Today we went gator hunting, using Dude as bait.....okay, calm down, just kidding! We wandered a few miles east of DeFuniak Springs to a place called Ponce de Leon Springs State Park. Anyone remember studying about Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer, and his search for the fountain of youth? Well, he never found the fountain of youth but he did visit these springs over 400 years ago. The springs are now part of a state park where people can come to picnic, swim, fish, take nature hikes and even snorkel in the crystalline clear waters. The swimming area is inviting with absolutely clear water, 68 degree avg temp, white sand visible at the bottom and slow moving currents. A bit further away are the swiftly running Mill Creek and Sandy Creek which are both a bit murkier than the swimming hole. We spent a couple of hours hiking around the area, looking at the flora and fauna......and hoping to catch sight of an alligator in the wild. We had seen the signs at the heads of the trails warning of the presence of alligators in the creeks but even with Dude as bait were not able to spot one. We did spot several fish idly swimming along in the clearer pools but they weren't big enough to warrant a pole in the water. Birding is big at this park with opportunities to see great horned owls, woodpeckers, swifts and mockingbirds. We didn't see much wildlife, some birds, a couple flutterbys and a few unwelcome midges. Not to be discouraged, however, it was a sunny, warm day and we so enjoyed getting out for the exercise. Because this evening is so clear, we've even been able to enjoy the full moon tonight. Ed's taken several pictures with his new camera. His old camera gave up a few days back and we had to visit the local Wal Mart to outfit Ed with picture-taking abilities again!
I want to let you know that RVing along as we are has its hazards as well as its joys. I injured my shoulder about a week ago slinging a bag of garbage into a dumpster too enthusiastically and it's just now getting better. Two days ago Ed slipped on a sandy ridge in a beach parking lot, twisted his ankle and ended up on the ground. I turned around to talk to him and couldn't figure out for a second why he was sitting on the ground. He's okay, just a slight sprain, I'm okay, I can still (carefully) sling the garbage but I just wanted you to know that there are perils in our lifestyle too! Good night and we hope you all are enjoying the full moon as we are!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Bets in the mouth of a big Megalodon Shark, guess who's coming to dinner.
Just a lounging around at "The Fudpucker" - for more info go to www.fudpucker.com
Okay, now I gotta play a little catch-up! On Feb 25, we spent the day in Destin, FL which is about 35 miles from our RV park in DeFuniak Springs. Destin is on the Emerald Coast which is what they call this part of the Gulf. The water is so green at times that it looks emerald-colored. Our new friends, Pat and Bill (from Atlanta, GA), vacation every winter in a condo owned by his son in Destin. While they're here they do a little work on the son's 3 units there, paint decks, plumbing, etc. During other times of the year they travel by car all over the place. We met them at an Oregon lighthouse while they were on a month sojourn around Washington and Oregon and we were on our way back from our Alaskan cruise/road trip. They took us to lunch for our anniversary at one of their favorite restaurants, The Back Porch, looking out at the beach and we had the best sandwich, the Amberjack. The Amberjack is a most delicious fish but I've never heard of it before and with it we had.....seafood gumbo......yum! After lunch we returned to their condo, played cards with Pat and stayed until she had to serve us dinner too!! Yummy again, leftover meatloaf.....downhome cooking!! Then, she served us dessert and made us take some cake home with us. Don't be surprised if I'm a little bigger when I return home. The food just tastes too good here on the Gulf Coast!
Laundry, truck washing, chores and grocery shopping...with a little laziness in-between...occupied the next day.
Yesterday we were determined again to see what we could see. We started by driving back down to Destin and drove along the coastal highway to Fort Walton Beach. In Fort Walton we stopped at the Indian Mound Museum, walked thru the museum, old school house, old post office and then onto the top of the mound. The mound was the center of an Indian village about 1000 years ago. It's amazing that the mound has survived the millennia as it's right in the middle of a bustling town. Another nearby mound was leveled for a parking lot years ago. A lot of the artifacts in the museum were found right in the area and some from other parts of Florida. Very interesting stuff! In the school house, we learned that 100 years ago school teachers were held to high standards. They couldn't be married during their time as a teacher in fact were not even allowed to go out with men other than their fathers or brothers. They could not wear bright colors, dye their hair, had to wear 2 petticoats (?), couldn't loiter in the local ice cream parlor, and had to be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless they were at a school function. Remember though, this was the time before women worked much outside the home. The turn-off factor for me would have been that the teacher was responsible for keeping the school clean by sweeping and scrubbing the floors, cleaning the blackboards and had to start the fire at 7am (no electricity) so the room would be warm by 8am for the children.
We had to travel back the way we had come to get back to the rv park so with the sun on its downhill slide into the sea we reluctantly turned around. We had spotted an interesting looking place to stop for a bite and so kept an eye out for it on the return trip. Aha, Fudpuckers!! We found it again and pulled in. Yeah, crazy name huh? Well, it gets crazier...they keep a kind of nature area, a man-made swamp, as a gator habitat. Yep, we got to see gators finally. Also found out that the reason that alligators don't show up much in the winter is because they are ectothermic animals (aka cold-blooded). They can't make their own heat so they rely on the sun to support their metabolic systems. Translation: they don't move much when it's cold. Don't think I'll test that theory if I find myself up close and personal to an alligator in the cold though. Had a great dinner there too.....our appetizer was gator strips! Did I feel guilty later while viewing the precious things....umm, a little!!
