A Big Bend Thanksgiving (11-28-14)

Spending 10 days in Terlingua, near Big Bend National Park, always requires some careful meal planning.  The nearest full fledged grocery store is 90 miles away.  When you add Thanksgiving into the mix,  lots of meal planning and shopping is required.

Along with Mike and Julie, we made several trips to Costco and grocery stores on the way to Terlingua. 

The day we arrived it was Taco Tuesday (although we think they might have this deal every day).  From 5-6 pm, the Starlight Theater Restaurant has $1 tacos and $2 Margaritas.  It’s hard to justify cooking with a deal like that so we didn’t even try- we just headed over to the restaurant to eat.

Thanksgiving Day dawned with perfect weather- we had a short time for relaxing before the preparations began.

The guys had set up a table and tent between the two trailers, making an awesome spot for socializing and outdoor meals.

Both of our rigs have two ovens and they were all in use that day!

We were checking regularly with our friends Dave and Nancy, who were driving feverishly to get here in time for dinner.  It took several long days of driving, but they made it for dinner with about an hour to spare!

Both the food and the company were awesome….

Afterwards, some of us were plumb tuckered out, and took an afternoon nap.











With our energy level back up on Friday, we all hiked the 1.5 mile trail to Cattail Falls.  Paul and I have been here before and wanted our friends to see it. It isn’t on any of the park maps, which helps keep visitation down.

The first part of the trail wanders through the desert before approaching the mountains…

and the last section of the trail involves some minor rock scrambling….

The reward is a small but pretty waterfall in the shadow of the mountain, making it a perfect spot to stop for lunch. Waterfalls are rare in this area and the ecosystem here is very fragile, which is why it is not on the maps.

Bummin’ Around Texas (11-19-14)

San Antonio was next on our list of places to visit. The weather has not been all that pleasant, with some rain and temperatures dipping into the 30s so we keep moving, hoping for something better.  Whenever the weather did cooperate, we took advantage and spent the time outside.








A couple of the old missions, built in the 1700s, are within walking distance of the RV Park we were staying in, which has been handy- it’s nice to have a destination in mind when we go for a walk.



Some parts of the missions are still in ruins, and some have been restored, like this chapel at Mission Concepcion.


 

Of course no visit to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the Riverwalk. 

In between all the history lessons and walking, the 4 of us have just been…..bummin’ around, hanging out and trying not to eat too much!

When we looked at the weather forecast, our plans for Thanksgiving week changed.  We realized we are not far enough south and in an attempt to outrun the cold weather, we decided to head to Big Bend National Park next week.



 
That still left us with a few days to bum around so we headed next to San Marcos, a good jumping off point for visiting numerous hill country towns.

One of those towns is Gruene (pronounced “Green”).  With a historic downtown full of eating and drinking establishments, it was our kind of place! 

When you add in some decent weather, wine and beer tasting and a great outdoor venue for live music,  it makes for an awesome day.

Intermingled with the fun, there are always chores to do.  Mike and Paul took the time to load up both trucks with firewood.  Most of our time over the next 3 months will be spent in the desert, without much opportunity for firewood purchasing, so we took advantage while we can.

Tomorrow we start the 3 day trek to Big Bend National Park- one of my favorite places!

 

 

Salado, TX (11-09-14)

Salado  is a very small town in the state of TX but it has two things going for it as far as we are concerned.



  First is that they have an annual Scottish Festival with Highland Games, and second, our friends Mike and Julie agreed to meet us there.

We haven’t seen Mike and Julie since February, so we had a lot to catch up on. The biggest thing (literally) was their new rig, which is the sister ship to our Mobile Suites.  Its the same floor plan, but with the many changes and upgrades that come with a model 3 years newer.

Its a gorgeous home and we've already shared several meals at the kitchen table!

We all arrived just in time for the festival, which started with a parade, complete, of course with pipe and drum bands.

Once lunch was out of the way ( A very tasty Shepherd’s Pie), we were free to watch the games and listen to the music.

One of the more traditional games is the Caber Toss.  The contestant runs with the pole…















and tosses it in the air.  It has to flip over, end over end, in order to count.












It makes no difference how far he tosses it, only that it flips and how straight it lands.

The final event was a Tattoo- a sampling of music from the day.  By that time it was getting dark and we were ready to call it a night.

Once the festival was over, we decided to move over to San Antonio for a few days.

On a housekeeping note, the small projects continue:

Paul has replaced the door knobs on the bedroom and bathroom doors.  The innards were starting to rattle and he was afraid that one day soon we would get locked in.  He also shortened the shades to one of the windows. He sure does like to be busy!