An Olio, of Sorts

In this entry, I'm just going to touch on a variety of things. In doing so, I'm going to experiment with a little different format.

On the state of marriage after 40+ years

Donna and I were watching television the other night. Donna was enjoying a glass of wine. I don't know how many glasses she had enjoyed by this time -- I simply don't have enough fingers and toes to keep count.

Suddenly, in a very loving and rather seductive voice, I heard Donna purr, "I love you so very much."

"Great," I thought to myself. "Perhaps I'll get lucky tonight."

So I turned to my loving wife and asked, "Is that you or the wine talking?"

Smiling, Donna replied, "It's me . . .  talking to the wine."

San Angelo weather

Rain moved in last Thursday evening. It rained all day the following Friday. We received about 1.25 inches in all. Snow moved into the northern areas of the Concho Valley. Lubbock received almost a foot of the white powder.

Obligatory animal pictures

You know I have to include a picture or two of animals when I can.

This beautiful girl and her friends were grazing at Spring Creek out on Lake Nasworthy recently. She appears to be posing. The deer out there are pretty tame, as you can see from her standing calmly next to the road as I stopped for this picture.

This small buck was standing in front of the church in RCW. Because of the shadows, its hard to see his antlers, but he appears to be posing as well. Our deer are not as tame as those at Spring Creek, and he bolted away right after I snapped this shot.

I looked out the window a few days ago and noticed these turkeys scampering across our back yard.

What's happening at Rio Concho West (RCW)?

We've enjoyed living at RCW the past 2½ years, but we've tended to keep our distance for the most part. We still travel quite a bit, so we haven't really gotten involved in too much that goes on out here. But lately, we find ourselves becoming more and more involved in the community.

Donna has started playing Bingo on Saturday afternoons at the clubhouse. She has even gotten me to go a couple of times. Boy, now that is a sign you're getting old. Playing Bingo with a bunch of old folks is really a challenge. No one can hear. Add to that, everyone tries to talk at the same time. And the caller reads numbers backwards and upside down and so forth. My first time playing, the caller found a few bottles of wine in the fridge one day and everything really went down hill from there. 

On top of all the confusion, I didn't win a single game.

We attended a "come and go" party last week. We had nice refreshments, complete with egg nog and such. At the end of the party, our director announced that he is leaving after 27 years of employment there. No mention of where he is going or who is set to replace him. I wonder what the future holds for RCW.

Fall colors in West Texas

On our recent trip, I was pleasantly surprised at the fall colors in the hills as we approached Kerrville. Upon returning home, I took a walk through our neighborhood and snapped the pictures below. Now, by New England and even northeast Texas standards, our trees may not be that colorful, but I'm happy to see whatever color we can muster out here.

This beautifully shaped tree is just up the street from us. It would lose its leaves entirely just a few days later, mostly thanks to some very high winds.

This street is in the older section of RCW, so the trees here are more mature. There is good shade here for a walk on a hot summer day.

Most of our trees are some variation of oak, and their leaves usually turn a rusty brown in the fall. The large tree on the right, however, has yellowish leaves. Contrast it with the trees farther down the street.

And here's a smaller tree with a yellowish/orange tint.

And here's a rather nice contrast of colors, from green to yellow to rust. There's a nice little house for sale there if you are interested.

And here is another nice little contrast of colors, this time in one of the newer areas of RCW.

Put this in the "Now I've Seen Everything" file

After eating lunch atop the Tower of the Americas on our recent trip, Donna and I climbed aboard the bus to return to the hotel. As we settled into our seats, we looked out the window and saw the vehicle below parked near the bus.

I'll let you try to figure this one out for a moment.

Finally, the vehicle pulled away, and I was able to snap the photo below.

Most of us have seen a stretch limo somewhere along the roads, but have you ever seen a stretch Hummer? So, in the top picture, we have a hot tub in the bed of the Hummer.

I can die happy now.

Final Thoughts on Bilbrey Tour

In my initial entry on this Bilbrey tour (see "Bilbrey Tour to San Antonio"), I discussed at length that we were taking this short tour to see if such trips were something we were interested in taking. In reality, we really aren't interested in taking short trips such as this one with a tour company -- we would rather do short trips on our own -- but we are really interested in taking longer trips in this fashion.

So, how did the test go?

Traveling with a tour company offers many, many benefits, such as

• Someone else does all the driving.
• Someone else does all the planning.
• Someone else handles your luggage.
• Someone else handles all the details, such as getting tickets, finding parking, securing seating, etc.

