HitchHiking Rvers

Yaquina Head Natural Area

2011-07-16T02:40:00.000-05:00

Hey guess what ! this is the same as the "donut" rather ugly/weird looking thingy in the last installment of my blog. Went back to the Tide pools another day and got a better pic of this thing attached to a rock. Drum roll......... it's a Green Sea Anemone, showed a Park Ranger the pic in my camera and she identified it for me. It just looks so different from the anemones you see at OSU Hatfield Marine and Science Center. Wish I'd put my finger in it's mouth and felt the little tentacles close around it. They aren't harmful to adults but a child would feel a sting.
Love the way the surf crashes against the rocks and try to capture the spray on camera. If you enlarge the last pic you'll see the star fish clinging to the rock. The surf really pounds them but they can take the beating without letting go. Of course these pictures are all from Yaquina Head Natural Area in Newport, Oregon.

Tidepools, Quarry Cove, Yaquina Head

2011-07-10T23:50:00.000-05:00

Thursday's low tide found us at the artificial tidepools, created in a former rock quarry in 1996. First time we've been fortunate enough to be there at "low tide". Was disappointed there wasn't sea stars or anemones but there was an array of interesting sea life. Whatever is in the upper photo is alive and when touched rather draws within itself. I wasn't sure I wanted to touch it but did and it feels kinda spongy. It's round like a donut but does have an indented center, there was "stuff" caught in there and presume it's food.

The second photo is hermit crabs, no justice here for the color of the shells. They were attached to almost every rock.

Found the white tree branch looking thingy in the third pic to be really neat. Wish I could've picked it up and brought it home but rules are rules. We could observe and gently touch but remove nothing except driftwood. We enjoy the Yaquina Head Natural Area so very much and have been there three times already, might have one more visit before we move farther north up the coast. Golden Age Passports are wonderful, wave 'em at the Ranger at the fee entrance and drive right thru. Today when there the tide was still high but we saw Brown Pelicans, Pigeon Guillemot's with the brightest orange feet you'll ever see, and lots of gulls. There's always something different and exciting. Wednesday we'll move up the coast to Warrenton and see what that part of the coast has in store for us...........can't wait for the installment.

Pacific Ocean/Siltez River

2011-07-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

Finally, July 3rd we got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, made my heart sing! The Oregon Coast is so breath taking and I could spend hours (literally) watching the waves come in, waves go out, waves come in..... The top pic is looking west from Highway 20, soon to intersect with Highway 101, just outside Newport. We left Sutherlin, OR and our friends in Winston, OR to head to heaven. I fell in love with the Oregon Coast our first trip up here in 2006 and am always ready to head this way again.
Coyote Rock is located outside Lincoln City on the Siltez River, a fisherman's paradise and importantly for us a Passport America Park, they gave us the PA discount for a whole week and reasonable rate for the other 3 days we're here. The last pic is looking out thru the back window of the RV, nice scenery eh? Yesterday we drove down to Depoe Bay and Yaquina Lighthouse, both favorites. Went to a HUGE Fred Meyers (Kroger) grocery/everything store, would be easy to get lost inside. Groceries are higher since we left Arizona but still have to eat. Fuel, specifically diesel at $4.19, is about the same but with the 10 cents a gal from Kroger and rebate from our bank's credit card, we've got it down to $4.04 right now. The sweet California cherries we're getting here are so wonderful, am eating my share and Dave's too. As we get closer to Washington, I'll switch to grapes in the form of Washington wine...................... Tomorrow is Yaquina again, low tide so we're hoping to get to the tidepools. Friday is lunch in Newport with a lady I knew when working at DHL. We're managing to stay busy and give thanks everyday for health and attitude to live this lifestyle. Hope you're all well and enjoying your summer in Arizona, Tennessee, Arkansas or where ever you are. We think of you often, sending love and hugs, Kathy

2011-06-17T00:45:00.000-05:00

Where we're parked in the FamCamp at Beale AFB, lots of grass and most sites have two trees. It's been very pleasant here, quiet except for the birds and there's lots of songbirds. The third pic is of the "penthouse" next door. Never saw a rig like this one before, there's two adults, toddler twin girls and two large dogs living in there. We figure they're waiting to get into base housing. (Beale is north of Sacremento, two more moves and I should see the Oregon coast.)

