Monday was a good driving day for us, from our overnight
stay at the Arkadelphia Walmart to Bay Landing in Bridgeport, Texas. Traffic
wasn’t bad, but we really don’t like having to drive through downtown areas
with lots of stop lights. After breakfast at a nearby McDonalds we were on the
road by 8:45 a.m., arriving to Bay Landing at 3 p.m.
Bay Landing is a Thousand Trails park, with a few amenities,
located on Lake Bridgeport. There’s lots of space between sites, with trees
being home to many, many cardinals. We had a dozen or more near our unit.
Monday evening, after getting set up, we drove into Bridgeport for dinner at
Dos Chiles, a local (and very good) Mexican restaurant. (Although the salsa was
rather salty…)
The weather here in Texas is wonderful. We woke to temps in
the mid-60s with a slight breeze. We
spent a bit of time in the clubhouse accessing their Wi-Fi, before realizing we
could get it in our unit, with the help of our trusty antenna. (Score!)
That afternoon Dick hopped on the motorcycle for a tour of
the area, taking photos of our park.
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| There were dozens of cardinals in our backyard at Bay Landing. We were fortunate to snap a few photos of them. |
…and then ventured to Bridgeport’s C.A.R.E facility to see
the big cats. C.A.R.E. (The Center for Animal Research and Education), located
on 20 acres in Bridgeport, is dedicated to the education, research, rescue and
long-term care for exotic animals. Currently they provide a permanent home to
over 50 animals, including snow leopards, mountain lions, African lions,
tigers, black and spotted leopards, ring-tail lemurs, a coati, and a 3-legged
llama! These animals have come from a variety of places: some were abused,
abandoned, or bred to be pets of private collectors; others were retired from
performance acts, zoos encountering financial difficulty, or taken from other
overcrowded or capacity sanctuaries. C.A.R.E. provides a safe, permanent and
loving home to exotic animals in need.
C.A.R.E.'s mission statement: The
Center for Animal Research and Education’s mission is to provide for a safe,
permanent, and loving home to exotic
animals in need. CARE focuses on excellence in physical and emotional
care, advocating animal welfare through education, and conducting
minimally-invasive research that will improve living conditions for captive
animal populations world-wide.
Dick got a kick out of this cat scratching...
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| This gal's name is "Dahlia Llama." Cute, eh? She arrived at C.A.R.E. with a severely broken leg, and the only option was to amputate. Within a couple of days after surgery Dahlia was up and running around. Apparently, she loves people! |
Wednesday we decided to drive
into Dallas to take in a few sites. (As a side note, driving the big dually
into the city was not our idea of fun! Traffic is heavy, drivers drive too fast,
the lanes seemed narrow—well, you get the picture…) Anyway, our first stop was
to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.
The Arboretum is located on 66
acres in east Dallas on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake. The passion
for preserving both history and nature was the foundation for this development,
and as one walks through the beautifully maintained gardens, you can feel the passion
that has gone into creating this little piece of paradise. From 1974 when the Dallas
Arboretum & Botanical Society adopted bylaws, elected officers and
incorporated as a 501C3 organization, the purchase of the property in 1977 and
1980, to its opening to the public in 1984, much work has been done to make
this a heavily community-supported endeavor.
On the grounds (and the first
property purchased from Southern Methodist University) is the DeGolyer home,
designed and built in 1939 to look 100 years old. (Everett DeGolyer, a
geologist, was instrumental in ushering technology into the oil industry with
the use of the seismograph to find oil.) The 21,000 square foot Latin Colonial
Revival style home boasts 13 rooms, 7 baths, 5 fireplaces, 7 chimneys, and a
1,750 square foot library, with central air conditioning and heating. After
purchase, the house was renovated to recreate the look of the 1940s.
Also on the grounds (and the
second property purchased to add to the massive gardens) is the Alex Camp
House, an 8,500 square foot home, designed and built to be only 1 room deep
throughout, so all living and bedrooms have 3-exposures of White Rock Lake and
the city of Dallas. The home is a harmonious combination of Latin Colonial,
English Regency and Art Deco styles. Unfortunately, we didn’t have
time to tour either home. Next time.