Laundry, truck washing, chores and grocery shopping...with a little laziness in-between...occupied the next day.
Yesterday we were determined again to see what we could see. We started by driving back down to Destin and drove along the coastal highway to Fort Walton Beach. In Fort Walton we stopped at the Indian Mound Museum, walked thru the museum, old school house, old post office and then onto the top of the mound. The mound was the center of an Indian village about 1000 years ago. It's amazing that the mound has survived the millennia as it's right in the middle of a bustling town. Another nearby mound was leveled for a parking lot years ago. A lot of the artifacts in the museum were found right in the area and some from other parts of Florida. Very interesting stuff! In the school house, we learned that 100 years ago school teachers were held to high standards. They couldn't be married during their time as a teacher in fact were not even allowed to go out with men other than their fathers or brothers. They could not wear bright colors, dye their hair, had to wear 2 petticoats (?), couldn't loiter in the local ice cream parlor, and had to be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless they were at a school function. Remember though, this was the time before women worked much outside the home. The turn-off factor for me would have been that the teacher was responsible for keeping the school clean by sweeping and scrubbing the floors, cleaning the blackboards and had to start the fire at 7am (no electricity) so the room would be warm by 8am for the children.
We had to travel back the way we had come to get back to the rv park so with the sun on its downhill slide into the sea we reluctantly turned around. We had spotted an interesting looking place to stop for a bite and so kept an eye out for it on the return trip. Aha, Fudpuckers!! We found it again and pulled in. Yeah, crazy name huh? Well, it gets crazier...they keep a kind of nature area, a man-made swamp, as a gator habitat. Yep, we got to see gators finally. Also found out that the reason that alligators don't show up much in the winter is because they are ectothermic animals (aka cold-blooded). They can't make their own heat so they rely on the sun to support their metabolic systems. Translation: they don't move much when it's cold. Don't think I'll test that theory if I find myself up close and personal to an alligator in the cold though. Had a great dinner there too.....our appetizer was gator strips! Did I feel guilty later while viewing the precious things....umm, a little!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Happy Anniversary to us!! Yep, today is our 4th year as a married couple....let's see, and working on our 13th year of "hanging out" together. Ed sure has fortitude, doesn't he?!
Well, we're in Florida....arrived yesterday to a cloudy, windy and cold day! Weren't discouraged tho' (and I told people here that!) because we bring California sunshine with us wherever we go! And today dawned......hey, that's right!, bright, clear and sunny! It's still cold tho'.....and windy but I'll take what I can get.
Our one day in Mississippi (day before last) we drove down to the Gulf Coast and along Hwy 90 there. Hwy 90 is a scenic hwy that travels several miles along the coast where there are casinos and beautiful beaches, a resort area where people come to play in the summer months. We drove thru Biloxi and Long Beach (everywhere has a Long Beach). As we traveled further west along the beach, we started to see definite signs of damage still left from Hurricane Katrina. We were told that in the hours before the hurricane hit they weren't expecting to get anything worse than a bad blow. Katrina's path was supposed to miss this area of the Gulf Coast. At the last minute, about a couple hour notice, the hurricane turned and pummeled this coast badly. We could still see snapped off trees and there are a lot of empty slabs along the road where beautiful homes and many businesses had stood. The before and after pictures we saw in a local restaurant were horrifying. There was a building in one picture, in the next there was maybe just the frame or slab. The good news is that they are busy rebuilding. Lots of construction happening down there. All the homes have fresh paint jobs and almost everything is new or rebuilt from the ground up.
We toured Beauvoir (French for beautiful view) which was the home of Jefferson Davis and his family in his later years after the Civil War. It was a beautiful place but it had been damaged greatly also and just recently finished being rebuilt. Luckily the furnishings inside the home were fairly undamaged and just needed touch-up. There had been a beautiful rose garden in the rear which had been tended by Mrs. Davis but not a shred of plantings remained except for the general shape of it and the walkways around it were still there. They will replant new rose bushes sometime in the future and try to make it as similar to the original as possible. The tomb of the unknown Confederate soldier is back behind the house about a mile walk. Many soldiers were buried back there as the home was also used as a rest home for old Confederate soldiers after Davis died and his wife moved out. We love to learn about historical things and the Civil War seems to be something we keep encountering in our many travels. In 2008 we learned many things in Gettysburg, PA and Fredericksburg, VA.
Yesterday was a travel day....on to Florida (here we are!) and then today we visit a couple (Pat and Bill) that we met on our 2009 road trip/cruise to Alaska and back. We met them at a lighthouse in Northern California, talked for maybe a half hour, kept in touch and then found out they happened to be here in Florida at the same time as us. They travel a lot also but just not in an RV. Our campground is not near the coast but Pat and Bill's cabin is so we'll get our first glimpse of the Gulf from the Florida coast today!
