Mini Vacay

First vacation since the pandemic started! Whee! 

 

J and I did a little San Antone trip- mostly restaurant experiences, since we've pretty much covered the San Antonio area over the last three decades or so. I also introduced him to La Panaderia and their friggin' amazing tequila almond croissant.

We did go to Fort Sam one afternoon to visit the US Army Medical Museum and the Quadrangle. You have to do a few cartwheels to get on base these days, but the stop at the visitor center prior to entry is relatively painless. You need a driver's license, proof of car insurance and a photo of your car registration sticker to get a pass. 

 

The outdoor area of the Quad is so pretty! There is a story (not true) that the deer were introduced to the space when Geronimo and other Apache prisoners were there in the late 1800's, so they could hunt and eat them, since they didn't like the army food. The Quadrangle is a large space, but not THAT large. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel! Ha! 

 

There were no deer around when we were there. It's a closed space, so I'm not sure where they were hiding.

 

There is a very dense population of large birds, including tons of regular and white peacocks, along with geese and ducks. Since you can feed them, they will approach you, curious if you have something for them. They're slow though, and not aggressive. The peacocks are so loud. Oh, and keep an eye up, because PEACOCKS ARE IN THE TREES, Y'ALL.

I was walking under this gigantic tree when a squawk came from overhead. There were a few up there at the time. Freaky! I had no idea they hung out in trees.

 

The small Fort Sam Houston Museum is in the Quad, and worth a walk-through as well.

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Mistaken Identity

 

"I don't even know where the hole for this is." Bwahaha! Love the leather.

 

Jeff mentioned the other day that Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx are married. WHAT? When did this happen? I'm a pop news junkie, for goodness' sake. How did I miss this?

 

Me: Wait wait wait. Isn't Daisy Fuentes married to the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails?

Jeff (NOT into pop news, Googling...): Trent Reznor?

Me: That doesn't sound right. I mean, yes, he is the lead singer, but it must be another band.

Jeff: No. She is married to Richard Marx.

Me: But she used to be married to a musician with leather pants and tattoos... 

Jeff: *shows me a photo of Daisy and Richard*

Me: Oh. That's not her. The lady I'm thinking of is less "girl next door." Maybe an MTV personality? CARMEN ELECTRA! That's who I'm thinking you said was married to Richard Marx.

Jeff: Totally different person.

Me: Yeah.

We went to Fredericksburg today with KathyL. Bought peaches at Jenschke's and had lunch at Altstadt Brewery. Visited Wildseed Farms. Good times!

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No Masks for the Fully Vaccinated!

Your favorite Greek-Italian-American chef, Michael Symon, just said gyro as "jigh-ro" instead of the Greek pronunciation. WHAAAAA?? He says he goes back and forth. Mind blown, y'all.

 

Well, it's official- CDC says masks are no longer required for fully vaccinated people! Yahoo!!!! Finally! Businesses can still require them, but it should be changing soon, even in Austin. Unvaccinated people should continue wearing their masks (if they were wearing them to start with).

We're getting to the end of The Challenge: Double Agents. It's really gotten wacky now. My favorite moment of this season so far was Devin "pulling a Josh" after JUST absolutely destroying Josh for missing the helicopter rope during a mission. I used to find Devin completely obnoxious, but this season especially, he is hilarious.

Jeff took Friday off and we drove off to Blanco to get out of the house. Stopped at Peyton Colony on the way. It's a ghost town founded by freed slaves, with a couple of historical markers and a little Baptist church that has been continuously active since the late 1800s. We took a walk through Blanco's city park off the town square, which has some heeeUGE trees and about a million squirrels. Very pretty! Bought some jerky in Johnson City on the way back.

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Palmettos

Had a great Mother's Day weekend! We drove out to Palmetto State Park near Gonzales on Saturday. It's very shady/swampy, so it was nice in the dry heat. Later summer days at 104 with 1000% humidity, probably not so much. I had never seen palmettos, and didn't think we would have something like them in Texas, but there ya' go. Very cool!

 

Texas Monthly did an interesting write up about the park. I didn't know it is home to "a hairy biped called the Ottine Swamp Thing." Also, otters? Wow!! We didn't see either of those, but we did catch two gigantic black birds hanging out in a tree together on the Interpretive Trail.

 

Here is the other-worldy landscape. The light green is algae covering the water...

 

Afterwards, we tried to visit the Gonzales Museum (with the famous "Come and Take It" cannon), but it was closed. Too bad! Visited Santa Anna Mound, but it wasn't worth the time.

 

We watched The Mitchells vs. the Machines on Sunday. It is really good. Movies during the plague have mostly sucked, but this is a winner for family viewing. 

We also finished Season 35 of The Challenge, and started Season 36: Double Agents. Whee! This most recent season has so many twists and turns, your head never stops spinning. The rookies are putting all the vets up, so vets are falling like flies.