It was nice to sit back and let someone else handle everything. I've always done most of the planning and so forth for our trips, and I tend to get a bit frustrated these days trying to make everything work, trying to find hotels, planning length of trips, routes, and so forth. When Bilbrey picked us up in San Angelo, we gave them our bags, found a seat on the bus, and didn't worry about much after that. At each stop (hotel, restaurant, museum, etc.) they dropped us off at the door and picked us up at the door. They handled our luggage at hotels, even delivering everything to our rooms. When we were set to check out of a room, we simply placed our bags outside our rooms at a designated time, and went on our merry way.

Bilbrey tour bus dropping us at the entrance to the Institute of Texan Cultures, with the Tower of the Americas in the background. Look closely and you will see Miss Donna bottom center.

We did not have to stand in lines to buy tickets for anything as Bilbrey took care of all of that. They made such arrangements for the Institute of Texan Cultures, the Tower of the Americas, the Peddler Show, the Christmas boat parade, and everything else. We did not have to tip anyone. In fact, the only money we spent was for gifts we picked up while shopping or for additional snacks, such as ice cream at the SAS store or coffee and pastries in Fredericksburg.

Donna and I getting ready to enjoy lunch atop the Tower of Americas

When we arrived at the Drury Hotel (parked right in front at the main entry, I might add), our escort went inside while we remained on the bus. She returned shortly with our room keys. All we had to do was enter the building, catch an elevator to our floor, and find our room. When we left a hotel, we simply placed our bags outside our room at a designated time, then climbed aboard the bus, which would be waiting right outside the hotel entrance.

Murals in the lobby of the Drury Hotel. It was originally a bank building.

At restaurants, we pulled right up to doors. We were given specifically designed meal options, complete with salad and desert. We'd enjoy our meal, then leave and reboard the bus (no tip required). 

I can't emphasize enough how great all of these benefits are. They really take the nuisance out of travel. Of course, you pay for such perks, and whether or not this has value is up to each individual.

But as with everything in life, there are some negatives.

You surrender a certain bit of freedom when you travel with a tour company. You work on their schedule. On this particular trip, we were kept busy. There was very little down time for us to enjoy on our own. We did manage a few free moments our second day to visit San Fernando Cathedral. I do think longer trips schedule in some free time, but this short trip was pretty jam packed with activities. We were kept hopping, and I was amazed at the stamina of some of the older folks.

You also end up doing some things you normally would not do on your own. Donna and I, for example, are not shoppers. We normally would not go someplace like the Peddler Show or the SAS store. However, I have to admit that I enjoyed the SAS store. There were numerous interesting items to see, and I enjoyed the relaxed time there. We sat in the ice cream parlor section of the store for quite a while as I enjoyed an ice cream cone. We were joined by other members of the group, and we enjoyed getting to know one another. One lady that visited with us that morning was on her 27th Bilbrey trip, so she had a lot to share. We learned a great deal from her.

Donna and I in the ice cream shop section of the SAS store in San Antonio.

I was not that comfortable on the bus. I wish there was a bit more room, as I did not have enough leg room to stretch out much. I tend to stiffen up pretty easily. When I'm confined to a tight space for very long, I become quite uncomfortable. When we began our trip, we drove non-stop from San Angelo to Kerrville, which took about 2½ hours. I was really uncomfortable the last hour or so of that leg of the journey. When we travel by car, we stop every two hours or so to refuel, grab a drink, or use the facilities, and this gives me the opportunity to move about. But when someone else is in charge, you travel on their schedule. I could have stood up on the bus while in motion, and probably should have, but I'd rather stop, get off the bus, and walk around on stable terra firma.

I do think we'll take other trips with Bilbrey. It's a good company, and it is local to West Texas, being based in Abilene. They travel all over the U.S., and they offer a few trips abroad as well. Personally, I am most interested in a trip to New England to see fall the fall colors, and I'd like to visit the Pacific Northwest at some point. These are trips I do not feel up to planning myself, so a tour company looks like a good option for this. And there are other tour groups as well. King's Highway is located in Lubbock, and they offer a few trips, though not nearly as many as Bilbrey. And there is also Collette, which has extensive tour packages going all around the globe. Collette usually makes one or two stops at our clubhouse each year to provide information on upcoming travel packages. In fact, a lady down the street is taking a trip to the Netherlands with Collette in a couple of months.

But we were impressed with Bilbrey. It is a family-owned business. The founder of the company recently passed away, but her children continue to be involved with the business. Bilbrey is coming to San Angelo on January 9 to provide information on tours for the upcoming year. We'll probably attend, even though they will send us a tour package for 2019 anyway. We'll see what is in the works, then sign up if anything looks interesting to us. If there is nothing in their plans that suit us, then we'll load up the car and take off on our own.

Day 4, Bilbrey Tour to San Antonio

Activity Date: Monday, November 26, 2018

Comparatively speaking, our last day of the tour was the shortest.

