Cousin Doug -- Some wonderful family time

Thursday, 8 November.  My cousin, Doug, called and then came out for a short visit with us at our Quintana Beach County Park campsite.  Doug is the oldest son of my Dad’s younger sister, Doris Ann (who we called Aunt Sister).  He’s worked for Dow Chemical for over 30 years and is getting ready to retire the end of this year.  After giving Doug the “nickel tour” of our motorhome, we then spent a couple hours sitting outside just catching up on our lives.  He and his wife, Beke, just bought a new 5^th-wheel and are planning on doing some traveling of their own next year after he retires.  We promised to stay in touch and hopefully meet up somewhere down the road as we continue our full-time RV lifestyle.  While Doug had also arranged for a mini-reunion with more of the Texas Metzers for Saturday, he and Beke wanted to take us out to dinner Friday night.  It appears our stay in this part of Texas was looking good.

Me and my cousin, Doug (apologize for the lousy pic...flash wasn't working properly)

Friday, 9 November.  Doug and Beke picked us up at our campground around 5:15 and we headed out for dinner.  On the way Doug showed us some of the sights in this part of the country, including several of the large petro-chemical plants.  Dow’s Plant B – which we saw on the way back to our campground after dinner – is the largest chemical plant in the world. We had a great dinner at Giovanni's Italian Kitchen in nearby Angleton.  This is obviously one of the area’s more popular eating establishments because if Doug had not made reservations, I’m not sure we would have eaten dinner much before midnight.  Okay, an exaggeration, but the place was indeed crowded. Giovanni's turned out to have wonderful food, good service, and reasonable prices.  Toss in some great company and conversaton and you have the makings for a wonderful evening.  Thanks a whole bunch much, Doug & Beke!  We had a really great time.

P.S.  Oh, Beke, just to let you know: The red wine came out of my shirt just fine.  I'm just glad it was Doug's glass of wine and not mine!  Sorry, had to mention it -- Love ya'!

Doug and his lovely wife, Beke - What charming hosts!

Quintana, Texas - Entry Way to the Gulf

Quintana, Texas: 7-13 November 2012.  Quintana is an island (~100 permanent residents) located between the mouth of the Old Brazos and New Brazos Rivers on the Gulf of Mexico, about 90 minutes southeast of Houston. The town is a non-commercialized, beautiful, natural family beach and also home to wildlife and a bird sanctuary. It offers six miles of beautiful, natural sand beaches.  Our campground, Quintana Beach County Park (QBCP), and Bryan Beach State Park are both located on the island. QBCP is a unique, 50-acre park offering large, paved RV campsites, and clean, but rustic restrooms and showers. Elevated wooden boardwalks provide a view of the Gulf of Mexico and the dunes. Historical homes, pavilions, and a miles of pedestrian beach offer plenty of room to hike, explore, or fly a kite, which we saw several people doing while we were there. Boating facilities, a fishing pier and numerous grassy areas are also available for tent campers or day visitors.

Quintana campground boardwalk; campground in the background

Quintana beach area, with campground buildings in the background

Quintana's history dates back to 1528 when survivors of a Spanish expedition/search party looking for Montezuma's gold were adrift and dying of thirst when they noticed some muddy water flowing into the Gulf.  The water was drinkable and the explorers followed the current to the mouth of the river calling it Los Brazos de Dios, the Arms of God.  Later, Stephen F. Austin's colonists landed the schooner Lively here in 1821.  Austin was commissioned to lay out the town in 1833 and named it after a General Quintana, a deputy minister in the Mexican Government, who was sympathetic to Austin's efforts to colonize this part of Texas.  Quintana prospered and became a popular resort for plantation owners who built huge summer homes on the beach.

During the Civil War a confederate fort guarded the mouth of the Brazos.  During the last decade of the 19^th century the population increased dramatically as a result of work on a harbor and jetties and other improvements related to a deep-water port, and Quintana was incorporated in 1891.  During the last 100 years, however, six hurricanes have leveled nearly every structure and at least two major outbreaks of yellow fever and cholera kept Quintana's population in check.  The 1915 hurricane turned the area into a ghost town.

During WWII, the gun mounds at the base of shipping canal – now within QBCP’s lands – were erected to protect Dow's nearby magnesium plant.  Guns were placed atop the mounds to protect the defense plant from aircraft, warships and submarines. 

