Traveling with the Stampers

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T15:48:00.000-06:00

Christmas Day we woke up early and headed to Porter, TX to Wayne’s brother, Kim’s, house. As usual Irma had the house decorated beautifully.

Wayne’s brother, Leslie, was able to fly in to join us this year.

Irma’s Christmas village scenes take up all of the display space plus the pool table upstairs.

I was able to get a picture of the four remaining Stamper boys together. From left to right they are Kim, Darrell, Leslie, and Wayne.

I even had Kim take a picture of Wayne and I in front of the fireplace.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and will have a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T15:47:00.000-06:00

Christmas eve we drove to Spring Branch, TX to Bob and Doris’ house. Nola, Matt, and Todd were already there when we arrived. Here are Bob and Doris.

And here is their Christmas Tree.

In lieu of a fireplace, the stockings were hung on the couch.

Before dinner we Skyped with Michelle who was in Pittsburg. Here are Doris, Nola, Matt, and Todd talking to her.

Matt even made a face at her.

After a while she woke Michael up so that we could wish him a Merry Christmas too.

After a wonderful dinner of turkey and all the fixings we opened our stockings. Here is Trouble trying to get his rawhide stick out of his stocking.

Wayne always puts lotto tickets in the stockings and everyone is trying to find out what they got.

Here is Matt on his computer as Doris is in the kitchen.

Later on that evening we got a call from Lois in Australia. With some technical help from Matt we finally got hooked up to Skype on Doris’ computer and called her back. Here are Nola and I talking to her.

And here Matt and Doris joined in on the conversation.

Nola, Matt, and Todd went back to Austin and Wayne, Trouble and I spent the night.

The Palms Dog Parade

2011-12-28T09:07:00.002-06:00

On the Friday before Christmas we had a dog parade in the park.

Judy’s little dog, Squirt, didn’t want to walk.

Samie made a wonderful reindeer that coincidentally belonged to Gary, Judy’s husband, who drove the golf cart with Santa in it.

Candy had a beautiful Christmas sweater.

This was Santa's dog--aka Mrs. Santa.

Trouble really liked the toy poodle on the left. This may be his new girlfriend. The little long-haired Chihuahua on the right was really tiny.

The dog on the left’s sweater clearly identified him as “Dog” and I think that the dog on the right in biker gear’s name is “Harley”.

Clara and Mike’s Papillions didn’t want to keep their costumes on.

The winner was Chuck and Judy’s wonderful Santa, Elmo.

Here are Harley and Trouble nose to nose.

Weezie was a pretty “little girl” in her red velvet dress and her hair bows.

We took a stroll in the park following Santa and Gary and their dogs. Keith and Penne's dog, Holly, decided to ride too.

Afterwards we that the opportunity to take pictures with Santa so here is Trouble with Santa.

All You Can Eat Shrimp

2011-12-22T14:54:00.001-06:00

Wednesday nights there are two places in Port Aransas that have all you can eat shrimp. Tonight we went with Edie and George to Moby Dick’s for all you can eat boiled shrimp.

Here are Edie and George.

We shared a table with Mary and Dean, Louise and Rodney, Wayne and Norma, and Mary and Dean’s daughter and son-in-law.

Next week we plan on going for all you can eat fried shrimp at Kody’s.

Ladies Day Out

2011-12-22T14:03:00.000-06:00

Wednesday twelve ladies from The Palms RV Park took a small bus into Corpus Christ for lunch and shopping. We had lunch at Senor Jaime’s Mexican Food Restaurant. Since we were riding in a bus we were able to have drinks with our meals.

After lunch we went to Susann’s Jewelers to see if they had anything we needed in their “Going Out of Business” salel. We all left empty handed.

From there we went to La Palmira Mall and walked from one end to the other. Most of us bought a little something there and we all got out exercise in.

Our last stop was Spec’s and Jo-Ann's where we all bought something. Then it was back home to the park in time for dinner. What a fun day.

Stamper Family Dinner

2011-12-22T13:44:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday night we had dinner with Wayne’s son Greg and his wife, Teresa, at Fogo de Chao in Austin.

All of the cook/waiters wanted in on the pictures.

Here are a couple of pictures of the meats cooking.

The

food and the company were great.

UT vs. Texas Tech game - Veteran's Appreciation Day

2011-11-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday's game was dedicated to all of the veteran's in the stands. To start off there was a Drop-In by four paratroopers who brought in the game ball. See the video that our friend, Paul, took.

Following the Drop-In there was a flyby with two F-16s. Sorry, no video of it.

We won the game and are now bowl eligible.

UT vs. Kansas Halloween Tailgate

2011-11-03T09:53:00.000-05:00

Our daughter, Nola, wanted to go to a football game with Wayne so he took her to the Kansas game last weekend. As usual they went to the Alumni Center Officer’s room prior to the game. Here they are in their Orange and White.

It happened to be the Saturday before Halloweens so they were taking pictures of people in costume. Here is Wayne with Laura who is the Assistant Director of Chapters.

And here he is with Lynn, Courtney, and Laura. The black wig was his choice but the crown was their idea.

As you can tell he was having fun. UT won the game and a good time was had by all.

More Pictures from Mike and Patty’s Visit

2011-10-31T09:41:00.000-05:00

I had forgotten that Wayne had taken some pictures when Mike and Patty were here. I just edited them so here they are.

Here is our motorhome at our spot in Oak Forest RV Park. Note that it is long enough to park one car in front and the other one in back.

Mike and Patty were parked to his left as he took this picture and here is their coach and car.

He got a better picture as we were waiting for the bats. That is Mike, Patty and I on the left hand side of the picture.

And here we are closer up. Note that we all had on long sleeves. It was a beautiful Fall night.

Again, it was great to spend time with them.

Harvest Moon and Visit from Mike and Patty

2011-10-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

I thought it was about time I posted again. On the Wednesday before we left Aransas Pass we went to Captain Hook’s at Port Aransas with Edie and George our across the street neighbors from The Palms. Naturally I didn’t take my camera but Edie took a picture of the harvest moon with her cell phone while we were on the ferry.

The next day we drove to Austin and we are staying at the Oak Forest RV Park. It is aptly named as there are lots of oak trees on the property. We chose a spot without trees so that we can get Direct TV.

Last Tuesday Mike and Patty who traveled with us to Alaska and the Canadian Maritimes came to see us.

On Wednesday they went to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum and enjoyed it. Then we went to County Line for Bar-B-Que. Patty had a whole rack of beef ribs but the picture is on her camera. We all had leftovers to take home.

On Thursday we did a tour of Austin. Austin has painted cows on street corners.

This one was in front of the restaurant where we ate lunch.

Patty took a picture of me with the cow. The pictures of both of us are on her camera.

Lunch was at Threadgill’s which is a fixture in Austin. The original Threadgill's is in an old filling station and is where Janis Joplin got her start. This one is at the site of the old Armadillo World Headquarters.

Kenneth Threadgill was a musician and lots of musicians still play there.

These concrete armadillos are above all of the windows on the outside of the building.

We had the waitress take a picture of the four of us.

The pictures on the wall behind us are all musicians who have played there. There was one of a really young Willie Nelson.

We drove around some of the older parts of Austin and came across this pumpkin patch with another painted cow.

Patty decided that she wanted ice cream so we went to Amy’s. Amy’s has homemade ice cream. Here is Mike feeding Patty ice cream.

That evening we went under the Congress Street Bridge. Austin has the largest urban bat colony around and they come out at dusk. There were people lining the bridge and on both sides of the lake.

As it got dark the bats came out between the middle building and the building to the right. I took lots of pictures but the didn’t show up. At times the sky was almost black with bats.

Friday morning Mike and Patty left and headed to San Antonio. Wayne and I headed to Magnolia to meet his nephew, Billie, and a friend on Saturday to move our storage room to Austin.

I have been going over to the storage room organizing things this week. Not a fun job but a necessary one.

Wayne’s trip to Valdez, Alaska

2011-09-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

Sunday, August 21st Wayne boarded a plane to Anchorage, Alaska from Austin, Texas. He met his brother, Leslie, there and the two of them spent the night. On Monday they rented a car and drove to Valdez.    They stopped along the way to take pictures of a glacier. One was from the top

and one from the road below.

They also stopped to take pictures of some waterfalls. Here is Leslie taking a picture.

And here is a better view of the waterfall.

Here is a different waterfall along the way.

On arrival in Valdez, they met up with George and Sandra, friends from Anchorage. George and Sandra had brought their RV and boat down for the week to take Wayne and Leslie out fishing.
On Tuesday, Wayne and Leslie met up with George to go out in George’s boat to fish for salmon. Wayne took some pictures of an eagle on the shore eating a fish

and of a waterfall from the boat.

It was a poor fishing day and after losing more fish than they caught, they came back in.
They did a little sightseeing to pass the time.

Wednesday proved to be a much better day. They caught 10 fish. Here is Leslie trying to hold up the stringer.

And here they are in the wheelbarrow that you take them up to the cleaning stations in.

Wayne and Leslie took Thursday off and went to the Earthquake Museum and out to the area where the fish hatchery is. They were lucky enough to see a bear eating a salmon.

One of the unique things about this area is that the hatchery is located next to this waterfall.

The water from the waterfall flows through the hatchery and then out into the river and the bay. When fish enter the river trying to go back to their birthplace they obviously encounter obstacles.
Nets are placed along the river to block the flow of most of the fish. The ones that go around go into the hatchery to breed.   The others die in the net.

