Christmas — on St. Patty’s day?
For years, Romola has been nurturing and caring for a Christmas cactus. It’s called a Christmas cactus since it only blooms once a year, usually right at Christmas. However, Romola’s plant isn’t following instructions. Every year it blooms later. Now, it’s blooming on St. Patty’s day. Good thing for the Irish, I guess.
Maybe life in a motor home, with its constant crossing of time zones, is not compatible with this plant.
Proudly sitting on the dash.
Closeup of the flower.
Moving day….
Well, time to move from Medina (San Antonio area) to Columbus (Houston area). Not a bad drive, only about 3 hours on the highway. We will be here about a week, and will attend another concert at the Festival Hill concert hall. This time, it’s a classical guitar concert, should be interesting. Then, it’s on to Dallas.
This is the hard part nowadays... $3.89 a gallon for diesel!
Oh well, a nice parking spot to spend a week....
Medina Lake, TX
This is one of our favorite 1000 Trails parks. Reasonably close to all the amenities of San Antonio, it is in the Texas Hill country, with lots of trees and open country. We’ll be here one week before we move on to Colorado River, a concert, and then back to the Dallas area.
The following pictures were all taken on our daily afternoon walk, inside the park.
Our home, parked in the shade of scrub oaks and cedar trees
One of the roads inside the park
An old home site with only a chimney left
A view of Medina Lake, with the water level way down
Nice place for a picnic!
One of our many neighbors
First week vegetarians
We have friends and family who are vegetarians, so Romola and I decided to try it as well. Our intent is to try it for 2 weeks, and then decide if we like it enough to stay on it. We just completed our first week.
So far, it hasn’t been too bad. Romola found some good recipes, and we have had tasty meals without meat. So far, so good. However, we met some friends at Chili’s, and no meat does severely restrict your dining choices.
However, margaritas, chips and salas are all vegetarian…. the world is good.
Mexican dentistry
There are a host of dentists just across the Mexican border, most of which are American trained with American equipment. When I say just across the border- well, the back wall of the office is on the US border, and it is an easy walk across the International bridge. Romola and I had our teeth cleaned, I also had my teeth bleached. Not much to report, except good service at very low prices. Our total bill was $230, back in the US it would have pushed somewhere around $750+. I expect we’ll be back here again next year.
And if you’re the faint of heart type, there is a very nice Margarita bar in the courtyard of the dental complex….
Walking across the US side of the International bridge
The Mexican side of the bridge has a LOT of military presence.
Looking down the main street of Progresso
Kite flying on Padre Island
I would guess all of us flew a kite at one time or another. Never realized how much this activity has evolved! We went to a big kite flying weekend, held on South Padre Island. Big beaches, good weather, and consistant winds. The kites on display, and the synchronized flying, was quite a spectacle.
An overview of some of the kites on display
This kite is about 150 feet long
A rather whimsical kite
Referee and soccer ball
Another major kite, maybe 100 feet long
It takes this many kite "pilots" ....
... to make these types of synchronous demonstrations
I should have taken some videos, as the coordinated flying, set to music, was quite spectacular.
Retama Village, TX
Retama Village is a private RV park for adult (means old) people. It is a high end gated community, with nice landscaping, layout, and amenities. We are staying here for 5 nights under their “Discover Retama” program. We like the people, we like the park, we like the amenities. Not sure about the location; deep south Texas is OK in the winter but it will be really hot here in the summers. And, it’s on the hurricane path…
Entrance to Retama Village
"Our" parking spot
James Dick in concert
James Dick is an internationally renowned concert pianist, with his roots in Texas. In 1971 he established the Festival, a 10 day piano concert. Over the years, this grew into a year round training facility for professional musicians. Today, the Festival Hill complex includes multiple buildings, including a fabulous concert hall.
The most amazing fact is that it is located in Round Top, Texas — population 77! This is about 60 miles west of Houston, in the country. But people come from all around for the concerts held in the Festival Hall. We were fortunate to catch one of the infrequent concert by James Dick himself. Suffice it to say, it was fantastic — one of the best classical concerts we have attended.
If you get a chance to catch a concert here, I suggest you do… it is very special. The web site is http://www.festivalhill.org.
A view of the outside of the festival hall
A view from the back of the concert hall
Detail of the woodwork on the ceiling - strong Texas influence!
James Dick, at the start of the concert
Cold in Columbus
We have a concert to attend near the 1000 Trails site in Columbus, TX so we decided to stay here a few days. Timing is not that great, the cold front has reached us way down here. Last night, 25 degrees, this morning, 28. Not bad for you northern types, for us down south its COOOLLLDDD! Oh well, a few more days will see us in deep south Texas where it is in the 50s this morning.
Sunrise, as seen from our site, looking over the Colorado River
But the deer don't seem to care
Battleship TEXAS
Battleship TEXAS is the last of the world’s “dreadnoughts”, the big-gun battleships designed and built in the early 1900s. The TEXAS was commissioned in 1914, and retired in 1948. She is the only ship to have served in both World Wars.
Now she is on permanent display in La Porte, near Houston. For a modest fee, you can tour the ship, and get some indication of what it was like to have served on a ship like this. It is worth the time, but allow 3 to 4 hours as there is much to see.
The ship also logged some firsts. It was the first to launch an aircraft, heralding the start of aircraft carriers. And it was the first ship to be equipped with radar. Even in its last years of duty it was updated with the most modern components.
During WW2, she was struck by large caliber shore guns from Cherbourg, France. It resulted in the only fatalities in the ships illustrious history. But it could be worse: the 1,500 shell skipped on the water and failed to explode. The actual shell is on display in the ship.
A proud ship, with a long and illustrious history
A lot of heavy metal
Berthing rooms were not large, and not private...
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