As usual, we started our day with breakfast at the hotel. Our bags were then loaded on the bus, and we climbed aboard for a short drive to downtown Fredericksburg. We were dropped off near the National Museum of the Pacific War. I had visited the museum years ago, so Donna and I opted to simply wander the shops along the Main Street.

It was a very cool morning, and the north wind was quite strong. Even though we had enjoyed breakfast just a couple of hours earlier, we decided to stop in a coffee shop and sample their coffee and pastries. I can't recall what Donna had, but I enjoyed one of their apple strudels. Yum!

Donna in front of  the tree at the Marktplatz across from the courthouse in Fredericksburg. It was rather cold, so the original party girl was bundled up in heavy coat and gloves.

I don't know what this thing is called, but you can find it every Christmas on the Marktplatz in Fredericksburg.

We then visited numerous shops, and we even made a couple of purchases. We encountered many members of our tour group wandering the streets as well, and quite a few of them decided to have an early lunch at one of the many fine restaurants along Main Street. After our breakfast and the coffee and pastries, though, Donna and I decided we would skip lunch altogether. After a while, we headed back to the bus pickup at the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Center located near the National Museum of the Pacific War. If you aren't familiar with Fredericksburg and the surrounding area, the Convention and Visitor Center is a great place to visit.

By 12:30 or so, everyone was on the bus and we began the short trip home. We made a brief rest stop in Brady, and then got back on the road. By 3:30, Donna and I had our bags loaded in the car and were on our way home.

It was a good trip overall, and I'll summarize things in the next entry.

Day 3, Bilbrey Tour to San Antonio

Activity Date: Sunday, November 25, 2018

After another good, filling breakfast at the Drury, we all boarded the bus at 9:15, and soon our driver, Rudy, made his way through the streets of San Antonio heading towards Fredericksburg. We made a short stop in Comfort at Love's for necessities, then made our way the last few miles to Fredericksburg, a town Donna and I know well.

Lobby of the Drury. Breakfast and supper are served on second floor, as seen above. Look carefully and you will see Miss Donna sitting lower-right center with other members of our tour group.

Our first stop of the day was the Peddler Show, held at the Gillespie County Fairgrounds on the southern edge of Fredericksburg. The Peddler Show is a collection of vendors and artisans spread out in 3 buildings. Although this is not something Donna and I would normally attend, we did enjoy our time there and we even picked up some Christmas presents. It was a rather cool day, though, and those old fairground buildings were a bit breezy. We were glad to get back on the bus.

Some of the vendors at the Peddler Show

More Peddler Show vendors.

Next stop was a chocolate shop in town appropriately named Chocolat. Our tour group squeezed into this small shop along Main Street just west of the courthouse for a brief tour of the shop, then we were each provided a sample of the liquid filled chocolates made there. I do love good chocolate, and this is some really good chocolate.

Lecia Duke, owner/operator of Chocolat in Fredericksburg

We were then able to check in to our hotel, the Inn on Barons Creek. Donna and I stayed here on a recent trip, and we really enjoyed the place. Not only are the rooms nice, but the complimentary breakfast is quite good, and it is located close to the shops we enjoy on Main Street .

After checking in to our rooms, we then climbed aboard the bus once again and headed east to Johnson City. Supper that evening was at the East Main Grill. After supper, the bus took us a few blocks south to the Pedernales Electric Co-op to view the Christmas lights there. Fantastic! I think you'd really have to see these lights to truly appreciate their beauty. More than 1.3 million lights adorn the oak trees clustering the property. We also drove by the beautifully decorated town square.

Beautiful scene at Pedernales Electric Co-op

Over 1.3 million lights in these trees.

Visitors viewing the lights.

Another look at the lights.

Square in Johnson City

Blanco County Courthouse, with tractor pulling trailer loaded with people in foreground.

Rudy, our bus driver, did a great job the entire trip.

Then it was back to the hotel. It had been a long day, and it was good to finally crawl into bed.

Day 2, Bilbrey Tour to San Antonio

Activity Date: Saturday, November 24, 2018

Our second day of the tour began at 7:00 with breakfast at the Drury. Those folks put out a good spread, complete with biscuits, gravy, waffles, eggs, sausage, and other items. Our escorts then herded us onto the bus at 8:30. Our first stop of a long day was the SAS General Store and Shoe Factory. Now, when we first saw this on our itinerary, we were a bit taken aback. But there were quite a few old geezers on our tour, and they really snatched up the shoes at this place. And I have to admit, I enjoyed our stop there. Going into the general store is like taking a step back in time. You can get a fountain Coke for a dime and a bag of popcorn for a nickel. I got 2 scoops of Blue Bell for $1.50. Donna got a bucket of candy for $3.00. We didn't buy any shoes, but I enjoyed browsing through all the things, and we spent quite a bit of time visiting with folks traveling with us. It's nice to slow down and smell the roses, so to speak. We never seem to do that on our solo trips.