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

2011-06-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

You're not going to believe this, I have such a painful "crick" in my neck from our visit to Yosemite National Park Wednesday..........look up, look up, look up! It was AWESOME and we're told because of the heavy snowfall and now run-off, "the falls are better than ever!" Where ever you looked there was a scene to take your breath away! Will post more pictures on the blog without comment so I can share some of the 350 + photos I took, went thru 2 camera batteries and did need to delete a good third of what I snapped, but when the second battery died ........... I wasn't ready to be done! Can you see the mama bear on the log in the first photo, baby is there too but shows better in the second pic, at the left end of the log. What an awesome experience to find traffic stopped and this golden photo op! Dave didn't really want me to get out of the truck, we didn't know how large the bear might be or how close to the road but I HAD TO GET OUT and take a closer look. The cub was sooooo playful and cute, both had very shiny coats so hopefully they're healthy. There was deer almost everywhere and would come quite close while grazing. I think the fall showing here is Vernal Fall. We left home at 9 AM and after stopping for a late dinner we got back at 8:30, tired and our visual senses on overload.
This is now one of my favorite places to visit, right up there with Niagara Falls. The GOOD LORD gives us so much beauty to enjoy but man screws it up whether intentionally or not. While talking to a very nice couple from Florida, they pointed out oil residue that was contaminating the river, leeching from the parking lot and the automobiles. Made me want to cry because to see the interior of Yosemite we're so spoiled we must have the convenience of comfortable transportation. We were so surprised to find the park CROWDED on a weekday as well. We did a lot of walking, up and down too for a great work out. We wanted to walk across the "Swinging Bridge" but there wasn't a parking place anywhere around, people were double parking, something we were leery to do. Got a new bird, a White-headed Woodpecker but he was too fast and busy to pose for a pic. The giant sequoia's made me think of a mammoth elephant foot at the base, beautiful majestic trees, and from Glacier Point we looked down 3,214 feet to Yosemite Valley below. If you have an opportunity to visit this park, wear comfortable shoes, layer your clothing and pack a lunch, we didn't and were pretty hungry by the time we got back to a town.
Til next time............

2011-06-06T23:19:00.000-05:00

The two missing photos, my Acorn Woodpecker and the truck bed rail.

Edwards AFB to Coarsegold (CA)

2011-06-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

Geez, I need a class for blogging, Molly where are you????Guess we should be going to the Escapade but that's another story.
This shot is from CA State Highway 58, beautiful scenery! We left Edwards this morning after discovering a (what looked like) serious water leak. Dave thinks it's coming from the kitchen sink and probably a crack in the holding tank. We stopped at Camping World in Bakersfield but they couldn't touch us til Friday, too long for our schedule. We've left the drain open for that tank and we'll see if that is a temporary fix or not.
The oleander's in the next photo are along the same highway, and along most of the highways we traveled today. Sure brightened up the center/median and were so pretty. At first we weren't sure they were oleander's and they must get water to them somehow.
The third photo is of our space at the Escapee SKP Park in Coarsegold, Ca. We're about 35 miles north of Fresno and found it to be COOL and pretty cloudy when we arrived. We had a "little" problem getting into this parking spot and the hitch for the RV dinged up the siderail of the truck bed, it was such a tight turn. The SKP Park fellow that was directing the back in commented that the hitch was sure loud, yeah, that was the truckrail crunching!!!!!!! Shoot had a couple more photos in here but they're NOT showing up. Got an awesome shot of an Acorn Woodpecker on the neighbor's sugar water feeder. I quickly concocted sugar water after we got here and have hummingbirds fighting over the feeders now, didn't take long at all and I am in heaven!
We are here for a week.........PROBABLY...........this park won't allow use of personal washing machines in a personal rig, MUST use their laundry to preserve their fragile sewer system and we'll see how long Dave can wear the same clothes and not smell.... We are at the south base of Yosemite National Park and they tell us there's more waterfalls there than you'd ever hope to see in a lifetime, maybe that'll be tomorrow. I'm so excited..................................

