Thursday, November 28th, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!! This morning I got up at 6:45 and looked out the window just to make sure that this isn't a dream - I'm really here.  I saw Ron in the office later and told him that I woke up to realize that I'm still here and he said "Well, was there some reason why you wouldn't be here?" Not sure that he understood my giggles at that . . .
I had a shower this morning and did laundry, figured out how to get the annoying ad banners off the top of this blog (thanks to Rob's advice last night) and realized that, for the first time since Nov. 11th, I can actually post on this blog! I went to Thanksgiving dinner at 11:30 (Dora booked me in at the same time as Rob and Helen) and it was, as usual, an incredible feast! I spent the rest of the afternoon uploading photos from my iPad to my laptop, preparatory to putting them into this blog.  At 6:00, I went to the clubhouse for dinner of leftovers, then came back and starting updating my blog.  I just got to today, so I'm actually up to date!!  Life is good!

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

Finally - I feel like I've come home!  The first person I saw here was Dora, who came running to give me a hug!  It's so awesome to be back - I spent some time walking around, checking out the new spa - saw Chris - another hug.  My spot is 29, right next to Rob and Helen. Rob showed up about an hour after I got there and we spent some time beginning to catch up - then Helen came home from the doctor's (bronchitis again and back problems) and we had dinner together (Rob and I went out and brought back hamburgers from the Blue Water Grill down the street).  We chatted for a few hours, then I went back to my rv and skyped with Sherry - on dependable wifi for once!!!

Tuesday, November 26th

Got to Corpus Christi on Monday - wifi is practically non-existent.  I rented a car yesterday and went to see Catching Fire, which came out last Friday.  Well done, although really one should read the book before seeing this movie - so much is left out and necessary for a good understanding of the plot. I'm not really impressed with Corpus Christi - rather shabby city - nothing really interesting here, although rvers seem to love it - not sure why.  I did drive up and down South Padre Island, which I've heard so much about - and it was pretty and wild and windswept - but I kept asking myself why on earth I was here, when Galveston was so close! I did visit an awesome, eclectic shop in Port Aransas, chockfull of absolutely delightful stuff! It's called Gratitude and is run by a wonderful woman with partially pink hair and a bubbly, outrageous personality. Wish I could have spent hours there! However, I had to take the rental car back - and then I phoned Jamaica Beach and asked if I could come early (I was booked in for Sunday).  Poor Ron sputtered a bit, but somehow, I think by dint of juggling other people, booked me in to the site that Rob and I had booked back in April. (I had completely forgotten that this is Thanksgiving weekend, one of their busiest times, so the park was pretty much full!) Anyhow, tomorrow I'm making the last leg of my journey and settling in at Galveston!!!!!

Driving on the beach is always a cool experience!

My rental car on the beach on South Padre Island

Amazing store!

Port Aransas

The ocean, from a park in Port Aransas

Sunday, November 24th

Left San Antonio to go to Edinburg to visit my friend June - but just couldn't locate her campground, despite the efforts of the kind lady in the office to give me directions over the phone!  I think I put the wrong street into my GPS, because it took me to East Palm Drive in Edinburg, instead of to Lazy Palm drive 17 miles outside of Edinburg. I finally gave up in frustration and decided to head for Corpus Christi instead.
I found an RV park on the way - Countryside RV - really quite nice - clean and quiet despite being right next to the highway.  Will get to Corpus Christi tomorrow!

Saturday, November 23rd

Woke up  Saturday morning to a temp of 27 - that's minus 3 celcius - below freezing!! Yep - this is the weather I thought I left behind in Ontari-ari-ario! This was definitely a grumpy day - lots of frost on the grass and cacti - not inspiring to drive through.  I was glad to get to the Braunig Lake RV Resort just outside of San Anntonio, Texas -weather was chilly, but much, much warmer!
Had breakfast in the community room here - very nice RV park - I'd like to stay here again some day.

Frost!

More frost

Yuck!

Lake Braunig

Cool ambience!

Ahh - palm trees again

My rig - nice level concrete pad

 A "street" in the campground

Friday, November 22nd

 The El Paso park was okay - I did take in the pool and the hot tub, although the weather was beginning to cool off.  I didn't take any photos in El Paso - it was a terrible disappointment - El Paso is just another big city - no sign of Rosa's cantina - or a Mexican girl named Falina (gotta love that Marty Robbins' song). Left El Paso in suddenly colder weather to head to Fort Stockton, where it was incredibly cold (all right, Ottawa, not that cold).  The campsite lady told me to bring my hoses in for the night, since they were likely to freeze overnight. First time anybody's told me that!

This pretty much sums up the driving experience for Thursday and Friday!

Wednesday November 20th, 2013

I took the rental car back yesterday, after doing some grocery shopping, and spent the afternoon lounging in and around the pool and hot tub. Today, I head for Fort Willcox, to break my trip up into smaller chunks - getting a bit weary of driving alllll day!

Just cool scenery - this was at a rest stop where I parked and took these pictures.

The entrance - and main part - of the Fort Stockton RV site.  Very basic, but well kept up.

Gotta love those cacti!

Monday, November 18, 2013

I rented a car today and drove out to the San Xavier Mission - fascinating historical, still-functioning spanish-catholic church built in 1692.  I had my first taste of fried bread sold by some indian people outside the mission.  After that, I walked around the Sonora Desert Museum - amazing experience - it's all outside, so one basically walks around paths through the desert, with plots of particular plants and cages of particular animals in their natural habitat.

Our tour guide says that the bell tower on the right is missing the bell part because they ran out of money, contrary to the more popular story that this was a political protest

Interior garden

Incredible frescoes, etc.

Copious statues, engravings, etc.

More 

And more . . . 

. . . and more!

Outside garden with many varieties of cactus!

Path in the Sonora Desert Museum.  The Saguaro cacti grow in this area of the U.S. only - and in Mexico - fascinating plants!

A reproducing cactus!

Gotta prove I was there!

Still in the museum

The road to the museum

Notice all the cacti scattered around the hill

A much-needed drink at the Hotel Congress, where John Dillinger and his gang stayed and were arrested in the 1930's.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

I drove from Sedona to Tucson today - am staying in the Rincon RV Park. This is the Ritz of RV parks - or should I say "resorts"!  This is a gated community, very like a small city, incredibly clean and well-managed - everything in tip-top shape, laundry rooms and showers immaculate, pool and hot tub, hundreds of community activities. It's expensive - I paid $27 - and that was with the Passport America 50% discount - but worth it, I guess.  For a decidedly urban park, it was quite nice - but without a car, well, I'm not sure I would actually want to be here for any great length of time. I would definitely stay here again, though - in fact, I want to return some day and see the cowboy "town" which was closed while I was here.