HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Wednesday, December 31 – We celebrated a wonderful Christmas day with our family. Santa was very good to us all.

Another year has passed by so quickly. It has been an exciting 2014. Our highlight of the year was Kelly and Dave’s wedding. The first of December they purchased a new house and are all moved in. It sets on three lovely acres of woods.

2015 finds us hitting the road heading West.  We’ll do some sightseeing before meeting up with a group of friends at Quartzsite, AZ.  Then we’ll spend the remainder of the winter in the great Southwest.

May the new year bring our family and friends excellent health, safe travels and wonderful adventures.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WEAVERS

Wednesday, December 24

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

ANOTHER WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING

Friday, November 28 -  We spent Thanksgiving with our daughter, Carrie, and twenty of her friends. This is the 6th year for Carrie's Thanksgiving dinner. She always invites her friends that can't get home for the holiday. We've been able to attend five of the six dinners. We knew many of the "kids" that attended again this year, but there are always a group of new attendees.

This is year, Carrie reserved the activity center at her apartment complex for the party. Luckily, the center has a kitchen for preparing the dinner.

Think there are enough cooks in the kitchen?

As a bonus, the room has three TVs, a pool table, a shuffle board game, and even a swimming pool which no one used, of course. It did necessitate a bit of juggling to prepare all that food in the small kitchen, but she did a great job. She prepared two delicious turkeys, a sweet potato dish and cranberry sauce.

How many people does it take to put marshmallows on the sweet potato dish?

The guests also brought covered dishes, including pies and other desserts, potatoes, corn casserole, and an assortment of beverages.

First wave of friends.

Second wave of friends.

We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed time with many of Carrie's friends. As usual, the youngins were having a great time after dinner, so we found a good opportunity to head home. Thanks Carrie for a great time!

Since we arrived in Houston, time has flown by. Marsha flies back to Ohio on Thursday, December 4. She likes to spend a few weeks with her family, friends, shopping and decorating. Paul and Carrie fly back on Monday, December 22. We probably won’t be doing much blogging between now and Christmas but will still follow along on all our favorite blogs.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

November 27 – Thank you to all our friends who sent an email asking if we are Okay. We are doing great. We have been busy doing this and that but not anything really worth posting.

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving day at Carrie’s with 20 of her closest friends. We are definitely thankful that we can share the day with such wonderful young adults. They make us feel so much younger than we actually are.

Wishing all our dear family and friends a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

OUR FIRST VOLKSMARCHING CONTINUED

Saturday, November 8 – It was so nice to read so many comments about our first volksmarching. We thought we would give our readers just a bit more information about it. All information is taken directly from the AVA website.
What is Volkssporting? Volkssporting started in Germany and simply defined, is a personal fitness sports and recreation program offering noncompetitive walks, hikes, bike rides, swims, and in some regions cross-country skiing. You may choose your time to start within the start/finish “window” and participate in the sport at your own pace. Walking is also called “volksmarching” in Germany.

The trail around and through the Park is full of Old Oak trees. They are beautiful.

 

This is as wild as it got.

There are  44 pieces of municipal art in the Park. We will visit more of them on our next walk.


The Miller Outdoor Theatre is an open-air theatre where one can listen to a concert or watch a play while picnicking in the park. It is family friendly and always FREE! There is seating under the covered area, and yes, it is free too! We picked up a schedule and saw a range of events from Godspell to Journey Through China (performed by Chinese dancers) to Swing, Jive & Pop! Intro Dance. There is something going on at least 12-15 days out of the month.

The Japanese Garden was built to symbolize the friendship between the United States and Japan, and to recognize Houston's thriving Japanese community. The garden is built on 5 acres and combines a traditional Japanese Garden design with a touch of Texas.

McGovern Lake with its paddle boats.

Reflection pool

There is even a café…Pinewood Café. 