2011-06-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

Edwards AFB/NASA

2011-06-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a thrill it's been to be here at Edwards Air Force Base! Lots of testing and NASA stuff here, the aircraft on static display are awesome. Of course y'all know this is where the shuttles land if the weather in Florida is bad, only wish I could've seen one of these first hand. There's a huge dry lake bed here where they'd land, Dave was fortunate to see a landing when he was TDY with the Guard. There's two 747's (that we saw) that would piggy-back the shuttle to FL and they're an amazing sight all on their own. My airplane is the SR 71, THE BLACKBIRD, I love that aircraft! It's so long, sleek and intimidating, it's HUGE and looks like there's only room for the pilot. How amazing to control an aircraft like that..... We don't have enough respect for or knowledge of our test pilots, I certainly have a little better understanding and am in awe.
We spent a week outside of Wickenburg, AZ, then moved on to Laughlin, NV. This is our third stop and in the morning we'll move farther north in Ca to Coarsegold. From there we'll have photos of Yosemite National Park, a new stop for us.

Hope all is well with everyone reading this, we love you, each and every one. Will make a REAL effort to keep the blog up to date this summer, can't wait to see the Oregon coast again and share with YOU!

2010-09-16T22:37:00.000-05:00

We went to several of the "Quilt Gardens" in northern Indiana and enjoyed the drive as well as the beautiful flowers. Business owners choose a quilt pattern, colors and flowers and then maintain the "quilts" from May 31 until Oct 1. The three here are my better photos. We spent a lot of time driving around, passing the Amish buggies or bicycles along the road and snapping pics of the Amish farms. The compounds with the laundry flying in the breeze really appealed to me and I snapped away. Some of them use clotheslines on a pulley and the laundry is as high as the top of a barn. Was told this idea came from Pennsylvania about ten years ago and really caught on. I admire the Amish lifestyle, but just as I know I wouldn't have made a good pioneer, neither would I be a good Amish wife, you know I'm too spoiled! We replaced the recliners in the rv with new ones from Lambright Comfort Chairs and they are much more comfortable! These recliners are true wall huggers and their 28 inches wide instead of the 31 of the old chairs. The old chairs will pass to someone in the community when there's a need, I liked that idea a lot. We're now at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin and saw beautiful fall colors today, hope to get some pics soon and post them.

2010-08-19T22:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, think I've calmed down enough to give you the highlights of Niagara Falls. These pics are from the Canadian side.
No. 1 is American Falls and the small fall on the right is Bridal Veil. There's a Maid of the Mist at the base of the falls and the other people on our bus were probably on that boat. Since we took the cruise yesterday on the American side, we didn't get to do it from the Canadian side.
No. 2 is Horseshoe Falls, you can see both falls so much better in Canada.
No.3 is the Skylon Tower and we took a glass elevator to the top, really neat. The tower is 520 feet high from street level and is the highest structure in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I took the above pictures from the observation deck of the tower.
The biggest disappointment, Dave and I agreed, was the view from behind the Falls. Guess my expectation
wasn't realistic, expected to be behind the spray, to look up and see the Falls from the top. What we got was a tunnel
and narrow at that, crowded with lots of people. The view behind the Falls was water so powerful and thick
that's all you got, kinda a gray blur. Canada is so beautiful, fully landscaped, manicured and color everywhere.
There was four "mates" on our tour bus from Australia, nice young men on vacation. They are in the States for two months and having a blast. They were very outgoing and answered all our dumb questions. They knew who Marcos Ambrose is, too. Six weeks vacation in Australia is normal according to them. We leave the Falls and New York tomorrow, heading to Ohio and hopefully will see Paul and Connie Anderson , in or near Salem. Had a knock on our door here in N. Tonawanda and it was Donna & Keith Green. Our world is getting smaller. Til next time................love and hugs from us to YOU!

Niagara Falls & Cave of the Winds

2010-08-17T22:08:00.000-05:00

What an absolutely AWESOME day we had! Our tour guide picked us up at the RV Park and we put our life in his hands when we got in the van, he drove like the New York cabdrivers you see on tv! We took an elevator down (something like 171 feet) to board the Maid of the Mist. From the boat we cruised to the base of the American Falls and then the basin of Horseshoe Falls. We knew we'd get wet so I didn't even shampoo this morning and it was good I didn't, got soaked because I couldn't keep the hood of the poncho up. I loved every minute of being in the mist or pelted with water, it was wonderful. At Cave of the Winds they provided "keepsake" waterproof sandals as well as another poncho and both were definitely needed. At Cave of the Winds we walked up many steps with water running over them, it was a tad cold and if you were there, you were going to get wet. At a couple of points you needed to hang on to the railing because the water was pretty powerful coming across. We had a grand time and can't wait to tour the Canadian side tomorrow. So wish all of you could be here with us. We didn't plan to be in New York but when we discovered we were less than 200 miles from the Falls, we felt we just had to take this detour, probably once in a lifetime! Sending you hugs................... Oh, couldn't get Dave to take a "barrel ride."

