11/22/2021 Fort Davis is touted as one of the best surviving examples of a Southwestern military post from the days of the wars with the Indians. It’s really not close to much of anything these days, but without a doubt, it was a worthwhile stop. Very pretty country and a nice Texas State Park close by.

11/23/2021 Museum Of Western Art. If you are not familiar with RV’ing, you’ve probably never heard of “Harvest Hosts”. This is a “club” that you join that gives you access to various businesses (who have also joined) that allow RVers to stay on their property for free. There is an underlying assumption that you will buy something from the business while you are there. RVers get a place to stay and the business gets people to buy their goods. Presumed to be a win-win for all involved. The businesses that are typically part of the program are wineries, farms, breweries and things like that. However, in this case, we have found one that is an Art Museum and it was GREAT!

Everything about this museum was 100% first class. The artwork, the people working there and the building itself are just spectacular.

This room housed a collection called “The Color or Horses” and it made Grace VERY happy!

The perfectly restored carousel horse was right on the razor thin line between beauty and creepy.

We learned about Wooton desks and just how rare, expensive and beautiful desks can be in this world. This one is reported to be worth more than what we paid for our house and they go UP in value from there depending on who owned them.

As a kid, I really enjoyed building scale models and I have an appreciation for model building. However, those were always from a kit, but this model was built by hand, without a kit and without blueprints and it’s prefect. I’m pretty sure something like this gets overlooked by most, but not by me.

They also had a kids play room with all kinds of “Old West” types of fun to be had. Grace assumed her role as the home maker…

And Dylan assumed his role of the Man of the House by constructing the homestead.

…and as Dylan constructs the house, Grace assumes her secret identity as a ferocious Cowgirl and she sets off to round up dinner.

Yeah, it’s for the kids!

Then the museum director offers us access to the studio of a resident bronze sculpture artist who walked us through the entire end-to-end process of how a bronze sculpture is made.

Later in the day, I was out with Bear and had to take some more pictures of this sculpture. I was captivated by it. The subject matter, the execution, the presence, the attention detail....it just made for a great piece of art that I walked around more times than I care to admit.

11/27/2021 We’ve moved to the campground we’re going to call “home” for the Thanksgiving holiday and it was just a lovely evening to do a little fishing.

11/28/2021 In Kerrville Texas, there is another Stonehenge. It’s not to scale from the original and there are some pretty broad assumptions taken as to what Stonehenge would have looked like…..and it’s not really made of stone, but it’s a fun little stop.

It’s on the grounds of the Hill Country Arts Foundation and across the street, they have an outdoor theater and we have decided to put on our own production.

Yep, she's a little teapot

Further investigation of their grounds reveals an oddity like we have not seen before; Boxelder bugs en masse!

12/5/2021 Egyptian Geese are non-native to Texas and supposedly becoming a problem, but for us, it’s a unique sighting.

12/6/2021 The Witte Museum. This museum is like a blend of a science, nature and culture museum and they have Dinosaurs, so how bad can it be?

….and more “digging” for Dinosaur bones. I’m starting to wonder what museum DOESN’T have one of these activities.

Just a random Fox curled up behind the window bars not giving a hoot about people taking pictures of it.

Grant likes this simply because we….er, *I* had bought some Arbuckle’s coffee back in their home town of Tucson.

12/7/2021 San Antonio Mission National Historic Park. Beautifully restored and maintained Spanish era missions.

12/10/2021 It is Val’s birthday and what better place to celebrate it than Sea World. Only 3 Sea World locations in the country AND a birthday in the family?! Oh yeah, we’re going in!!! ….but first, we’ve arrive right at the opening bell and the National Anthem is required.

The “Steel Eel” is a crazy good roller coaster and the fact that there is a silly looking sea creature on the sign is basically the only reason we are able to talk Grant into getting on the thing with a smile.

Uhhh….yeah, this is what the line looks like in the “Off Season”.

