actually reluctant to leave. But after much planning and packing, we finally made it out today. And one of the best features of our new community is that we can lock our door, disappear for four months, and not worry about our house. It's gated, has 24/7 security, and all yardwork and maintenance is included in the monthly fee. 

Our plans include several family visits, a big family party to celebrate my Dad's 90th birthday and my 60th, and our usual itinerary of national parks, presidential libraries, and historical sites. Pllease feel free to follow this blog and join us on our next big adventure!