Wayne also saw this eagle in a tree.

Wayne and Leslie also went to the viewing pond nearer to Valdez. When we were there three years ago there weren’t any fish in the pond but there were this time.

This is Leslie at the viewing area.

Friday they went out fishing again.     They had company in this seal that decided to join them.

This is a glacier that you can see from the water.

Here it is from a distance.

While on the water they saw the fast ferry to Whittier.

The seal was competing with the fishermen for fish and he was successful some of the time. He took this one away from the woman who had caught it.

This was Friday’s catch.

They fished again on Saturday. After they got back Wayne took a picture of some of the many rabbits that were wandering around Valdez.

Sunday was the last day they fished with George. The only picture taken was of the beautiful scenery.

Monday they went out early on a halibut fishing trip. Wayne caught a 30 lb halibut and a 40” ling cod. Leslie caught a 45 lb halibut pictured here. Oops, I goofed. It was 70 lbs.

Tuesday they were up bright and early to catch the slow ferry to Whittier. After they arrived they drove to this waiting area. The cars, etc. wait here to enter the tunnel that is the shortcut to Anchorage.

The tunnel is a train tunnel and every hour they open it for 15 minutes for vehicular traffic.

They turned in the rental car and waited to board their respective flights. Leslie took back 125 lbs of fish on his flight to Denver and Wayne had his shipped since he had a long layover in Houston.
Both had a wonderful time and we will be eating fish for a long time. Thanks again to George and Sandra for their wonderful hospitality.

Humming Birds in Pagosa Springs

2011-08-10T11:01:00.000-05:00

I was downloading pictures from Wayne’s camera yesterday and found these photos of one of the humming birds we had in Pagosa Springs. Since we haven’t taken any pictures here in Aransas Pass I thought I would post these for everyone to see.

I am doing physical therapy for tendonitis and bursitis in my shoulder every morning and then it is home for the rest of the day. It has been too hot to get out much here. About the most we do is take Trouble for a walk around 9:00 in the evenings when it has cooled off.

We will leave here next Wednesday for Georgetown, TX. Wayne will fly to Valdez, Alaska on Sunday to go fishing for salmon for about ten days. When he gets back we have two Univ. of Texas football games to go to before we come back to Aransas Pass.

Matt, our grandson, will be moving into his Co-op the weekend we get there. He will be attending the Engineering School at the Univ. of Texas this fall. I will try to get pictures.

Float Trip on the Rio Grande

2011-07-18T20:24:00.000-05:00

Thursday we rescheduled the float trip on the Rio Grande that we had to cancel for Monday so Wayne could see the doctor again. His blood pressure and oxygen levels were up but she still wanted him to go home.

We had to be in South Fork at 8:00 for the float trip. We saw these two deer at the Great Divide at the top of Wolf Creek Pass. I thought they were going to come up on the road to see us.

After filling out the paper work we went with Aaron, out guide, to launch his boat. Here are Wayne and Aaron right after we launched. Aaron is an eighth grade math teacher during the school year and a fishing guide during the summer. He was very nice.

I was planning on just going along for the ride and to take pictures like this one looking up at the road.

This was the first catch of the day. A little brown trout. It was a catch and release trip so back it went into the river.

Aaron pointed out this doe feeding near the edge of the river.

I caught a small brown trout but we didn’t get a picture. Then Wayne caught a few more browns.

These were a little bigger.

The river went from being smooth to full of rapids like this. Aaron nimbly maneuvered around all the rocks with a pair of oars.

In all we caught a total of 9 fish and only lost a few flies. On the way home I hear this loud thump and asked Wayne, “WHAT WAS THAT?” That was a deer who cam out from nowhere and hit the front fender on the car. We drove on for a little while but stopped where we had a shoulder to look at the damage.

We were leaking anti freeze so we called the tow service and our insurance agent and got towed in to Buckhorn Towing across the street from Wolf Creek Park.

To pass the time I took a picture of one of the flowers on the roadside.

The tow driver dropped us off at the motorhome and as soon as we got in one of the owners, Diana, was at the door making sure we were okay. We were so we went with her up to the clubhouse for the Thursday night dinner they provide.

We are certainly going to miss this place. The owners took us out to Brunch Sunday morning before we finished packing and before we left Monday morning. We drove the motorhome over to Buckhorn Towing and hooked the car up there so that we could tow it back to Aransas Pass.

Williams Reservoir

2011-07-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

Since our time here has been cut short we are trying to pack in some day trips that we had been wanting to take. This Sunday we decided to drive up to Williams Reservoir which is West of Pagosa Springs. On the way up we encountered this doe who decided to leave when we turned around to take her picture.

We had heard that the drive up here is beautiful and it certainly was.

Not only are the mountains beautiful but the clouds are too.

This was a very unusual formation.

As we get closer to the lake you can see where the river has cut trough the countryside.

Then we come to an area where the drop off is dramatic. I got as close as I could for this picture.

I’m sure that Wayne wishes he had brought his fishing pole along as the streams along the way looked very inviting.

Finally Williams Reservoir comes into view.

The reservoir is not as large as we had expected. There was a man sitting on the edge of the lake fishing but he said that he had not caught anything.

On the other side of the parking lot is a small pond.

We had a visitor while we were in the parking lot.

On the drive home we stopped at the picnic area and were able to walk down to the water.

We couldn’t decide it this was meant to be a barn or a house but at least half of it was underground. There are a lot of houses like this in New Mexico.

This is an area called Pagosa Lakes. There are several subdivisions on this road that surround these small lakes

It was a nice drive and we are glad we took the time to do it.

Drive to South Fork

2011-07-09T21:27:00.000-05:00

We ran some errands this morning and then decided to drive over Wolf Creek Pass. We kept going until we got to South Fork. This is the view leaving town.

We stopped at Treasure Falls to take pictures.

In addition to seeing the falls there is a hiking trail which we didn’t even attempt.

Next stop was the Great Divide. There is a large parking area here and there are also hiking trails.

The mountains around this area are varied in size and shape. I like the ones that look like they are terraced.

The road winds around and is very steep in places. Those white things are cars/trucks on the road below us.

It was a nice afternoon’s drive.

Good News, Bad News

2011-07-09T18:02:00.000-05:00

First the bad news. Wayne went to the Pagosa Medical Clinic on Friday for a cough and cramps in his ankles. The staff there took his blood pressure and oxygen levels and everyone went into a panic. His blood pressure was very low and so was his oxygen level. The good news is that he left the clinic with medication for his bronchitis and oxygen for his oxygen levels. Bad news—the doctor suggested that we leave soon for sea level as this altitude is making his heart work too hard. Good news—we can have another week here.

Instead of staying here until August 14th we will leave on July 19th and go to Albuquerque to have the generator worked on. Hopefully we will head to Texas on the 20th and be back at sea level by the end of that week.

In the meantime we are trying to pack in some experiences. Today we drove over Wolf Creek Pass to South Fork and back. Here is a picture heading out of Pagosa Springs.

We stopped at Treasure Falls to take a picture.

There are plaques telling about the History of Treasure Falls, The Legend of Treasure Mountain and a diagram of the interpretive walking trail which we did not take.

There is a tunnel through one of the mountains along the way. There is a roadway that goes around the outside of the mountain as well. I guess it is in case there is a wreck in the tunnel because it was closed.

The scenery is spectacular.

I think this is another waterfall but I couldn’t get it to zoom in close enough. If not, it is some of the snow that is still on the ground.

If Wayne is feeling good tomorrow we will try to drive up to Williams Lake. He will see the doctor again on Monday.

Fourth of July Picnic at Wolf Creek Run

2011-07-05T12:44:00.000-05:00

At 4:00 this afternoon we had a picnic complete with entertainment. This gentleman played all the familiar music that we grew up with.

Our hosts provided hamburgers, hotdogs, and baked beans and everyone else brought side dishes. Here are some of the desserts.

The first few pots were the leftovers from our Italian dinner on Thursday night.

Here are some of the other side dishes. There was lots of potato salad.

We ate inside the recreation room. It is a beautiful log structure.

Some of the others ate outside on the deck. Here is a family with those caps with the funny spiked hair.

This is Ted, our host and cook.

We had lots of people here including some invited guests from outside the park.

This is a view of the mountains looking toward the park entrance.

Looking off the deck we kept seeing something moving in the grass. It turned out to be a Marmot and Wayne got this great picture with his big lens.

The picnic was supposed to end at 6:00 but we were there well past 7:00. This is such a fun group. We decided not to drive into town for the fireworks but we could see some of them from our patio.

Fourth of July Parade

2011-07-04T16:13:00.000-05:00

We got up early this morning and drove into the Pagosa
Bakery for breakfast. We were early enough to get a parking space on the street with enough room to put our chairs in back of our car. We were parked across the street from this really neat store. They had beautiful hand woven baskets and pottery.

Patricia and her dog, Camie, joined us as we waited for the parade. We had good seats for a great parade. There was a guy flying around in an ultra light as we waited.

To start off the parade there was a flyover by nine planes varying from single wing to bi-wings.

Then came the color guard with active duty and veterans of a lot of different wars.

The parade marshal was riding in a beautiful buckboard being pulled by two beautiful horses.