WWII gun emplacement, looking out at the Gulf of Mexico

View of same gun from our campsite

Our campsite with WWII gun in the distance

Another view of our campsite, looking toward the Gulf

With the jetties intact, it was now possible to maintain dredged water depths, opening the way for modern shipping.  The discovery of sulphur nearby paved the way for the first of the local chemical industries.  But flooding of the river could no longer be tolerated and in 1929 the Army Corps of Engineers dug a new channel to the Gulf and the old river was sealed three miles above the mouth.  At about the same time the Intracoastal Waterway – which runs all the way to Florida – was also completed, turning Quintana into a man-made island. 

Lonely roads, excellent mesquite-smoked brisket, and finally the Gulf!

Monday, 5 November.  Left Santa Fe for Roswell and Carlsbad, NM, at about 9am…oops, I mean 10am, once we factored in Daylight Savings Time (DST).  Got a later start than we’d hoped for since we had almost 300 miles to cover today.  We did manage to stop in Roswell to visit the International UFO Museum & Research Center.  Did some early Christmas shopping at their gift store for the grandkids…pretty neat stuff.  Fairly laid-back museum, with most of it a re-hash of the Roswell incident. Kinda neat, though; lots of neat displays and old newspaper coverage from the mid-1950’s.  Finally arrived in Carlsbad mid-afternoon; spent an overnighter in a very nice campground, Carlsbad RV Park and Campground, on NM Hiway 180, just a mile or so off Hiway 285.  Very clean, well-maintained, close to amenities.

Tuesday, 6 November.  Left Carlsbad at about 8:30 and crossed into the Great State of Texas…and realized we’d “lost” another travel hour since we’d crossed into the Central Time Zone.  And we already had another long day ahead of us, right at 330 miles to Junction, Texas.  West Texas is as boring as we remember it.  Straight-as-an-arrow roads, whether it was on 285 (we took this sometimes two-lane, sometimes four-lane highway all the way from Santa Fe to Ft Stockton, Texas….mainly pretty good road) or I-10, which we caught at Ft Stockton.  In this part of West Texas, I-10 is pretty good interstate, but very straight.  It’s also one of the most rural interstate highways in Texas, with classic desert landscapes, large rock cuts that allow the interstate to continue to go straight ahead, the largest windmill farm in Texas, and loads of oil drills dotting the landscape.  Another thing we noticed immediately upon entering I-10 at Ft. Stockton was the speed limit: 80mph.  We’d seen 75mph out in South Dakota, but not 80mph.  And believe me, lots of cars were traveling I-10 well in excess of the speed limit.  I put the Winnebago’s cruise control on 65 and we made quite nice time, thank you very much.

View of I-10 East, somewhere in West Texas

We arrived at our campground in Junction at the North Llano River RV Park, "where exceptional service meets genuine Texas hospitality" -- and I have to admit, the camp staff was indeed mighty friendly -- around 3:30pm.  Very nice campground right on the river (which was dry, BTW), on the smallish side, but it came with Wi-Fi, cable, a well-stocked camp store, and large campsites, each with its own patio.  Like I said, pretty nice campground for out in the middle of virtually nowhere.  And Junction is pretty much that.  Once set up, we headed out for some dinner.  Our camp hosts had recommended a local BBQ place, Lums Bar-B-Q that was supposed to be quite good. It scored 4.0 to 4.5 on a 5.0 scale on several websites.  The folks  at Lums mesquite-smoke all their meats and we could smell the wonderful woodsy odors as we walked toward the front door.

Brisket plate at Lums

I ordered the brisket plate and Lynette got the smoked turkey plate – and we were definitely not disappointed.  The brisket was lean and so tender I could pull it apart with my hands. It was very moist and had a nice but not overwhelming smoke flavor. The smoked turkey was also good, but not quite as moist.  We each got the potato salad and pinto beans as our sides.  The servings were quite ample, so we had plenty to bring back for our lunch stop tomorrow.  If traveling in Texas via I-10, make Junction a stopover and eat at Lums.  Guarantee you’ll not be disappointed.

Wednesday, 7 November.  We left Junction around 9:00am and headed east on I-10 toward San Antonio.  I spent over 10 years in Texas when I was in the Air Force, with 6 of them in the Alamo City.  Over the years we both have agreed that San Antonio is a great city and one of our favorites.  Rather than driving thru San Antonio city center via I-10, we opted to skirt the major part of the city by taking the 1604 Outer Loop.  Last time we were here, 1604 was pretty much a rural loop road that circled San Antonio and its Inner Loop, 410, with very little build-up, either residential or commercial. No more.  As we headed east and then south to pick up I-10 to Houston on San Antonio’s southeastern side, we saw loads of new development – commercial and residential.  Big surprise for us.

