Well, Christmas has come and gone for another year. Hope that Santa was good to all of you, he was to us. We went to Katy and spent Christmas afternoon and evening with our friends and their family. It was a good time and we all enjoyed the turkey and ham dinner with all the trimmings. Sure is weird to be dressed in capris and short-sleeved attire on Christmas Day. It was hot and muggy and we had to run our A/C to keep cool that night. The weather here changes on a daily basis. One day we are running our furnace and the next day it's the a/c! When it rains here, it comes down like it is being poured out of a water pitcher. Very heavy with BIG drops for about 2 minutes and then it's over. Not like at home at all. The one thing we forgot to bring with us was rain jackets, so it's good the rain never lasts too long! We will have spent 5 weeks in the Houston area, haven't seen alot as the weather has been so strange. The biggest thing we are missing is the sun, even on hot days it is clouded over, so the sun has been quite elusive. This coming week we are going venture into Houston to take a look at the Battleship TX and then on to Gavelston Island to explore and have a seafood meal. We are suppose to get hot weather and sun, so it should be a chance to see the beach. We are having a good time and starting to look forward to the next leg of our journey, which will take us to New Orleans.

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We are just outside of Houston now and will be here until after the New Year. Our Wi-Fi service is far away, so you may not hear from us too much. It is beautiful here today....almost +26c...t-shirts and shorts! We would love to hear from all of you at any time.

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Yesterday we took a trip to see the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi, TX. It was really interesting to see the inside workings of the ship. We were able to go into the ship and walk through the living quarters, ship hospital and dental clinic, mess hall, machine shop, barber shop and much more. I don't think I could ever live on a ship like this as it felt very boxed in. The areas were small with low ceilings in alot of places and very steep stairs. The crews bunks were the size of long low shelves..no privacy there! The air quality wasn't great...imagine all those sailors in the small areas....it could be an adventure in smells!! lol
A very interesting place and well worth the entrance fee.

Mustang Island, TX

We took a drive to Mustang Island and put our hands in the Gulf of Mexico. We couldn't go swimming as the surf was quite rough and the air temperature was cool, due to the winds. However, we couldn't believe how warm the water actually was....like a bathtub! There are alot of different shells here and lots of little birds running along the edge of water looking for little bits of food that is brought in by the waves. In certain areas you are allowed to bring your vehicle down to the water, for boat launching I would imagine. The sand is very fine and white and gets into everything, you should see our floor mats in the truck!! It was really neat to be able to walk along the beach again, we have missed that since we were in California last year!

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Garner State Park & San Antonio

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Luckenbach TX

Well, here we are at Luckenbach TX with Willie and Waylan and the boys!! However, they weren't there...just us. It took us over 2 hours to drive here from our campsite, but worth the trip! This town has a population of 3....that's right...and then all the tourists that come to visit since Willie Nelson has made it so famous with his song. There is a big dancehall here where many different entertainers have performed. Their pictures are all over the walls in the bar. You can bring your RV and camp overnight for $15. If we had only known the drive was sooooo long!! lol There is also the guy with the Texas Longhorm Steer that will take your pic on it for a price. For the one-time cost of $50 you can buy a brick and have it put into the entrance to the dancehall. A little pricey for us. We know we were there!!

Balmorhea State Park, TX

This is where we spent our 21st anniversay. It's hard to believe that we have been with each other that long....lol....but it gets sweeter as the years go by. There was a huge spring fed pool there with it's own eco-system. Fish, turtles and snakes all live in the pool. While there we saw the fish along the edges of the pool and a turtle that liked to back on a cement brick in the middle of the pool. Luckily we never saw any snakes.

Fort Davis Texas

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Living Desert State Park

Another great place to visit. Lots of interesting animals to see and lots of different cacti too.

Carlsbad Caverns

These caverns are just awesome. If you ever get a chance to go here...do....it's wonderful.

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Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Yesterday we went to Canyon TX and visited this museum. There were alot of neat things there....we liked the life size displays the best. The museum was very well done and huge. We were in it for over 2 hours and missed alot of the displays. Unfortunately we didn't realize this fact until after we had left!! The display showing how the Plains Indians used every single part of the buffalo was really interesting. They didn't waste any of it!