There were elaborate floats all the way down to people walking and lots of horses. I took pictures of every one of them and then realized that there was no way I could upload them all on my blog so I will pick some of my favorites.

This was the high school band who smartly chose to ride on a float rather than walk.

Pretty horse and pretty carriage.

This was a creative way to have both the flag and the mountains depicted.

This is a young Apache Indian boy from the reservation south of here riding bareback.

There were several old cars and truck in the parade.

I had never seen a Roller Blade group in a parade before. They were very good.

This being four-wheel territory, there are lots of them in the parade.

I don’t know what kind of horses these are but they are beautiful.

The Freedom Rides were represented as well.

The dome in the center of this float represents the hot springs that flow into the river. It really looks like this.

There were even angels in the parade from Visiting Angels, a in-home care business.

There was even a broken-down truck with the participants pushing it.

This float represented the air rescue service that operates here.

Another old car.

These people were from the “Painted Lady.” I don’t know how the lady in blue made it in those high heels.

This float was by the Mt. View Housewives advertizing their upcoming auction.

Not many parades have rafts with rafters.

There are lots of places here to take advantage of the hot springs in pools and hot tubs. These guys looked like they were having fun.

I liked the eagle.

And another old car decorated for the occasion.

This float belonged to the local hospital. Note the “doctor” with the saw cutting off the man’s leg.

This is the company that came out and washed the coach the second day we were here.

The parade took about an hour to go by and with a two hour wait for it to start we were ready to go back to the motorhome to get ready for the picnic this afternoon.

Chama to Pagosa Springs, Colorado

2011-06-30T10:53:00.000-05:00

This is Chimney Rock which is on the Ute Reservation.

We arrived at Pagosa Springs before noon and got set up. This is the view of the fountain from our site.

Here is the clubhouse with the deck overlooking the San Juan River.

And the walkway between two fences to the right of the coach on the left leads down to the water where there is a covered picnic table and places to fish.

The owners of the park, Vic and Mike, and their wives, Diane and Tammie, host a Meet and Greet every evening at 4:30 on the deck at the clubhouse. The are very friendly and helpful.

Here is a view of our park from the deck at the clubhouse.

As you can see we have a shed with a covered seating area beside the motorhome site.

Wednesday evening we went into town for dinner and on the way back I took these pictures of the San Juan Mountains.

Tonight the owners are providing the main course of an Italian dinner and we are all bringing side dishes. This is a fun place to be!!

Alabama to New Mexico

2011-06-28T09:44:00.000-05:00

We got up Saturday morning in Red Bay, Alabama. The generator started so we left headed to cooler weather. We made it as far as Van Buren, Arkansas before stopping. Unfortunately the generator didn’t make it that far. Or rather the two inside ACs refused to both work on the generator. We’re not sure exactly what the problem is. We stayed at Park Ridge RV Campground where they had a long pull-through so we didn’t have to unhook. It is right on a river.

We were parked right next to a pop-up camper that I’m sure was not too happy when we pulled out at 6:30am the next morning. We were trying to beat the heat.

We made it to Amarillo, TX the next night at around 3:00pm. It was a record day—111 degrees. We stayed at the Overnite RV Park which also had long pull through sites. We stayed in the coach to stay cool. At 7:00 the Big Texan limo picked us up at our site and took us to the famous Big Texan Restaurant.

The reason it is world famous is that you get this 72 oz steak free if you can it it and the accompaniments in one hour. The record is 8 minutes and 52 seconds. We didn’t even attempt it.

The decor throughout the restaurant is western. All of the waiters and waitresses were in great western dress.

This is the stage where people who try to eat the 72 oz steak sit and they set a clock for 60 seconds and it counts down as you eat.

There are also country western singers milling through the crowd and singing requests for a fee.

They also had a bar and a shooting gallery. All the little red dots are what you shoot at.

The experience was interesting but the steak left a little to be desired. We got up early the next morning and headed out towards New Mexico. The air was cool so we didn’t need the AC in the coach. We stopped at Clines Corners for lunch. It is at the intersection of old Route 66 (now Highway 40) and Highway 285/84 to Chama

I had forgotten just how beautiful the drive up to Chama is. After we got past the smoke from the Los Alamos fires the sun hit the rock formations just right and it was great.

This is the area where the Ghost Ranch is. It is where Georgia O’Keefe painted. Wikipedia, notes, “she returned to New Mexico in the summer of 1934. In August of that year, she visited Ghost Ranch, north of Abiquiu, for the first time and decided immediately to live there; in 1940, she purchased a house on the ranch property. The varicolored cliffs of Ghost Ranch inspired some of her most famous landscapes. In 1977, O'Keeffe wrote: "[the] cliffs over there are almost painted for you -- you think -- until you try to paint them.”

Ghost Ranch is now a conference center owned by the Presbyterian Church.

We arrived at Little Creel RV park in Chama hoping to see Ray and Ann who work camp here. We met them when we spent the whole summer here about four years ago. Unfortunately they won’t arrive for two more days.

This is the view of the river to our back.

Tomorrow we will drive for about an hour to our summer home in Pagosa Springs Colorado.

New Cabinets and Lights

2011-06-24T17:02:00.000-05:00

Here is the new woodwork that we had done on the coach. This is the opening by the front steps where we always put our keys. Now they won’t fall out.

They determined that our cabinets over the passenger side couch were sagging a little so Tiffen put in a new brace.

These are the new lights over the microwave. They really add to lighting up the kitchen counter top.

This light replaced the fluorescent light over the sink.

And this light replaced the fluorescent light on the other end of the counter.

Here are my new cabinets under the window where the couch used to be. They will house my craft materials.

They also worked on the generator, awning, replaced the seal around one of the driver’s side slides, and made us a test coach for the new slide solenoid that we had been having trouble with.

Bay Diesel replaced the fan clutch today and if the generator starts in the morning we are out of here and headed to Pagosa Springs, Colorado until the middle of August.

New TV and Refrigerator

2011-06-22T17:30:00.000-05:00

We went out to Custom RV on Wednesday morning at 7am and Brannon and his crew put in the new Refrigerator, inverter, 4 new batteries, and electric cord reel. The new refrigerator is only a little taller than the other one but the difference is inside. This is a 22 cubic foot refrigerator and I’m guessing the old one was maybe 17 at the most. Without the gas workings behind it, it is much deeper. This one also has an ice and water dispenser in the door.

After we got back to the RV park, Chris came out and installed the new 40” TV and sound bar. It is amazing that the new one fits in the same place as the old 34”.

We spent Thursday emptying the craft cabinet and taking out all of the shelves including the upper one where the old woofer was. Then we put both woofers in the same area and secured them and put all the shelves back.

At about 2:30 Brannon called and said that the last 2 batteries were in so we drove back out so that he could install them.

That evening several of the other couples in the park came over to see the computer desk that TJ built for us several years ago.

Friday we got up and got new LED bulbs to replace several of the bulbs in the coach. They are much cooler and use less energy.

Today we went to breakfast at Swamp John’s (again I did not have the chocolate biscuits). Them we went to the grocery store and farmer’s market before coming home and taking it easy.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we leave Red Bay for Lecanto, Florida to see my cousin, Haydon, and his wife, Lisa. We are staying at an RV park in Beverly Hills, FL that is supposed to be about 15 minutes away. We will stay there a week and then come back to Red Bay.

Last Night in Lecanto

2011-06-20T17:52:00.001-05:00

On Sunday afternoon Wayne and I and Trouble went over to Haydon and Lisa’s for our last visit. Haydon was finally fever free so we sat and visited for hours. Here are Lisa and Haydon on the couch.

A happier couple you won’t find anywhere. Because of his cancer Haydon wanted me to tell everyone that he is a big supporter of legalizing medical marijuana. We had some lively discussions pro and con on this issue.

We brought over a pot roast and mashed potatoes and Lisa fixed carrots and sugar free chocolate pudding with Cool Whip. Everything was delicious.

Before we left I took a picture of their Lanai. We had spent some time in the pool on Friday and even Trouble got on one of the yellow floats.

We really enjoyed our week in Lecanto and we will leave tomorrow for Red Bay.

Stumpknockers

2011-06-15T21:00:00.001-05:00

We arrived in Beverly Hills, Florida late Monday. Set up camp and rested.

On Tuesday we went over to my cousin, Haydon, and his wife, Lisa’s, house. We visited with them for several hours and then went back to the coach to rest before dinner. Haydon and Lisa came by to pick us up for dinner and to see the coach. We went to a restaurant called Stumpknockers. Here are Haydon, Lisa, and Wayne in front of the sign.

And here are Haydon, me, and Wayne.

We started dinner with Ahi Tuna and fried alligator chunks. Both were a new and very good choice. We all had to bring home food from our huge dinners. This was the view looking out the window toward the Withlacoochee River.

Wednesday we went into Ocala to find a Lincoln dealer to have them work on our Sync. Then we had a light lunch and shopped a little at Wal-Mart. We had planned to go over to Haydon and Lisa’s but the weather had different ideas and we had a thunderstorm with some hail. When I called Lisa, she said that Haydon had been running a temperature so it is just as well that we didn’t go. Tomorrow he goes to Tampa to the doctor so hopefully he will feel better tomorrow evening.

Leaving Texas

2011-06-07T12:41:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning we got up and left Waller, Texas and headed to Red Bay, AL. We stopped for the night in Bossier City, LA at the Diamond Jack RV campground. We ate dinner inside the casino and then played blackjack for a while. I won enough this time to cover Wayne’s losses (it’s usually the other way around) and put some towards the RV fee.