Well, we're in Florida....arrived yesterday to a cloudy, windy and cold day! Weren't discouraged tho' (and I told people here that!) because we bring California sunshine with us wherever we go! And today dawned......hey, that's right!, bright, clear and sunny! It's still cold tho'.....and windy but I'll take what I can get.
Our one day in Mississippi (day before last) we drove down to the Gulf Coast and along Hwy 90 there. Hwy 90 is a scenic hwy that travels several miles along the coast where there are casinos and beautiful beaches, a resort area where people come to play in the summer months. We drove thru Biloxi and Long Beach (everywhere has a Long Beach). As we traveled further west along the beach, we started to see definite signs of damage still left from Hurricane Katrina. We were told that in the hours before the hurricane hit they weren't expecting to get anything worse than a bad blow. Katrina's path was supposed to miss this area of the Gulf Coast. At the last minute, about a couple hour notice, the hurricane turned and pummeled this coast badly. We could still see snapped off trees and there are a lot of empty slabs along the road where beautiful homes and many businesses had stood. The before and after pictures we saw in a local restaurant were horrifying. There was a building in one picture, in the next there was maybe just the frame or slab. The good news is that they are busy rebuilding. Lots of construction happening down there. All the homes have fresh paint jobs and almost everything is new or rebuilt from the ground up.
We toured Beauvoir (French for beautiful view) which was the home of Jefferson Davis and his family in his later years after the Civil War. It was a beautiful place but it had been damaged greatly also and just recently finished being rebuilt. Luckily the furnishings inside the home were fairly undamaged and just needed touch-up. There had been a beautiful rose garden in the rear which had been tended by Mrs. Davis but not a shred of plantings remained except for the general shape of it and the walkways around it were still there. They will replant new rose bushes sometime in the future and try to make it as similar to the original as possible. The tomb of the unknown Confederate soldier is back behind the house about a mile walk. Many soldiers were buried back there as the home was also used as a rest home for old Confederate soldiers after Davis died and his wife moved out. We love to learn about historical things and the Civil War seems to be something we keep encountering in our many travels. In 2008 we learned many things in Gettysburg, PA and Fredericksburg, VA.
Yesterday was a travel day....on to Florida (here we are!) and then today we visit a couple (Pat and Bill) that we met on our 2009 road trip/cruise to Alaska and back. We met them at a lighthouse in Northern California, talked for maybe a half hour, kept in touch and then found out they happened to be here in Florida at the same time as us. They travel a lot also but just not in an RV. Our campground is not near the coast but Pat and Bill's cabin is so we'll get our first glimpse of the Gulf from the Florida coast today!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Yesterday (Sunday) we drove south from Gibson, LA. We drove as far south as we could go until we drove all the way out onto Grand Isle, Louisiana. It's a little spit of land way out in the Gulf. For several miles, the road that we were on was surrounded by water, at times the road just became a bridge because there was no land. In Grand Isle there is water on all sides, it's part vacation cabins and part oil refineries. All the houses/vacation cabins are high up on stilts. It kinda made me nervous to see them up that high because we were still down low in our truck and it was starting to rain. I think maybe it floods during hurricane season or something like that. Anyway, it was very interesting but there was almost nobody out there except us crazy Californians just trying to see what we could see! Dude got to run like a mad dog all over the beach. He really enjoyed it as he had been cooped up in the truck for days on end driving who knows where. I enjoyed it too but I watched the water closely for tsunamis or surges or whatever might happen. We made it safely back to town and visited Wal-Mart for groceries just to get a little taste of humdrum everyday stuff.
Today we are in Mississippi which is a seriously cool place. We just ate the best barbecue that we have ever had! We split an "everything" platter between us and it was still more food than we should have eaten (we finished it!). We had pulled pork, chicken breasts and wings, ribs, brisket and sausage. Every bit of it was so tender that it fell apart and we "had" to eat it with our fingers. The sides were cole slaw, beans and the absolute best potato salad I've ever had. I should go back tho' and tell y'all (that's my southern drawl coming thru) that we had a several mile hike before all this eating. We arrived sort of early afternoon, so after lunch, which was a sandwich and an apple (so we could eat big later!), we took off in Bruzer (our truck, remember?), used Madge (our GPS) to scout out a place to go and ended up at Gulf Islands Natl Seashore. It was such a nice day, we hadn't had a lot of exercise in the past few days and Dude was raring to go, so we hiked around in the bayou for a couple of hours. Here we did see the damage that had been caused by Katrina. Trees were fallen like pick-up sticks all over and several had been snapped off low on the trunks. It had been cleared, you could tell because the trail was clear, but not all of it. We saw a beautiful sunset and then came back to our "pig-out"!
Tomorrow we will visit Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America). I've heard it's really beautiful with a view of the water. Yawn......g'nite, mates!