Brief as it might be, the view from the top is great!

Uhhhhhh….Dylan…..did you swallow an extra set of neck muscles for breakfast?! Sheesh, look at that neck!

Of course, you have to see the Orca show! I mean, would a trip to Sea World be complete without it? The answer to that is NO!

And you get to laugh at the people who were told that they were sitting in the “Splash Zone”, but then run for their lives when the splash inevitably arrives.

Here’s something I never thought I’d say out loud: The ducks were fun to watch.

It all ends where it began. They have abbreviated hours this time of the year, but we arrived before they opened and left when they kicked us out. That’s a good day by any definition!

12/11/2022 If you are in San Antonio, going to the Alamo is something that just happens. It is a sight to behold and obviously steeped in history.

Out front, they had a live fire demonstration of some old period correct flintlock rifles. Today is the day when I get lucky with the timing of my pictures!

Not once, but twice! Damn that’s awesome!

Here you can see the packing debris from the shot exiting the barrel and heading down range.

….and in the background, there was this family that I couldn’t help but laugh at as I was editing these pictures. 1) Mom has covered son’s ears AFTER the shot is fire, 2) son is completely stoic and 3) Daughter is covering her face (for protection) with a cell phone. Classic!

12/17/2022 Inks Lake State Park is about an hour Northwest of Austin and our 3^rd Texas State Park. They never seem to disappoint and this one is no different.

….and it was a big’in! I’m not sure that I’ve seen a lizard of this size out in the wild.

I’m so very thankful that I have a wife with a fun attitude toward life. What would any of us do if she was super serious about stuff?!?!?!

Grace, Dylan and I have hiked over this rock ridge type of thing to explore this little “finger” of the lake.

Dylan joined me down at the water.

Grace has made the decision to stay behind and play with the local pokey plants.

12/19/2021 Our next “Adventure” at Inks Lake involves renting their boats. They have ZERO boats that hold 5 humans, so we divide and conquer…..well, probably not "conquer", but that sounds better than “Divide and Struggle”. Val, Grant and Dylan are in the Canoe…

Grace and I are co-captains of a 2-person kayak.

Lots of turtle life in the lake and I feel lucky getting the pictures that I do because they are VERY shy and will leap into the water at any hint that you’re going to get near them!

Val actually looks pretty happy to be canoeing around a lake with Grant and Dylan.

…..oooops, never mind. Spoke too soon!

Grace found an empty baby turtle shell that we’re guessing was picked off by a bird as a snack.

Well, they’ve run it aground and it’s just so “fun” to watch them try to un-stuck themselves. I swear that even that turtle giggled a little bit.

12/23/2021 Yep, another Texas State Park and another lake based one. This time it’s Caddo Lake State Park and we’re very near on the Texas/Louisiana state line up by Shreveport. This place is more swampy than “lake-y”, but it’s a hidden gem for sure.

Hard to capture and hard to describe, but this mushroom was growing inside this rotting, but still standing, tree trunk. The cap of it was easily the size of a dinner plate, maybe bigger.

More crawly stuff!

Out for a walk with Bear at night and they have some dim lights on the fishing dock. I felt like I was in some ‘Case of the Crazy Swamp Monster’ Episode of Scooby-Doo. It was genuinely eerie.

12/24/2021 We are off to explore the hiking trails of the park on a really beautiful Christmas Eve day.

Really not sure what this guy is, but he is not afraid of the camera.

Fishing? Sure, why not!

Bear dreams of fresh fish, but his reliance on the people actually doing the fishing will ultimately fail him.

Yay! Dylan hooked one!

Yep, that’s us.

Grace has written, directed and scored a Christmas play for the family. It stars her stuffed animals as the cast of characters.

The neighbors are up late partying and it makes for a pretty impressive view of the forest.

12/25/2021 Another successful Christmas in the RV!

….and a quick scooter ride around the campground to distract Dylan while Grace sets up his present as a scavenger hunt.