Pre-Cruise

Day 17 - Continued

After checking out of our hotel this morning we hung out close to the airport awaiting Gary and Kathy's arrival from Portland. We found a nice mall, walked around and did some people watching.

Gary and Kathy's flight arrived right on time and we hit the road from Houston to Galveston fully expecting to have major traffic delays but we got through with no major slow ups. We did wait until we got out of Houston to stop for dinner before getting to our hotel around 7:30.

It didn't take long to get settled in and we decided to meet in the dining area ... it seems that there are a LOT of people going on a cruise. The noise level was pretty high so we visited for awhile before going back to our rooms to get ready for our big day tomorrow.

Looking forward to a great time on the cruise ... we'll post details when we get back next weekend!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Houston to Galveston

Day 17 ... Transitions!

We have several hours before Gary and Kathy arrive from Portland so we decided to have a leisurely morning, finish getting everything repacked and ready to go and do a little catch up on the blog and some paperwork. Our plan is to hang out in this area for a few hours and once we pick them up we'll head to Galveston for the night and then board the ship tomorrow.

We're not sure what this afternoon or evening will bring so we may not be able to post an update on our day after we get to Galveston. We won't have internet or cell phone access after tomorrow until we arrive back in Galveston on Saturday, March 5th. We will update the blog after the cruise ... in the meantime, thanks for your prayers and for the comments/feedback through the blog and other communications.

We would definitely appreciate prayers for the weather as we head out on the cruise and then continue our road trip along the Gulf Coast. So far we have avoided the storms that have been stirring around and would love to continue that trend!

San Antonio to Houston

Day 16 ... One of those days!

We left San Antonio at 7:50 heading to Houston. We had heard the traffic in Houston was heavy anytime of day. No kidding!!!! It was awful ... it took us 3 hours to get through Houston and that was in the middle of the day. A bit too much like L.A. to us so we will probably not drive through Houston after today!

Complicating the issue are the different types of toll roads ... some you have to have an EZ Pass only and others you can pay cash but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which is which. A quick stop at an EZ Pass store location only to find they seemed to be more confused than we were! We showed one gal our map asking her the best options to which she replied, "I don't know how to read a map."

Undaunted, we pressed on, found our way and gratefully checked into the hotel at 2:30. The first thing on the agenda was getting some laundry done so we could downsize to one suitcase for the next phase of our trip ... a cruise out of Galveston in the Western Caribbean with our good friends, Gary and Kathy.

Laundry sorted, down to the guest laundry room; loaded the washer, put in our money and .... nothing ... washer agitating with no water. Go to front desk and they call the maintenance man. After an hour wait the washer was again ready to go. Hooray!!!

By now it was dinner time; not wanting to do anymore driving in Houston today we decided to walk over to the only restaurant nearby ... Waffle House. Oh my ... burned greasy food with three in-over-their-head employees. How do you give less than a 1* rating??? Back to the hotel where we both were wondering if we would make it through the night without being sick (glad to say we did!).

Our travel motto has been "Building Memories" and even when we have days like today turn them into memory builders and are still grateful for the opportunity God has given us to experience the beauty of His creation and see our great country up close and personal!

PICTURES

Several have asked about the haircut ... these are the only pictures that were taken today and will satisfy your curiosity on my haircut by Francisco. A bit shorter than I usually wear it but substantially the same style.

Unexpected Adventures!

Day 15 ... today's adventures: a haircut and a German settlement.

For those of you who followed our 2012 Building Memories trip you know I (Janiece) had quite the experience in Boston when I needed someone to cut my hair since I wasn't home to go to my usual (and fantastic) hair dresser. I found myself at a salon and the only one who was available was Guido (Italian man as wide as he was tall). When Guido washed my hair I actually was more wet than my hair when he was done; the haircut was okay (it grows) but he was going to send me out with dripping wet hair (I did insist he dry it at least). So, with that experience you can imagine my hesitation when I needed to schedule a haircut while we're in San Antonio. I came a bit more prepared this time ... I looked at reviews on Yelp, brought pictures of what my hair should look like and ultimately chose to have my hair cut by Francisco. The difference between Guido and Francisco was like night and day ... I don't feel like I'm going to have to wear a hat until my hair grows out! Thank you, Francisco!

In addition to the haircut, Francisco told me about a great German settlement north of San Antonio called Fredericksburg. Since we've pretty much explored the area around here we decided to drive up to Fredericksburg and have a German lunch. Since Garey isn't as big a fan of German food as I am he opted for the Reuben sandwich (he gave it a 4* rating). Me, I opted for Weiner Schnitzel (also a 4*). However, their German potato salad, sauerkraut and red cabbage all rated 5*. It still surprises both of us how much of a German influence there is in the San Antonio area.

Another unexpected surprise in Frederickburg was to find out it was the boyhood home of Admiral Nimitz (Admiral Nimitz). The grounds and memorial surrounding the museum were wonderful. The statue of Admiral Nimitz is one of two that were cast; the first one is on Ford Island, Hawaii overlooking the USS Arizona. The statue's creator is Rip Caswell of Troutdale, Oregon (very close to home). You can read more at Admiral Nimitz Statue.

Some of you will find this VERY hard to believe but I haven't stopped at a quilt store since we left home (most of them were closed when we went past them) but today we did find one outside of Fredericksburg on the way back to San Antonio. It was out in the middle of the country (kind of like Country Manor in Battle Ground) but that's as far as the similarities go. And in answer to your question ... did I buy anything. I'm pleading the 5th!