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No Banging in 2020

A German news outlet on Facebook posted a story about a possible cancellation of New Year's Eve fireworks. The translated version asked, "Can you do without banging this year?" Ahahaa.

We finished watching Long Way Up, the docuseries with Ewan McGregor and his best buddy Charley motorcycling from Argentina to LA. Now we're watching Long Way Around, their first motorcycle trip from London eastward to New York City. (Loving the series! There is also a second season, Long Way Down from Scotland to South Africa.) At one point in Long Way Around, they are drinking fermented camel milk, and Ewan says it tastes like homemade yogurt... that's been carbonated. Ack! And LOL.

Did I mention I finished playing The Witness? Yes! Great game, but I have to say I found the ending to be most unsatisfying. I did have an expectation of one particular thing happening at the end, that didn't happen at all, so maybe it was just disappointing to me, but I'd love to find out what others thought.

The Travis County weekly public health update is on right now and Mayor Adler is constantly on mute. So funny. Oh, and we're back to Stage 4 restrictions, not that it means anything different for our household, since we have remained pretty locked down since March. 

 

How some people have made a pandemic into a political and/or religious issue is beyond my understanding. (That is the nicest way I could phrase that, I think!) Crazy times.

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La Grange Road Trip

We took a trip out to the Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery historical sites in La Grange this weekend. The view from Monument Hill is GORGEOUS-  straight down to the big ol' Colorado River and overlooking the town of La Grange. Just wow!

There is a tall, pretty monument and a tomb containing the remains of Texian militia killed in Dawson's Massacre and The Black Bean Death Lottery there on the hill.

Near the memorial is the Kreische home, built in the mid-1800's, which has tours, which I didn't know and really wish I had been able to do!! GAH. Anyhoo... Around the bend from the house is a ravine, where the ruins of Texas' first commercial brewery, the Kreische Brewery, are found. You can tour that as well, but we just observed it from the overlook.

All very interesting and a must-see if you're traveling between San Antonio, Houston and/or Austin. They have a Trail of Lights there in December, which sounds like a neat event.

We also met a little friend!

We stopped at the Berdoll pecan store on Hwy 71 on the way home, which we've never done in all our travels through that piece of road. Got some sausage and a famous Berdoll Pecan Pie, well, actually chocolate pecan, because... chocolate. It is almost ALL pecan (and chocolate) pieces, with very minimal "goo," for those of us who don't enjoy pecan pie goo. There's barely enough goo to hold the nuts together, which is perfect!

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Fredericksburg Weekend

We went to Fredericksburg with Cathy and George for the weekend. Supah-fun!

On the way, we stopped in Luckenbach. We probably could have missed it, to be honest. If there was a concert or something, I think it could be cool. We landed there with a bus load of tourists who were just sitting around staring at each other at the tables outside. It's tiny, which is the point, but it's just more commercial/touristy than the typical historical places we like to go. Still, a concert would probably be great!

We ate at a local Italian place in Fredericksburg Friday night. It was good, but the most significant thing was finding out that there is a modern Fredericksburg just outside the historical/touristy Main Street! Who. Knew.

Saturday we did the Main Street thang, hitting all the stores. Ate lunch at Jennie's Smoked Burgers and Tornado Fries. VERY good. The smoky burger is really different and delicious. The tornado fries are spiraled potato on a stick, fried in a fryer and seasoned. Yum.

We went out to the gorgeous Altstadt Brewery and tasted several of their beers. What a beautiful place to have a wedding or other event. We especially liked their Alt, and also a subvariant of their Kolsch, which was available on the tasting menu. Their restaurant menu looks divine, but we headed back to town that night for dinner at The Auslander. Everything was good at The Auslander, including their Opa's sausage, schweineschnitzel and the apple streudel.

They are building a Texas Rangers Museum outside of town, which will be a lot bigger than the one in Waco. It's right next to Fort Martin Scott on Main.

We stayed at the Fredericksburg Inn and Suites, which I recommend whole-heartedly. The inn is on Baron's Creek, just a block off Main, near the Nimitz Museum. The rooms are modern, clean and comfortable. Free fountain drinks are available in the historic Sunday House, 24/7. They have the typical hotel free breakfast. There are tons of cool little seating areas around the grounds, for groups large and small. Really nice place.

Cathy's stories are always entertaining, sometimes because they have a random surprise element towards the end. She was telling us about her mom's new boyfriend, and that Mom is moving out of Cathy's place to live with a female roommate.

Me: Why isn't she moving in with the new boyfriend?
Cathy: Probably because he's married.

Ha! Ahh!

Later, she was talking about her cousin who quit her job and went with her husband to Las Vegas to gamble on a big future with their gambling winnings. Then they ran out of money and started calling family members to send them more money.

Me: What does her husband do?
Cathy: I don't know. I do know he's a cross-dresser.