Monday evening we arrived at Red Bay. We are staying at the Red Bay RV Park which is just down the street from the service facility. Full hook-ups for $20 a night and quieter than the park at the service facility.

Tuesday morning we went out to RV Custom Service and talked to Brannon about the residential refrigerator that he will be installing tomorrow. This is the old refrigerator.

We are waiting on TJ to come by and measure for the cabinets that he will be building to go along the wall where the couch was taken out. It will be about 6-7” wide and will go the length of the wall up to the bottom of the valances.

We are also waiting for Chris to come by and take the molding off the old TV and to take the new TV to his shop. He will install the new 40” LED tomorrow evening.

Can’t wait to get everything done. I’ll post pictures of the new stuff when it is finished.

Matt’s High School Graduation

2011-06-07T11:24:00.002-05:00

We left Aransas Pass on Friday and drove to the Yogi Bear RV Park in Waller, Texas. We spent the evening at our daughter, Nola’s, house visiting.

Saturday morning we drove to Prairie View A & M University Campus where Waller HS was holding their graduation ceremonies. Here is Thomas Matthew Reay entering the auditorium.

They called out the names of the top 50 students in reverse order. Once Matt (#2) was on stage, he studied his Salutatory speech.

And here he is giving it. Needless to say we are very proud of him. He has been accepted to The University of Texas at Austin Engineering School next fall where he will study electrical engineering.

After graduation we went back to Nola’s and rested until time to go to dinner. Tom, Matt’s dad, had planned a dinner for family and close friends at Luigi’s Italian Restorante. He had put together a slide show of pictures of Matt.

There was wine, hors d'œuvres , a salad, a choice of four entrees, and cupcakes for dessert. All the cup cakes had pictures of Matt stuck in them. There were also M&Ms with his picture on it and lots of balloons. After dinner Matt got his cap and gown and we took family pictures. Here are Michael, Michelle, Nola, Matt and Tom.

You should recognize Wayne and I with Matt.

On the front row are Matt’s Aunt Catherine and “Mimi” Dee and behind Dee is his cousin Cassandra.

This picture has my brother, Murray, his wife, Sandy, their daughter, Tracy, her husband, Chris, and their children, Jacob and Grace. Murray and Sandy’s son, Chris, and his family were unable to come.

Papa Bob and Granma Doris were also unable to come. Here is a picture of Matt and his Dad, Tom, and his Uncle Todd.

Here is Matt’s cousin, Aaron, his wife, Stacy, and their children, (L-R) Jaydan, Tyler, and Aeryn.

Also in attendance were Michelle and Matt’s “sister”, Ashley, and her little girl, Hailey. Ashley and Hailey lived with them when she was just a baby.

Hailey likes wearing Matt’s mortarboard.

A good time was had by all.

Michelle’s Graduation

2011-05-23T13:58:00.001-05:00

Our Granddaughter, Elizabeth Michelle Reay graduated from The University of Texas at Austin on May 20, 2011. This is the cute graduation invitation she sent out.

Commencement for the College of Education was held at Gregory Gymnasium on the UT campus. Inside Gregory Gym looks just like it did the last time I was there the first time I registered for classes in the Fall of 1956 and for my for my last time to register in the Fall of 1971. I was a very slow learner.

The Commencement speaker was Mack Brown who is the Head Football Coach at UT. He gave a very inspiring talk and gave incite to some of the things he experienced as a new graduate looking for a job.

We didn’t get a picture of Michelle crossing the stage but her father did. She graduated with High Honors and we are very proud of her.

Her father presented her with an absolutely beautiful cake that was decorated perfect for the occasion. And it tasted good too.

Here she is cutting the cake. I can’t wait to see her cut her wedding cake in a year and a half.

We made her put her cap and gown back on to get pictures with family. Here she is with her Grandma Doris and Papa Bob.

Here she is with her Grammie and Papa Wayne/

And here she is with her mother, Nola, her father, Tom, and her brother, Matt.

Here she is with her fiancée, Michael.

And this is her cousin, Cassandra, who is Catherine’s daughter. Catherine is the one who went to LV with us last month.

Dee’s sister, Elaine, presented Michelle with a hat and scarf that her great grandmother had crocheted especially for her.

I goofed and didn’t get a picture of Elaine, Catherine, and Cassandra with Michelle.

Here is a picture of Michelle with the rifle that her Papa Wayne loaned her. It was Wayne’s dad’s rifle so it will have to be passed down on loan to family or revert back to the Stamper family.

We have less than two weeks until we go to Waller for Matt’s graduation. This is a busy time for us.

Seaport Village and Bette’s Birthday Dinner

2011-05-17T23:39:00.000-05:00

Sunday afternoon we decided to blow off the zoo and go to Seaport Village instead. This is an area right on the waterfront of shops and restaurants. This is one of the restaurants that sits out over the water.

From here you can see the bridge to Catalina Island.

And you can see Catalina Island as well.

This place is laid out nicely with fountains, gardens, and even waterways with lots of places to sit and rest.

There was a family of Mallard ducks in one of the waterways.

Someone had balanced these rocks and was requesting donations for taking pictures of them.

We still had time to go back to the hotel and rest before dinner. We went to an upscale Italian restaurant in Little Italy to celebrate Bette’s birthday. The ladies front to back are me, Bette and Syrena and the men are Wayne, Jim and Gene.

Then it was back to the room to pack. We have a 10:20 flight to Houston on Monday. We will pick up Trouble at Nola’s and then drive back to Aransas Pass.

Old Town San Diego

2011-05-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

We arrived back in San Diego and drove to Old Town which is now a State Historic Park.

The area is not too big for us to walk around in. There are many historic buildings and lots of vendors. There was also several areas with music. Mostly of the American Indian woodwinds. It was beautiful.

This is the first building that you see—the old Tinsmith’s shop.

Here are Wayne and Jim waiting for the women to get back from shopping. You can see one of the stages in the back left corner with some of the instruments set out in one of the patios.

This old Catholic church sits right across the street from Old Town.

I think this is the Harwin House. It is also outside of the State Park area but is old and you can tour it.

Another old building houses O’Hungry’s where we ate a late lunch.

Can you believe we did the seals, surfers, and Old Town all before lunch and there is more to come.

La Jolla, CA – Surfers

2011-05-17T23:00:00.000-05:00

We drove around until we finally found a street that went down to the water. We parked in a parking lot next to one of the many colleges here and went to see what everyone was looking out. This time it was human seal or rather surfers. There were probably a hundred or so in the water and on the beach.

They looked like a lot of dark dots in the water. We were up high.

This is looking way off to the left at more surfers.

If it hadn’t been so hazy we would have gotten better pictures.

Wayne did get some good shots with his telescopic lens and then with my cropping here are some of the better ones. This guy was standing on his board and using a paddle.

We had lots more planned for today so we headed back to San Diego and Old Town. Again, too many pictures so that will be the next blog.

La Jolla, CA – Seals

2011-05-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning we met for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Then Jim and Gene went to pick up the rental car and the six of us drove to La Jolla. We drove out to La Jolla Point and got out and started walking down the sidewalk. There were beautiful bluish flowers and a rocky shoreline with a seawall extending out.

There was some sort of vine with bluish flowers growing out of the cleft in the rocks.

As we got closer we could see ground squirrels playing in the rocks. They were really cute and posed nicely for us.

Looking up away from the seawall this was the view.

It was only then that i noticed what everyone was looking at. Seals!! These were on a rock just to the left of this picture on a rock.

Looking back towards the seawall there were lots and lots of seals.

There were all shapes and sizes of seals. Some were on the beach, some in the water, and others on rocks.

This one seems to be balancing on the rock.

There were even some baby seals.

We loaded up and drove around sightseeing. That is where we found the surfers. Too many pictures so they get a blog of their own.

Balboa Park

2011-05-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

It was a gray day but we decided to brave it to go to Balboa Park. It is a beautiful area with many old buildings, flower gardens, museums, etc. Here is one of the walkways.

Here are Bette, Jim, me, Gene, and Syrena walking up to the Botanical Gardens building.

There are water gardens leading up to the building.

There were lots of water plants and carp.

It almost looks like the rain forest inside with many varieties of flowers.

I have never seen this flower before but it was beautiful.

Here is the ornate entrance to one of the many museums.

There are many Buskers working the avenues. The man above the crowd was on a unicycle. We stopped to watch for a while.

There was a group from a bird rescue group working the crowd as well. They had several large birds with them.

The young man on the left is showing Bette, Jim, me, and Gene one of the smaller birds.

This bell tower and dome can be seen from many parts of the city.

As we were waiting to leave the organ in the building at the end of this street started playing the wedding march and we got to observe a wedding taking place in this unique setting.

Our van picked us up and took us back to the hotel. After dinner at the hotel Gene, Syrena, and I went shopping for some warmer clothes to wear tomorrow. It was 62 degrees all day today and breezy.

Disembarkation in San Diego

2011-05-14T13:08:00.000-05:00

Saturday we docked early in San Diego and this is the view from the ship.

We went through immigration and customs on the ship at 7:30am then we had to wait around until 10:30 before we could disembark. We took a taxi to the Gas Lamp district to the Westin Hotel. This is the area in front of the entrance.

