Gorman Falls

Hello, everyone! We are still at Lake Georgetown, about 30 miles north of Austin, TX. Yesterday we took a trip out to the Colorado Bend State Park. It's about an hour's drive northwest of here. This Colorado River is not the same as the one which flows out west! We went with three other couples, friends of ours, and hiked down to the falls. It took about an hour to get there. The temperature was chilly but after we started walking, we warmed up a bit.
Gorman Falls comes from Gorman Springs, which bubbles up and out of the ground, flowing to the bluffs high above the Colorado. The signs caution that the falls, which flows over limestone, creates a delicate, fragile environment for the fauna and flora underneath, so the area is roped off to prevent people (read "honest") people from destroying the area. Our friend Dave retired from this park, and he told us about a couple of teenagers who somehow got near the falls and drove their car off the falls. The car wedged in one of the trees, and amazingly enough, the youths were not killed.
The falls drains directly into the Colorado River, which was flowing nicely and looked muddy. We have had adequate rains this spring. The roar of the falls was loud, and we sat on some benches, rested, and admired the beauty and solitude of the area.
It was a little more difficult going up out of the area than going down; there were some ropes to hold onto but some BIG steps had to be made. We were all wiped out by the time we got back to the car. At least, I was!
Until next time...we're trying to be good, and I've been on weight watchers for the past 5 days (yes, seems like a month or two, at least). Some bad labs jarred me into reality and made me realize that I need to get serious and start trying to take care of myself better. One day at a time...hope I don't fall off THIS wagon!

Sabbatical?

Here it's been a whole MONTH since I've written in the blog! Holidays are always busy. Well, at least, that's my excuse. And we haven't traveled any; we're still at Lake Georgetown, northwest of Georgetown, TX. We survived the cold weather without any frozen pipes or holding tanks, thankfully, due to Gary's diligence in disconnecting the water if the temps were forecast to be much below freezing.

We've been trying to plan our trip out west, leaving in April and heading out to Los Angeles. We will visit my son, Matt, and his wife Alexis for a few days. They are going to be parents around the end of July, first baby. Of course, we're delighted and proud of them both. After visiting with them, we plan to head to the San Francisco area for some GOOD sourdough bread and wonderful "mom 'n' pop" Chinese restaurants. Our plans include going to Napa Valley and then on to see the Redwoods. We will then head north to Washington and visit my cousins and my only surviving aunt. So I should have lots of pictures and interesting stories to tell.

So, we have nothing really new going on...just same old, same old. It's nice to be in Georgetown again, in a familiar place that's easy to get around. Ooh, on Saturday, January 16, we will have been married 17 years. My, how time flies.

That's all for now!

Most wonderful time of the year!

It is also the busiest time of the year! I spent 4 days last week taking care of my 5 year old granddaughter Holly while her parents were out of town on business. She was a very good girl and I got much closer to her during my stay there. I managed to stay busy while she was at school. Although I miss her, I was glad to get back to my own home and spend some time with Gary and our sweet little Kittymous.
We had to move a few miles to another park (at the same lake) due to a deer hunt at the other park. It was uneventful and we got a good spot surrounded by cedars and other trees. Our friends are two spots away and we've been enjoying spending time with them.
We finally put up our little Christmas tree yesterday and are doing some decorating.
We had to work on Sundays while we were at Seminole Canyon and were unable to attend church there. We miss our work there but it's nice not to have to work on Sundays. This Sunday, we decided to go to the First Presbyterian Church in Georgetown. We were surprised to see there was no sermon but there was a small orchestra and choir for Vivaldi's Gloria. Gary had never been in a concert with an orchestra and he was wowed by the experience. There are many talented musicians here in the G-town area. We thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the performance. After we got home, granddaughter Caitlin came to visit, and then Gary's daughter Lesley and her son came for a visit...bearing CHRISTMAS COOKIES!!! mmmmm, are they ever GOOD! After everyone left, our friends Dave and Sally came over and we had fun watching football and gabbing with them. So it was a happy and busy day. Gary's grandson came back in the evening and brought his girl, Christa, to see our motor home.
I'm so proud of Caitlin. She's graduating from Texas A&M with a double major, Animal Science and Ag/business, on the 18th of December. Also, she's only 20 years old! She's been accepted at Texas Tech for grad school majoring in Ag Education. She's also engaged. So lots happening in her life and we are very, very happy for her and wish her the best in life. She's worked hard and managed her time and money in a wise and prudent way.
We never made it down to get the RV serviced at Freightliner. Shortly after we arrived here on Dec. 1, we discovered that the entire basement of the motor home was wet! (Did I already tell you this????) Since we drove in the rain to get up here, we figure we have some leaks. We have plans to fix it, though. Gary spent a couple of days with a ShamWow sopping up water, etc. None of our possessions were ruined, as everything is in rubbermaid boxes. We did have to remove everything from under the RV and put it out on the picnic table while the sopping-up-water thing was going on.
Just wanted to keep in touch...sorry I haven't written more but seems time is whizzing by. Check back...I will try to take some pictures of our campsite and make another post!

