It just keeps getting better...

Beautiful 3.5 hour, 6 mile canoe trip on the lovely Navasota River yesterday. We are staying at Fort Parker State Park, have a nice site right on a lake.  Lots of hiking trails here and plenty of wildflowers too after a rain 2 days ago.  Jasmine are also blooming so the air on the trails is full of its perfume.  I am loving this! 

A couple of days ago we were in Georgetown, TX just north of Austin.  Poked around the courthouse plaza area that reminded us much of Prescott.  We are on a quest - is there a town somewhere we would enjoy as much as Prescott?  the answer is still "NO" but Georgetown is nice.

 We especially enjoyed beers on the sidewalk in the shade and breeze in front of this bar on the square.

More TX Hill Country

Wonder what we do, day after day, in this Texas Hill country? There are so many cute little towns to explore.

Here's a look at the Bluebonnet Festival in Burnet...pronounce that BUR net. Click the Play button.

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Smilebox slideshow" src="http://smilebox.com/snap/4d6a4d354f5441314d6a513d0d0a.jpg" width=386 height=303> This lasted 3 days and included a car show, an air show and concert after concert on stage on the courthouse square. The parade was long and included a lawnchair drill team as well as the toilet plunger drill team. Was fun!

We've been staying in TX State Parks - very nice and a bargain with the $60 Annual Pass that has already saved us over $60.

This is Blanco (pronounced "BLANK o") State Park with it's unique swimming hole and falls on the Blanco River. The tiny town has a beautiful old courthouse and a Live Oak tree more than 500 years old.

Then, Pedernales Falls State Park campground that sits WAY above the Pedernales River because its floods are so high. Look at that tree trunk stuck way up high in the tree by the river...

Pronounce this one "PER den al is" like LBJ would have done. Lyndon Johnson's ranch and home town of Johnson City are straight west of here along the Pedernales River.

Wildflowers have been hard to find so I have contented myself with a few close ups and playing with Photoshop.

Luckenbach, Texas

On the way to Luckenbach, we stopped at Wildseed Farms. It's been so dry here we've not found wildflowers like we'd hoped. So this nursery seemed like our best hope. Hah! Not even here are they blooming well...

Just one carefully planted and cared for garden in front of the nursery.

But Luckenbach did not disappoint us. What a fun place. Reminds us of the AZ Desert Bar near Parker and Greasewood Flats - but WAY better. Really not a town, but a bar, general store, dance hall, music stages, lots of beer.

Got me a new hat there...actually a hat BRIM, minus the top. So it acts like a visor. Has a great hat band made of Shiner Bock beer caps...

Cute car in the parking lot - note the license plate: RVTOAD.

I saw a sign there - RV overnight parking $15. We'll have to do that some day.

Texas Hill Country

Oh, we love this TX Hill Country!

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We travel 1,000 miles + to find BBQ meat this good - look at it!

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Junction, TX was recommended to us and we found tiny Junction has TWO BBQ places. So we did what seemed the best way to choose the best of the two...ask the locals. Gregg's poll of 3 interviewees all said Lum's so there we were, scarfing down the 3 meat plate (brisket, ribs and sausage) - all fantastic. We still smelled the smoked meat when we went to bed last night. And I love any place where I go get my own bottle of Shiner Bock (that's Texan for "beer") in the refrigerated case.

To top off a great stop in Junction, we stayed at their FREE city park with several pull thru RV sites overlooking the South Llano River and the town dam and waterfall.

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The night before we spent at old favorite Balmorhea State Park. Picnic ramadas are old CCC structures. Picturesque neighbor in their unique camper...

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Gregg got in a snorkel swim in the beautiful artesian pool - always 72-76 degree water.

On our way!

Finally, we are in Texas, headed for our destination into the Hill Country for dates with the wildflowers.

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We left Deming, New Mexico yesterday afternoon. Had stopped to visit my sister Betty rehab-ing a broken leg in the hospital/nursing home. She's got a lot of work cut out for her to get herself back up and mobile since she starts with compromised leg strength and immune system, complications of her leukemia. We wish her well!

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Got to see my kids a last time for the next many moons. Here's Andy with my Grand Dog Tritium. Forgot to get a picture with Sarah - darn!

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Had our last week at our favorite McDowell Mountain Park...gorgeous sunrise one morning. . .

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Had a wonderful long weekend with our Arizona RVing crowd at McDowell, organized by Judy and Tom Dugan this year and lots of fun as usual. 6 mile hike. Gregg cooking pork roasts.