2010-08-16T17:16:00.000-05:00

Lake Erie
In the background, Lake Erie. Caught several good looks, feel so Blessed to see these sights. Just can't believe we're in New York and going to see Niagara Falls tomorrow, American side. Wednesday we'll do the Canadian side and glad we could split it up. Our campground is nice, owner very accommodating, pricey but look where we are!

Grapes and more grapes, miles and miles of grapes, we should never run out of wine!

Almost there...................more tomorrow.

2010-08-15T22:08:00.000-05:00

July 30, 31 Aug 1 ...Dry Fork, West Viginia from Thunderstruck Mountain (named by Eleanor Roosevelt.) Believe me, I rode to the top of this mountain on the back of an ATV. The second picture shows a "sod", something new I learned about from Dave's cousin Jack. The sod is the clearing in the picture. After several hours on the mountaintop, we went back to Jack's house to a wonderful lunch prepared by Dorlos, Jack's wife. The afternoon was spent touring cemeteries and placing flowers on family graves. Then back to the house for an amazing dinner that included RAMPS! Ramps are an onion like vegetable, strong flavor and they pass the smell to your body...... they grow in West Virginia and no where else as far as I know. They are good! As if we hadn't been across enough mountains, we'll move on and cross many more....... Reunion with the sisters coming up.

OUR SOLDIER

2010-04-09T18:06:00.000-05:00

Okay (Joe,) finally have something worth blogging! Yesterday we attended our grandson's GRADUATION CEREMONY/CELEBRATION from Army Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. We're SO PROUD of this young soldier that means the world to us. See many positive changes already, pride in himself and the Army. He looks so handsome in the Army uniform, will have to fight the girls off. Today Josh left FLW for Fort Sill, OK, his new home for the next twenty weeks and where he'll complete his AIT training in communications.

2009-09-15T12:17:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since we've updated, guess we've been so busy seeing this beautiful state of Colorado! We throughly enjoyed our time in Woodland Park and the mountains in that area are stunning. The drive from Colorado Springs to Woodland Park is one I could do everyday and not tire of. The mountains are HUGE, the colors are wonderful, just so many shades of green! We moved on to Buena Vista last week and spent four nights in a nice little park, Valley RV Park with an Escapee discount. From there we day tripped to Leadville and saw such astounding beauty from the turning of the aspen leaves, followed the Arkansas River as far as we could and got as close to the headwaters as possible off Hwy 91. I would go back to that area in a heartbeat! There's a lot of history in Leadville and the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum is located there. Just outside Leadville off CR 4 is Turquoise Lake. I was standing on the "Matchless" boat ramp when I took the first picture and can't believe how amazing it is.
I must've taken 200 pictures of the aspen, thank goodness for digital cameras! The colors are beyond description and unfortunately the camera cannot capture the boldness of the color and bring you to tears. The real thing left me in tears through my smiles, for pratically the whole drive. The last pic was taken at one of the Twin Lakes, south of Leadville. Talk about Rocky Mountain High, now I understand!

Colorado

2009-07-31T10:29:00.000-05:00

This is our current RV site in Woodland Park, CO. This is a nice park, nicest in the area for the space and money. The people are friendly but it rains everyday so being outside doesn't happen very often.

We took a drive Wednesday, stopped for a wonderful BBQ lunch which we ate in the truck to stay dry. The little BBQ place didn't have inside seating and the rain came, of course. What looks like snow ( and 43 degree temp) is actually hail and was a few miles ahead of us on our way to the mining town of Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek now mines tourist wallets when they visit the many casinos, guess the gold in them thar hills is all gone!
(We did see a lot tailings from the mining that still goes on and they do still get gold.)