Today we are in Mississippi which is a seriously cool place. We just ate the best barbecue that we have ever had! We split an "everything" platter between us and it was still more food than we should have eaten (we finished it!). We had pulled pork, chicken breasts and wings, ribs, brisket and sausage. Every bit of it was so tender that it fell apart and we "had" to eat it with our fingers. The sides were cole slaw, beans and the absolute best potato salad I've ever had. I should go back tho' and tell y'all (that's my southern drawl coming thru) that we had a several mile hike before all this eating. We arrived sort of early afternoon, so after lunch, which was a sandwich and an apple (so we could eat big later!), we took off in Bruzer (our truck, remember?), used Madge (our GPS) to scout out a place to go and ended up at Gulf Islands Natl Seashore. It was such a nice day, we hadn't had a lot of exercise in the past few days and Dude was raring to go, so we hiked around in the bayou for a couple of hours. Here we did see the damage that had been caused by Katrina. Trees were fallen like pick-up sticks all over and several had been snapped off low on the trunks. It had been cleared, you could tell because the trail was clear, but not all of it. We saw a beautiful sunset and then came back to our "pig-out"!
Tomorrow we will visit Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America). I've heard it's really beautiful with a view of the water. Yawn......g'nite, mates!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday we started out trying to find a place to do a swamp tour. Our GPS unit led us wrong a couple times and then we found out that the critters (like alligators) mostly don't make themselves available for viewing in the winter. I didn't know that alligators hibernated! Anyway, so we dropped that plan as we're going to take an airboat ride in the Florida Everglades in a week or so. A cemetary with beautiful white headstones next to a church made us stop for a little picture-taking. We learned from a previous trip that here in Louisiana, graves have to be aboveground as the water table is so close to the surface. We drove to a Wildlife Gardens and saw the most beautiful peacocks then headed back to the 5th wheel to do some mundane household things. That night we dressed up and went to dinner at a Cajun Restaurant. There was live Cajun music being played so we ordered up some authentic Cajun food......shrimp stew, chicken/sausage gumbo, fried catfish, boudin bits (fried cornbread balls with sausage and rice cooked in), and fried okra. Yeah, it sounds different but it was yummy......and fattening!
Yesterday it was time to head in to New Orleans. How could we be so close and not even visit?! We've been here before but it's a neat city and worth seeing over and over. On the way in, we didn't see much that could be attributed to Hurricane Katrina damage and certainly everything was fine in the French Quarter. We might not have been in the right areas to see the most damage. I think probably work is still underway to beef up the levees and make everything livable again but we didn't see it. A sign pointing to the River Road sidetracked us on the way in to NO and we stopped off for a tour of a restored plantation. At one time, these plantations lined the Mississippi River and life was pretty opulent for white folk. (in 1811 there was a slave uprising right on the river in front of this plantation but it was quelled by the militia within a couple days) We learned about how the plantations were all pretty much self sufficient, feeding and clothing all who lived there. Rice, beans and corn were the staples. Wheat and other grains could not (and still can't) be grown well in the area because of the wet. Because grains had to be shipped in at high cost, cattle and other animals who ate grain, were a rarity too. The Destrehan Plantation started out planting indigo (for dyes) and then switched to sugar cane which was more profitable. The owner's brother developed the process for granulating sugar, they built a processing plant right on the plantation and made a fortune by processing all the sugar in the area. In the 1900s, the plantation was purchased by an oil company and an oil refinery was built on the property. Luckily in later years the oil company got a conscience, tore down the refinery and gave the plantation over to a non-profit conservancy group who has painstakingly refurbished and re-outfitted the plantation.
In NO, we spent a frantic (I was driving) half hour trying to find a parking place for our big truck. I never learn to let Ed drive when we're going into the cities because Bruzer is just too big to drive in traffic and narrow streets!! Finally parked in a casino parking lot and then (of course) had to play the slots awhile (to get our parking ticket validated) and eat at the buffet. We did eventually make it out to the streets to walk around in the hordes of people left over from Mardi Gras and the Saints Super Bowl win. We soaked up the ambiance of the French Quarter and ate beignets (benyays - a big puffy square pastry liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar) at Cafe du Monde. After a bit more walking around, we headed up to the levee along the Mississippi to enjoy the view of paddlewheels, tugboats and barges....it's a busy river.
Yesterday it was time to head in to New Orleans. How could we be so close and not even visit?! We've been here before but it's a neat city and worth seeing over and over. On the way in, we didn't see much that could be attributed to Hurricane Katrina damage and certainly everything was fine in the French Quarter. We might not have been in the right areas to see the most damage. I think probably work is still underway to beef up the levees and make everything livable again but we didn't see it. A sign pointing to the River Road sidetracked us on the way in to NO and we stopped off for a tour of a restored plantation. At one time, these plantations lined the Mississippi River and life was pretty opulent for white folk. (in 1811 there was a slave uprising right on the river in front of this plantation but it was quelled by the militia within a couple days) We learned about how the plantations were all pretty much self sufficient, feeding and clothing all who lived there. Rice, beans and corn were the staples. Wheat and other grains could not (and still can't) be grown well in the area because of the wet. Because grains had to be shipped in at high cost, cattle and other animals who ate grain, were a rarity too. The Destrehan Plantation started out planting indigo (for dyes) and then switched to sugar cane which was more profitable. The owner's brother developed the process for granulating sugar, they built a processing plant right on the plantation and made a fortune by processing all the sugar in the area. In the 1900s, the plantation was purchased by an oil company and an oil refinery was built on the property. Luckily in later years the oil company got a conscience, tore down the refinery and gave the plantation over to a non-profit conservancy group who has painstakingly refurbished and re-outfitted the plantation.