Everyone was hungry so we walked around the Gas Lamp district and found some Mexican food to eat. Here are some shots of the old art deco buildings in the area as well as a mosaic at the Lyceum.

After lunch we took a van to Balboa Park. I will address that in the next blog.

Cabo San Lucas

2011-05-13T15:55:00.000-05:00

We didn’t book any tours for Cabo San Lucas since Bette and Jim had been there many times before. Cabo San Lucas is at the tip of the Baja California peninsula with the Sea of Cortez on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. It is a beautiful setting.

This area is known for it’s fishing and there were lots of fishing boats to be seen.

No mater which way we looked there was beautiful scenery.

There are lots of condos and hotels. We are thinking about a trip back here in February when the whales are here and the fishing is great.

Here is one thing that we won’t be doing.

After breakfast Bette, Jim, Wayne, and I went ashore by tender. Gene and Syrena stayed on board.

We had to walk quite a ways to get to the downtown shopping area. This lighthouse is where you turn to get to the downtown area.

We walked all over looking at different shops and looking for a restaurant that Jim and Bette had eaten at before. We never found the restaurant so we stopped at a restaurant with an outside eating area. After two large margaritas apiece we each had a bowl of tortilla soup. We were really in a shopping mood after that and Bette and I both bought silver bracelets from the street vendors before hitting the shops for clothes and more jewelry. On the way back to the ship we took this picture.

We boarded the tender and headed back to the ship. There was a Frigate bird flying over.

This sea lion was looking for handouts.

We got a close up look at Lover’s Beach. There is a cave here that reportedly it two people go in –three come out.

This was our third and last formal night. There was lobster on the menu and the waiters did a Baked Alaska parade.

The Baked Alaska was very pretty.

The evening entertainment was another big production show called “Dance Around The World.” The cast did dances from many different countries. It was another good show.

Brunch at Sea

2011-05-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

Today is another sea day. The ship is having it’s second brunch and Wayne went down early to take pictures. This picture was taken from the 6th floor level. You can see most of the food stations that are set up.

Coming down the stairs to the 5th floor. The lighted areas are ice sculptures.

You can see them better from this picture.

Here is a close up of an ice bottle holder.

At the very back were these three ice swans.

In addition to ice sculptures there were some beautiful fruit sculptures as well.

The food was very good.

The evening entertainment was “KImika” in Concert. They won a major TV show but I don’t have a clue which one. Nick plays a mean guitar and Tina belts out the songs. They were very good.

Acapulco, Mexico

2011-05-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

Wayne had to get up really early as he was going deep sea fishing. I slept until after 8:00 which was very nice. After breakfast I took some pictures of the harbor. There was a boat full of soldiers going out of the harbor.

This is the fridge that they have built from the dock to the fort.

This is Fort San Diego.

After Bette’s massage she and Syrena and I all went off the ship to the shopping area. I didn’t find anything that I wanted. We came back and ate lunch then Syrena and I sat out by the pool and waited for the Mariachi Band to arrive.

There were probably eight musicians and four dancing girls. The girls walked around the ship and posed for pictures.

When I went back to the room I could tell that Wayne had been there so I went to find him. He gave me the card from his camera to download. He got this great picture of the sun coming up over the town.

This is the boat that Wayne and another couple went fishing on.

Wayne got some nice pictures of the homes and other structures as they left the harbor.

He also got this picture of a sea turtle.

Here is Wayne with one of the small fish that they were catching for bait. They called them Skipjacks but they don’t look like the Skipjacks in the Texas Gulf.

Here is a sail fish fighting for his freedom.

And here is the mighty fisherman with his sailfish.

Tonight after dinner the show is Don Bryan with Noseworthy. He is a ventriloquist.

May 9th at Sea

2011-05-10T16:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday for Mother’s Day we mothers received a long stem red rose.

Today we ate breakfast and then went to a lecture on The Acapulco-Manila Galleons. It was very interesting as always.

That afternoon was another Blackjack Tournament. Both Wayne and I got to the final table. He won first place and got a shirt, cash, and a trophy.

After supper we say the Tideflats a cappella group sing and Nick Lewin the comedic magician that we had missed the other night.

Another fun day at sea.

Lake Atitlan from a Different Perspective

2011-05-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

After arriving at Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, Wayne, Jim and Gene took a tour to Lake Atitlan. It is a lake that many have called “the most beautiful lake in the world.” The lake was formed in a volcanic crater and it is surrounded by three Magnificent volcanoes: Atitlan, San Pedro and Toliman. Here is a view from the lake.

Here is a lighthouse on one of the points on the lake.

Here is another view of one of the volcanoes from the lake.

Here are some of the homes on the lake.

This is the town of Panajachel.

They had a beautiful church.

Here is another volcano from the lake.

Here is the area where we boarded the boat.

Here is another view of the volcano.

Here is an example of hillside farming.

In this close up you can see the plowed rows.

On their way back there was no air-conditioning on the bus which made for a less than nice ride.

After dinner we all went to see Mark Nizer who is a comedic juggler. He could really juggle. Then off to bed for two tired travelers.

Auto Safari Open Air Zoo

2011-05-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Guatemala.

Bettye, Syrena and I went on the Auto Safari while the men went elsewhere. We had understood that we would ride in an open air trolley through the zoo. However, we stayed in our big air-conditioned bus with dirty windows. This did not make for the best picture taking.

Here are three hippos in a pond.

There were Iguanas everywhere. We sometimes had to wait for them to cross the road.

The spider monkeys put on a show for us.

Here are some deer.

Here are some Macaws.

They had a pair of lions. They had just had a baby and I had my picture taken with it. I will post it on my facebook as soon as I get home and can scan it.

Another Macaw and another spider monkey.

They had two type of antelope in this field.

These are scarlet Macaws. We were walking at this point.

This is another type of monkey.

Two ostriches.

A bunch of foxes.

A raccoon.

A Rhesus Monkey.

I don’t remember what kind of monkey this is.

This little fellow was very curious and came up to see what we were doing.

Two Cheetahs. They are native to this area.

I don’t know what kind of cat this is.

Here we have a tiger.

This is a tree trunk that is hollow and that you can walk through.

Here is a white McCaw.

After shopping in the open air market we walked back to the ship.

May 7th – Second Formal Night

2011-05-08T16:58:00.000-05:00

Another day as sea and another day not winning the blackjack tournament.

Saturday night was our second formal night at dinner. Here are the three couples all dressed up.

Here is our table with our waiter, Constantine, and assistant waiter, Moe.

They are a happy duo and put up with a lot of stuff from us.

The show was “Liverpool Knights” based on the music of the 1960’s that came to us via England. After the show I went up on deck 11 where Captain Larry was talking about the stars that we could see.

Costa Rica – Rain Forest Experience

2011-05-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

After our morning cruise on the river, we drove to the Rain Forest Adventures. We took the tram through the rain forest.

Here is our guide explaining to Gene and the rest of our group of eight what we would see. The tram is in the background.

Once we got on the gondola it was a long way down.

This is a gondola next to us going down the mountain.

The gondolas pass pretty close to each other.

These roots growing down to the ground from the vines high above them are a typical scene.

Here is a small waterfall flowing into the stream below. Our guide told us that during the rainy season there is a lot more water here and in the stream.

The forest below us was very dense and had a large variety of trees in it.

This is a termite nest. In the forest they are a good thing as they eat the dead wood.

This house high on a hill in the rain forest lost most of it’s yard during the rainy season in a previous year.

This vine had interesting pods on it.

We did get to see a white-faced monkey moving the trees as it swung through them. Unfortunately it was too far away to get a picture. We did get to see a few birds. This is a Trogan

Of course you recognize the Toucan.

Back at the visitor’s center there were some beautiful flowers.

They fed us a good lunch and just as we finished the rain began. It rained for a least 30 minutes so we didn’t go on the walk-around that was planned. Jim and Gene did get a private tour and saw bats and humming birds.

This is a Couch’s Kingbird that was right above the roof of the place where we ate..

Before you think I must really know a lot about birds—I have to admit that Bette and Jim are the real experts and they provided the names of most of the birds for us.

Another wonderful dinner and then it was off to be as we were exhausted. Another sea day tomorrow to rest up.

Costa Rica River Boat Cruise

2011-05-07T14:44:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica at 7:00am and had to meet our tour bus at 7:15. This means that I had to be up by 5:45 in order to take my pills and eat an hour later and still make the bus.

We drove to a spot on the Tarcoles River and took an hour boat ride seeing the wild life. There is no way I will be able to upload all of the pictures that we took so I will select only a few and then upload the rest to my Picasa album when we get free internet.

Before we got on the boat we were able to observe these leaf cutting ants. Look closely at the green dots moving down the tree.

This is our guide, Roy. He teaches English and Biology to 7th and 8th graders at the high school three days a week. He works a a guide the other days of the week. His English was wonderful and he was very knowledgeable.

One of the first wild things we saw was this bright green lizard.

Another interesting lizard was this Jesus Christ Lizard. When we finally got him to move he literally walked on water to get to a tree.

We saw lots of beautiful birds. Some of which are below:

This is a Northern Jicana.

This Tiger Heron had caught a flat fish for it’s breakfast.

This beautiful Mot Mot also had it’s breakfast ready to eat.

This is an Aningua (sp?)

This is a Wood Stork.

This is a Kingfisher.

