And The ADVENTURE Continues...

Thursday, February 11, 2016

February 6, 2016 Winter Ranch RV Resort, Alamo, TX

February 6, 2016 Winter Ranch RV Resort, Alamo, TX

We arrived at Winter Ranch RV Resort January 21, 2016. We came to this park on the recommendations of Ron and Linda Doerschug who we met through our Virginia Winnebago Club over 5 years ago. We also wanted some warmer temperatures. So for 5 weeks we will stay put before we begin our travels again.

This resort welcomed us with open arms and we have been quite busy since we arrived. First the park. It has everything to accommodate everyone's hobbies. There are assigned times for card games, boards games, pickelball, swimming, yoga, painting, woodworking, stained glass, sewing and quilting. I probably missed some but you get the idea. They have food lunches, dances and entertainment. We have heard some of these jams sessions and they are great. We also went to listen to a 5 piece brass program and really loved it.

Yesterday we took a short road trip to South Padre Island. This barrier island runs for about 130 miles but only 30 miles have paved roads. We stopped and walked up to the top of the Port Isabel Lighthouse. which was built in 1853. Out of 16 lighthouses that are along the coast of Texas this is the only one that is opened to the public. We then continued on to the Convention Center to watch some indoor kite flying. I never have heard of it before and I didn't know what to expect. These kites are ultra light and seem to glide on nothing. They had people from all over the country showing us their love for this sport. For 2 hours we were mesmerized by these kites. What an very enjoyable evening.

Winter Ranch Entrance

Big Band Jam

Port Isabel Lighthouse

South Padre Island in the background

Tarpon Wood Carving

Outdoor Kites on the beach

Indoor Kite Show

Monday, January 18, 2016

Saturday, January 16, 2016 Trip to George H. W. Bush Library at Texas A&M

Saturday, January 16, 2016 Trip to George H. W. Bush Library at Texas A&M

There isn't much to see or do here in Livingston so along with Don and Marsha (friends we met at Amazon) we took a 2 hour ride to College Station, Texas . Here we spent the afternoon walking through George Bush's Library. It is located on the campus of Texas A&M. The university donated 90 acres of land to this museum. We all came out of there learning something about Bush that we didn't know so it was a good day. Mike and I think that we will make sure that if we are ever close to another library we will definitely take a tour of it. Thank You Don for suggesting this.

REplica of the Oval Office

Section of the Berlin Wall

These horses are symbolizing the Berlin Wall coming down

The Bush's final resting place

The pond on the grounds

Friday, January 15, 2016

Friday January 8, 2016 Heading to Arkansas, Oklahoma and back to Texas

Friday January 8, 2016 Heading to Arkansas, Oklahoma and back to Texas

We headed out from the campground at 6am and headed toward Texarkana, AR. We needed Arkansas ornour state map and decided to knock it out on our way back to the Dallas area. Pat has a couple of followup Eye Doctor appointments there. We arrived at a Flying J in Texarkana, AR.

Saturday, January 9, 2016 Our next state needed for our map was Oklahoma. So we stopped off at the Windstar Casino. This is the largest casino in the world. We spent a couple of hours at this Casino.Mike won a 112.50 the last time but this time we just took pictures of this casino. We walked from one end to the other and back totaling 2.5 miles. So it is a mile long with 8 different sections named for cities around the world.

Sunday, January 10, 2016 After leaving the Casino in Oklahoma and adding Arkansas and Oklahoma to our state map. We headed to the Dallas/Ft Worth area for a couple of Eye Doctor appointments for Pat. We stayed at a very nice and hidden campground just down from the Dallas Motor Speedway called Northlake Village CG. The campground was nicely laid out with level pads and plenty of room on the roads.

Thursday, January 14, 2016 From there we headed to Livingston, TX to the Escapees Park to check it out and to visit with our friends Don and Marsha. We will be here for a week and then head south to Alamo, TX. Not to be confused with The Alamo which is in San Antonio. Alamo is in the southern most tip of Texas and we are hoping for warmer weather.

Sunday, December 27, 2015 New Orleans, Louisana

Sunday, December 27, 2015 New Orleans, Louisana

Welcome Back Everyone!

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas with loved ones. Mike finished his 2 1/2 months at Amazon in Haslet, TX. It was long days on your feet but good pay. We spent Christmas with our niece Jennifer and her family and we had a great time. This time it was really hard for me to leave but we will be back.

Mike and I decided that we would make a nice detour and meet Jeff and Amy in New Orleans for 10 days. Last year at this time we were in Key West together. We are staying at the Aviation Arbor RV Park at NAS Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. This is a very nice park with concrete slabs that are wide enough for RV and a place for a table and outdoor chairs. The facilities are nice and clean. Rates are a plus at $20 a night

We didn't do any sightseeing today and tomorrow it is going to storm so we plan on hanging around the campsite. Jeff is planning on smoking a turkey if the rain stops.

Monday, December 28, 2015 Chill day at the campground

Well as promised the rain came in with pretty high winds. The rain stopped late morning so the turkey went into the smoker. We caught up on all the things that went on since they left us in July and we started to discuss doing a New England trip in 2017. It seems that there is always something that we want to see and do.

We are going to go into the Farmer's Market tomorrow and see Bourbon Street and then enjoy dinner out.

We have begun our ritual of playing Pegs and Jokers and we are all even 3-3.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015 Day adventure into New Orleans.

We began this day at the farmer's market which had a lot of fresh produce and all kinds of herbs. They had all colors of cauliflower-red, white and yellow. Jeff bought a huge cabbage. We bought some big beautiful tomatoes and I bought something that I have never saw or heard of before. It is in the squash family and is called a Miriton. I will let you know how it turns out. (Everyone liked them. They were like a sweeter version of a squash. We stuffed them with a filling made with shrimp and it was the bomb.)

Next we headed to the French Quarter. First stop was to Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand which was established in 1862. This was my only request. I wanted to taste these famous beignets. They are a french puffed pastry or square doughnuts similar to a fritter. I thought that they were delicious and very filling.

Jackson Square-here you will find vendors selling all kinds of things. Musicians playing and entertaining the crowds. Also there were palm readers, tarot cards readers and others all wanting to tell your future.

St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the United States built in 1720.

Pat O'Brien's and their famous hurricane's. They began operating in December of 1933. It is home to the orginal flaming fountain and their famous hurricane cocktail served in a hurricane glass. History of how this drink came about during World War II liquor salesman force then to buy 50 cases of rum which was plentiful in order to secure 1 case of scotch or whiskey . Their bartender came up with a recipe to use up their large inventory of rum and serve it in a glass shaped like the hurricane lanterns hence the drink was born in the 1940's.

The Crazy Lobster for dinner and their Voo Doo Juice.

Friday January 1, 2016 Happy New Year Everyone stayed at camp another rainy day. It rained the last couple of days so no post for those days.

Saturday January 2, 2016 Ventured out to Bourbon Street and dinner out at Bourbon Heat (used a groupon). All of our dinners were cooked to perfection. It was the best catfish and fried shrimp we have every tasted. Prices were reasonable and the waiters were great. Game score Men are up by 4.

Sunday January 3, 2016 Happy Birthday Phil Hannaford.

Tuesday January 5, 2016 We went to the farmers market again in the morning and then went to a Casino.

Thursday January 7, 2016. Jeff and Amy left today heading back to Virginia. We started getting ready for our departure tomorrow. The ladys came from behind and ended the Pegs and Jokers tournament ahead. Great come back.