In NO, we spent a frantic (I was driving) half hour trying to find a parking place for our big truck. I never learn to let Ed drive when we're going into the cities because Bruzer is just too big to drive in traffic and narrow streets!! Finally parked in a casino parking lot and then (of course) had to play the slots awhile (to get our parking ticket validated) and eat at the buffet. We did eventually make it out to the streets to walk around in the hordes of people left over from Mardi Gras and the Saints Super Bowl win. We soaked up the ambiance of the French Quarter and ate beignets (benyays - a big puffy square pastry liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar) at Cafe du Monde. After a bit more walking around, we headed up to the levee along the Mississippi to enjoy the view of paddlewheels, tugboats and barges....it's a busy river.
Friday, February 19, 2010
We're in Bayou Country now, surrounded by swamps and alligators. Well, okay, I haven't actually seen any alligators yet but everything around here is pretty wet. The trees are actually growing out of the water. They don't have a choice as there is so much of it. While we were driving here, Ed kept checking the altitude and during the Louisiana portion of our drive we were mostly below sea level. We'll go into New Orleans tomorrow and check out the changes since Katrina. We were last there about 2002. A tour of a swamp is on our list of "must-dos" here so we'd better get busy. We only have 3 days here!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
We've been having computer connection problems on our wireless at the campsite. We had to come over to use the WiFi at the clubhouse today to catch up on the last 4days. Last Saturday night we attended the dinner/dance at this clubhouse to honor Valentines Day and had a very good time. The dinner was great and tho' I'm not fond of western music, I was tapping my foot to the live band playing!
The Texas Hill Country has several German towns that started as German settlements in the area. We visited one of them named Fredericksburg on Sunday. In Fredericksburg we shopped a bit and toured thru the National Museum of the Pacific War. General Nimitz of WWII fame lived there and there was a museum to honor him also. It was filled with WWII memorabilia and now I know more than I ever wanted to about that war. When we exited the museum, we discovered that the weather had degenerated into a fierce cold wind and we ran for the truck. We finished off the day with a lunch at the Fredericksburg Brewing Co that included a tall glass of hometown brew.
The holiday on Monday threw us for a loop. Being retired we forget about things like weekends and holidays. Many things in Boerne (Burney, another German town) were closed because of the holiday so we had to change plans. We headed out of town to The Cave With No Name (yeah, that's its name!) to go underground again. We're going to dedicate this trip to things underground, I guess. At least in caves the temperature is consistent and usually warmer than topside lately. It's been very cold here, in the 30s, so going underground was inviting. This cave was privately owned and a little more difficult to access. There were 1oo+ steps to descend (and ascend) to get to the main cavern. The last 15 ft was only 4 ft tall and all but children had to bend over to get thru. When we finally overcame the obstacles, the cavern was beautiful. I've noticed that all caves are different and this one was more up-close and personal than the last two. We had to walk very carefully to avoid formations and sometimes had to walk thru water because of the recent rains. The tour took about an hour and then we went out as we had come in....up the stairs. Not so bad tho' I brought up the rear!
Yesterday our mission was missions! In San Antonio there are five missions; Espada, San Juan, San Jose, Concepcion and the Alamo (which was a mission but turned into a fort during the battles with Mexico). We visited the first four extensively but only drove by the Alamo as it was close to closing time when we got there. We had already seen the Alamo several years ago when we visited San Antonio on vacation. It was very interesting to find out how the Spanish founded the missions and forced the local natives into converting and being their labor. Of course the local natives did appreciate the guaranteed food supply and the protection against fiercer, warring tribes.
Today is a beautiful warmer day but it had already been set aside as our day for catching up on things like laundry, cleaning, computer stuff, etc. Unfortunately it's been so cold here that we've not done the fishing and hiking that we had planned. Tomorrow we move on to Gibson, Louisiana, a small town to the west and south of New Orleans.
Funny story time! Next time you see him, ask Ed how it came to be that he found his phone tied up in our bathroom trash bag (yuck!) in a campground dumpster by calling it with my phone?! He had been missing his phone all day and we thought it was gone for good. Then he had the smart idea of using my phone to call his phone while walking around to all the areas he had been that morning before it went missing. It was pretty funny to hear his ringtones coming from the dumpster!!!!!