You really have to stop drinking when she's telling a story, or risk spitting your drink across the table.

Good times!

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That's All, Brother

When you moved in middle school, it's very strange to watch your high school friends reminisce over elementary school photos. People you know very well...  talking about years of stuff you weren't a part of. So weird. (Although, it is superfun to see them when they were little kids. Awwwww!)

We watched the super-duper wolfie moon over at Scott-n-Julie's Sunday night. Scott has a telescope, so that was very cool. We even stayed up past our bedtimes!

A Star is Born got some great Oscar noms. I guess we'll get to see Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper sing "Shallow" live. YAAAAAAY! I haven't seen The Wife or Vice yet, so I need to do that.

We went to the Commemorative Air Force Central Texas Wing hangar in San Marcos a few weeks ago, on one of our day trips. That is a cool place. You can even ride in some of the old airplanes for a fee. The museum (the door is along the back wall) has a lot of interesting items to peruse as well, so don't miss it.

One of the volunteers let us go inside That's All, Brother, the lead plane carrying paratroopers into France on D-Day. Amazing. The aircraft was discovered in Wisconsin in 2015, and brought here to restore. It's got just a few small details remaining, and will take part in 75th D-Day anniversary activities in Europe this summer.

Inside That's All, Brother

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Wednesday

Got a message from Grant the other day, out of the blue. Just two photos of him, posing with a duck on his shoulder. Grant and I are the kind of old friends who send birthday cards to each other and text or email maybe once a year, so to start a text conversation with random photos, instead of "Hey! Check out my new pet!" was a clue that these photos were probably sent to me inadvertently.

Grant and I chatted a bit, and then I told Jeff about it. Jeff said, "Well at least it wasn't an unsolicited d* pic."

No. It was an unsolicited DUCK PIC.

Bwahahaa.

Jeff and I had margs at Curra's with Doug and his mom last weekend. She is still a firecracker, like she always was! It was fun to see them together again.

In other news, we saw A Star is Born, like a million years ago now, and Lady Gaga is SO talented. Holy moly. I mean, we knew it already, but she is amazing in this film. Bradley Cooper, also fabulous. I hope "Shallow" gets an Oscar nom!

We also saw Green Book, which I loved. Such a relevant movie for these times. It is very raw and real. The honesty is refreshing. And you'll be smiling at the end, which is nice.

Finally did our weekend in Waco with Scott-n-Julie. It was fun fun! We made it to the Waco Mammoth National Monument. It was VERY cool. Learned a lot. They may start digging there again soon.

We went to a museum with a John James Audubon exhibit. We've had great luck getting museum curators and directors telling us stories during our trips, and this one was no different. The lady told us how she accidentally ended up with a very rare print. Ask questions at museums! The real stories are behind the scenes.

Sorry to say, I wasn't very impressed with Magnolia Market. It's just a store, and it is packed to the gills with people, making it impossible to see everything. I would have bought a giant clock, but there is no way I could have fit it into the car was going to stand in that line.

We went to the Spice Village, which I liked a lot. There are a lot of neat things for sale there. Many stores in town have "Magnolia-like" merch that you can buy for less money and hassle than at Magnolia. At one of those stores, I wanted to get a retired red wine barrel for my in-laws' back patio (they're wine people), but wasn't sure how to get it home or to Frisco. Cool item though!

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Eagle Pass Road Trip

But first... I use a small, retractable key reel, attached to my purse handle, for my house key, so I don't have to dig around my purse for keys when I get home. Just pull and unlock. Bam.

There are some really cute ones, about .75 inches diameter, at an Etsy shop called Made On Terra, out of California. I have the dragonfly one, and just ordered the Tree of Life. I've used mine a lot for about a year and it's just now starting to stick a little when retracting. Check 'em out! Search for "lanyard belt" to see the little retractable key rings with clasps to attach to things.

Went on an overnight road trip to Eagle Pass with Scott-n-Julie last weekend! We drove Hwy 165 from Henly to Blanco (one of our old faves) and drove through The Swiss Alps of Texas, a famous loop with amazing hills and valleys. Jeff and I had never been there. It is SO green compared to our area right now. Just breathtaking.

We stopped in Medina at The Apple Store. (Not THE Apple Store. The fruit kind.) We wanted to pick apples at their Love Creek Orchards, but our schedule was tight and I don't think there were any available for picking anyway at the time. (Call ahead to check!) So we had burgers at their cafe, which were recognized as one of The 50 Greatest Burgers in Texas in 2016 in an issue of Texas Monthly. They were REALLY good. The soft bun was my favorite part, but the burger is perfect. They also have soft-serve apple ice cream and apple pie, if you're so inclined. Also excellent.