What we did notice was the
enormous amount of time and energy that has gone into creating a beautiful fall
décor throughout the garden. Over 150,000 fall flowers such as chrysanthemums
and impatiens, zinnias, salvia and coleus have burst with blazing bursts of
color, intermixed with the greenery of ferns, trees, and bushes—many turning
with the onset of cooler weather—form a pallet of amazing color. And, the over
65,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash are displayed throughout the garden,
although most of them are in the nationally acclaimed Pumpkin Village. The
Pumpkin Village features storybook houses, a hay bale maze, Cinderella’s
carriage and the Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch where pumpkins are available for
purchase. Each of the houses features a popular children’s storybook. Amazing!
Also along the walkways, but not
yet completed, are the elaborate 26-foot Victorian gazebos filled with
characters, all elaborately costumed, of the Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days
of Christmas.” Each gazebo is encased in glass and extravagantly decorated on
all sides to provide a dramatic, 3-dimensional view, with mechanical parts and
festive music bringing the characters to life. The displays will be open for
viewing November 15. We won’t be here…darn…
Our next stop was the 14,000
square foot museum and George W. Bush Presidential Library, on the grounds of
Southern Methodist University. This is not to be missed!
Freedom Hall is the architectural
signature of the library and museum. The Hall showcases just some of the over
43,000 unique gifts that have been given to President and Laura Bush and our
dignitaries by American citizens and foreign Heads of State.
The Hall also encases a
one-of-a-kind, 360°, high definition video wall that introduces you to the library
and museum. There are 640 tiles per wall, all with hundreds of LED panels,
depicting a montage of the 44 US Presidents, depicting “From the many come the
few…” and “We the People.” Absolutely breathtaking.
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| These 3 photos are stills of the video in Freedom Hall. |
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| The baseball exhibit is of President Bush's personal collection. He would've preferred it be displayed in their dining room--Laura put thumbs down on that, so it's on display here. |
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| This is a beautifully done exhibit of 9-11. The steel beams are from the World Trade Center; the wall displays the names of those who lost their lives. |
If you have an opportunity to
visit Dallas, regardless of your political affiliations, please take the time
to take in this library. You won’t regret it.
After our full day of doing the
“touristy” things, we headed to my cousin MaryBeth’s home in Little Elm, Texas
to visit her and her husband Don, as well as her mom, Carol, who’s living with
them. We had a wonderful evening chatting, before we went to dinner at a local
popular restaurant, Babe’s Chicken. What a funky place! It’s located in an old
warehouse in Frisco, Texas, named after the owner’s nickname, “Babe,” who also
developed the recipes for the menu. During the meal country music is played and
occasionally the wait staff line dances in the aisles. And, they’ll get the
kids up to dance the Hokey-Pokey. Ha! And…if it’s your birthday (and the staff
hears about it) they place a chicken hat on your head and make you stand up and do the funky chicken while they sing. Pretty
funny! All the food is served family style, and the only meat served is chicken
and catfish. All the food is prepared in small amounts over and over, so the
last customer has a meal just as good as the first customer. We can attest to
that! We chowed down on chicken fingers, catfish with green tomato chow-chow,
mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, green salad, and buttermilk biscuits. We
also had chocolate pie topped with meringue for dessert. Need I say, YUM??? Oh,
and they have 8 other locations in the Dallas area, too.
We said our goodbyes at about 8:00 that evening, and had to drive an hour and a half back to our RV park in Bridgeport. What a fabulous day!
Thursday was a day of rest,
recuperation, and preparation for our departure.
Friday was a beautiful day
for travel. We got out of Bridgeport around 9:30 a.m., and headed pretty much
straight south to Fredericksburg, Texas, to Fredericksburg RV Park. Winds were
relatively calm, with temps in the low-70s. The roads were good, with just a
bit of construction near Hico, Texas. We arrived about 3:00 p.m.
Friends Ron and Kathryn were
there to meet us, as they are in the same park, although they’re staying here
for the winter. (They’re full-timing in their camper, but return to their home town, Fredericksburg, for the winter.) That evening we had dinner
with their moms. Margaret and Tracy, at Hilda’s, a local Mexican restaurant
Again, yum-yum!