We finally saw some Scarlet Macaws. They are protected in this area.

We spooked them so they flew away.

Another creature we saw were these crabs in the mud along the bank. There was also a black one with very white claws but it refused to pose for a picture.

Of course, what we saw the most of were the crocodiles. They were everywhere. This big fellow came towards us before disappearing into the water.

After our river boat cruise we boarded the bus to go to see the rain forest.

May 5th – At Sea

2011-05-07T14:41:00.001-05:00

We are really enjoying the fact that we are alternating tour days with at sea days. One of the fun things that we do on sea days is the Blackjack Tournament. Wayne came in second on the second tournament and was in the finals this day. I made it to the finals the first day and have contributed every time thereafter. As we sit at the blackjack table I can look across at this slot machine and not miss Trouble so much.

Of course he is much cuter than this dog with his puppy cut.

I also took a picture of the grand foyer which is very pretty.

Dinner was wonderful as usual and the show afterwards was Claire Maidin. She is Simon Cowell’s mentor for some of his TV shows. She is a classically trained pianist who also sings. It was a great show.

Panama Canal

2011-05-05T11:19:00.000-05:00

We set our alarm for 6:30am this morning and Wayne went up on deck to start taking pictures. This is an idea of all of the ships waiting to go through the Canal. If you don’t have an appointment like we do you have to put your name on a list and wait.

I think the whole ship (passengers and crew) were on one of the decks trying to take pictures. As usually there were some nice ones and some very rude ones.

As you enter the locks you could see the “mules” lined up. They attach a line to the ship on either side to keep you from hitting the sides.

At the Gatun Locks, they close the bridge that goes across on the low side and start letting the water out and opening the gates.

The gates are huge.

Here they have closed behind us.

There are a series of three locks on the Atlantic/Caribbean side. When you get close to Gatun Lake there is a lighthouse warning of the locks.

There is a huge construction project going on. It will deepen Gatun Lake and build new locks on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides. Here is a huge dredge with the lines running for a long way back to the edge of the lake.

This wooden bridge dates back to the early 1900’s when the Canal was built. There is a railroad bridge and a one-way auto bridge next to it.

Here is a different type of dredge.

This barge drills holes for explosives to break up the rock so that it can be dredged.

This is an example of some of the terracing that is going on as well as some of the stuff this dredge has brought up.

This is looking back through the Canal at some of the boats and ships following us.

This is a bridge close to Panama City that goes over the Canal between Panama and Costa Rica.

There are several places near the end of Gatun Lake where ships can tie up and wait to go through the locks in the other direction.

Next were the Pedro Miguel Locks that took us into Miraflores Lake. Here we were able to see the work that they were doing on the new locks.

We had to wait in Miraflores Lake for this floating crane to come through the locks before we could go in. You can see one of the big container ships in the background.

We spent a good portion of the day sitting at these tables in front of the window when we weren’t outside taking pictures.

When we went through the Miraflores Locks Jim and Gene went out to take a picture of the Princess ship that was in the other lock.

Here are the Miraflores Locks.

The gates are closed behind us.

This gives you an idea of how tight a fit the ships are.

Here is the lighthouse on the Pacific side of the locks.

We barely had time to shower and dress for dinner. After dinner Jim McDonald, a comedian, and Jack Wallace our singer from the previous night split the show time. It had been a long day so we went to the room right after the show. Tomorrow is a sea day so I will post this in the morning.

Colon, Panama

2011-05-04T09:43:00.000-05:00

We spent Tuesday, May 3 in Colon, Panama. Here is the view coming into the city.

After breakfast we went over to the area near the cruise ship. It was a colorful area with shops. We were warned not to go outside the wall as it was dangerous there. There was a lot of police presence obvious within this area.

Here is our ship looking back from the shopping area.

There was a beautiful mosaic welcoming us to Panama.

Syrena and Bette are looking in the shop while, me, Gene, and Jim are listening to a spiel from one of the many people trying to get us to take a tour.

We looked in all of the shops and bought a few things.

It was very hot outside so we took an early cervaza break before heading back to the ship for lunch.

We went back to the ship for lunch and then we took a nap before dinner. After dinner we went to the show and saw “Journey” by Duo Velikovi. They are an acrobatic adage couple that are very good. After the show it was to bed as tomorrow we go through the Panama Canal very early in the morning.

Monday in Cartagena, Columbia

2011-05-03T12:20:00.000-05:00

Here is the view coming into Cartagena

We had breakfast in the Island’s Cafe before meeting our tour bus at 8:30am.

One of the highlights of Cartagena is Fort San Felipe. Here it is from the street side.

Our tour did not allow time to climb up to the Fort itself. There were lots of women on the street in native costume with bowls of fruit on their heads trying to get you to pay to get your picture taken with them. I got a picture of Jim and Bette telling her no.

Part of our tour was for shopping. Here are the shops in the old dungeon. Each cell has been converted into a shop.

These three young men “statues” each got a dollar from me to take their picture.

Our next stop was the Academy of History in The Old City. This is a model of what it looks like. It was used during the Spanish Inquisition for torturing non-Christians.

Some of their techniques looked awful.

Here is Gene checking out some of the cannons.

Here is the clock tower plaza.

At our next shopping stop we found one of the men with a sloth. We paid him to take a picture of me with the sloth. It was very docile.

Going back to the ship we got a picture of the fort from the water side.

We also got a picture of La Popa Monastery which was a long way away and high on a hill.

We came back to the room to nap and shower before dinner.

The show last night was singer, Jack Walker, who had an amazing voice.

Embarkation Day

2011-05-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

Friday, April 29th we awoke at the hotel. We looked out the window and could see our cruise ship. We were the middle ship.

We had breakfast at the hotel with Bette, Jim, Syrena, and Gene who had flown in the night before. We all got taxis and headed over to the ship in the early afternoon. Wayne took a picture of the Miami skyline from the back of the ship.

This was our hotel.

After the luggage came I unpacked things and put them away. Then it was time for our lifeboat drill. Ours was in the casino and the crewmember who did our demonstration was one of the members of the Tideflats: A Cappella group. He was very funny and the group which we heard later was very good.

We finished unpacking and then we went to dinner at 6:00. We are at a table with Bette, Jim, Syrena, and Gene. Our waiter is Constantine and our busboy is Moe. They are both lots of fun. We went to the show after dinner and then off to bed.

Aventura, Florida

2011-05-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, May 27, 2011 we flew into Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Karla and Rich, RVing friends from Alaska and the Canadian Maritimes, picked us up.

Since I over packed our big suitcase, we had to throw away an old pair of Wayne’s tennis shoes and needed to buy new ones. Rich and Karla drove us to this huge mall where we found Wayne an new pair. The park-like area across from valet parking had these cute alligators.

That’s Rich waiting for our car. I will upload more pictures to my Picasa Web Album after we get back home. Internet time is too dear on the ship.

Rich and Karla live in a high rise condo in Adventura. They have a beautiful view of the bay and intercostals canal.

We spent the night with Karla and Rich and the next day Karla and I hit the outlet stores near her—Filene’s Basement, Nordstrom’s outlet, and Ross Dress for Less. We had lots of fun. The guys hung out at the condo and visited and watched TV.

That evening we drove to the South Beach area for dinner. We at at Texas de Brazil which was wonderful. Good food and great company.

Rich drove us around the South Beach avenue before taking us to our hotel. The buildings are all lit up and there are lots of outside cafes and lots of people mingling.

At the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton we had a corner room on the 9th floor with windows on two sides. They view was beautiful.

At Sea and first formal night

2011-05-01T07:39:00.000-05:00

We spent Saturday, 4-30-11, at sea. We went to listen to Captain Larry Rudner talk about some of what we would be seeing in Cartagena, Columbia and in Colon, Panama. He has been through the Panama Canal over 60 times so he is quite knowledgeable. Later we went to a drawing for some free internet time and guess what—Wayne won. The girls then went to the Spa for a drawing and none of us one.

After lunch, I went to participate in a Blackjack tournament. I was at the first table and made it on the board but by the third table I was off. Gene also played and he ended up in second place. We told Jim that it was his turn to win something next.

That evening was out first of three formal nights. We all took pictures with Constantine, our waiter. Her are Syrena and Gene.

Betty and Jim with the dining room in the background.

And Wayne and I looking toward the back of the ship.

After dinner was the Captains Gala where he introduced his senior staff.

The show that followed was Broadway music with singing and dancing, etc. Then Wayne went to the blackjack table and I went to the room to get out of my high heels. Not used to that.

Lamar HS Class of ‘56 – 55th Reunion

2011-04-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

Wayne and I left Trouble at the daughter’s and drove into Houston for my high school’s 55th reunion. We had so much fun at the 50th that we decided not to wait until the 60th.

I worked at the registration table from 3:00 to 6:00. The people with the blue ribbons are from our class and the ones with the red ribbons are spouses and guests.

We had the Rose Garden Room for our Hospitality Room and it worked out well for visiting.

The dress for dinner was western. Myrna Lois and I were in Girl Scouts together and her mother was our leader.

The ball room was full. Unfortunately I don’t remember everyone’s name. Our class had 650 people in it.

As you can see we had a good time.

Saturday there was more visiting and then another dinner. This picture was taken of us by a friend, Nancy Hunt Hudgins.

Sunday morning we wished everyone farewell until 2016.