The Texas Hill Country has several German towns that started as German settlements in the area. We visited one of them named Fredericksburg on Sunday. In Fredericksburg we shopped a bit and toured thru the National Museum of the Pacific War. General Nimitz of WWII fame lived there and there was a museum to honor him also. It was filled with WWII memorabilia and now I know more than I ever wanted to about that war. When we exited the museum, we discovered that the weather had degenerated into a fierce cold wind and we ran for the truck. We finished off the day with a lunch at the Fredericksburg Brewing Co that included a tall glass of hometown brew.
The holiday on Monday threw us for a loop. Being retired we forget about things like weekends and holidays. Many things in Boerne (Burney, another German town) were closed because of the holiday so we had to change plans. We headed out of town to The Cave With No Name (yeah, that's its name!) to go underground again. We're going to dedicate this trip to things underground, I guess. At least in caves the temperature is consistent and usually warmer than topside lately. It's been very cold here, in the 30s, so going underground was inviting. This cave was privately owned and a little more difficult to access. There were 1oo+ steps to descend (and ascend) to get to the main cavern. The last 15 ft was only 4 ft tall and all but children had to bend over to get thru. When we finally overcame the obstacles, the cavern was beautiful. I've noticed that all caves are different and this one was more up-close and personal than the last two. We had to walk very carefully to avoid formations and sometimes had to walk thru water because of the recent rains. The tour took about an hour and then we went out as we had come in....up the stairs. Not so bad tho' I brought up the rear!
Yesterday our mission was missions! In San Antonio there are five missions; Espada, San Juan, San Jose, Concepcion and the Alamo (which was a mission but turned into a fort during the battles with Mexico). We visited the first four extensively but only drove by the Alamo as it was close to closing time when we got there. We had already seen the Alamo several years ago when we visited San Antonio on vacation. It was very interesting to find out how the Spanish founded the missions and forced the local natives into converting and being their labor. Of course the local natives did appreciate the guaranteed food supply and the protection against fiercer, warring tribes.
Today is a beautiful warmer day but it had already been set aside as our day for catching up on things like laundry, cleaning, computer stuff, etc. Unfortunately it's been so cold here that we've not done the fishing and hiking that we had planned. Tomorrow we move on to Gibson, Louisiana, a small town to the west and south of New Orleans.
Funny story time! Next time you see him, ask Ed how it came to be that he found his phone tied up in our bathroom trash bag (yuck!) in a campground dumpster by calling it with my phone?! He had been missing his phone all day and we thought it was gone for good. Then he had the smart idea of using my phone to call his phone while walking around to all the areas he had been that morning before it went missing. It was pretty funny to hear his ringtones coming from the dumpster!!!!!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Our travel day yesterday started out very interesting. We woke up to falling rain and snow on the ground. In fact we had to hook up (we had done packing up the night before) in the freezing cold rain. My fingers were numb as I'm sure Ed's were by the time we were done. It was also a very boring drive as we traveled most of the day thru rainy and cloudy conditions. We arrived at the Thousand Trails park in Texas at about 5pm (having lost an hour to time zone change) and had to set up in the rain also.
Don't feel too sorry for us tho' as this is a beautiful park in the sunshine. Today started out a little dreary and we decided to do laundry. With laundry completed, we headed back to the 5th wheel when we noticed......sunshine!! Hadn't seen it in a few days! After tucking away the laundry we took off for a walk with Dude and then soon decided to head out to see what we could see. Since the day was mostly over we chose Bandera, a town nearby. Bandera calls itself the Cowboy Capital of the World. It may be the cowboy capital but we didn't really see any. What we did see was a very cool realistic-looking Texas State Policeman while we were having a late lunch in the Old Spanish Trail restaurant. I'm afraid I stared a bit and he probably wondered if I was some type of criminal is disguise as a middle-aged woman. He was very handsome, fit and in a real snappy uniform.
After our meal, we got Dude out of the truck and walked around town a bit. It's historic section is being worked on right now and so there was not much too see but we visited a couple stores. We bought Ed an authentic Western shirt (purple).....just wait til you see him in it!!.....ooh la la, so handsome with his gray hair. I got myself a pair of earrings from the Indian gift store that look like two small Indian headdresses.
Back at the campground we took Dude on another walk and enjoyed the last of the sunshine. If there's sun tomorrow we will hike down to the lake and maybe even fish.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Today we found out that there is way more to Roswell, New Mexico than aliens!! We did spend a couple of hours browsing in the UFO Museum and Research Center. It was very interesting to read about that July day in 1947 when Mac Brazel, a rancher, heard a loud noise that was different from the thunder. The next day he was out on the ranch property when he came across a debris field that was 300 yds wide and 3/4 mi long and he picked up a sackful of the "stuff". The debris was found to be impervious to damage and burning and would snap back into shape if crinkled. Anyway, within a few days the military was involved and all who had seen anything were told firmly to "shut up". Supposedly alien bodies were recovered and sent to Area 51 to be studied. The debris "stuff" was completely collected by the military and no one has seen any concrete evidence since.
