Saturday, November 29
We had a great visit with my 2nd Mom in Midland yesterday. Today we are headed to Balmorhea State Park. We can get 50 amp electric, water and cable for $17 per night. They do have a dump station also.
This picture has a drawing of the grounds showing the pool, canals & ponds.
There are not many people at the park. There we are back there. Look at the magnificent coverings over all the tables.
Here is another view of our site. State parks on the whole seem to have larger sites which makes it really nice.
This is our fire pit. The building at the top right is the showers. There are several showers located throughout the park.
We decided to walk through the park. We want to see the big spring fed pool here. There are canals everywhere.
There are canals throughout the park. This cabins that can be rented have been built along this canal. There water is extremely clear in all the canals and ponds.
See the minnows swimming all around the turtle. This water was probably 18-24 inches deep.
This is another view of the cabins that can be rented. They are more like individual buildings.
This plaque was on the building you entered getting to the pool
Here is some information on the San Solomon Springs. We were told the springs are currently producing 15-20 MILLION gallons of water a day. These springs supply water to the whole county for both drinking and irrigation.
This is the part of the pool we saw as we walked in.
The pool is all natural bottom. The waters contain fish and turtles. As you can see the depth varies from 3ft shelf around the edges to 25 feet deep.
We walked to the opposite side and the pool is a V shape. Tic took this panoramic view.
This canal is running from one section of the pool. Look at the 3 locks. They determine how much water goes out and which direction it goes. With this picture we are trying to show how fast the water flow is. You can tell the water is clear but the ripples are too strong to see clearly. The ripples are caused by the water flow.
Next to a pond along the canals, we saw these large water turtles. They looked like big brown rocks until we got closer. There were 3 turtles but one of the turtles already went into the water by the time we got a picture.
Below is a link about this park. Check it out!
The temperature was about 70 degrees this afternoon. We spent the afternoon outside visiting with our neighbors. They are from Midland. They hope to be able to travel full time before long so we shared lots of things to think about and stories of our travels. Great fun!
We are now parked just North of the Davis Mountains and Marfa.
This is a panoramic of the Davis Mountains as seen from our campground.
Thursday, November 27
Thanksgiving at my brother's is always fun! There will more food than you can imagine and many people. They invite anyone that does not have a place to go. They invited Marines from the local post. There were 12 that accepted the invitation. Also I counted all the family members that I thought were supposed to be there including in-laws and came up with 36 people.
We saw on Facebook that they cooked 7 turkeys, 2 hams, lots of sides, lots of snack food and 41 pies. We arrived early so I could have pie for breakfast.
These pies are gluten free and only 5 of the 41 pies.
Here are 6 more pies that are gluten free.
These are some of the pies that are not gluten free. All the pies you have seen do not include any of the chocolate pies that had to be refrigerated. I believe there are 10 varieties of chocolate pies. I started with buttermilk pie. There were apple, cherry, mince, pumpkin,pecan, pecanless pecan, chocolate pecan, coconut besides chocolate. I think I remembered all the varieties.
This is a view of the living area looking into the kitchen. This is before many people have arrived.
This is the snack table. There are even some healthy snacks; carrots, celery, califlower, black & green olives & homemade pickles. In the tub next to the chips are flour tortillas filled with cream cheese and chilies. They are wonderful! Then there are 2 crock pots full of Grandmother's cheese dip that is probably Velveeta, rotel tomatoes & fried hamburger.
Many people have arrived now. The 5 young men with shorter hair are 5 of the 8 marines that came. Apparently all 12 marines did not make it.
At least 3 family friends with all their children have arrived. Some people brought some of their family members also. A sign-in sheet was passed around so an accurate count could be made. The final count was 76 people counting children and one child was 2 days old.
Quite a diverse group of people.
This table is a few of the children still eating. As you can see there is not a line of people filling their plates so many have finished eating already.
I ate so much that I had to take a walk around the grounds. My 7 year old grand nephew guided me.
My brother's family raises & sells goats and sheep. Many of the animals have new babies. Here is a goat with twins.
Here is a sheep with a baby that is only a few days old.
Here is another sheep with her baby. It is amazing to me that this white and brown mother had a black and white baby. All the babies are so cute!
I asked about this sheep. It never shed all its wool. Amazing how much wool is left. It looks like it is just piled on the sheep.
I took another walk with these 3 kids. The one in the middle is my nephew and the other two are friends of the family. We found fun things to see. This rock formation is just there. It almost looks like steps.
The boys posed on an old abandoned riding mower they came across.
The boys thought this tree with the roots growing up all around the trunk was really unique.
The sun was getting low so we headed back to the house.
When we got back to the house some of the marines had already left. So I got this picture of the 4 marines still there. We are so thankful to have people willing to sacrifice for our country.
We left at the same time the last group of marines did. It was a great day with family and new friends. It was almost dark and I knew the deer would be out. Tomorrow we head to Midland and visit with my 2nd mom.
Tuesday, November 25
Today we left Kerrville and went to OC Fisher state park in San Angelo, TX.
On the way we saw.....
No it is not snow it is cotton that is ready to be picked. Any cotton pickers out there?
These are an example of the huge bales created after the plants are picked. They are also creating round bales as shown below.
San Angelo state park is a large park which has both a north and south entrance.
We obviously entered through the south.
The first road we took we saw some buffalo. I could only get this picture which is not very good.
This is the site we chose. We like staying in state parks because the sites are usually large and your neighbors are not real close.
From this view you can see we do have someone next to us, but in the picture above you cannot see them. Our neighbors were already parked when Tic took the previous picture. So even though the neighbors look close in this picture, they are not.
Sitting inside the coach I thought I saw some more buffalo. I got the camera and ran outside. I took this picture and then realized that the buffalo are steel silhouettes.
We took a drive around the park and finally found what is left of the lake. The drought has devastated this lake! Really sad.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will be making some special chocolate pies to take to my brother's for Thanksgiving. Thursday we will spend the day at my brother's place. They are expecting 40 people. Of the 40,12 marines from the local post will be coming. Yearly they send an invite to the post for anyone that doesn't have any place to go for Thanksgiving to come to their house. This year there are 12 who have accepted.
Sunday, November 23 continued
We found out that James Avery's corporate location was here in Kerrville. The cross that I wear all the time, is starting to wear at the top where the ring holding the cross to the necklace goes. I left it to be repaired.
To our surprise, the retail store was located on a compound and was open on Sunday.
This was the entrance to a 25 acre compound.
This building is the retail shop and visitors center.
We were allowed to walk around on the grounds. It was a beautiful setting. The building in this picture is the corporate offices building. There were at least 5 other buildings we did not take pictures of.
Off to the side of the corporate offices building were 2 gazebos. This is one of those.
This is the 2nd gazebo. Both gazebos were outfitted with picnic tables & benches and large trash cans and hand cleanser dispensers. Gorgeous views! There were even walking trails that we were invited to go on.
From the 2nd gazebo this is the view and the walking trail. What a great place to work!
There was a small visitors area that showed the process of making the jewelry. The following are the pictures Tic took of the area.
There was even a display of the first cross ever designed in 1954. Then several designs that came in the next 20 years. I discovered that one cross I have of my mother's was designed between 1960-1970.
Fun day! Heading home now. I wore Tic out.
