Monthly Archives: November 2012

We spent another wonderful day in Fredericksburg visiting the Lyndon B. Johnson Texas White House and Ranch and Johnson City named after the Johnsons.  The site of the house and ranch is actually the birthplace of Lyndon complete with family cemetery where both he and Lady Bird are buried.

Entrance to Lyndon Johnson’s Ranch

This is a working Cattle Ranch

Texas White House when Johnson was president

President Johnson was born into a modest farming family living in this ar
ea and, according to the tour guide, was very bright and skipped a grade in school because he already knew how to read some at the age of four.  He must have had something going for him because he was able to grow this modest beginning into a 2800 acre working ranch with a 9 bedroom home and several multi-million dollar other businesses, not to mention being the President of the United States. We were told that the estate recently sold his communication business for over 181 million dollars and that he had more money than the Kennedys which was part of the source for their dislike of him.  He seemed to be quite obsessed with his role as President and had the Presidential Seal put on many things in his home and personal clothing.This was the Secret Service headquarters on the ranch and was occupied by Secret Service personnel till Lady Bird died in 2007 Continue reading →

The Thanksgiving holiday is over and it was time to say goodbye to our family in Texas and let them get back to school and work.  We really loved the RV park near their home and will definitely stay there again.

We headed to Fredericksburg, Texas which is about 30 miles west of San Antonio, Texas.  Our RV park is in the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park and sits right at the edge of a small air strip with small planes coming and going infrequently.  It’s just often enough to be fun to watch and not be annoying.  This area is called “hill country” I guess because unlike the rest of west Texas it has some hills.  This is also a popular place for Winter Texans who come and stay the entire winter.  I can’t imagine the temperatures they are escaping because it was 34 degrees here this morning!

Fredericksburg was founded by a group of Germans and its ancestry is very obvious.  It’s population of 10,500 is very community oriented with the entire downtown decorated for Christmas including the square with an ice skating rink and nativity.

Christmas lights in Fredericksburg, TX

Also in the downtown area is a replica of the first buildingand a Pioneer Museum with eight buildings and furnishings from the original town.

Sunday House from Pioneer Village

The German influence is everywhere.  Some buildings have German names with english translations.  There are restaurants specializing in German cuisine and micro-brewed beer.  It is just delightful!  Fredericksburg is also the home of the Marine Museum of the Pacific War honoring General Nimitz Commander of the Pacific Fleet in World War II because he was born and raised here.  The Museum is so extensive that it takes six hours to go through it so we decided to stop here on our way back to Florida.

We had a wonderful lunch in little restaurant/gift shop in the downtown area.  The interior of the restaurant was all decorated for Christmas and filled with warmth and charm.  How does butternut squash soup and spinach and ricotta Quiche sound?  To me it sounded great and actually tasted just as good.

Today we are headed to the Lyndon Johnson Ranch and Johnson City to see the Exotic Resort Zoo.  You know I have a thing for zoos.

We arrived in Spring, Texas on Monday and as soon as our grandsons were out of school they and their parents were at our RV.  Their big “hello”  hug was immediately followed by comparing the top of their heads to mine.  When you are only 5 feet tall, you become a growth measurement tool for grandsons because taller adults seem unreachable.  At nine and seven, Kyle and Ryan’s short-term goals are to grow taller than Grammie.  I hate to break it to them, but that’s not going to be hard, especially based on the size of their feet right now.

We have spent the week taking advantage of the fact that we are here for more than three days and can take part in their lives more fully.  We went to school on Thursday and had lunch with each of the boys, and watched Ryan at his tennis lessons.  Living in the RV and taking part in their lives without totally disrupting it is more liking the family dynamics I remember as a child. My grandparents lived in the same town and saw us regularly without being in the center of our lives 24/7 for an intense three or four days.  This dynamic allows grandparents to be the special “parents” in their lives and I love hearing as we enter a restaurant, “I want to sit next to Grammie”.

