Ye Kendall Inn in Boerne, Texas

Yesterday we had lunch with our friend Laura Joann at the Historic Ye Kendall Inn, a national landmark. In 1859 the land was purchased for $200 and a house was built. Originally travelers would stay as guests of the owners then they started renting out the rooms of the house and it became an authentic stagecoach Hotel. They added two long wings in 1978 and in 1982 extensive restoration began that is ongoing today. The main structure is constructed of native rock walls 20" thick. There is approximately 6.5 acres of property and includes several buildings. There is said to be evidence in the cellar of a tunnel which connected the old hotel with another building a block away! It is a beautiful hotel and lunch was delicious! It was fun looking around the hotel.

Outside views of the courtyard, cabins and the front of the hotel:

Ye Kendall Inn..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Football & Food!

A day of football and food, does it get any better than that???? Our friends John and Gloria took us over to their kids' home; Cheryl (daughter), Dan (son-in-law) and three kids: Haley, Olivia and the famous Jack, for food and football! This is a "Sunday Event" all football season. I thought they must have been cooking for days (except they weren't even sure what they were having on Saturday afternoon)! They cooked a pork loin stuffed with jalapenos and cheddar cheese - now those of you who know me, know I can't comment on the taste of that! But they also had a plain one for wimps like me! They also barbecued chicken, had fresh cooked green beans, a 5-cheese mac and cheese and corn on the cob. Everything was so yummy! Of course there was dessert, brownies and a yummy white cake with a pudding frosting that was delicious!

Oh yeah, and there was a lot of football!!!!    They are originally from Illinois so they are Bears fans. Dan subscribes to all of the sports channels and has a channel that shows six or seven games at a time, with one screen that shows any game with action on the goal line! A few friends stopped by to enjoy the day, along with a rain storm and cute little bitty frogs! It was a great day even though the Bears lost. (But the Chargers won!  YEAH)...

There are tons of deer (and a few dogs too) at the campground and lots of fawns!  As we were leaving yesterday I took a couple pictures of just a few of them wandering around.

Great food and football..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back to Boerne, Texas

We are back in Boerne which is just a few miles down the road from Fredericksberg.  We are camped at Lake Medina in the Hill Country west of Boerne.  They told us the draught is over but the lake is still really low.  So low you can't use the boat ramp to get your boat in the water!  This is the campground that is full of deer.  They pay attention to you but don't seem to be afraid.  Yesterday afternoon there were a dozen hanging around an RV that must feed them.

In the afternoon we took off to Boerne to visit with John & Gloria Eaton (Ted's cousin).  We went to dinner at Willie's!  It's a very popular place.  You go in and order, get your drink, and then take your order sheet to your table where the waitress takes it and processes it.  They have large glass garage doors that they raise as long as the weather is nice (which it was last night).  By the large outside seating they have a big sand box for the little kids, and it was full of little kids!  I had the baby back ribs and they were very good!  Everyone enjoyed their dinner.

We headed back to John and Gloria's for more gabbing..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Shopping & Dinner in Fredericksberg!

"Today our friends took off to Kerrsville to look at the area.  Ted and I spent the day in Fredericksberg shopping and walking around town.  It was such a beautiful sunny day in the mid 70's.  Our friends Jeri and Stan had given me a welcome banner for my birthday and today we found another banner that said "Island Attitude" with pretty hibiscus on the banner!  We also found a table decoration in fall colors for the RV. 

We met up with Pam, Jonathan and Nicholas for dinner.  A friend of theirs had recommended the Rathskeller Restaurant.  It is a small underground restaurant with very friendly servers.  We all had a great dinner!  It was a fun evening with our friends.

Finding small things to buy..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fredericksberg, Texas

We got to Fredericksberg yesterday afternoon. We are in a pretty camground that has big pretty trees (and unfortunately mosquitos)! This morning we drove to the Austin, Texas Airport to meet our friends the Pullens. They were surprised to see us! We got to the airport early and looked around. The guitar display was at the baggage claim area at the airport.

After they collected their bags and their car, we had a nice lunch together and we both headed back to Fredericksberg. They were going to check into their hotel and probably take a nap! They left Murrietta around 3:30 a.m. and by the time they got to their hotel it must have been 5:30!   I think they were all pretty tired!

Cool guitars..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Moving on down the road...