The third pic is of the South Platte River, about fifteen miles from Woodland Park at the 11 Mile Canyon.
This is a gorgeous area and appears to be a favorite spot with fly fishermen. The road is dirt and narrow, in spots the edge has washed away, a concern when passing another vehicle and the dually's on our truck. Made me nervous anyway. Hopefully we'll get back there in a few days and Dave can try his luck with the fly rod. I enjoy the scenery and getting to the river's edge.

Til next time, be safe and may God Bless!

More from Pikes Peak

2009-07-17T09:17:00.000-05:00

You can see the visitor center and our railcar at the top. I feel light headed just looking at the picture, haha. This is one of several waterfalls and I got lucky to get the picture at the last moment. Last photo is of a rock that I think looks like a smiley face but more like the man in the moon.

COG RAILROAD

2009-07-10T01:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Dave and I crossed another Colorado Springs adventure off our to do list, we took the Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak. The round trip was a little over 3 hours and took us 14,115 feet above
sea level. In case you've never done this, let me tell you, the air is THIN up there! We sipped water
all the way up as a friend had advised, that helps with the light headed, nauseous feeling a lot of
people experience. We were both light headed but managed without taking oxygen that's available at the
summit. We didn't see any wildlife but the scenery was interesting, gigantic boulders, tall, tall trees and
fragile tundra, even a waterfall or two. Our rail car had to pull over and allow a train heading down the Peak
to pass at Windy Point, that's only 12,130 feet, we still had a ways to go. We saw vehicles on the road
that's used for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. There's no way I'd want to be in an automobile going up that
narrow dirt road, and people race up that road! (The Hill Climb is scheduled for the week-end of July 18.)
Maybe tomorrow or the next day I'll post some pictures from the top and coming down.

Colorado Air Force Academy

2009-06-28T10:44:00.000-05:00

We've been "settled" in Colorado Springs since the 19th of this month and we're here til the 19th of July. After
that we must find a new place to park, the rules say we can only stay 30 days at the Air Force Academy in the
summer. It's beautiful here, tall pines, cool days and pull up the covers at night! We've had the AC on maybe twice, AND used heat once, yep, and it felt real good! Took Dave four hours to set up the Dish, he didn't care about the tall pines that day. Our site is on the end of a row and really spacious, lots of wildlife around. There's black bears here so the feeders must be brought inside every night, don't want to intice the critters to come into camp. A Ranger told us he saw a bear on the roadway by the lake where Dave was fishing
yesterday. Made me take notice of my surroundings after that! The birds have me trained to get up and
hang the feeders, they make so much noise there's no more sleeping. There's Black -headed
Grosbeaks, Magpies, Stellar Jays, Pine Siskin, Cowbirds, White-breasted Nuthatches, Pygmy Nuthatches,
Cassin Finches, Western Bluebirds and of course the hummers, Black-chinned and Broad-tailed.
I love this picture of the female Broad-tail, best hummer picture I've ever snapped. These little birds are
consuming a half gallon of sugar water everyday at our four feeders and other people have feeders up
as well. Now we're up to date, I apologize to anyone that's been checking in to find I haven't kept my word.
Until next time, love and hugs to anyone reading this.

Butchart Gardens

2009-06-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

Finally I'm going to stick with updating the blog until it's done! Our grandson's graduation cruise was diverted from the Mexican Riviera to Canada because of the Swine Flu so we got to see the world famous Butchart Gardens. The gardens were started over a hundred years ago by Jennie Butchart to beautify a worked out limestone quarry, and they're still family owned today. The gardening became a hobby for Jennie and she worked long hours along side her helpers. The story goes that back in the early days word began to spread about the beautiful gardens and people would come wanting to walk through them. Jennie would graciously
provide "tea" for the visitors. Today there's fountains and a gift shop, even an ice cream shop. The gardens cover 55 acres, if a plant "looks sick" another replaces it immediately, the whole garden is continuously scanned. Canada is beautiful and flowers, flowers everywhere. Victoria, BC, and Vancouver, BC are both beautiful,
clean cities. Vancouver is definitely metropolitan. One thing that caught my attention was that even the
condos had planter boxes on the balconies. It's a gardeners paradise!