Went to UT's Briscoe-Garner Museum in Uvalde, at Vice President (during FDR's first two terms) John "Cactus Jack" Garner's home. That's a neat place! Lots of info about Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (in the 70s) and VP Garner. We love small town museums. You would be amazed what they have at these places. Surprisingly cool. And you can get closer to things than you can in large city museums... even touch some stuff! We liked this museum. Worth the stop.

We made our way to Eagle Pass, checked in to the hotel and then headed to Lucky Eagle Casino. Scott was very lucky that night and only lost $50 out of the $200 he wagered at the slots. Julie, Jeff and I each lost the $20 we wagered at the slots. My twenty bucks was gone in about 3 minutes. Not even kidding. I'm a video poker girl, if I gamble at all, since I feel like it gives the longest play time per dollar. Lucky Eagle only has a few video poker machines, all at the two bars in the middle of the casino.

We had dinner at a casino restaurant, Sage. We tried everything from pasta to short ribs, and it was all great.

The people in Eagle Pass were very friendly, without exception. They couldn't have been nicer. May have been the casino drinks, but definitely happy, talkative folks.

We drove along the Rio Grande on the way out Sunday morning, but you can't see the river from the highway because there is a lot of brush blocking the view. There are dirt roads through the trees, but Scott advised us not to go there, because they are border patrol roads. Okie doke then!

Had Sunday lunch on the way back in Castroville at The Alsatian Restaurant. Delicious! They have German fare, along with French and American food, and artisan pizza. I had a reuben, my favorite sandwich. Their sauerkraut is really yummy. Next time, I'll try the Jägerschnitzel. We talked with the owners, a couple and their brother.  The building is from the 1800s, with some courtyard seating outside, perfect for a romantic evening meal.

Good times!

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Weekend at The George

Jeff and I spent this weekend in College Station at BCS' newest hotel, The George, for our anniversary. It's a cool hotel! We stayed at The Stella last year and The George is pretty similar in style, with modern Texas decor.

Book flag wall in the lobby

Flag wall close-up

Ha!

The hotel is in a new office/retail/restaurant center called Century Square (where "married students housing" used to be, catty-corner across University from Zach, for those of you who were there in the 80's). There are a bunch of restaurants and shops right there, so you wouldn't have to get in your car through a weekend, if you didn't want to. Nice little hotel pool, live music by the Century Square fountain, breezy seating by the pool.

We just hung out and relaxed, but we did hit some restaurants. Napa Flats is a "California cuisine" chain with an Austin location, but we hadn't ever been, so we went there Friday night. It was great. Both of us had pasta there. FABULOUS calamari, too, with polenta breading.

We had Kolache Rolf's for Saturday breakfast. They still had a pretty good selection late morning. It was delicious.

We hit Grub's Burger Bar for dinner Saturday night. The burgers were a little overcooked, but the food was very good in general. We weren't asked how we prefer our burgers cooked, so I assume they cook them all to well-done.

Royalty Pecan Farms in Caldwell does a tour that is very interesting and informative. It's also a really pretty place to visit! We went on Saturday.

Nutlets! (That's their actual name.)

Just a few of the many things I learned on the tour:

1. Pecan trees produce quality pecans every other year, and every tree in North America is on the same schedule.
2. You can keep pecans fresh in the freezer for up to 5 years, according to the Pecan Council... up to 10 years, according to the tour guide's personal experience. Also, they can be thawed and refrozen over and over!
3. This particular farm has no problem with squirrels, because they are surrounded by a lot of crop land on all sides. Squirrels can't cross that space without being picked off by predators, so they don't really try it. (If only we were surrounded by crop land at home! Gah!)

My favorite Royalty Pecan Farm flavored pecans in the gift shop- cocoa blanca (that's white chocolate y'all) and maple balsamic. They also have wines and a fan-cooled, shaded patio for sittin'.

Nice weekend!

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Weekend in San Antonio

Kathy and I spent the weekend in San Antonio last weekend. We did the SA Food Tour, which was super fun! It's a three-hour downtown walking tour that stops at several restaurants, at which we had reserved tables for our group and got a signature dish. Our favorite stop on this particular tour was La Panadería, a bakery and sandwich shop, where Chef/Co-Owner José Cáceres (from Mexico City) talked with all of us and shared his and brother David's famous tequila almond croissant, and the chocolate concha.

Um, yep. Tequila. Almond. Croissant. Holy moly, that thing is heaven. It is crispy-edged, cloud soft middle, croissanty almond perfection. (You may have seen it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network.)

He told me they are opening a downtown Austin location soon. Woohoo!

The tour also stops at a few San Antonio touristy and not-so-touristy spots along the route, like the Alamo, for photo ops and a little history.

After the tour, we wandered around downtown and had drinks at Haunt and a late dinner at Rebelle, both in the St. Anthony Hotel. Dinner was AMAZING. Rebelle's decor and vibe is so cool, with a lot of glass and shiny materials. (Here are a couple of photos.) Everyone was taking pictures with (and on- there was some drinking) the restaurant's gorgeous glass tile lion. We shared small plates there, which were all very unique and delicious.