Matt’s new car

2011-04-07T18:24:00.000-05:00

Wayne and I have a new tow vehicle. We purchased a Lincoln MKX and it is very nice.

As happy as we are with our new car we have an even happier grandson, Matt, who inherited our old jeep. Here he is putting his license plates on the car.

To Perry, GA and back – Trouble makes new friends

2011-03-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

We left Aransas Pass, TX on March 7th and drove to Richmond, TX so that I could attend a committee meeting for the Lamar ‘56 reunion committee on the 8th.

On the 9th we drove to Bay St. Louis, MS and spent two nights at the Hollywood Casino Campground. They have a nice campground and the buffet in the casino isn’t too bad.

While we were there we drove over to Biloxi. There are lots of shrimp boats along the way.

The beaches were deserted but they still have beautiful white powdered sand.

The effects of Hurricane Rita and Katrina are still evident all along the beach drive.

I’m not sure what this complex once was but it is too damaged now to be used.

There are lots of empty slabs.

And then suddenly you will see old homes still standing with no apparent damage.

This old bank is even in use and being added on to.

This is the town of Gulfport, MS.

These are the markers going back into Bay St. Louis.

Trouble really enjoyed the rally. He made acquaintance with two longhaired Chihuahuas. And we made friends with Aida and Steven.

After the rally ended we drove to Lakeshore RV Resort in Livingston, LA. There is a beautiful lake and the RV sites are all around it.

Our rig is the one with the jeep beside it.

There are two resident swans. One is white and this one which is black.

Trouble thought he wanted to make friends and the swan came over but I was afraid that the swan would get the best of Trouble.

We made it safely back to Waller, TX where Trouble and I stayed with our daughter, Nola, for a few days and Wayne took the coach back to Aransas Pass.

Good Bye to Old Friends and Welcome to New Ones

2011-02-18T13:02:00.000-06:00

On February 9th we went to a UT Exes Game Watch Party for a basketball game. It was also one of the last parties that Bill and Mary would be able to attend as they are moving to the Orlando, FL area. They are a fun couple and we have enjoyed doing things with them over the past several years. We ill miss them. Another reason to make a trip to Florida in the future.

On Monday we toured North Padre Island and Mustang Island with Ron and Pat. We met them in Red Bay, AL at the Tiffen Repair Facility and convinced them that they needed to visit Texas.

They couldn’t get over the fact that you can drive on the beaches here in Texas. After lunch we went out to the jetties at Port Aransas and were lucky enough to see a tanker coming through the pass. I had never see that before.

Crossing over from Port Aransas to Aransas Pass we saw lots of pelicans skimming the water.

Or just floating around. There were both grey and white pelicans to be seen.

Of course we saw our share of cormorants and sea gulls.

The sun was starting to set as we arrived at Aransas Pass after taking Ron and Pat back over to the Navel Air Station. It was a full and fun Valentine’s Day.

Las Vegas – Just the two of us.

2011-02-05T13:07:00.002-06:00

Sunday we met the girls before they had to leave to fly home. Later we walked from the Excalibur through the Luxor to the Mandalay Bay all without going outside. We had champagne brunch at the Mandalay Bay and waddled home.

Monday morning we felt energetic and started walking down the Strip on the side that our hotel was on. We walked all the way to the Palazzo which we were told later was two miles. We stopped several times along the way and had lunch at Imperial Palace which was about half way. While at the Palazzo Wayne checked on tickets to “Jersey Boys” and got us two great seats for that night Needless to say we caught a cab back to our hotel.

After resting up we dressed and took a cab to the Palazzo. We were early so we went into the bar next to the theatre and sat and had a drink before the show. The drinks were very pricy but we were probably paying for the piano playing duo that entertained us while we slowly drank our drinks.

The chandeliers in the bar were particularly pretty and interesting.

On the way back from the show which was wonderful I took some pictures of Las Vegas at night.

We even got to see the fountains at the Bellagio.

Here is our hotel at night.

Here is New York New York across the street.

We flew home the following day after a wonderful time in Las Vegas.

These are late as both Wayne and I had been feeling poorly. Much better now.

Las Vegas Freemont Street

2011-02-05T13:01:00.003-06:00

On Friday we all went our separate ways until that afternoon. A friend of ours, George and his daughter came over to our hotel for a visit prior to their going to the Luxor to see a show. It was good to see him again and to meet his daughter.

Later that evening we took a taxi down to the Freemont Street Experience. Here are Nola and Catherine taking pictures.

There were lots of people milling around in the area with casinos on both sides of the street.

There was a street entertainer playing jazz saxophone and the girls really got into it.

There were two separate shows that we saw: "A Tribute to Queen" and “Doors Strange Days".” They project moving pictures and designs on the canopy above the street.

People were really grooving to the music on the speakers.

We went into the Golden Nugget to see the largest gold nugget ever found.

Below it was the Robin’s Nugget that was previously the largest nugget. I remember seeing this one years ago when I was in Las Vegas.

Saturday Wayne and I took the Monorail from the MGM to the Sahara and played blackjack for $1. We met the girls for dinner that night.

Las Vegas for Wayne’s Birthday

2011-02-05T12:33:00.002-06:00

Wayne and I flew to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 19th. We flew out with out daughter, Nola, and her step-sister, Catherine. We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel below.

It was late when we got there and so we didn’t do anything that night. But the next day we walked across the street to the MGM to see the lion habitat. There is a walkway under the habitat where the lions often lay.

They look really dead from below.

After awhile they got up and started moving around.

One of the wildest things is that there were trainers in the habitat with the lions at all times.

Here is one of the lions with a big bone.

They also had a lion cub that you could have your picture taken with for a price.

Walking back to the hotel we could see the cute gnome house on the moat.

No gnomes but there were two Mallard ducks on the pier.

The 20th was Wayne’s birthday so he got dressed up. Here he is waiting for the girls to get ready for dinner.

We went to the Bellagio early enough to see the sights in the conservatory before dinner. The current theme is Chinese.

These warrior replicas were covered in seeds.

It was a spectacular display of flowers and statuary.

Here we are at dinner. Wayne, Nola, Catherine, and me. The waiter didn’t do the greatest job taking the picture.

I had made it known that it was Wayne’s birthday so they brought him out some cake and ice cream which we three women devoured.

After dinner it was back through the conservatory with more pictures of the displays.

The fuzzy bunnies were really cute.

We were at the Bellagio to see the Cirque du Soleil show “O”. I took a picture of the opening act and then the usher yelled at me that I couldn’t take pictures. They want you to buy their program, etc.

Took a cab back to the hotel.

Craft Show

2011-01-15T13:31:00.002-06:00

Friday, January 7th I got to go to the Beach House Spa for a salt scrub, sauna, facial, and massage. It was absolutely decadent. I only wish I could do it more than once in my lifetime.

Saturday, January 8th I awoke to a huge birthday bag in my chair. it contained the iPad that we had discussed getting later on in the year. I thought the spa package was my birthday present so I was suitable impressed. I couldn’t play with it as I had to be at the recreation room at 8:00 to get ready for the craft show. Here is my table.

The jewelry in the tackle box is all made with fishing swivels. We had a good crowd for the show and I even sold some jewelry. I mostly do this because I enjoy it—not to make money.

Rose Bowl Parade

2011-01-02T13:02:00.000-06:00

We always watch the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day but this year we had a special reason to do it. Our granddaughter, Michelle, got engaged to Mike Cheripka who is the Assistant Band Director at Birdville ISD in Ft. Worth, TX. The three high schools in Birdville ISD were in the Rose Bowl parade and I took a few pictures.

They did really well.

New Years Eve 2010

2011-01-01T08:33:00.000-06:00

I’m starting off the new year with a bang. Can you believe it—blogs two days in a row. Last night the park had a New Years Eve dinner and dance. We had salad, prime rib, baked potatoes, and anniversary cake for one of the couples in the park. The club room was decorated with lots of mini lights.

The television was showing a slide show of the pictures that were taken at the Christmas Eve party.

We even had one of those mirror balls.

The park also provide party hats, horns, etc.

I even got Wayne to put on a hat but only for the picture.

After dinner there was a DJ who got the people up and dancing to the oldies and country western music.

We left early as the music got too loud for us. But we stayed up to see the ball drop in Times Square before going to bed.

Happy New Year to all.

Catching up on 2010

2010-12-31T16:31:00.002-06:00

Boy have I fallen down on the job. We finally left Red Bay, Alabama on December 3rd. We had to spend Thanksgiving there rather than in Houston with Wayne’s family. Thankfully the Methodist Church was serving dinner so we went there for lunch. It was very nice.

As we drove back through Tupelo, Mississippi, I caught a glimpse of the sign pointing to Elvis’ birthplace. Wayne wouldn’t turn to go see it. It’s probably for the best as we are about 50’ long when we are all hooked up.

We drove to Bossier City, Louisiana and spent the night in the campground at Diamond Jack Casino. They had a good seafood buffet and we played blackjack for about 45 minutes until Wayne nearly fell asleep on the table.

The next day we drove to Spring Branch, Texas and stayed in a campground that must have had the most sticker burrs in the State of Texas. We couldn’t even walk Trouble.

We picked up the BMW and that evening we went out to dinner with our friends that were keeping it for us. Sunday we went over to their house and visited and had brisket for dinner.