Next week the kids will be out of school and it will be non-stop activity right through Thanksgiving.  Special holiday events, a trip to the science discovery museum, cooking, jig saw puzzles, and just good times in general.  Jim and I wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving and wonderful family times.

I love going to the zoo.  I really love going to the zoo, so when we found out there was a zoo in Waco, we decided it would be how we would spend the day after the election.  If our candidate lost, it would help to take our mind off the disappointment and if our candidate won, it would be our celebration.

One of the nice things about going in the middle of the week is there are no crowds.  In fact, it looked like several mothers have annual passes and take their children to the zoo very often.  As we walked through the gate, we heard what sounded like a two year-old whining and screaming at the top of his lungs.  As we walked farther, we realized this horrible sound was coming from a tree inside one of the habitats and the sign gave us the solution to the mystery.  It was not a child, but a gibbon who does this every morning to declare his territory to all in the area.  After about 20 minutes he stopped, mission accomplished and started playing on his swing.  Thank goodness!

Jim’s pictures show the animals you expect to see in a zoo, but there were many more.  We spent several hours walking and watching the animals just do their thing.  Getting there in the morning when they are more active allowed us to see them awake and moving around before their afternoon nap.  We watched the elephant use the end of his truck like two fingers to pick up a single piece of hay and then draw 1 1/2 gallons of water into the truck and squirt it into his mouth.  We watched a VERY tall giraffe spread his long legs wide so he could bend down far enough to reach his drinking water.  So many of God’s creations being able to cope with things that were not easy for them but given the wherewithall to overcome obstacles.  How much more does He care for us.  It doesn’t matter what man or rulers do, we have the God-given ability to overcome the obstacles and with His help, we will succeed.  It was a good decision to save the zoo for Wednesday.

Rather than spend the day making ourselves crazy watching election coverage, we decided to go to Waco and see the sights.  There are three things on our list and we decided to do two of them during the day.

Neither of us knew that Waco is the birthplace of Dr. Pepper soda and there is a museum in Waco.  Although Dr. Pepper looks like a cola, it is really a combination of fruit flavors that was invented by a druggist at his soda fountain in 1885.  Back then, the soda fountains had multiple fruit flavors to put on ice cream and make fruit flavored fountain drinks.  Shortly after its creation, the syrup was bottled and sold to other drug stores and eventually it was bottled and sold to the consumers to take home.  During the first few years of this last stage, there were all kinds of caps invented and used, but the invention of the painters cap we are all accustomed to seeing was what made the bottling industry so successful.  On the same day, the patents for the painter cap, the bottle opener and the machine to fill and cap the bottles were all filed by one man.

Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, TX

After lunch, our next stop was the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.  Boy, that was interesting.

Texas Ranger Museum, Waco, TX

I had no idea that in the early days, these men were surveyors and had to be able to defend themselves from native american tribes who realized the white man was moving into their land.  There are fascinating exhibits of their equipment including guns and surveying equipment, clothing including chaps and spurs, badges and authorization papers, and stories of their famous cases.  The Bonnie and Clyde story is highlighted since it was a Texas Ranger who finally tracked them down and killed them.  The stories of kidnappings with happy endings, and the story of Cynthia Ann Parker from the Park Fort which was not such a happy ending.  If you ever get to Waco, go see the Texas Ranger Museum.

It was 3 o’clock and my coffee break time, so we took our coffee to the Cameron Park and walked across the swinging bridge build back in 1894 as a toll road and is still passable by foot and bicycle, without the toll

Swinging Bridge in Waco Texas

.  After relaxing and enjoying the view we headed home to take in the election.  Take out chinese food was the perfect solution for this long night.

One of the fun things about our trip is I never know where Jim has us going and the RV parks we are staying in.  This is one of the more “interesting” locations we have booked but according to Jim its my fault because I insisted on having cable and internet on election night.  So here we are in the middle of no where, (actually 40 miles east of Waco) in a small RV park surrounded by some very old mobile homes and RVs that appear to be permanent rather than travellers.  The grass is mowed and the services are good, but there are some places that look really rough, and its the least expensive place we have stayed this entire trip.