Sunday we went to the San Antonio Botanical Garden. I could swear I had been there years ago, but it didn't look at all familiar. It is beautiful, with an astonishing variety of plants. Lots to see. I really loved it. Don't miss it, if you like that sort of thing!

The only thumbs down of the weekend was the downtown bar/street noise Saturday night. If you're not staying up until at least 2:30 am, you'll want to get a hotel room away from downtown. It was crazy loud, even a few blocks from the Riverwalk.

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HomePod Ad 'n Stuff

Here's an awesome story about the making of the Apple HomePod commercial. Turns out, there aren't any CGI effects. It's all mechanical. Wow! SO cool! Watch the "making of" video and the complete 4 minute ad through the link below.

This Look Inside Spike Jonze’s Apple Ad Is as Fascinating as the Film Itself

I had lunch with Kimberly on Monday! She was in San Antonio for a national school board convention. (She's a school board member where she lives.) We email fairly regularly, but I haven't seen her in a few years, so it was really nice to catch up in person. I reeeeally wanted to take her to Lüke, but I read that it closed last year! Waaah. Omigosh, their onion tart is divine. Now we have to go to New Orleans to have it.

Kimberly told me she has had foot pain ever since she ran her first marathon last year. I think that is a great reason to NEVER RUN A MARATHON. That was her advice as well.

I was just looking at the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Quote of the Week in the blog sidebar (>>). We loved the first season. The second season was sort of hit or miss. Then the third season took a very strange turn into some serious issues. It isn't funny and the songs aren't great. Not sure what happened to the show, but it turns out it was cancelled after the 3rd season, so we probably won't finish the rest of the episodes. Changing the Quote of the Week to Bethenny Frankel. That should provide a wealth of amusement for a while!

I cleaned the thick layer of green powder (oak pollen) off the patio furniture and patio floor yesterday.  It takes forever to scrub it all down. I know it's still raining pollen until May, but just looking at it made me cough. Everything's new and shiny now. Ahhhhh...

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Waco Weekend

People always talk about Waco like it's a tiny town, but I think of it as a medium city, so I was quite surprised to find out how very small it actually is! Turns out, Waco has a population of only 135,000. (For comparison, Bryan/College Station has over 255,000.)

Other than my not feeling well most of the weekend, Jeff and I had fun visiting various attractions around town. We went to the Dr. Pepper Museum, which was recently renovated to add another whole building. It's a lot more than just Dr. Pepper.

Toured the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, which is very interesting, and has a LOT of guns. Some of the guns were super-pretty. I was actually quite impressed with the designs. There are 2 female Rangers in the state currently, one of whom is in Austin. Also, I learned that the Lone Ranger character was a former Texas Ranger. (WHAT? I had no clue.) In the early days, rangers had to make their own badges, because the state didn't provide them, so there are a lot of different styles of them on display.

We walked across the Waco Suspension Bridge, which is actually one of the coolest places! It's part of the Chisolm Trail, originally constructed in 1870 as a toll bridge for wagons, pedestrians and cattle to cross the Brazos River.

We also went to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. It's a great place with tons of memorabilia from all sorts of Texas sports. There is an enormous, separate hall exclusively for the former Southwest Conference, where each school has its own exhibit. That was really neat!

We drove around Baylor campus. Their basketball arena with the gold roof is WAY cool!

We stopped at the university's bear habitat, where we (and several children) were very disappointed to discover there were no bears. There was a sign that said the staff take the bears on field trips out in the wild sometimes, so I hope they were having fun somewhere.

We stayed at the Hotel Indigo, which I very highly recommend! The hotel is beautiful and modern. The room was spacious and nice. The staff couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. We had a view of the ALICO Building (where in downtown Waco does one NOT have a view of the ALICO Building- ha!), which we learned is the home of the American-Amicable Life Insurance Company (ALICO).

My favorite dinner was at Twisted Root Burger Co., which is everywhere in Texas EXCEPT Austin. Yummo!

We have a second Waco trip planned with Scott-n-Julie to do the Magnolia Market and Mammoth National Monument. Magnolia Market was close to our hotel, and even on an off-season Saturday, that place is overflowing with visitors. We'll be going during the week, thankyouverymuch!

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Genealogy and Kolache Trip

Jeff and Scott accompanied me to El Campo a couple of weeks ago on a "genealogy and kolaches" day trip. My mother's father's family is from El Campo and Columbus. We went to three cemeteries to visit several of my family's graves in both towns, and did a bit of research at the Wharton County Library.

Small world moment!! I've only ever met a few people outside my family who even know where El Campo is. The librarian who was helping me turned out to be my former boss's AUNT! I emailed him about it and he said his father and his father's family are all from El Campo. Random! 

