In Bandera

Low bp yesterday kept me in the coach.
It’s a shame as it was Saturday, and most things in a tourist town happen on the weekends.
We could hear the guns at the shootout in downtown.

Dave went out briefly to see an auto show. But they were already closing up shop. So he washed the jeep and went to the grocery store for us.
back home, He made us dinner, brats and potato salad and I had icecream for dessert. 🙂

Watched a bit of TV and I was off to bed.

Better day today (bp normal) but I haven’t gotten out of my robe. 🙂
Mostly putting in odds and ends on this blog.
Hopefully I’ll get some balloon fest pictures in soon.
We are binge watching Ice Road truckers today 😉
Haven’t watched TV this whole trip.

Val Verde winery

val verde winery
val verde wineryOldest winery in Texas. It was surprising, located in a neighborhood.

Dolly tried their port, pronounced it most excellent – got one for her and one for Vince. We couldn’t be traveling without his help checking on the house.

sampling

Elaine got a couple bottles of a white, Muscat seco. Good crisp, tastes of pear, not too sweet.

 

 

Mexico

So there is a little place on the Rio Grande, where we can get on a boat to go across to Mexico. Take a burro ride into town. And have a cerveza.
I can’t wait to see my mother in law on a burro.
Go donkey go.

————-

Well we drove to the new crossing. And there’s no way I could do it anyway. Used to you drove to the rivers edge. Now you have to walk through a govt building and gate and down a trail.

Sigh
They took away the romance.
As governments are prone to do. 😉

Too late in the day.
And low bp. So no ride for me. But look up Boquillas del Carmen. It would be fun.

on the road – to Denton

On the road again…
Finally. Dolly has left the building. We are going all the way to Denton today. 40 miles. Lol. Meeting friends for dinner.
Sorry I’ve been so out of touch. Family reunion this previous weekend. And packing for this trip took me forever. I only did my stuff.
Dave did all the real work. Kitchen, fridge, dry goods…
Anyway. I’m excited.

windsurf lessons

Have taught more people to windsurf than I care to remember. Number 1 is get lessons, and learn to do it the easy and correct way from the first minutes on the water. We sold boards and gave lessons, and had our clients sailing in minutes and they could enjoy the first hours on the water. We watched macho guys try and fail, but taught their girlfriends or wive’s in short order. Women learn quickly, as they listen and don’t have the strength to do things wrong or the hard way.

Steady winds and smooth water are also keys to developing the early skill set needed for waves, higher winds and shorter boards and water starts because the boards are too small to float you.

Rent first, and several times to know you really want to take on another money sucking, time needed, traveling, and equipment rich sport. Then go have the time of your life. Kitesailing will be the next chapter after, with even more money, equipment, and hours of fun.

Fredericksburg TX recommendations

There are some very good places to eat, pick up the local tourist info newspaper.  Mico brewery, pie store, chocolates, wine tasting, and more.

The huge German resturant on the west end is Friedheim’s Bavarian Inn. 

We have also enjoyed the Garrison Brother’s Distillery in Hye TX, the first Bourbon Distillery in TX.  Tours, worth the time, cost and the samples are to be remembered.  Hye is just east of Stonewall before Johnson City on 290, Garrison’s is south about 3 miles of the Post Office, tasting room and general store.

Galveston to see

We really enjoyed the jack up oil rig museum Oceanstar, at Pier 19, one block off the Strand.  It’s a great self guided, mulit media, 3 story example of a jack up rig, and the way the oil industry works off shore.  The videos, models, and displays are well worth the time.  Getting on the tool deck, standing by the towering derrick, and also watching the cruise ships back out were well worth the price.

Dinner in Denton

When we got stopped and parked the coach this afternoon in Denton, Dave stepped out the door and with a sigh of relief said: Aaah. It’s warm.

We had a great dinner with Christy and Kelsey at the LSA burger company. Very cool. Excellent burgers. Dave and I split one and split the fries, the orders are big. Theme is Texas everything.

Kelsey is one of my favorites- bright, quick and always always enthusiastic. Major in marketing, a perfect niche. Christy is a long-standing friend. We caught up a bit in the middle of Kelsey’s busy days of college and extra curricular activities. Kelsey is just like her mom, the one in class who makes the rest of us mere mortals seem like complete slackers. Shes involved in 20 million things on and off campus and gets straight A’s while taking a bigger course load than most. Christy has just as many projects- finished and ongoing.

It seems to me that everyone I know is frenetically busy. Running faster, jumping higher. These are the olympic years. And I am all applause
and secretly hoping they get enough sleep.

After dinner we went to Recycle, used book store. Perfect dessert.

We left Clare in the coach while we went to dinner.
When we got back Dave says to Clare: you don’t know how it pains me to leave you.
Same here.