SAS General Store in San Antonio

You can browse these and other old cars just outside the store.

Ice cream parlor

There are more than just shoes here. Note the old gas pumps on right.

But there are plenty of shoes everywhere

When was the last time you saw one of these?

Our next stop was the Institute of Texan Cultures. This is a really interesting place. As you wander through the exhibits, you see just how rich and varied Texas is, with cultures from all over the world contributing to this great mix. We started by viewing a short video in the Dome Theater. As the film plays, panels above show photos of all the people making up the culture of Texas. It's a great start to a tour through the exhibits that illustrate how we have gotten to where we are.

Dome Theater. Those seated are seeing the same pictures above them on opposite panels.

I don't know how many panels there are. Each protrusion you see above is a panel. Sometimes only one is lit, while at other times perhaps a dozen are alive.

There are sections and exhibits representing all the peoples that make up Texas. This is Donna posing in front of a display in the Chinese section. 

This is a good picture to show how exhibits are organized by group.

Sharecropper cabin

Lipan Apache exhibit

After our visit to the Institute of Texan Cultures, we made the short walk over to the Tower of the Americas. The Tower is celebrating its 50th anniversary, having been constructed for the 1968 World's Fair (HemisFair '68). The Tower is 750 feet tall, and provides outstanding views of the San Antonio area. We went to the top of the Tower, where we enjoyed lunch while making 2 full rotations. I'm not sure, but I believe there are 2 elevators to the top, and they are on the outside of the Tower, so you get a great view of the area as you go up and down.

One of the benefits of traveling with a tour company is that they take care of all arrangements. For example, to visit HemisFair Plaza, including the Tower and Institute of Texan Culture, we would have had to pay for parking as well as entrance fees. But with Bilbrey, all of this was done for us, and lunch was part of the package as well.

Tower of the Americas, as viewed from the entrance to Institute of Texan Cultures.

I don't really like this picture, but it shows the view we enjoyed from our table near the top of Tower of Americas. Those are some of our fellow travelers, by the way.

View of downtown San Antonio from the Tower.

The Alamodome from the Tower

After lunch, we boarded our bus once again. Part of the group went to the River Mall, but Donna and I elected to return to the hotel. This allowed us to spend the afternoon roaming the area around the Drury. I really wanted to visit the nearby San Fernando Cathedral. The cathedral is an active church, and it is adorned with beautiful statues and other items of interest. But what drew me to the location is its connection to the Alamo.

People from the world over who visit San Antonio usually make it a point to visit the Alamo. I can't tell you how many times I've visited that sacred Texas shrine over the years, but I had never visited San Fernando Cathedral, and that is a real shame. Not many people -- including Texans -- are aware that the ashes of the Alamo heroes rest in a tomb just inside the entrance of this church. I must admit that I was a bit overcome as I stood before the tomb, and I think Donna was likewise affected. I don't think you can be a true Texan without feeling something as you stand in the presence of that tomb.

I snapped this picture of San Fernando Cathedral from a terrace at the Drury Plaza Hotel.

Tomb containing ashes of Alamo heroes.

R.I.P.

Interior of cathedral

Organ loft

The story of how the remains came to be entombed at San Fernando Cathedral is an interesting one, and there are questions as to whether the remains are actually those of the Alamo defenders. It would take quite a bit of space to present the details, so if you are interested, I'll leave you to research the question on your own. But the cathedral is tied to the Alamo, and its role in the battle and the recovery of the ashes by Juan Seguin and his men is a wonderful story.

After our tour of San Fernando, we returned to the hotel and explored it. The hotel has both an indoor pool as well as a rooftop pool. We visited the terrace and enjoyed views looking west. It's a very interesting hotel, as hotels go.

Donna and I were still full from lunch, so we skipped supper. We then joined our group for a night-time boat tour of the river. The boat picked us up at the back of the hotel and we made the loop of the river. Since we had some extra time, the boat captain took us up the river as well.

It was a Saturday night, and the river was alive. Along the popular stretches of the river, the walkways were congested. Lines for boat tours stretched endlessly along the river. I was glad Bilbrey had arranged our private tour. I took numerous photos, but few turned out well.

This picture is a bit blurred and not too good, but it does show the crowds lining the bank of the river.

Another poor picture, but I wanted to show how the trees are decorated with hanging lights.

The Tower of the Americas jutting above the downtown skyline. That is our boat "captain" on left. He was very good, and provided a wealth of information about the area.

What a beautiful building!

Typical restaurant along the river, with lights dangling in the cypress trees lining the river

This was a long day for us. I was glad to get back to the room and relax. We really saw a lot on this day.