Along the way to TUS

2009-05-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

We made it to Tucson this afternoon and we're all set at the Air Force Base through our grandson's graduation and the family cruise. It's a relief to know the rig will be secure and our friends will be checking in case anything goes wrong, ya just never know! The Horned Toad posed the morning we were leaving DreamCatcher in Deming, NM and the Quail were at the SKP Park in Benson this morning. We had a great visit with Rick & Terri, so wonderful to see Rick looking so good (even tho he's lost quite a bit of weight) and Terri a bit more relaxed. Hopefully we'll see them again before they leave to head to IL. The ESCAPEES and especially the Class of '07 are so special, we've formed what we hope are lasting friendships. Tomorrow is a hair cut for me and can't wait to get the appointment for a mani/pedi with the girl that sinfully pampers me, I deserve it and she deserves the big tip! I'll try to do better about posting if we don't melt in this Arizona heat. Til next time, safe travels / be happy!

Baby Bell's Vireo

2009-05-09T07:38:00.002-05:00

Momma and BABY came Thursday evening to let us know everything was okay. The BABY flew onto the deck railing right in front of me, flew a little bit away and then disappeared, while Momma was in a nearby tree. Made me feel so much better ! Do believe these birds are Bell's Vireo (s.)

2009-05-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

We're back in Texarkana at the COE Park, Clear Springs, since Monday. This afternoon we found a baby bird under the RV, poor little thing. The mother was wonderful, she kept coming to feed and encourage the baby. Momma didn't seem to mind that I was so close, got some awesome pictures! Never managed to snap fast enough to catch momma stuffing the worm down Baby's throat, tho. Haven't made an identification yet but won't give up. Will get "THE BOOK" and compare picture to picture. The little guy disappeared while we were having supper, hope momma got him somewhere safe.

Beebe Arkansas

2009-04-18T00:03:00.000-05:00

We left our beautiful spot in Texarkana this morning and headed for my brother's place in Paragould, AR. We had good weather all the way and saw some pretty wildflowers along I-30. We pulled off the Interstate in Beebe, AR for fuel and quite by accident found the ROAD HOG BBQ place. The people were sooooooo nice and the food was the best BBQ we've had in quite awhile. If you're ever traveling I-30 thru Beebe, take x 31 and look for this place, we had to park the rig across the street at a motel (with permission from the "desk") and cross a busy street but it was worth any effort. They're open Friday 11:00-1:30, then 4:30-7:00 and Saturday 11:00-7:00 , two days isn't a bad work week. The owners are sooooooo nice and added a sample of Road Hog potatoes and their beans to our order. We arrived at my brother and sister-in-law's around 3:30
to find my bro laid sewer and water pipe to our rig. Don't have to run 100 feet of water and sewer hose anymore.
There's a lot of wood to stack from damaged trees in last winter's ice storm, so maybe Dave will do that to repay the accommendations. So far no bad weather altho the rain is supposed to start around midnight. We miss everyone.............Love & hugs, Dave & Kathy

Texarkana, TX

2009-04-15T09:19:00.000-05:00

We have a beautiful spot at Clear Springs COE, look at all the room we have. There's lots of birds so I'm a "happy camper"! Have to make sugar water for the hummers and get bird feeders up before Dave gets dinner, of course. We drove in and the "host" said go find a spot, then come back to pay. While Dave worked on the satellite set up I went back to settle the bill and lo and behold, Roger & Brenda drove up. We had a pleasant visit last evening and they stopped to say goodbye this morning. They're anxious to reach Ft Smith and see that new bundle of joy! The view of Wright Patman Lake out our back window is fabulous, as you can see. Oh, and if you have a "GOLDEN AGE PASS" the cost is $10 @ night for this spot. Some of the spaces along the water view have decks, that would've been nice except lucky people beat us to 'em. We'll check out some of the trails today and soak in the beauty surrounding us! Love and hugs....

Leaving "HOME"

2009-04-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

We had to move on from Livingston yesterday, boo hoo! We had such a wonderful time with the Class of 2007 members that were there. We're preparing to leave, Dave is doing the final break down. Then we stopped at the office to settle up and get one more hug from Marcia, a classmate and "host" at Rainbow's End. Look forward to connecting with classmates down the road and via blogs/email.