We hit Hruska's and Weikel's on the way home. Yummy!

On an unrelated note... Here are our kitties on laundry day.

What.

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East Texas Trip

One of my aunts passed away this week and we went to her funeral in Jasper. I had wanted to get to Jasper before nightfall Thursday, but Jeff was working, so we left later. In the end, night driving was great, because we got to see all the pretty Christmas lights popping up along the country roads. Also, no traffic!

The funeral was really nice. The last two funerals (well, probably more than that) I've been to were Catholic masses, which of course are very long and formal and less personal. This was a small town, small church funeral, where the paster knew my aunt and told stories about her and brought a lot of warmth to the ceremony. Super nice people there.

On our way home, we had lunch in Huntsville at Bennie J's Smoke Pit. It was REALLY good. Looks like they're only open for lunch and they run out of things, so you should get there early. We rolled in around 2 and they were about to shut down. We were able to get sausage and ribs, which rocked. Super smoky and yummy. They also let us sample some of their pecan pie, which was delicious.

I've never seen so many pickup trucks in one town in my life as I did in Huntsville. I would have thought there would be a lot of pickups in, oh, I don't know... Jasper? But Huntsville wins that award for sure. The semi-official Pickup Truck Capital of the World.

I wish we'd had more time in east Texas, because there are probably some really neat historical places in the area that we've not seen. Had to get back here for a winery trip to Fredericksburg with Kathy today! Her wine club purchase was ready for pickup, so we made the quarterly jaunt. Beauuuutiful day!


Friday Five: Seasons

1. What foods are most representative of each of the four seasons?

Winter - chili

Spring - salad

Summer - ice cream

Fall - pumpkin pie

2. What are good songs to represent each of the four seasons?

Winter - "A Hazy Shade of Winter" The Bangles version

Spring - "Cake By the Ocean" DNCE

Summer - "Summer Nights" from Grease

Fall - "Be True to Your School" Beach Boys

3. What would be good films to represent each of the four seasons?

Winter - Love Actually

Spring - Emma

Summer - 50 First Dates

Fall - Dead Poets Society

4. If you could divide the calendar year into four seasons some other way with some other theme besides weather or major professional sports, where would each seasons begin and end, and what would each be called?

Jan-Mar: Chillin'

April-June: Anniversaries

July-Sep: Beach Dayz

Oct-Dec: Birthdays

5. What’s something in your area that’s extra fun in the winter?

going to Stars hockey games at Cedar Park center

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Fanthorp Inn

We've started watching Veep on Amazon Prime. Ohmigosh... hilarious! Only the first two seasons are free, so it looks like we'll have to ante up for the rest on HBO, once we finish those. I've changed the Quote of the Week in the blog sidebar to Veep, because there so many funny quotes per episode. (Sorry, This is Us!)

I forgot to mention in my last post that we went to the Fanthorp Inn Historic Site in Anderson (about a half hour outside of College Station) last weekend! It was a private home that the family turned into a hotel in the mid 1800's, because the town had a stagecoach stop. The inn is very well appointed, with all the rooms (family home, lounge, dining room, bedrooms) staged as they would have been, even including some original family furniture.

Our Texas Parks and Wildlife guide was very knowledgeable and led us on a full tour. It was just him and us, probably because it was a rainy day and the town is off the beaten path.

The inn is built in a dog trot style, where there is a breezeway between two sides of the building. I am not kidding you- it felt like the AC was on full blast when you stood in that open space. No AC anywhere! It was damp and warm outside, but there was a ton of cool air flow there. Mind boggling.

The slaves were freed during the time the inn was operating, so we talked a lot about the logistics of that situation, for the former slaves and the family. Learned about daily life in the mid 19th century as well. Very interesting! It was a great little trip out of BCS.


Saturday 9: I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

1) This week's song was performed by James Cagney in the famous movie of the same name. Do you plan on going to the movies this holiday weekend? 

Yep! We're going to see The Big Sick.

2) Though known for his larger-than-life screen presence, Cagney was only 5'5". How tall are you? 

5'4"

3) During the Revolutionary War, General Washington celebrated the 4th of July by giving his troops a double ration of rum. Will you imbibe any spirits this holiday weekend?

It's likely.

4) American history was one of Crazy Sam's best subjects in school. Science was her worst. In which class did you earn your worst grades?

Any kind of history.

5) The Fourth of July means we're in the middle of summer. Are you careful about applying sunscreen?
Yes

6) Mosquito bites can be a major summer annoyance. Are you scratching any itches right now?
No, thank goodness.

7) Emergency rooms report an increase in wrist injuries in summer, with people falling off bikes and skateboards and jamming their wrists catching hard-hit softballs. Have you recently been to the ER or Urgent Care?
No- knock on wood.

8) New York is home to Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every year on the 4th. Will hot dogs be consumed in your household this weekend?

I don't think so.