We will come back to this area again soon as we need to see Bitterlake Wildlife Refuge, Bottomless Lake State Park, Orchard Park POW camp site (where German POWs were held during WWII), Roswell Museum and Art Center, Robert Goddard Planetarium, White Sands Nat'l Monument, Ruidoso Downs, and on....
Tomorrow is a travel day and we will be moving on to Lakehills, TX near San Antonio.
We will come back to this area again soon as we need to see Bitterlake Wildlife Refuge, Bottomless Lake State Park, Orchard Park POW camp site (where German POWs were held during WWII), Roswell Museum and Art Center, Robert Goddard Planetarium, White Sands Nat'l Monument, Ruidoso Downs, and on....
Tomorrow is a travel day and we will be moving on to Lakehills, TX near San Antonio.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
In New Mexico now and today we headed underground again. This time we took a tour down 700 ft into Carlsbad Caverns. We descended in an elevator accompanied by a Park Ranger who had already started to fill us with knowledge on this particular cave. Each cave tour actually has two rangers, one to lead and explain and one to bring up the rear and make sure that no one gets lost. Our guides today were Ranger Mike and Ranger Aron and I think that there is a requirement that rangers must be cute and personable. These two fit the requirements as did our ranger guide at Karchner Caverns. Needless to say, Carlsbad Caverns were as beautiful as Karchner and we had an edge this time. We already knew a lot of what we were being told. There was one special moment, actually about 10-15 minutes, this time the Rangers turned out the lights and we were "immersed" in darkness. It is really pitch black in a cave down 700 ft. Could not even see our hands in front of our eyes. Ranger Mike talked to us for a while in the darkness and then he lit a lighter. Wow, it was a very small amount of light but so reassuring. He said that the lanterns early explorers brought down was about 7 times more light than the lighter. Then he extinguished the lighter and told us a story about the first explorer in this cavern, a sixteen year old boy. He found the opening while herding cattle and entered without telling anyone where he was going. He kept the cave find a secret for quite awhile as he explored and went further into the cave. One time while he was walking around a room in the cave with his lantern on the floor a ways from him, the light went out, he panicked, ran headlong into a stalagtite (formation from the ceiling) and was knocked out. When he awoke, he very cautiously found his lantern with one of the three matches he had left and then managed to light his lantern again using both of the remaining matches.....scary!! With that, the rangers turned the lights back on and we realized how dangerous cave exploration can really be. Once the tour was over we were taken back to the "Big Room" (about 17 football fields long) and allowed to explore it as long as we wanted. We walked around the entire Big Room which was about 1 1/4 miles. By the end I was hungry and insisting we return to the 5th wheel for lunch. Great excursion!! P.S. It's really cold here!!.....32 degrees. Much warmer in the cave......56 degrees.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Started off this morning a little later and stopped by the Amerind Museum again. They had given us free passes to come back because we were cut short yesterday by their closing. Very interesting place!
Moseyed down the hwy south towards Douglas at the border of Mexico. Thought maybe we might go over the border into Agua Prieta. Stopped off in Old Pearce, an old mining town and talked with a lady whose husband bought the old post office in Pearce and moved her there from Catalina Island. What a change?! But she's happy and they visit Catalina every year. Moved on to Douglas and decided not to cross the border...too much of a hassle with insurance and wondering if Dude could go over and back. The mining town of Bisbee beckoned and we traveled back up north and west. Bisbee is a beautiful little town nestled in the Mule Mountains of southern Arizona. The town is sort of built up on a hill and lots of little shops and restaurants line the quaint streets. We headed over to the Queen Mine to take a mine tour. Very interesting! We donned mining gear and rode a tram (straddled like on a horse)down into the mine. We actually didn't go down very far but did go about 1500 ft into the mine. It was cool, airy and roomy down there so my claustrophobia didn't kick in. The guide explained a lot about the mechanics of mining and showed us different types of rock. One question I had in my brain was answered towards the end of the tour when he showed us the potty cart. Yep, there was a mine cart that was designed as a toilet and there would have been a man assigned to be in charge of that cart to dump it as needed. Whew, what a relief, I thought they had to hold it all for ten hours! We had dinner in Bisbee at a lovely Mexican restaurant, two margaritas later, we decided to walk it off in town. We trudged uphill and came upon a street that looked like it should have been in New Orleans. There was a display of skulls in one window, lots of brightly colored drawings and a ornately decorated church-like place. Anyway, it was getting dark and we needed to find Bruzer and Dude again. After climbing a huge set of stairs then trailing down a couple streets, there they were and we climbed in the truck to head for home.