Tomorrow has us heading to the Houston area to await our friends' arrival on Friday from Portland. The four of us will drive to Galveston and then go on a one week cruise adventure before we continue our journey along the Gulf Coast and they return home.

TODAY'S PICTURES

Building Memories in Fredericksburg

YUMMY!

Nimitz Hotel - Owned by Nimitz Family and Admiral Nimitz' boyhood home

Garey with 8' Statue of Admiral Nimitz

Finally ... a quilt shop!

San Antonio / River Walk and The Alamo

Day 14 ... two weeks??? Already????

We have certainly packed a lot into the first two weeks of this Building Memories trip! We had a great, leisurely morning before we headed down to the River Walk and The Alamo. It was a windy day and a bit cooler than we've had but we're just glad the forecast thunder storm came over last night and not today!

We headed over to The Alamo first thing this morning ... so much more to this battle than we had known before. As timing would have it, today is the 180th anniversary of the first day of the 13 day siege of The Alamo. It was quite sobering to walk through the area; unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures inside but we would highly recommend you come and visit this historical site.

We also decided to take a cruise on the river ... we got a lot of history of the area from the boat's captain and was a great way to see the area. Even with the cruise we still managed to walk over 5 miles this morning!

A nice lunch of Mexican food on the River Walk and it was time to come back to the hotel to kick back for awhile. Since we were both still full from lunch we decided to walk over to the grocery store a few blocks away, grab something to go with our snacks and have a quiet evening.

TODAY'S PICTURES

RIVER WALK VIEWS

BUILDING MEMORIES

Fort Stockton to San Antonio

Day 13 ... loving this road less traveled and discovering more hidden treasures!

We left Fort Stockton at 7:15 knowing it was going to be a longer day to get to San Antonio, especially since we decided to take a bit of a detour and headed down toward the Texas/Mexico border around Del Rio. We've never seen so many Border Patrol vehicles and even had to go through a checkpoint, complete with drug sniffing dogs. We're glad to say we passed with flying colors and were sent on our way!

One of the unexpected surprises was going through Langtry, Texas ... the home of Judge Roy Bean and the original location of The Jersey Lillie (Lillie Langtry). If you have no idea what we're talking about you definitely have not been watching enough westerns! (Judge Roy Bean).

A bit further down the road we came to the Pecos River and stopped at a wonderful overlook. While we were there we met a father and daughter and had a wonderful visit with them. She and her husband are cattle ranchers; her dad, who had a wonderful sense of humor, offered to let me (Janiece) go out to the ranch and rope a longhorn steer ... can't believe I turned down the opportunity!

Even with the detours we got to San Antonio and checked into our room at 3:15. We're about 1/2 mile from the River Walk and about 1 1/2 miles from the Alamo so we decided to take a walk and go to dinner on the River Walk. Keeping with one of our traditions, we ate at a BBQ place. We split a brisket dinner ... one of the few BBQs we've had that comes close to Troy's as far as the brisket is concerned but his BBQ sauce is still #1 hands down!

Wanting to walk off dinner and not quite being ready to go back to our room we decided to walk over to the Alamo ... it had just closed for the day so we decided that would be first thing on tomorrow's agenda.

TODAY'S PICTURES

Building Memories ... it's a good thing!

Judge Roy Bean and Lillie Langtry

The Jersey Lillie - Now and Then

Building More Memories at Langtry, Texas

Carlsbad to Pecos to Fort Stockton

Day 12 ... State # 6, time change and renewing high school friendship

This morning found us setting our alarms for 5:30 a.m. to take into account a time zone change and make sure we made it on time to worship at the Church of Christ in Pecos, Texas (a 90 minute drive from Carlsbad). We planned our timing on leaving home specifically to get to Pecos on this particular day to be able to attend the church where my (Janiece) high school classmate, Fred Dominguez, is the pastor and to get to meet his wife, Nyla, as well. Nyla is also a quilter and Fred was in the Marine Corps ... the four of us obviously bonded right away!

It's hard to describe how really special this day was ... we loved the people at Fred and Nyla's church; we were greeted with open arms and hugged without reservation. One of the men asked when the trucks should arrive at our home to move us down to Pecos. 

Following church we went to lunch at Dairy Queen with Fred and Nyla followed by a special time of visiting at their home. The time flew by and before we knew it it was 4:00 o'clock and time for us to leave.  :)

As a side line, one of the sights we saw today was a wild boar at the side of the road ... just not something we usually see!

TODAY'S PICTURES

Pecos Water Tower

Fun at Dairy Queen

Classmates (1968) Janiece and Fred

Fred and Nyla Dominguez

Oil Wells Everywhere

A special gift from Fred & Nyla ... a remembrance of our visit

Road Less Traveled - Hwy 285 from Pecos to Ft Stockton

Carlsbad Caverns

Day 11 ... Building Memories at Carlsbad Caverns

Today we got up, had breakfast, packed a picnic lunch and off to the Caverns we went. The view from the top of Carlsbad Caverns Visitor's Center was breathtaking. We could see to the horizon in all directions.

Going into the caverns is indescribable; it is very LARGE and DEEP. It took us about an hour to get to the bottom, a steep decline with 60 switchbacks. The walk into the Caverns is rated "strenuous" by the park staff and like we said yesterday, the elevator to the bottom is out of service (which means the elevator to get back up is also not an option!). We ended up spending almost two hours in the Caverns taking in the beauty.

Walking back out was pretty extreme but WE MADE IT!

Some of our favorites were the Big Room and Crystal Springs ... we took a lot of pictures but they don't even begin to do justice to the actual Caverns.

TODAY'S PICTURES