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| Seated L to R: Ron, his mom Margaret, Kathryn's mom Tracy, Kathryn, and me. |
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| The Axis buck was too quick for us to get a photo of, so I downloaded this from the internet. They're stunningly beautiful in person. |
On to Enchanted Rock. Prominent
for many miles around, Enchanted Rock is an enormous pink granite rock
formation about 15 miles north of Fredericksburg. It’s part of the Enchanted
Rock State Natural Area, and part of the Texas state park system. It covers
approximately 640 acres and rises almost 500 feet above the surrounding terrain
to an elevation of 1,825 feet above sea level. The big attraction is the
popular 6/10 mile Summit Trail, which involves a 425-foot elevation gain hike
to the top. (We know—we climbed it!) It’s the largest pink granite “monadnock*”
in the US, and the 2nd largest exposed rock in the US.
* an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping
or virtually level surrounding plain.
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| It doesn't look like much of a climb, but if you look closely, you can see tiny dots on top of the first photo--those are climbers who have made it to the top. And, yes, we did it! |
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| Just had to show the photo of Jiggers, Kathryn and Ron's dog, lookin' out at you. |
Local Indian tribes say the rock
has magical and spiritual powers, hence the name “Enchanted Rock.” They were
virtually invisible from the ground below when hiding from the white man on the
top two tiers of the rock. The creaking and groaning sounds from the rock only
added to the rock’s mystery. Now we know that the sounds are attributed to the
rock’s night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day.
There are many other legends associated with this rock, and some are almost
believable.
Of course, one has to have
lunch—or was it dinner…we called it “lun-din”—at Cooper’s BBQ in Llano, Texas,
just a short drive from the Rock. It was unbelievable! The meats are smoked on
outdoor smokers, and your choice(s) are served up on large trays before you
even enter the restaurant, where they’re wrapped in butcher paper and weighed.
Then you can select peach, apple and/or pecan cobblers, potato salad, coleslaw,
chips and beverage of choice. Everything is placed back on the tray, with waxed
paper placemats, and you’re off to find a place to sit. Jalapeno baked beans,
BBQ sauce and onions are served from a side board, along with water, soda and
ice water, as well as utensils. On the tables are rolls of paper towels, huge
jars of pickles, and full loaves of white bread—all yours for the taking.
Crazy, and YUM-YUM-YUM!!!
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| The 2nd photo shows the huge smokers they use to prepare their meats. When sufficiently done, the meats are brought to the serving area (3rd photo), where you make your selection(s). It's expensive but, oh, so good! |
We retreated back to our campers
for rest and recuperation from both the climb and our meal at Cooper’s. Wow, what a day! That evening we got
together again, with Ron and Kathryn for game night. We played a few games of
Pegs and Jokers, but unfortunately, the gals didn’t do well at all. We lost all
3 games…sad… Then we pulled out a deck of cards and played a round of “Golf.”
Ron came out on top in that one. What a fun evening! Kathryn served brownies
fresh out of the oven with vanilla ice cream. (We don’t go hungry with these folks!)
Sunday was a full day of rest and
recuperation after our climb up Enchanted Rock yesterday. We did pick up a few
grocery items to sustain us a few days. Dick decided to take a motorcycle ride
since the weather was decent, so he headed out to the Willow City Loop, just
outside Fredericksburg. The terrain, unlike that of Fredericksburg’s gently
rolling hills, is a rugged landscape of deep canyons, jagged cliffs, and
beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding area. The loop winds for 13 miles
through some of the oldest and most unique geology in Central Texas. He saw 10+ deer including 3 bucks, unfenced,
open range cattle, iconic Texas Longhorn cattle and a couple Caracara birds
for good measure.
When he returned we decided to
play a game or two of “golf” with Ron and Kathryn before attending the ice
cream social, held at the club house here in the park. About 40 people turned
out for it; guess we all love ice cream! Following that we decided to play a
few games of Pegs and Jokers before heading back to our camper and to bed.
(Unfortunately, the guys are 1 game up on us gals…sad…)
Well, that’s it for this week.
Hope you’re continuing to enjoy our travels. Come along!
Hugs,
RJ and Gail
PS: We thought we would share the
primary reason for our annual southern fall migration captured in this
hilarious video--no snow!
B = Washburn, MI
C = Eastport, MI
D = Buchanan, MI
E = South Charleston, OH
F = Terre Haute, IN
G = Carterville, IL
H = Saulsbury, TN
I = Arkadelphia, AR
J = Bridgeport, TX
K = Fredericksburg, TX
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