After we left Long Lane we drove south and a bit west to Checotah (She-co-ta) Oaklahoma!  We were camped on the Eufala River (you know eu falla and can't get up river)!  Max and I wandered up on three deer early one morning, very pretty. 

One of the "benefits" listed in the campground brochure was the storm cellar.  Is that scary or what????  We were parked next to it but I forgot to take a picture of it.  It looked somewhat like a quonset hut but to make it pretty they painted pictures all over it.  It was made of thick steel and had large air vents.  I think that was the first one I have ever seen.

Last night we spent the night at Lake Whitney, Texas.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day. We are moving down to Fredericksberg, Texas.  Our friends from Murrietta; California, Pam, Jonathan and Nicolas Pullen are visiting there.  They are looking at various "retirement areas"!  You might recall we visited Salida, Colorado to check it out for them!

Not sure if I mentioned lady bugs in Illinois.  We can't get rid of them.  We still have dozens showing up in our RV every day.  They must have hatched babies.  Instead of red and black they are gold and black and they do bite.  I got 3 bites on the neck!  I used to like lady bugs but they are being a big pain!

Enjoying our travels..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Long Lane Missouri

We were in Long Lane, Missouri since the 28th visiting our friends, Bill and Ginny Nasse. Ted lived at the Reynard Arms apartments after he got out of the military and came back to San Diego. Bill had also rented an apartment while he was starting a business in San Diego. Ginny and their children still lived in Los Angeles while Ginny took care of their business up there. She would come down on the weekends. They had lots of fun with several residents at the apartments having barbecues and get togethers. We had a good time catching up on their lives and ours.
Unfortunately we didn't have wi-fi so have gotten behind in our blogs so please be patient while I catch up! 

The first night there Bill and Ginny took us to "The Cave Restaurat".  We drove to the restaurant where we waited for a shuttle.  It was raining pretty hard and the van took us up a narrow, rutted road up 1200 feet above the river.  It was an "E" ticket ride if you know what I mean!  You have to be old enough and lived in Southern California to understand what that means!  The van stopped by an elevator that took us up to the restaurant that is totally in a cave.  They have special equipment to help keep the spring water in the cave to a minimum.  It was very interesting and the food was good.  The owner, Gary, knows our friends and spent time with us telling us about the cave and his future plans.  He's owned the cave for about 6 months.

The next afternoon Bill and Ginny took us to the Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri.  In this cave they have a jeep that pulls a cart so you just ride through.  It's not a very big cave but has some interesting things in it.  It had two really large sink holes in it and lots of stalactites and stalacmites.  There were a group of women scientists who went in by themselves in the 1930's to check the cavern out, crawling through a tiny hole and using candle power to see what they were looking at.  I think they were very brave!

On Friday they took us to Bennett Springs.  It is a State Park with a huge spring and fish hatchery.  They also have a lodge, restaurant, campground and a general store.  The spring averages 100 million gallons of water per day, every day!  They stock the spring with rainbow and brown trout so fishing is very popular there.  We saw a crawfish in the water and I took a picture of a gentleman's Rainbow Trout!  It was the first beautiful, sunny day we had in a long time!

On Saturday Bill borrowed two ATV's from their neighbor.  Bill has 5 to 10 acres around the house that he keeps mowed and the rest of it is wooded.  There are lots of deer in the woods and his lets his friends hunt there during deer season.  Hunting season for kids started on Saturday so we all wore bright colors in case anyone on one of the surrounding properties was hunting.  We rode the ATV's around his entire property.  He has a couple of ponds, a 50' deep by 200' wide sink hole that is probably a cavern and lots of springs.  We had a fun ride!

We truly had a great visit with Bill and Ginny. It was fun to get to know them and they are wonderful hosts! Oh yeah, forgot to tell you how we got stuck in their yard! With all the rain, the truck got stuck in the mud, fortunately our RV wasn't stuck. Bill's son came over with his semi tractor and Bill hooked up his yard tractor and together they were able to pull us out. We ended up parking in the gravel driveway and they were able to drive the car around us in the grass without getting stuck and we were able to level the RV!

I've really enjoyed Missiouri (except for all the rain).  The rolling hills and trees, it's very pretty.  I found it interesting that the State Road names are all letters.  We camped on UU Road in Cuba which was close to ZZ Road.  Bill and Ginny live on P Road and we drove down A Road to get there!

Enjoying Missouri..."Ain't Life Grand!"