Saint Patricks Day celebration picnic hosted by the park. Food, live music and fun!
The model trains were awesome! So much intricate detail!
We made a day of visiting this beautiful garden.
This was a beautiful place, even though we came a bit early so everything wasn’t in bloom yet. We hope to return before we leave the area since things are beginning to bloom now.
We met up with Dana Lynch, Mary’s sister in law and Dana’s daughter Kelly and “their” beautiful GSD, Mac.
We’re now staying here in a really nice resort on the outskirts of New Bruanfels, Texas called Summit Resort and RV Park. We chose this location because of it’s central location between Austin, San Antonio and Fredericksburg. we’ll be here until March 16th, so plenty of time to explore the area. This campground is in a valley right near the Guadalupe River. There’s a resident herd of about 30 deer we see quite often (I’ll get pictures eventually, they seem to know when I don’t have my camera handy!)
Lunch at The Republic of Texas BBQ restaurant was fabulous! Best TriTip I’ve ever had!
Great river tour, lots of interesting sights and the history was interesting as well.
Interesting sights at street level too including the Alamo, architecture, street art and more.
We met Daniel and Blake and Missy at the Pour Haus where I had a local pilsner beer called ZOE! Really nice laid back outdoor bar that was, obviously , very dog friendly.
Fabulous murals all over the town of New Braunfels.
The Gruene Dance Hall was the community gathering place over the years. Very cool!
Some of the funky local shops and architecture.
The Gristmill Restaurant where we enjoyed lunch.
We went to Las Cruces to see this significant display, very interesting even though it seems they are a “work in progress”! Many of the displays had a frame for an informational placard but the placard was not in place yet.
While in Carlsbad we stayed at a New Mexico state park called Brantley Lake (has a nice ring to it, don’t you think 🙂 . Anyway, it’s on a reservoir and the view was finally great, no more parking lot!
We went here for a day to explore the caverns; unfortunately their elevator (which goes down 750 feet!) was out so the only way in was to walk 1 1/4 miles down the 750 foot drop and then back out the same way! My back was acting up and Jan didn’t think her knee would do that so we opted to watch the movie instead and take in the visitors center. All was very interesting and informative!
We spent Sunday, Valentines Day, going to visit Roswell, NM, home of the UFO Museum and Research Library! Romantic don’t you think?!? Anyway, very interesting to say the least! We, of course forgot to wear our aluminum foil hats 🙂 , I hope we’ll be okay!
We visited Kartchner Caverns because of a tip from our good friends, Kevin and Wendy Gallagher; it should be on everyones Bucket List! It was AMAZING! Unfortunately, I was not allowed to bring anything into the caverns; that included cameras, phones, NOTHING! They are “live” caves meaning the formations are still growing ever so slowly; 1 inch every 100 to 1000 years! To see photos and read the incredible history of their discovery and introduction to the public as a state park Google “Kartchner Caves” or go to the state park website here: http://www.azstateparks.com and look for Kartchner caverns. There’s a video tour as well as still pictures.
We also visited an old copper mining town called Bisbee. It was fascinating! Kind of a “Hippie” and artsy town now, but the copper mining museum and the town were very interesting. They are still getting copper but now instead of mining they are leaching it from the dregs left as a by-product of their forefathers (because of more advanced technology)
We(I) chose NOT to do the claustrophobic mine tour down into the bowels of the earth where we would be most certainly be buried alive!
We went on Sunday so unfortunately the “Boneyard” wasn’t open (Federal land) but the museum has over 3700 planes and other aircraft, so well worth the trip!
Here are some of the many planes and other memorabilia we saw there.
Some beautiful Mesquite wood furniture and a vase, some with inlaid turquoise! Stunning (and pricey!)
There was some great sculptures and moving art pieces throughout the outdoor areas too.
We went with our new good friends Ken and Joy. While the girls looked at jewelry and such, Ken and I found this refuge:-). Notice the caricature picture: Castro, Dave Letterman, Marilyn Monroe and Arnold Schwarzenegger!
After exhausting shopping we all had drinks at Tubac Jack’s, including this interestingly delicious Smoked Jalapeño Margarita!