The population in Groesbeck is somewhere around 5,000 and not many options for my two favorite things, restaurants and retail stores.  The next closest town is Mexia (pronounced Mehaya) with a little larger population and two restaurants,  aWal Mart, and lots of churches.  We found two locally owned restaurants that we liked, Farm House and Drilling Rig.  At the Farm House (the sign said, “One bite and you’re hooked”) where Jim found something on the menu called chicken fried chicken.  Can’t you hear him asking the waitress to tell him what that is?  You should have seen the plate full of fried chicken covered in this thick white gravy and my first reaction was “heart attack on a plate”.  After church on Sunday, we went to the Drilling Rig and although it looked iffy on the outside, the inside was nice and the food very good.  We spent the rest of the afternoon riding bikes in the local State Park and checking out a restored early settler’s fort and hearing the story of a nine-year girl who was taken hostage by the indians.  She was adopted by the tribe’s chief and actually became totally indoctrinated into the life.  Interestingly, when she was forcibly rescued at the age of 35 years old, she never was able to assimilate back into the culture and died shortly after.  The Cynthia Ann Parker story and the Parker Fort were definitely moving.  Little did we realize that story would reappear on Tuesday, but more about that later.

Bike riding in Ft. Cooper State Park

Restored Ft. Cooper

Monday was my day for hair and nails.  I know none of you realize it but I color my hair to cover some gray (actually a lot of gray hair).  I have the color with me, thanks to my hairdresser, and all the tools you need.  So Monday, Jim became my hairdresser and helped me put the color on my hair.  You should have seen him with his rubber glove and paint brush putting this mixture on my roots.  I didn’t want to wash it off in the bathroom and take the chance it would stain the shower or sink so we went outside and washed it off into the grass.  Lucky for me we have a connection outside that has hot and cold water.  Of course, my clothes were soaked when we were done but the hair looked pretty good.  Note to self:  Never give Jim a hose to help rinse your hair.  I guess the next step is me trying to cut Jim’s hair.  Won’t that be interesting.

We have never been to Texarkana and had no idea what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised by what we found.  A wonderful blend of urban and rural charm with half the city in Texas and the other half in Arkansas.

Federal Court House in Texarkana

I wonder how that works!  Delightfully friendly people combined with one of every store or restaurant you could name and hope for.  The range of shopping went from Sam’s to Dillard’s and eating options went from Subway and (my personal favorite) Firehouse Subs to Outback Steakhouse and some really nice non-chain upper end restaurants.  You can tell my priorities.

Also, back in the South, there is a church on every corner.  We have gone from our low point in Bar Harbour, Maine where the only Church of Christ had 4 members, 4 guests and a preacher, to Texarkana with five different options and the one we chose had probably over 100 on Wednesday evening.  Actually, there was backed-up traffic leaving the church on Wednesday evening because all the area churches of all denominations had Wednesday evening attendance.  Nice to see.

With all these options, we did some Christmas shopping, some catching up on life, and some relaxing.  We took a side trip to Shreveport, Louisiana one day but couldn’t find anything we thought was noteworthy.  We will be spending the next 5 days (through the election) in a small town 40 miles east of Waco, Texas.  I have to admit I am loving the warm weather during the day and cool temperatures at night and hope that continues at our next stop.  We have a really nice park here with manicured grass lots and concrete streets and pads.

Oh, by the way, remember our flat tire in Swinging Bridge?  Well, we had to get it fixed and put the spare back away.  The first day, we went to a tire shop with the tire and they found a huge screw in the tire.  They fixed it and charged $10.00.  Jim’s immediate reaction was, “Let’s move here”.  When he asked if they would put it back on the RV they said sure.  All we had to do was to drive the rig to their shop and they would put it back on.  We came back later in the week and they not only put the tire back on the rig and stored the spare, but they checked all the other tires, including on the truck for, you guessed it $10.00.

Saturday morning we leave for Groesbeck, Texas and a new adventure.