Monday we drove into Austin and took care of the insurance on the cars then back to Spring Branch to get the motorhome and on to Aransas Pass. Wayne drove the motorhome and I drove the Beemer. It drives nice but different from my Jeep.

We spent Christmas at our daughter, Nola’s, house in Waller. Christmas eve Ashley and Hailey came over to exchange presents. They lived with Nola when Hailey was just a baby. Ashley and Michelle have been friends since they were about 5 years old. Trouble got in on the picture as well.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with Nola, Michelle, Mike, Matt, Papa Wayne and I, Todd, and Cindy, one of Michelle’s best friends. After dinner we opened presents and our stockings as Bob and Doris had to leave early Christmas Day to go back to be with their other grandchildren and Todd was leaving that night to see friends. Cindy stayed for the opening of presents.

Wayne bought a Santa hat and played jolly old St. Nickolas .

His hat moved and made noise. Trouble didn’t know what to think of it.

And he truly was a jolly old St. Nick.

Nola got a beautiful sweater from Uncle Todd.

Todd got his favorite Godiva chocolate from Matt.

Mike seemed to enjoy our gift of a Bass World gift card.

Michelle seemed pleased with the books we got her to help her as a first year teacher next year.

Wayne and I got some Moose Munch from Todd.

Wayne is finding lots of goodies in his stocking.

Matt got his own printer to take to UT next year along with everything to do his own laundry.

Christmas morning Michelle and Matt, along with Michelle’s fiancée, Mike, left to spend some time with their father. Did you notice that new word “fiancée”? Yes our Michelle is engaged to marry Mike Cheripka. He is the Assistant Band Director for Birdville ISD. If you watch the Rose Bowl Parade tomorrow look for him. They are really excited to be chosen to play in the parade.

Wayne and I and Nola headed over to Wayne’s brother, Kim’s, house. He and his wife, Irma, always host Christmas day dinner and as always they outdid themselves.

Since I left my camera in Aransas Pass, I had to depend on others for pictures. Nola did take this picture of Wayne's brother, Darrell’s wife, Tammie, holding one of his brother, Leslie’s, new grandbaby.

This morning There was a little black puppy walking by and Trouble begged to go out. Wayne put Trouble in the pen with it and they played and played. I’m sure they will become play buddies.

We are going to a New Year’s Eve dinner and dance tonight and I will take my camera. I’ll try to post more than once a month in the future.

Breakfast with Wayne’s Brother

2010-11-24T13:24:00.000-06:00

On Monday we met one of Wayne’s brothers in Tupelo for breakfast. Claude Leslie is the next oldest to Wayne and he drives an armored 18-wheeler. He and his co driver, Mary Ann, often carry valuables across country for museums, banks, etc. One of them drives while the other one sleeps so they are constantly on the move.

Here are Wayne and Leslie.

It was good to get to see him and to meet Mary Ann. We had a good visit.

Rattlesnake Saloon

2010-11-22T14:00:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, Rich, Karla, Wayne and I drove out to the Rattlesnake Saloon for lunch. It was about a 45 minute drive.

Shortly after we drove up in the parking lot we were met by the Red Neck Limo.

We drove towards the Seven Springs Lodge.

Then we turned and went down a steep hill towards the Rattlesnake Saloon. Here is Karla holding on for dear life.

On the way down was this rocking chair under the overhang.

There is a pretty patio down below overlooking a creek.

The Saloon is complete with outhouses. There are also indoor facilities.

We couldn’t get the full impact of the facility as they had covered most of it with heavy duty plastic to keep it warmer. Here are some of the tables set under the overhang.

Here is one of two carved rattlesnakes at the entrance to the indoor saloon.

The ceiling fans indoors are all connected and run by a single motor. The ceiling looks to be pressed tin.

There are rattlesnake skins on all the ceiling braces and animal heads around the room. The picture of the turkey is the only one that turned out.

The food was simple but I had one of the best hamburgers I have had in a long time. We plan on coming back this way next spring so we will have to make a trip out when the plastic is not up.

Coupland School and “Tuff Guy” Trouble

2010-11-14T18:55:00.000-06:00

I downloaded my pictures today so I could post some pictures of Trouble our 5 lb ball of fur and found two pictures that I took last week on our way up here.

Coupland School is where I taught two days a week in 1971 – my first year of teaching. (I taught two other days at Jarrell, TX and spent one day a week at the service center planning.) If you drive east from Austin on Hwy 290 and turn north at Elgin you soon can see the two story building that was Coupland School. It was grades K-8 with two grades to a classroom K-6 and the principal taught 7 & 8. I just googled it and it appears that the school still has grades K-8 with up to 10 teachers.

It was really a pretty old building as you can see from this picture of the back of it.

Now to the real reason for the blog. Our friend, Emelie, from our travels the past two summers bought a “Tuff Guy” t-shirt for her dog that didn’t fit so she gave it to Trouble. It fit him perfect and maybe now everyone won’t say how cute “she” is.

Emelie also brought Prince and Bear over to play. Here is Prince checking out Trouble.

It must have been the shirt because Trouble soon had Prince on his back.

It will probably get cold enough here for him to wear his shirt several times.

Wayne’s new toy

2010-11-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

I told Wayne that I wanted a second car for when we winter in Aransas Pass. We talked about getting an antique car but then he decided that the parts would be too hard to get. Wayne decided that he wanted a sports car so we looked around and decided on a BMW.

Here is the proud owner and his new Beemer.

Although it doesn’t look like it—it is a hard-top convertible. Here are Adam, Wayne, Doris, and Bob watching the top get ready to fold up.

One it folds on top of itself, the trunk opens.

And the top stores itself inside the trunk.

Now we have a convertible to tool around in. It’s not as sporty as we first look at but we can get in and out of this one.

Bob and Doris are babysitting the car while we go to Red Bay, Al tomorrow for repairs and modifications.

Halloween Brunch

2010-10-31T16:47:00.000-05:00

Halloween morning we woke up and decided to call some friends from the campground that we stayed in last year. We met Warren and Jean for lunch at a wonderful restaurant in Georgetown named Wildfire.

We found out that they used to stay at the park we currently are staying in until one fall when it was full. Small world.

After lunch we went out to their campground and visited for a while. Their dog, Randy, and Trouble used to play together. Since we are gone they got Randy a pretty grey cat to play with.

To Lockhart for Bar B Q

2010-10-27T13:13:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday we drove to Lockhart to meet a friend for lunch.

Lockhart is the Bar B Q capitol of Texas. We chose to go to Blacks for lunch. Here is Wayne getting ready to go in.

Blacks is very old as the sign below says.

The walls are covered with horns, heads, and pictures.

Ron is our UT buddy from Corpus Christi. He was in town visiting his brother and his wife who also joined us for lunch.

Wayne and Ron discussed UT football long after his brother and his wife left.

Lockhart has one of the prettiest courthouses around. You can see the clock tower and some of the spires above the old buildings on Main Street.

This is the other side of Main Street.

We had a great time visiting with Ron, his brother, and his wife. Next time we will try a different Bar B Q restaurant.

UT vs. ISU

2010-10-23T18:44:00.001-05:00

We got up early—very early—and drove to the stadium. We have to be at the stadium three hours prior to game time to park close. We went to the Texas Exes Chapter Leader Room to visit with the staff and old friends. I decided an wanted to take a picture of my life membership posting so I went out into the lobby. I ran into a former neighbor of mine and we visited for a while until her husband arrived. Marsha and Jim lived next to us when the girls were young and our children practically lived at each others houses along with a few others on the block. We went to all the UT football games together and then partied afterwards. They have both recently retired from teaching. Here are Marsh and Jim.

I went upstairs and discovered that those members whose numbers are above 27,000 are not framed but are in the big leather books that are laid out.

This is the page that Wayne and I are listed on.

And here are our names.

Here is the UT band before the game.

On the left they are bringing out a huge Texas flag.

This is the megatron that we have to look down on from our lofty seats. The team is touching some longhorn horns that are mounted on the wall. It didn’t help them.

At half-time both the Longhorn band and the Alumni Band performed. The Alumni Band spelled out HOOK EM while the student band spelled out DELOSS for our athletic director.

It was good to see everyone who sit around us but it wasn’t a good game for us.

Waller, Texas

2010-10-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

Tuesday we drove to Waller, Texas where our daughter, Nola, and our grandson, Matt, live. Matt had a jazz band concert Tuesday night. He is first chair saxophone. The band was larger than I expected and they played wonderful big band music.

Matt is the third saxophone from the left.

He reluctantly agreed to have his picture taken with his grammie.

We spent the next day just relaxing and visiting with Nola. Here is Austin trying to get Wayne’s attention.

Here is Trouble cuddling with his “sister”, Nola. Her words—not mine.

As we were leaving Thursday morning we passed this cute display welcoming people to Chappell Hill, Texas. This is the place that always has the best bluebonnets in the spring.

Sunday, October 17 and Monday, October 18

2010-10-18T21:13:00.001-05:00

Sunday we went to church with the couple camped across from us. He was preaching. We enjoyed our time there and were made to feel very welcome.

Monday we drove to the Camping World in New Braunfels and then to the outlet malls in San Marcos. Here is Wayne waiting at the Cracker Barrel for Jim and Bette, friends from Corpus Christi.

They arrived shortly and we had lunch, visited, and shopped till we dropped.

We had such a good time visiting as we hadn’t seen them since April. When we got back to the campground we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.