9) Atlanta hosts a 10K Peachtree Road Race every 4th of July. Are you a runner?

Only if I'm being chased by something. 

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Weekend in Review

So there is this Corpus Christi tourism commercial on every now and then with the most catchy song ever. I loved it so much and had it stuck in my head for so long that I finally tried to find out what song it is, but I couldn't find a darn thing on it. Soundhound and Shazam had no idea either. I decided it was just a jingle.

WELL. Today, I saw Vitamin Water's new commercial... with the same song and different lyrics! This time, there are articles written about it and a YouTube video and all sorts of things! Woohoo!

Here is the actual song, which is used in the Vitamin Water ad:


I still can't find a single online item referring to the Corpus commercial, so if you're not in the Texas tourism market... the alternate lyrics are something like:

Oooh-oooh, it's a summer full of fun yeah
So come on and feel the sun yeah
Go and tell everyone yeah baby
Oooh-ooh (*bah-bah-bah BAH BAH*)
Oooh-ooh it's a summer full of fun yeah!

And now it's in my head again. Whew! I thought "Despacito" would NEVER get out of there.

Spent the weekend in College Station. It was superfun! We hit Mad Taco for Friday night dinner, then sat outside and had really amazing drinks at the hotel.

Oh, the hotel was fabulous! The Stella is really modern, but warmed by what I call Hill Country decor. (They probably call it Brazos Valley chic.) Lots of wood and warm colors, but a very modern vibe overall. I took a photo of the hotel room doors, because they are so pretty! Go to the website and see the photos!

Our view was over Lake Atlas and the golf course. The other view is College Station and Kyle Field, which is also cool. The bars were friendly and beautiful. The meeting spaces were upscale and modern.

My one minor complaint was an issue we had with the room service hours. The room service menu clearly states on the cover that room service goes until 11 pm. Inside, there are various times listed for the different meal menus. Dinner ends at 10 pm, but the snacks page (including sandwiches and other substantial fare, if you need it) says it is available until 11pm. We came back from town at 10pm Saturday night and called down at exactly 10:04 to see if the restaurant was still open. They said no. I said I would just order room service. The guy at the restaurant said the kitchen closed at 10. When I said the room service menu says 11, he said that was a typo. Well, it would have to have been two typos.

It sounds like some people wanted to go out an hour early on a Saturday night to me. We had to get back in the car and go into town to find something to eat. Not. Fun. Confirm room service hours when you arrive.

We visited Messina Hof winery on Saturday evening. We did a historical tour and also a wine blending class. I learned two new things at Messina Hof, which is a lot, considering how many wineries I've visited and toured.

1) Almost all wineries purchase most of their grapes from independent farmers. Many don't grow ANY of their own grapes. Even if they do have a vineyard, they don't grow all the grapes they need to make all the wines they produce. I've always wondered why so many "wineries" don't have vineyards. I figured you grow your own grapes to make your own wine. Not so. It's the processing of the grapes that makes you a winery.

2) Almost all red wines are mixtures of different wine grapes. There are rules for what percentages of the mother varietal grape have to be in your blend to call it Merlot or Malbec or whatever (usually 75% or higher), but varietals are mixed with other grape types to create the masterpiece that is your brand's bottle of that type of wine. You can also have blends with no specific type, which gives you your Sweet Red or Rioja or Rosé sorts of wines. Whether a varietal or a blend, the blending is the art of enhancing some flavors and dampening others for a perfect taste.

We broke into 4 teams of six people each for the class. We blended three pure red wines- 100% Mourvedre, 100% Merlot and 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (that's Cab Sauv to those in the biz)- to create our own wine. The four teams submitted their entries... and we won!! Whoop! Our prizes were bottles of our very own winning blend. Supercool.

I definitely recommend that tour/class combo. There is also a separate tour where you can taste wine from the tanks. That one's next on my list!

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Gault Site Tour!

We toured the Gault archaeological site yesterday with Scott-n-Julie and about 20 other folks. The site is northwest of Georgetown in Florence. Definitely one of the most interesting tours I've ever taken! Dr. Wernecke (Executive Director of the Gault School of Archaeological Research) is an amazing guide, and we learned a lot. 

The site has produced the most tools and other Clovis artifacts in the world. In one part of the valley, there are artifacts at ground level, literally everywhere. You can stand in one spot and pick up twenty of them. You aren't allowed to take any, but you can handle them to take a closer look, which is VERY cool.

They've found 2.5 million artifacts after excavating just 3% of the site. Don't think you're going to find anything lying on the ground that they haven't seen a thousand times before. It's tempting to notify the guide, but don't. Ha!

You should know that there is no active excavation going on. We were all waiting for the excavation site to appear around the next bend, and it never did. LOL. We thought at some point we'd be able to watch them digging around. No biggie, considering the volumes of interesting information we got and the cool artifacts on the ground, it was just a surprise.

