Not exactly.  We are in a smaller town that does not appear on this map named Fulton, TX, which is just to the North of Rockport.  While it appears that we are right on the Gulf of Mexico, there is actually a barrier island to our East called San Jose Island which has the effect of making the waters quite calm in this area, Aransas Bay.  We will be spending about a month here before heading West where we will spend a bit of time in Del Rio, home of Laughlin AFB (pilot training facility) and near Lake Amistad where several of our group are hoping for some good fishing.  We have only a few photos from this area so far.

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!

The Alamo, the Tower of the Americas and Paseo del Rio

We are nearing the end of our San Antonio adventures and will be heading toward the Gulf Coast tomorrow.  While in this area, it was our great pleasure to spend a little time and share a nice dinner with some folks that I had not seen since my days in Okinawa.  While that time may have been many years ago, there were aspects of the visit that made it seem as though no time had passed at all.

Our touring in the city consisted of a visit to the Alamo, several walks and a boat ride along the River Walk (or is it Riverwalk?), a stroll through what was the HemisFair '68 grounds (the 1968 World's Fair which was under construction while I was at Lackland AFB), a visit to the National Cemetary at Fort Sam Houston and an excellent meal while enjoying vistas from near the top of the Tower of the Americas.

Photos of the Alamo and Paseo can be found at this link, while more of the walk, the tower and the fair grounds can be found here.  Also, the following are links to information about the San Antonio sites:The Alamo Mission
Tower of the Americas
HemisFair '68
Paseo del Rio

Cowboys and Christmas Lights

Our last full day in the Dallas area was spent mostly spent in a tour of the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, home of the Dallas Cowboys.  We're certainly not the biggest football fans, but there is no doubt that the stadium is impressive and we are including a whole bunch of photos here to give you some idea of what we saw.  Our tour guide, Bob, made the whole thing so much more interesting by providing all sorts of facts and stories about the building of the structure.  For instance, the construction started as one huge hole since the actual playing surface is located about 50 feet below street level and the area immediately surrounding the field is large enough to easily accomodate tractor-trailers.

On our trip from Sanger, TX, toward the San Antonio area, we stayed for two nights at a place called the Hofbrau RV Park in Marble Falls, TX.  Thanx to recommendations by our host, we enjoyed an outstanding meal at the Blue Bonnet
Cafe in town and then had a nice walk along the river through a display of Christmas lights which are also shown in the photos.

We are now in Boerne which is just 30 miles or so from the Alamo which will be one of the subjects of our next blog entry.

Sanger and Dallas, TX

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

 

Over the last several days, we have been enjoying our short stay in this part of North Texas.  The weather is improving and it appears that we will be a bit further South before the next round of cold weather rolls in.  Thanks to our hosts, Ken and Janet Woolston (owners of the Wagon Master RV Park) and other residents' contributions, we had an excellent Thanksgiving dinner here at the park with Pat and Deb contributing their pies and pumpkin rolls to the event.

On Friday we visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and viewed some incredible displays of this very significant period in U.S. history.  No matter where you may find yourself in the political spectrum, there is much to be learned and absorbed in visiting this facility and we were quite moved by the experience.

Wagon Master and Museum photos available here.

A delightful surprise on Saturday was taking the word of locals and paying a visit to Babe's Chicken House for a great meal served in the family style which included a variety of chicken preparations as well as other goodies all made on site.  Here is a link to more information about Babe's. 

Here at the park we were introduced to "Horse Apples" or "Osage Oranges" which you can learn about by clicking here.  We've also enjoyed seeing the Alpacas and their protector, Gus (photos).