Moseyed down the hwy south towards Douglas at the border of Mexico. Thought maybe we might go over the border into Agua Prieta. Stopped off in Old Pearce, an old mining town and talked with a lady whose husband bought the old post office in Pearce and moved her there from Catalina Island. What a change?! But she's happy and they visit Catalina every year. Moved on to Douglas and decided not to cross the border...too much of a hassle with insurance and wondering if Dude could go over and back. The mining town of Bisbee beckoned and we traveled back up north and west. Bisbee is a beautiful little town nestled in the Mule Mountains of southern Arizona. The town is sort of built up on a hill and lots of little shops and restaurants line the quaint streets. We headed over to the Queen Mine to take a mine tour. Very interesting! We donned mining gear and rode a tram (straddled like on a horse)down into the mine. We actually didn't go down very far but did go about 1500 ft into the mine. It was cool, airy and roomy down there so my claustrophobia didn't kick in. The guide explained a lot about the mechanics of mining and showed us different types of rock. One question I had in my brain was answered towards the end of the tour when he showed us the potty cart. Yep, there was a mine cart that was designed as a toilet and there would have been a man assigned to be in charge of that cart to dump it as needed. Whew, what a relief, I thought they had to hold it all for ten hours! We had dinner in Bisbee at a lovely Mexican restaurant, two margaritas later, we decided to walk it off in town. We trudged uphill and came upon a street that looked like it should have been in New Orleans. There was a display of skulls in one window, lots of brightly colored drawings and a ornately decorated church-like place. Anyway, it was getting dark and we needed to find Bruzer and Dude again. After climbing a huge set of stairs then trailing down a couple streets, there they were and we climbed in the truck to head for home.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Woke up to a clear, slightly cloudy day and thought we'd have it made for a trip to Chiricahua Monument. We had breakfast and started out by 7:30am....real early birds! First stop was the Amerind Foundation Museum (Indians) to see when it opened (10am). Figured we stop in on the way back. Moved on along the freeway to the turn off for Chiricahua. I was excited, I'd heard it was a pretty cool place. Way back up in the hills along the grassy flatlands we drove. About an hour later we drove up into the mountains. It had started to turn dark and cloudy but we refused to be turned back. Stopped in at the Visitors Center and got the lowdown....where we could hike with Dude and that there was snow on the upper elevations. But....where'd we head first....the upper elevations! Had to see for ourselves. Yep, it was white, cold and wet up there and pretty socked in with clouds. No grand vista like we'd been told we'd see up there by people here at the campground. But, that just means we'll go back in more clement weather. The park is beautiful! We did get a good hike in with Dude too...to the Faraway Ranch. Used to be a real ranch and then a kind of dude (ha,ha) ranch.
Weird spiraling rock formations that look like Indians. This is actually one of the places that the Apaches holed up during the Indian Wars here in Arizona. The Apaches had been here since about the 1500s, they actually came down from Northern Canada and settled here in southern AZ. In the 1700s, the exploring Spaniards came thru but after fighting a bit with the Apache, they gave up and left. Well, then those interfering white men came into the area in the early 1800s and by the mid
1800s, the war between the whites and the Indians was full force. Of course, we know how that turned out and today there are way fewer Apaches than there used to be. But you gotta have respect for them when you read about how they lived and used the land's resources properly....early conservationists?? Anyway, we also stopped by to see the Cochise Stronghold across the valley from Chiricahua and a really neat place too. This is where he died and supposedly his body is buried somewhere in the park. Did make it back to the museum with only an hour to space so first thing tomorrow morning we'll stop in again for about another hour.....they gave us free passes!
We'll try to make it all the way to Mexico tomorrow...a little place called Agua Prieta, just across the border from Douglas, AZ. And Bisbee, AZ, the mining town. Hopefully we'll have enough time for it all tomorrow.
Weird spiraling rock formations that look like Indians. This is actually one of the places that the Apaches holed up during the Indian Wars here in Arizona. The Apaches had been here since about the 1500s, they actually came down from Northern Canada and settled here in southern AZ. In the 1700s, the exploring Spaniards came thru but after fighting a bit with the Apache, they gave up and left. Well, then those interfering white men came into the area in the early 1800s and by the mid
1800s, the war between the whites and the Indians was full force. Of course, we know how that turned out and today there are way fewer Apaches than there used to be. But you gotta have respect for them when you read about how they lived and used the land's resources properly....early conservationists?? Anyway, we also stopped by to see the Cochise Stronghold across the valley from Chiricahua and a really neat place too. This is where he died and supposedly his body is buried somewhere in the park. Did make it back to the museum with only an hour to space so first thing tomorrow morning we'll stop in again for about another hour.....they gave us free passes!
We'll try to make it all the way to Mexico tomorrow...a little place called Agua Prieta, just across the border from Douglas, AZ. And Bisbee, AZ, the mining town. Hopefully we'll have enough time for it all tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Rainy today so decided to visit Karchner Caverns. Took a tour of the Big Room in the caverns. Beautiful cave features, draperies, stalagmites, stalagtites and flows...gorgeous colors. We really enjoyed our caving experience.
Okay, done with caves, now what.....wow, let's visit wine country. With a few hours of daylight left, we went searching out the wineries. Back up into the hill country, nestled in amongst cattle country, we found them.....the wineries. There are actually nine wineries but we were
Okay, done with caves, now what.....wow, let's visit wine country. With a few hours of daylight left, we went searching out the wineries. Back up into the hill country, nestled in amongst cattle country, we found them.....the wineries. There are actually nine wineries but we were
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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