Livingston Lake

2009-04-12T10:06:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter to all of you!
Dave and I spent most of the day walking and touring Livingston Lake State Park yesterday, big and busy lake. It's so neat to see families out camping/rving with the kids. Texans sure seem to take advantage of the outdoor facilities available. The Cattle Egret (bottom left) was on the way to the lake, upper left is a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, some of the wildflowers in the park and a wonderful boardwalk that's a mile loop. The birds we saw on our walk wasn't new to us but so nice to see anyway, at least they didn't hide! Several places along the trail was posted yield to horses, didn't see any horses, just lots of other people enjoying nature the same as us. We'll be going to the Activity Center this afternoon for Easter dinner, taking an asparagus casserole as our side dish for our table.

Big Thicket National Wildlife Preserve

2009-04-12T09:09:00.000-05:00

Dave, Marty and I went to Big Thicket Wednesday and spent the better part of the day there. It's located about 60 miles and a little bit southeast of Livingston. Big Thicket was established by Congress in 1974, is composed of 12 units with 97,550 acres authorized for protection. The birds were elusive, the ones we did see didn't stay long enough to be identified but they continued to haunt us with their songs and calls all the while. I especially like the colors in the tree that's upper left hand corner. Wish I could remember what the tree is..........memory fails again. The cypress (second row left) are interesting with their "knees", (center row under Dave.) Info for the Water Tupelo tree states that the wood of the roots has been a substitute for cork so Marty is trying to check it out. One could spend days and not see all of Big Thicket, it's so spread out. We had dinner Wednesday evening at Florida's BBQ with Joe, Marcia, Greg, Jean and Marty. The food was good altho the ribs were beef and of course my preference is babybacks. Jean had just gotten her hair cut and it looked cute, so we called Thursday and got appointments for later that afternoon. Finally got Dave out of the barbershop and into a salon! Miss Paula gave us good cuts and we're probably okay now til we get back to Tucson. Thursday night we played games with Joe, Marcia, Greg & Jean, one Greg brought (2 decks of cards) with pennies Marcia supplied. Never heard a definite name for the game, the first hand was poker, second was bingo, third hand was count out, fourth hand was take out, fifth hand was count for the dealer, you use the original five cards dealt to you at the beginning for all hands. Anyway my point is that it was fun. Then we played Mexican Train. Always with our love...

Texas BlueBonnets & other wildflowers

2009-04-07T10:37:00.000-05:00

The wildflowers were so breath taking beautiful as we crossed part of Texas yesterday. I've now changed my mind about Virginia
being the most beautiful state because of the flowers, my HOME STATE of TEXAS is now top of the list. Sure would've loved to share this sight with all of you...................maybe next time with some of you???? Remember we love you!

Canyon Lake

2009-04-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we leave our spacious, bird filled parking spot. Sure will miss the birds but hope
there's many more at Rainbow's End. We're going "home" to visit our mailbox for a few
days and hopefully connect with friends. It's really windy today, a tail wind tomorrow
would be great but those head and side winds are killers.
Love and Hugs,
Dave & Kathy

2009-03-31T22:44:00.000-05:00

We arrived at Canyon Lake this afternoon to find someone in our reserved space. There's only nine rv spaces here...........Anyway Dave went to the office and received permission to "move" to another space and this little fellow came along to welcome us. A whole herd of deer came thru, hung around waiting for a hand-out and weren't at all shy about getting up close. Got my bird feeders out and have a pair of cardinals, tufted titmouse, and chickadee. We extended our stay thru Sunday, will move on to Livingston Monday.

2009-03-31T22:33:00.000-05:00

2009-03-31T19:23:00.000-05:00

2009-03-30T22:36:00.002-05:00

We have enjoyed our stay at NAS (Naval Air Station) FamCamp in Corpus Christi, it's been a good home base while we checked out this area. Yesterday we stopped at Goose Island and Marty went with us to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge for a day of birding and alligator viewing. Tomorrow we go to Fort Sam Houston Recreation Area at Canyon Lake for three nights before heading to Livingston. Sure hope some of our classmates are still there when we arrive. Definitely want to visit south Texas again.

2009-03-25T23:20:00.000-05:00

Our current view out the back window. The Corpus Christi Bay is a haven for Great
Blue Herons, White Ibis, Laughing Gulls and many more species of birds.
We toured the USS Lexington Monday with Marty, a 2007 Classmate. Awesome "boat"
with so much history and so important to our nation in WWII.

My new blog

2009-03-19T12:57:00.000-05:00

Class of 2007 blogging is something new and different.