Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Texas!

We spent about a month in Kerrville, Texas at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, about an hour's drive from San Antonio.  While it is a very pretty RV park, it does not have a lot of trees--and I love trees!  While there we drove into Fredericksburg, Texas and did some Christmas shopping and wine tasting.

During that month we flew to Baltimore, Maryland for an 8-day visit with our son, daughter-in-law, and baby grandson.  I'm glad we visited then because we got to see the beautiful color of the leaves!  We enjoyed our visit with you. Thank you for your hospitality. See you in San Antonio for Christmas!




We moved to Texas 281 RV Park on HWY 281 and 46 on November 17.  We are about 20 minutes from Loop 1604.  It is an older RV park with some permanent residents but it is very quiet, the location is convenient, and I love the trees!  The weather has been gorgeous--sunny with pleasant temperatures in the low 70's.  Sometime this week a cold front should be bringing rain and highs around 60.  Brrr!

We spent a very enjoyable Thanksgiving afternoon in San Antonio with our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters.  What a feast they prepared!  Dinner was delicious with a Rudy's BBQ smoked turkey, sweet potatoes, cornbread and sausage dressing, creamed corn, cranbrosia, and dinner rolls followed by dessert during the Dallas Cowboys game and a game of Mexican Train Dominos.  Thank you for a great day.

Mm-mm!

For our first Christmas in our tiny home we decided to put up a real Christmas tree.  Since we don't want to haul Christmas decoration around the country, we only put lights and ribbon on the tree.  I also made some new pillow covers and a banner from fabric.  Christmas shopping is all done and the gifts are wrapped.  I even had time to make a Christmas outdoor planter! I LOVE being retired!

Found the perfect tree!

Changeable pillow covers.  A set for every season!





We have been spending our time walking and occasionally riding bikes at McAlister Park.  It has many paved, tree lined paths.  Lovely, quiet place to spend time especially during the week when kids are in school and most people are working.



When we're hanging around the RV we enjoy sitting outside under the trees and enjoying an adult beverage while playing dominos. 

Selfie!

Don't think too hard--I'll probably win!

All set up and ready for Christmas!

View behind our loungers

Hot Springs, Arkansas Part 2


Bathhouse Row is at the base of Hot Springs Mountain.  Several walking trails of various lengths go around and up the mountain.  We walked up some stairs from Bathhouse Row to the Promenade which is a wide 1/2 mile walkway which circles behind Bathhouse Row.  In its heyday the Promenade was a place bathhouse patrons could stroll for exercise.

The Promenade
We walked on the Tower Trail which goes to the top of the mountain where there is a 216 ft observation tower and museum. On the way up we saw smoldering fires which were part of a National Park Service controlled burn.  We saw a few trees with turning leaves, but we were a few weeks too early for the brilliant color.


Smoky!
On the trail














Crossing the road near the top

The Tower




 
 

 




Hot Springs Greenway Trail is a paved bike/walking path that is 4.2 miles long and runs along Hot Springs Creek and a former railroad line.  In many places the railroad embankment was incorporated into the path.  We biked it several times.








Also in Hot Springs is Lake Ouachita State Park.  The drive to the park and the park were scenic.  The lake's beach is covered in slate, which is a type of rock formed from clay by high heat and pressure.  It resembled sheets of tile.








We spent a whole afternoon walking around Garvin Woodland Gardens, a 210 acre botanical garden managed by the University of Arkansas.  There was so much to see there that we could easily have spent 2 afternoons there!
















 


We left Hot Springs for Texas on October 23.  It was a beautiful sunny morning when we hit the road.



On to Texas for the holidays!