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Bob tending the campfires. Careful, Bob!

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Tonight we are at another favorite - Balmorhea State Park. Pretty little campground with CCC-built ramadas covering picnic tables at most sites and an artesian water swimming pool. Gregg took a nice swim with snorkel this afternoon in the ever-72 to 76 degree water here.

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Heading out tomorrow with a destination of tiny Junction, TX as we learned there is good BBQ and free city park camping there - right up our alley.

Leaving "HOME"

I have a LOT of catching up to do on this blog - been so busy at the Prescott home this past month...
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We stayed in Prescott long enough to see our flowering plum tree do its beautiful spring thing...

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This is the view off our deck that we like to see just ONCE each year. Prescott had a lot of snowy days this year and we were happy to see just one of them and miss the others while in San Diego or Phoenix. We left yesterday and it's snowing there today - good timing!

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While at home in Prescott I got to some tasks I'd been putting off for years...such as going through boxes and boxes that had come from my parents' home after their deaths. I actually found it quite fascinating uncovering gems such as this 1928 picture of my Mom's one room school class in rural IL. She's the first on the left in the back row - 11 years old.

My IL sister Jeri and I met at sister Betty's home in Deming, NM for a few days of sisterness and helping Betty make arrangements for herself and her ongoing battle with Leukemia. Jeri and I both ran down many tumbleweeds on the windy drive there. She won with the biggest one on her grill, brought from somewhere between El Paso and Deming...
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We three sisters in Betty's newly rearranged living room, plus one of the 2 of her beautiful cats.

Back in Prescott again, I did LOTS of girlfriend things...Linda and I visiting our 100 year old friend and P.E.O. sister, Virginia Williams...

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John and JeanAnne Morrow cooking a fantastic Italian dinner for us in our kitchen...a P.E.O. fundraiser.

Linda with her heartfelt thanks to Gregg for the great dinner...

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Our guests - Norm & Linda Smith and Cheryl & George Payne

Academy Awards party at Smith's...Marie and Jim Love dressed as Rooster Cogburn and a make-up artist, Gregg dressed formally with his Mickey Mouse vest and bow tie, me dressed as the commercial break, the Energizer Bunny.

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Linda surprised me with a going-away brunch including a great group of P.E.O. friends - Kirsten, Cheryl, Cathy, Eleanor, Jackie, Linda, Martha, Bev (picture's missing Jill). Scrumptious and fun.

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Paul and I drew the lucky numbers at the St. Patrick's Day dinner party at Martha and Mike Harris' house - we got to be the entertainment. Required to do a dance, a joke and a song, we didn't demonstrate much talent but we entertained ourselves in thinking up what to do...

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"Remember Katy" night at our house - we had 4 of Mom's good friends, Audrey & Len and Marion & Reed, over for Mom's lasagna. Still a great recipe!

My last harrah with the girls - coffee at Cuppers Coffeehouse.

Linda, Cheryl, Deborah, Mary and Martha. Lotsa laughs!



Our last night in town, a fabulous 75th birthday party for our friend Bob. Sherri planned and carried out the best dinner for about 40 friends at Murphy's restaurant. What a great time. What a fun group of friends.

Makes it a little hard to leave when we have such a good time at "home" but that ROAD just keeps calling us out...!

We'll be in Fountain Hills, AZ at McDowell Mt. Park for a week, then headed east and onward.

Valentines

Gregg & I have been so busy running around and seeing friends that we didn't even get to see each other on Valentine's Day - me in Prescott and he in Fountain Hills. But we are OK with that - we get a LOT of togetherness all year long in our 300 sq ft!

Had a wonderful dinner prepared by Linda and Norm Smith in Prescott.

I had an overnight in Pine with Betsy and Shirley, best friends from high school. We get along so well....

I got to do the Phoenix Willo District Home Tour with friend Cathy and she color coordinated so well in this back yard, I just had to get the picture!

We met new RV friends Laurie and Odel at Q in January and they e-introduced us to Alex and Ellen who are in an RV park near us here in Fountain Hills. Very fun to meet them and we hope to stay in touch and make our paths cross again. The RV family is growing and we are loving it...

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.Managed to get some girlfriend lunches in with friends Sherri and Lynn. Wish I'd thought to take pictures!

Just finished our 2010 photo book which always makes me want to do better at making sure we get pictures of everyone we see...

Here's a link to our 2010 book:

http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3TFCSldL124LSZZm2vnBNi1&showForm=true