Eisenhower State Park and Palo Duro Canyon

After our first trip in 2015, we weren't able to travel again until July.  We have my mother living in Richardson now.  After settling her in, we have taken several trips this year to some very interesting places.  In July we spent about 4 nights at Eisenhower State Park in Dennison, TX.  We experienced nature (saw deer), visited our favorite "on the road" place, Walmart, and saw Eisenhower's birthplace.

After this visit, we went to Palo Duro Canyon State Park in August.  This was one of my favorite places we have visited.  We were amazed that the campsite was down in the floor of the canyon.  The first full day we were there, we took a jeep ride that took us to the canyon.  One of the things we were amazed about, was that parts of the canyon were owned by individual people.  Only a small part is owned by the State of Texas.  We were on the privately owned part as the jeep took us to some unbelievable places.  It is a miracle we came back in one piece!!  The next day we had fun touring the canyon, going to Walmart and then seeing the play, Texas, that is performed in the canyon.  Before the Texas show we were able to experience a Texas barbecue that was put on by the students who were in the show.  We also went to a great museum in Canyon, Texas, located on the campus of West Texas AM, that showed much about Texas history and other things.  We also enjoyed an authentic Tex-Mex meal in downtown Canyon.  We went to Amarillo to see the Cadillac Farm, which was not what we expected.  We saw an RV museum that had some of the earliest RV's made.  We saw an RV that was in the movie RV with Robin Williams, and saw some of the first Winnebagos.  It was a great time and a great experience.

Port Aransas and other stops

April 2015

After we left Lady Bird RV park, we had to have a water valve in our coach fixed in Kerrville.  We stayed in Kerville at their City Park, Kerrville-Schreiner, which was really beautiful and on the Guadelupe River.  While in Kerrville, we visited the James Avery factory and were delighted at the information they gave us about the company.  Tom bought me a beautiful bracelet for Mother's Day (a bit early), and some charms that commemorated our trip.  After leaving Kerrville we traveled to Goliad State Park to see the Texas history there.  It was quite interesting to see the area where many Texas heroes were killed.  There is also a spanish mission on the property of the state park.

After leaving Goliad, we headed to the beach at Port Aransas.  As we arrived, we rode the ferry across the ship channel.  Our favorite vacation spot has always been the beach, and this was not a disappointment.  We have always heard that Texas' beaches were not like Florida's, and everyone told us that we would be disappointed, but we were not!!!  It isn't Florida, but it has wonders of its own!  The ocean there is great, and the RV park was sensational.  Gulf Waters RV park is unbelievable.  It is a beautiful park that is just over the dunes from the beach.  There is a lake where we watched birds, turtles and other wild life.  Many of the people, who were camping, were birders and were enjoying the migration time.  Everyday we drove our car to the beach and set up our umbrellas and chairs!!  The weather was beautiful.  April is a great time to enjoy the beach!!  We will be back!!

On our way home we stopped in Georgetown and visited our friends, Don and Jill Pharr.  It was great to see them and their beautiful new home.

Golidad

Angel of Goliad

Fredericksburg, Texas

During 2015 we had some personal things that detained us, but we have enjoyed our RV adventures.  We had a new grandbaby, who is adorable.  His name is Heath, and he was born on February 17.  We enjoyed staying home and helping, and we didn't leave on our first adventure of the year until April 1.  We left and missed Easter with the family this year, so we could get out on the road.  We went to the Texas Hill Country.  We went to Fredericksburg and stayed at Lady Bird Municipal Park.  We had a great time in Fredericksburg.  We went to the Johnson National Park, Enchanted Rock, Luckenbach and a flower farm that had beautiful bluebonnets.  We loved being at a park in Fredericksburg for a week.  We spent Easter at First Baptist Fredericksburg, visited a quilt store, and went to a Good Friday passion walk.  It was a great and memorable time.  Our RV park was next to the airport, and while we were there, they had a great World War II plane exhibit.  Tom loved it!!

 

Bonham State Park

Our next adventure was a short stay in Bonham State Park over Veteran's Day.  We left on a Sunday and set up next to the lake.  This is a short drive from Dallas, but it is a great get-away.  We were enjoying the nice crisp weather when we noticed a car drive up, and here came our friends, Regina and Bert.  They had driven to see us at the campground.  It was a great surprise. They came with steaks and firewood.  What a treat!!  We had a wonderful fire that night!!  While they were there, we saw something we had never witnessed before, a huge flock of Canadian geese flew into the lake.  We heard the noise, but didn't know what it was.  Then we saw them sweep down and land.  What a sight!!  They came in around 6:00 p.m. and on Monday they did the same thing!!  We loved it.

This park was made by the CCC, like many of the parks in Texas.  We loved the experience.  We walked, I sewed, and we read.  It was a great time!!

Caddo Lake

Our next adventure was in October.  We went to a very interesting state park, Caddo Lake, in northeast Texas.  It is located on the only natural lake in Texas.  It is a beautiful lake with amazing cypress trees and moss hanging everywhere.  I had no idea there was a place like this in Texas.

We went with our friends, Regina and Bert.  They have an RV, also.  We parked next to each other, shared dinners and good times.  Bert introduced us to campfires at the state parks.  He had an amazing fire the last night we were there.  While we were enjoying the fire, a big rain storm blew up, and we all had to run for the RVs.

While at Caddo Lake, we visited Jefferson, TX.  It is a lovely town with quite a history.  We shopped and enjoyed the local sites in this East Texas town!!  We also took a tour that told the history of Caddo Lake.  We went through bayous and twists and turns of this amazing lake on a Pontoon boat tour.

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Cleburne State Park

We were able to go to Cleburne State Park for two days in July, and we had such a nice time.  Our favorite thing is being out in nature.  At Cleburne we were parked next to the lake, and we able to see lots out of birds that were circling the entire park.  We thought maybe they were eagles, but they were a type of vulture.  Interesting!

One of Tom's favorite things to do on our trips (or really anytime) is to cook and eat breakfast.  He fried up some eggs on this trip!!

Eggs at the Lake

My breakfast favorite is coffee!!

Itasca Ellipse

The lake by our RV!!

Lake Lavon

Our adventure at Lake Tawakoni was a big adventure.  As we were heading to the lake, we backed into a small fence.  The damage was pretty extensive, so we decided to head to the dealership, National Indoor, and have it fixed immediately.  We knew it was going to take a while, but we just got our RV back last Thursday, July 3.  We were so excited!!  We decided to have it parked under the cover at the Plano storage facility.  This should make it better on our RV.

On July 4 weekend, we were able to camp on our own at Lake Lavon campground.  It was a great place to go for our first real adventure, because it was close to home.  We set up the camper, walked, and enjoyed our time there.  The lake was especially low due to the drought we are experiencing in Texas, but we enjoyed our time there!!