Arrival in Georgetown, TX

We left Seminole Canyon yesterday at 8:40 am and drove straight through to Georgetown. It was raining when we left and rained on us all day. We got soaked a couple of times, breaking everything down and then setting up when we got here.
Our friends Dave and Sally had dinner waiting for us, and it was such a treat to go to their warm RV and eat a hot meal. Such a blessing to have dear friends like that.
The lake has lots of water, not like when we left. It was down very low at the end of July. We're glad to see the water levels back up.
Our campsite is pretty and we have lots of trees around. The trees are mostly cedar and live oak so greenery abounds. A few oak trees are changing color and they make a pretty contrast to the green of the live oaks and cedars. All these campsites have a large covered picnic table, which is really nice.
We have to break down our campsite again tomorrow and take the RV down to Freightliner to get some routine maintenance work done. What!!! We just got here! I need to learn to be more "mobile". Guess I'm getting set in my ways.
Gotta go out and do some shopping! It's nice to be in the boonies, but I do enjoy hopping in the car and going to various stores whenever I feel like it, especially this time of year. We're looking for some more Christmas decorations and Gary wants a small nativity scene. We'll set up our Christmas tree and decorate when we get the RV back home tomorrow.
Sorry I don't have any interesting news to report...wait a minute, what am I saying! I'm GLAD nothing out of the ordinary is happening. I'll add some pictures of our campsite if this program will let me.
Stay warm and safe!

Nov. 30, 2009

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've written in my blog. Sorry, guys! We haven't really had much news...just been working and doing our duties here at Seminole Canyon. We are due to leave tomorrow but the weather may interfere. Snow is predicted for Comstock, about 9 miles from here, on Tuesday night, but we should be in G-town by then.
I am sad to leave Seminole Canyon, but at the same time, I'm looking forward to seeing our collective children and their families, and our friends around Austin.
I have enjoyed every single day we've been here, and we feel that nothing's too good for our favorite park. The park staff are close friends, and we will miss them sorely.
I put in a few pictures that I took recently. I thought I'd show you some fall color...see, the northeast doesn't have anything on us. We have ONE tree with some color! It's an oak tree by the restroom. We saw the cactus along the road, and I believe it's a pincushion cactus. The bird is a golden fronted woodpecker. It was right outside our dining room window a few days ago.
We did see something interesting yesterday morning, but didn't have the camera. We saw a hog nosed skunk rummaging around some rocks. He looked like any other skunk, except he had a wide white stripe all the way down his back and fluffy tail. Never fails...when you see something good you never have a camera.
We are packing things up and almost ready to go. We should be pulling out tomorrow morning about 8:30 am, after saying goodbye to the staff here.
We'll keep you posted! Thanks for reading our blog.

Planets, Stars and Airs of Space

This picture is looking southwest, toward Mexico, from our motor home. Tonight was a perfect night for sitting outside beside a campfire. You can see the firepit, slightly to the left center of the picture. The wooden structure on the far left is a picnic shelter. The wind was very light, out of the southeast, and blew the smoke away from us. We sat around the fire and watched the western sky turn pink and orange, and as the darkness deepened, the stars began to show. In Seminole Canyon, there is little light pollution, and the Milky Way was visible from southwest to northeast. Also, this is one of the few places we've been where the Little Dipper is visible. As I watched the fire and listened to the crickets and tree frogs, I thought of the ancient peoples who lived in the canyons here and wondered if they, too, saw the beauty in their surroundings and appreciated the velvet black heavens with twinkling stars and planets. They were probably hungry and preoccupied with obtaining enough food and water to keep body and soul together, though.
The Taurid meteor shower is supposed to happen soon, and I did see one bright shooting star as we were sitting there. However, soon the eastern sky began to glow like it was on fire, and the slightly lopsided bright orange moon began to rise. Oh well, the fire was dying and we headed for the warmth of our home.
I was reminded of being in high school, singing a song by J. S. Bach, called "Planets, Stars, and Airs of Space". I think I can still remember all the words. Isn't it odd that we can remember songs we learned 50 years ago but can't remember the name of someone we met five minutes ago!
It's been a nice couple of days, as we were off duty and able to relax. Tomorrow, it's back to work!

November 1, 2009

Our friends Dave and Sally had to leave a day early and we have really been missing them. Here are a few more pictures taken when we were down in the canyon. The first two pictures are in the Fate Bell Shelter. You can see how large it is. Imagine living there! It's sheltered from the heat and the wind, but you'd be sharing your living quarters with every wild animal,serpent, and insect in this area. Scary! And no sleeping bags, either. There is evidence of human habitation for many years in this shelter. It is estimated that the paintings in the shelter are at least 4000 years old, I believe. The third picture is Sally and me beside one of the huge boulders in the canyon. On this rock, we found several fossils like the one in the picture.
The weather has been utterly beautiful. The humidity is low so the days warm up to mid 70's, and at night it gets down to the 40's. Very good sleeping weather. We had some 20-30 mph winds a few days ago, but the wind has died down a lot.
We continue to do our work here and enjoy it. It's hard to believe we've been here two whole months, and are starting on our last month here. I am, however, looking forward to seeing our children, grandchildren and friends around Austin come December 1!