There is a photo next to the most recent dig site, showing the size of the hole when it had been excavated. (It's been filled in now.) Dr. Wernecke said it's a large hole, but it's all the more impressive when you realize that it was dug entirely with chopsticks, to protect the artifacts. Hmm!

So, you should definitely do the Gault site tour. It's very centrally located, so it's not more than a few hours from most places in Texas. Highly recommended! You will need to reserve your spot, so follow the instructions on their website.

Saturday 9: Work from Home (2016)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is about a woman who doesn't get to see her lover often enough because he's on the night shift. Have you ever worked nights?

Nope.

2) She promises that if he takes the day off, she'll make it feel like a vacation. Have you traveled anywhere fun so far this year? Do you have any leisure trips planned for 2017? 

We've done a weekend in Boerne, which was fun!

3) The ladies of Fifth Harmony are enthusiastic supporters of the Girl Scouts, rewarding troops who excel in fundraising activities with free concerts. The Scouts' best-known fundraiser is their cookie sale.What's your favorite cookie (Girl Scout or otherwise)?

Girl Scout- Thin Mints (that's really the only one I like), other- Hello Dolly cookies

4) Fifth Harmony also participated in Goodwill's Fall Haul campaign. They encouraged high school students donate as many items as possible to Goodwill, and the winning school got a free concert. When did you last take gently-used items to a resale organization?

We take things to Goodwill pretty regularly. Last time was probably December.

5) Do you ever shop second-hand or thrift stores?

Yep. I like looking for home decor items there. I've had a couple of great finds.

6) Fifth Harmony member Normani Kordei competes on Dancing with the Stars this season. Would you do better on DWTS or The Voice? In other words, are you a better singer or dancer?
The Voice

7) In February 2016, when this song was first released, The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl and Spotlight won the Best Picture Oscar. Can you recall who won the 2017 Super Bowl and Best Picture Oscar, just two months ago?
Superbowl- um... Patriots?? Tom Brady's team. 

Best Picture- WHO can forget? LaLa Land.... I mean... Moonlight!

8) 2016's most popular TV show was Game of Thrones. Are you a fan?

I've never seen it.

9) Random Question: What's the subject line of the newest message in your email spam folder?

"Your Special Offer Expires Tonight!" (from Williams-Sonoma)

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Boerne Weekend

Jeff and I spent a fun weekend away in Boerne! We went to Cascade Caverns and hung out on Main Street. We saw a play at the Boerne Community Theater. Love the drive to and from the area as well.

Tracy, the constant world traveler, who I haven't seen in person since the night we met John Taylor a few years ago, has been doing the same weekend trips as I have the past two weekends. She was doing a wine tour along Hwy 290 between Fredericksburg and Johnson City the day we went week before last, and she and some girlfriends were in Boerne this weekend, too! Too weird! 

Sunday Stealing: The TV Shows Questions

1. Name a TV series in which you have seen every episode at least twice:

This is random, but... George Lopez. I watched it regularly when it was on originally, and I turn it on in the early morning hours on Nickelodeon, when I wake up really early. I've definitely seen every episode at least twice. Still funny!

2. Name a show you can't miss:

This is Us

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show:

James Spader

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show:

Shia LaBeouf

5. Name a show you can, and do, quote from:

American Housewife

6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys:

TMZ. And for the record, plenty of other people enjoy it! Just not anyone in my house.

7. Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song:

Family Guy

8. Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch:

The Blacklist

9. Name a TV series you own:

Impractical Jokers

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium, but has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television:

Ice-T

11. What is your favorite episode of your favorite series?

This is Us, "Jack Pearson's Son." Is one episode any more moving and amazing than another?  This one was particularly moving to me.

12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch, but you just haven't gotten around to yet:

Game of Thrones. Waaay too late on this one though!

13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad?

Often. I've just stopped watching The Arrangement after giving it three episodes. The dialogue is painful.

14. Name a show that's made you cry multiple times:

This is Us

15. What do you eat when you watch TV?

Pretzels or grapes- something finger-friendly. As a special treat, sometimes we'll actually pop some popcorn.

16. How often do you watch TV?

It's on most of the day, when I'm not working, mostly for background noise and if something temporarily catches my attention. We watch every night.

17. What's the last TV show you watched?

The Chew. I usually try to sit down and watch it at the noon hour.

18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of TV?

reality

19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with?

Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show on Saturday mornings. And Happy Days!

20. What TV show do you wish you never watched?

The Arrangement. Three hours of my life I'll never get back.

21. What's the weirdest show you enjoyed?

the first season of Breaking Amish

22. What TV show scared you the most?

Trilogy of Terror- the "Amelia" episode. Yep.

23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched?

I liked The Daily Show, The Soup, and Who's Line is it Anyway best. If I had to choose a sitcom, I would say The Office.

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