We finally found ourselves past San Antonio with only a 3-hr drive to the Houston area ahead of us.  We were headed for Brazoria County, about 90-minutes southwest of Houston, where my cousin Doug lives.  Our campground for the next few days will be the Quintana County Park, near Freeport, which sits right on the Gulf of Mexico.  We turned off I-10 just past Sealy and headed south on Texas Hiway 36.  Turned out to be a decent road, two-lanes, but good road.  Went thru several small towns before driving over two high bridges to reach Freeport and then Quintana a couple miles further.  The county park sits at the end of the road, so to speak, and as I mentioned, sits right on the Gulf.

After getting settled into our campsite (photo above), we decided to take a quick walk on the beach before nightfall.  We managed about a 30 minute walk along the beach before watching the sun set for the day.  We’re one of a handful of motorhomes/trailers in the campground, so we should have the run of the campground pretty much to ourselves – at least until the weekend. 

Plan to contact my cousin tomorrow morning to let him know that we’ve arrived safe-and-sound and then make arrangements to get together for a visit, probably on Saturday.  Weather is supposed to be pretty nice: partly sunny to partly cloudy each day, with highs in the mid-to-high 70’s – and no rain in the forecast.  Looking forward to the visit with my cousin and also some quiet beach time.  More later…..

Something for the Grandkids...and others if they like

Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 2012.  Greetings to my Grandkids: Granddaughters Skye and Rayne, and grandsons, Ben and Luke.  Now, I know Skye and Rayne check our travel blog from time to time, and a "little birdie" told me that Ben also reads my blog.  And I bet little Luke would check it, too, if he could read. Anyway, Grandma and I have been visiting and sightseeing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the past few days, and are really enjoying ourselves.  This is a great place to visit.  Beautiful southwestern scenery, with red rock formations, stunning sunsets and clear night skies with thousands of stars shinning brightly, and outstanding weather. Lots of sunshine, warm temperatures, and cool nights.  There's also some "desert" scenery, usually with cactus and lots of sand.  A couple days ago we drove into the old historic part of Santa Fe, called The Plaza.  This old town square has oodles of shops and art galleries.  And many of these art galleries decorate the outside of their building with statues and sculptures.  Most of them are made out of bronze, a type of metal, and many of them are really funny.  I took dozens of photos and decided to put them on a blog entry just for my grandchildren.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did.  I put a title on each photo; see if you can think of a better one.  Let me know what you think, okay?  Lots of love and hugs to each of you.  We miss you and love you so very, very much.  We should be seeing you shortly as we make our way back to the East Coast.   Can't wait to see you guys!  Love, PaPa

Two Bears Napping After Lunch

Here Piggy, Piggy

Sleepy Hound Dog

Indian Warrior with Rifle

Listen, little sister, this is how it is.

Kids at Play at the Beach

Pretty Girl with Flower Basket

Children Playing in a Pond

Ring Around the Rosie

Swing Me, Swing Me!

I Love to Swing...and pick flowers at the same time!

And here's the last photo for this blog entry...a very fierce looking Dragon.  He was actually taller than PaPa. Can anyone come up with a title?

Santa Fe -- Adobe architecture, good food, and wonderful weather

Sunday, 4 November.  We've been staying in Santa Fe for the past several days, sightseeing, eating some excellent New Mexican food, and enjoying the wonderful fall weather in this part of the country. Our campground at the Trailer Ranch RV Park and 55+ community was perfect for our sightseeing plans in the Santa Fe and Taos areas.