What an magnificent park for the people of Houston to have and enjoy. As a matter of fact, we decided another walk is needed to see many of the things we missed. We are looking forward to our next volksmarching.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

WALK IN THE PARK…OUR FIRST VOLKSMARCH

Saturday, November 8 –  Marsha follows a blog called Travel Bug written by Susan. Without Susan really knowing it, she has Marsha all fired up about doing a Volksmarch. Now you ask….What is a Volksmarch? From the official website of the AVA, a volksmarch is a noncompetitive 3.1 mile (5 km) or 6.2 mile (10 km) walk. It's not a pledge walk, it's not a race, it is a fun activity! (Note: There are sanctioned U.S. events, but we aren’t interested in those events.) Every time Marsha reads Susan’s blog, she says the same thing…Paul, I want to do this! Well, she finally got her wish. With great weather here in Houston, we took to the park with our daughter, Carrie, for our first volksmarch.

On the AVA website, there is a search page. Marsha found four volksmarches right in the Houston area. The one we chose for today is the Hermann Park volksmarch. For each volksmarch, there is a starting point where you pick up a map and directions for the walk. We headed to Wyndham Hotel, to pickup our map and directions for our 10K walk. The map was helpful while we were on the city streets, but once we entered the huge Hermann Park we resorted to iPhone maps and park signs to find our way around.

The walk began in the medical district of Houston. According to the TMC website, Texas Medical Center (TMC) is the world’s largest medical complex. TMC comprises: 21 renowned hospitals, 13 support organizations, eight academic and research institutions, six nursing programs, three public health organizations, three medical schools, two universities, two pharmacy schools, and a dental school.

There is lots of beauty in this area such as water fountains.

And landscaping.

MD Anderson has several buildings in this area.

More hospitals and other health buildings.

Our walk took us past many historic statues….

Major Richard William Dowling was First Lieutenant in the first Texas heavy artillery company. He also formed the first oil company in Houston and owned more than 22 square blocks of downtown Houston. He did this all before he died of yellow fever at age 30.

You know this one…Sam Houston.

Next was Hermann Park.

 

Hermann Park is one of Houston's first parks and is beautiful. It encompasses 285 acres. The park has a number of entertainment options and venues for visitors including the Hermann Park Golf course, the Miller Outdoor Theatre, a jogging track, the Houston Zoo, the Museum of Natural Science with the Cockrell Butterfly Exhibit, the Buddy Carruth Playground For All Children, the Japanese Garden, McGovern Lake with its paddle boats, Hermann Park Mini-Train and much, much more.

Jogging, walking, enjoying track.

Hermann Park Mini-Train

Buddy Carruth Playground For All Children

Hermann Park Golf course

We will finish our first volksmarch in our next blog.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

WINTER TRAVEL PLANS 2014-2015

Sunday, November 2 – We've been doing a little travel planning recently and thought we would throw it out to our readers to see if anyone had any suggestions on thing to do, see, or experience.  There is so much to see and experience in this great country, and no matter how much research we do, we always seem to miss something.  Of course, that gives us an excuse to return to areas we've been previously.

Our main focus is to spend the winter in the Arizona area, with a couple excursions into California and New Mexico.  We want to return to the RV Show in Quartszite, mainly to re-new friendships with the group we met the last time there in 2010.  It's a full-timer group once known as the Escapee's Class of 2009, but has since expanded welcoming many more RV'ers into the group.

The other “big event” will be to attend Spring Training Major League Baseball in the Phoenix area.  Of course, this is where the Cleveland Indians train during March's Cactus League season.  Again, we did this back in 2012. and enjoyed it very much.  Marsha thinks this is going to be the Cleveland Indians’ year to win the pennant …... she's such a fan.  Paul enjoys them, but nothing like Marsha.

So, here's an rough outline of where we are headed, and the approximate time we will be there.  Of course, this is written in caulk and subject to change.  If we're passing through an area where you are staying, let us know and maybe we can plan a rendezvous.