Lynette and Obi pose at the campground's "chuck wagon" at park entrance 

One of the first things one notices upon arriving in Santa Fe is how low the buildings are, and how well these structures blend in with the high-desert surroundings. Santa Fe sits at 7000-ft above sea level and is situated at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mts, the southern end of the Rockies. Adapting to the thinner air can take a day or two (as I found out first-hand), so drinking lots of liquids (water, not margaritas) to stay hydrated is highly recommended.   Santa Fe's architecture style relies virtually wholeheartedly on adobe, a very durable material used for centuries in the southwest by the native population to construct this area's many pueblos.  Adobe is produced by combining sand, clay, water, and some type of organic matter like straw or sticks.  Our first sightseeing trip took us straight into the heart, or epicenter, of downtown Santa Fe, its historic Plaza.  Many of the towns shops and boutiques -- and numerous art galleries -- are centered around two shopping areas: the Santa Fe Arcade and the Plaza Mercado.  If you're like or are interested in buying southwestern jewelry -- especially turquoise --  Santa Fe is a great place to shop.  Before hitting any shops/boutiques or art galleries, we decided to visit several of the town's historic landmarks located in-and-around the Plaza.  First up was the stately Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The Cathedral and its grounds are simply magnificent.  The architecture is a combination of southwestern adobe and incredible stained glass from France, along with local stone from the Santa Fe region. There was a mass going on while we were there, so we were only able to view the chapel proper from behind glass windows in the foyer.  Still, the cavernous chapel was an impressive, beautiful sight.

As we walked around the outside of the Cathedral, we noticed several larger-than-life statues of various church-related figures, including, of course, St. Francis of Assisi.

However, the one statue that really made an impression on me was of an Indian woman, Kateri Tekakwitha, depicted in beautiful bronze in front of the Cathedral. For me, this statue depicting a beautiful Native American woman with a serene face -- and adorned with turquoise jewelry and holding eagle feathers -- was almost magical as it loomed over the entire entry way into the Cathedral.  Santa Fe’s Archbishop commissioned this statue of Kateri, also known as the Lily of the Mohawks, to honor the Native American spirit.

Lynette posing with Kateri to show size comparison

Close up of Kateri statue 

After touring the Cathedral, we headed for the Palace of Governors, the oldest continuously occupied public building in the US.  The Plaza Mercado area in front of the Palace of Governors plays host to any number of Native American vendors offering a variety of handmade jewelry and souvenirs, as well as local art.

We left the Mercado and headed for one of the many museums in the Plaza area we both wanted to see, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.  We probably spent a good 90 minutes walking among the art works of this very unique artist who had a special place in her heart for the Southwest. O'Keeffe held a lifelong passion for nature and felt a particular kinship and spiritual connection with the southwestern landscape. She drew great inspiration from the southwest environment often found in her richly-colored paintings of flowers, trees, plants, and of course, landscape.  Here's a couple of my favorite works we saw at the Museum.

Once we left the O'Keeffe Museum, we started looking for a place to grab a bite to eat.  Our campground hosts had suggested a place called The Shed, just off the Plaza, as a good restaurant.  As we made our way back to the Plaza, we did some window shopping and ducked in and out of several art galleries and jewelry shops.  If visiting this part of Santa Fe, keep in mind that much of the shopping is very upscale, meaning its quite expensive.  Nice stuff, but fairly pricey.  We finally found The Shed and since it was once again such nice weather, ate lunch on their outside patio. Our drinks?  Margaritas, of course, and our drink of choice, it seems, while we've been in the southwest.  I found another prickly pear margarita on their menu and it was once again excellent.  I've got to find some of that prickly pear juice so I can make my own!

After lunch we continued our tour of Santa Fe's downtown area, all of which is within about an eight block square area.  Adobe architecture is THE architecture style for this part of Santa Fe, from shops and boutiques to state government buildings to landmarks.  As we walked down one street than another, into one shop and another, we suddenly found ourselves in a very historic location: the Old Santa Fe Trail and historic Route 66.  What a deal!  Course, I just had to snap a photo of it.

Another landmark in downtown Santa Fe that shouldn't be missed is the 134-year old Loretto Chapel, known for its "miraculous staircase" -- a spiral stairway built by a mysterious carpenter.  The staircase has two 360-degree turns and no nails or screws (wooden pegs only) for support.  The chapel is believed to be the first Gothic-style structure west of the Mississippi.  The Sisters of Loretto had the chapel built in the 1870's, but found out it had a design flaw: there was no way to get to the choir loft from the chapel.  Local carpenters couldn't find a solution because of the size constraints of the small chapel. So the Sisters sought divine guidance and made a Novena to their patron saint, St. Joseph the Carpenter.  As legend has it, a mysterious carpenter showed up to design and construct a circular staircase to the choir loft.  His only tools were a saw, a carpenter's square, a hammer, and tubs to soak the wood.  When the staircase was completed, the carpenter disappeared without seeking any payment.  Quite a story and legend.  I'm not sure if my photos caught the true nature of the staircase, but it is impressive.  The Loretto Chapel itself is small, but very picturesque, and fits right in with the Santa Fe adobe architecture.