Nov. 1 – Jan. 4	Houston, TX	Happy Thanksgiving & Merry Christmas
January 6	Elephant Butte, NM	Socorro – VLA Telescopes
January 8	Tuscon, AZ	Hiking, Karchner Caverns, Catalina SP, Tubac, Sonora Desert Museum
January 16	Scottsdale, AZ	RR before Q
January 20	Quartzsite, AZ	RV Show and visit friends
January 24	Yuma, AZ	Mexico – dentist;  RR after Q
January 27	Borrego Spring, CA	Anza Borrego Desert SP, Hiking
February 1	Indio, CA	Sightseeing
February 8	Tonopah, AZ (W. of Phoenix)	Kofa Wildlife - hiking
February 11	Cordes Junction, AZ	Sedona, Jerome, Cottonwood, Flagstaff – weather permitting
March 1	Phoenix, AZ	Cleveland Indians Spring Training baseball, Visit family and friends, Sightseeing, Hiking
April 1	Houston, TX	Visit family, Indians vs  Astros - Opening Day Baseball,

                          
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

A VISIT TO PROGRESSO, MEXICO

Monday, October 27 – On Friday, October 24, marked Carrie’s first visit to Mexico.

She wanted to experience the culture of this country. We knew exactly where to take her.

One of the many, many outdoor bars, Red Panty Bar.

We visited our favorite pharmacy, Jessica’s. The bartender was so taken with Carrie, he asked her to dance. Hope his wife doesn’t read this blog…lol

Later in the afternoon, Angie and Rick arrived, and we introduced Carrie to a real Mexican Margarita. She loved it.

Notice in the photo above the orange bag behind Carrie and Marsha’s pink bag which is full to the brim. Carrie did some serious shopping. She loved the bargaining process that all the merchants engage in. She got some super buys.

Carrie even got her hair trimmed for a whole $5.00.

There was more dancing….

and maybe some tourist had a bit too much to drink.

Carrie bought a couple of little sombreros for Cinco de Mayo. Bella just couldn’t wait to try one on.

All in all, Carrie loved her experience. We all had a great day visiting our neighbor to the south.

We have one more post about Carrie’s visit. We have left Mission and are at the Elks outside Houston until after the holidays.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

OUR DAUGHTER, CARRIE, VISITS THE RGV.

Thursday, October 23  - The next few posts will be a bit dated, but when Carrie is around, it is go, go, go. Carrie arrived early this morning. We packed in as much as we could on day one. She is only here for the weekend and wants to experience everything we have done in five years in three days. This should just about kill us for sure.

After picking her up at the airport, we visited Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle National Shrine. Our first visit here was in 2010. It is just such a gorgeous Basilica. For centuries Christians have made pilgrimages with a spiritual purpose to holy places.The history of this Marian Shrine begins in 1920, when the Reverend Alfonso Jalbert, O.M.I., built a small wooden chapel in San Juan, Texas as a mission church of St. Margaret Mary Church in Pharr, Texas. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops designated Our Lady of San Juan del Valle a national Shrine on March 24, 1998, and the following year on June 12,1999,  Pope John Paul II designated it as a minor Basilica. If you are in the area, be sure to put this on your must see list. You won’t be disappointed.

There is a gorgeous walking tour of about a mile. It commemorates 14 key events on day of Christ's death. The majority of them concern His final walk through the streets of Jerusalem carrying the Cross. The fourteen stations of the Cross are depicted by life-size statues crafted in bronze and resin. There are 30 life-size bronze figures in all. Absolutely gorgeous…according to Marsha.

Our next stop was the famous Los Ebanos Ferry Crossing. This is a must see, must do for people who have been there, done that. It's the last hand-operated ferry operating on either border. It is a 3-car barge crossing the Rio Grande River from the U.S.  to Mexico. At the crossing there is custom/border patrol. You can park and walk onto the ferry, or you can drive your car on the ferry. Most U.S. citizens that cross over into Mexico here go to buy liquor or cigarettes. They must be desperate. We wouldn’t cross here, that’s for sure!

If that wasn’t enough for one day, we had a social and game night at the clubhouse. There about 20 of us playing horse racing and Farkle. Wonderful time with dear friends.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!