Outside of Loretto Chapel

Altar inside Loretto Chapel

By the time we finished visiting the Loretto Chapel, we were just about out of energy, plus my bad knee was really starting to act up.  So we made the wise decision to come back tomorrow and head up Santa Fe's Canyon Road (the road begins just off the Plaza area), renowned for not only its numerous art galleries but also home to dealers of fine leather goods, jewelry ranging from Southwestern to contemporary, and chic home furnishings.

Our sightseeing trip into the Canyon Road galleries and shops was once again accented by some wonderful weather.  Low 70's, clear blue sky, and just a slight breeze.  Our first gallery stop was at the Barbara Meikle Fine Art gallery.  I'm familiar with her art since I've seen it before in other galleries and also in catalogs.  Bright, bold colors generally depict Barbara's surroundings, this high desert area, and the animals that inhabit it.  Barbara just happened to be her gallery this day -- a special treat for us -- and we chatted for several minutes.  A very pleasant woman who obviously enjoys her profession and the Santa Fe area.  She even brought out some of her art that was not actually on display for us to see.  Here's a shot of Barbara's gallery and a couple of my favorite pieces -- very distinctive style.

We spent the next three hours bopping in and out of several more galleries and shops/boutiques, and I couldn't help noticing the use of either life-size or large-than-life statues and sculptures, usually made of bronze, to decorate the outside areas of the galleries.  I must have taken dozens of photos of these statues.   I've included some of my favorites below; very distinctive, and very expensive.  I've also saved some of the  "cuter" photos for my grandkids, since they're following the blog, too.  Except for little Luke who is still too young to read...but can certainly look at the photos.  These photos will be included in a follow-on blog entry for the grandkids, but feel free to also peruse that blog entry.  These sculptures were really neat to see as we walked up and down Canyon Road.

One other gallery I'd like to mention that we visited is the Frank Howell gallery.  My sister, Sandi, clued me in to Howell's art a number of years ago.  She has several of his Native American-themed pieces that are just out-of-this-world.  Very impressive.  So, I knew I had to drop by his gallery -- and we certainly weren't disappointed.  In addition to several Howell pieces of art, the works of several other artists were also on display.  Howell's work, whether original or in serigraph form, although quite expensive, does seem to increase in value as the years go by.  That said, I did find a serigraph I thought we could afford and then store it until we finish with our full-time traveling and are in a home or condo.  Alas, my idea was met with a very strong veto, so I'll have to do with the pics.  Someday, though, someday.   Here are a couple beautiful examples of Howell's work.  Howell has become one of my favorite artists; really love his style.

"Visitation"

"White Hummingbird"

So that's pretty much our Santa Fe sightseeing; we came away very impressed with the area and the weather is simply outstanding for this time of year.  Our one-day trip up to Taos (about 90 minutes away) was really a "bust" since the famous Taos Pueblo -- the oldest continuously occupied pueblo in the US -- was closed.  Not sure why, although one shop owner in Taos said it was closed for cleaning.  Guess with all the tourists coming and going they need some "down time" to keep things neat and clean.  Didn't do us much good, sigh.....  We did manage to have a great lunch on the Taos Plaza and also had some success doing some Christmas shopping.  So it wasn't all a total loss.  We traveled to/from Taos through the Kit Carson National Forest, which offered some different landscape to look at beside the desert southwest.  I did manage to "catch" some of the desert landscape area between Santa Fe and Taos as we exited the forest area.  Interesting formations.

Before ending this blog entry, thought I might share a photo with everyone that shows just how friendly the folks are here in Santa Fe.  Lynette snapped this photo of me outside an art gallery posing with some new friends. And let me tell you --- these guys/gals just love to dance!

So, that's more or less closes the book on Santa Fe and New Mexico.  But believe me, we are coming back. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we're off to Carlsbad, NM, on our way to southeastern Texas for a mini-reunion with some of the Texas Metzers.  Really looking forward to that.  On our way to Carlsbad we'll be driving through Roswell -- yes, THAT Roswell of UFO fame.  Located right in Roswell is the International UFO Museum and Research Center. With an earlier than usual start, we're hoping we can stop and visit/tour this museum on our way to Roswell.  More on that later.  And with that, I say Adios New Mexico -- Texas here we come!