Last Thursday, 17 March, we went down to Katy as it had been two and a half months for the repair work to be done. As expected at Camping World most of the work was done well, some not done, and some left for a future date. We took the Flying Scotsman and told the Katy dudes we would see them in October. As long as we were in the Houston area we decided to stay for a couple of nights. Partly to see the area amenities but also for a mini shakedown of the RV after so long out of our control.

We picked the Lakeview RV Resort on South Main St for its close location to downtown and were very happy for our choice. The park is in an industrial part of town but they have a gated facility that is really great.

Here's the pool area near the office and it has a hot tub as well.

Then we were off to the Zoo. We forgot that it was Spring Break for Texas schools ... and that it was the last weekend of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo ... the biggest in the state.

So we, along with about 200,000 parents and kids hit the zoo. Here's the train that was running the last time we were here which was in about 1974 ... probably a different engineer, eh.





Fortunately for us a giraffe mom had just had a baby which was in the local news and the newborn was really neat!

And for us, as we had just watched the Discovery Channel series on the Meerkats, this display was super. Here's the tribe guard scanning the skies for the ever present hawk or park warden.

The Houston Zoo is so wonderful and really improved in the last 30+ years ... what a treat. After 35 years we could recognize some familiar exhibits and many that were much newer. Fortunately for the animals the exhibits have gotten larger and made more natural than the ones from the earlier days.

OK for those of you who want to hit the RV scene and have at least a million plus in your fun fund here is the bus for you. Allen Jackson and Brad Paisley were to be singers on this night but not sure of the real owner ... probably a BP oil exec.

The main bus is 45 feet long and then the trailer is another 25. In the trailer is a full size Chevy pickup truck and three Harleys as well as their garage support stuff.
Camping in style eh.

Here's a nice picture of Bandit who will get shaved into his summer Lion cut tomorrow ... better known as " ol' blue eyes."





And the real "bandit" for which he was named; taken in the bird feeder a couple of nights ago ... look hard as it is dark to the right of the picture.

This weekend we had a real treat. Here we are in the Oval Office with the Commander in Chief and his loyal staff. Wait ... that sure looks like Colonel (ret) Harvey Hueter at the desk making the big decisions. Yes it was Harvey and Pat as we all visited the George Bush (41) Library in College Station and posed in the mock-up office in the museum.





Harvey and Pat came up from Sattler near Canyon Lake for the weekend to visit us and we took them on a tour of the wonderful facility a couple of miles south of our house.

As you enter the grounds you see this awesome sculpture and piece of the Berlin Wall which represents a part of the George H. W. Bush legacy over many years of public service.

After several hours of touring the museum we took a break at Cenare's Italian restaurant with pasta, bread, cheese, and of course wine. Harv and I were able to talk about our flying helicopters in Vietnam in the 60's and Pat and Jo-Anne reminisced about their whole lives together from a very young age in Canada. Super!

This was a really great weekend and we miss the folks from the New Braunfels area, especially Pat and Harvey, who we have known for many years and hope to for many more to come.

Today we are sitting and waiting for the hoards to descend upon our last "open house" before we take the place off the market. Even though I put an ad for the open house in the local paper and paid for it up front, it didn't appear in Sunday's paper ... not happy!

It is a gorgeous day at about 60 degrees and perfect blue sky, so while waiting for the big sale, I thought I'd talk about last Sunday.

Last Sunday, being the last Sunday of the month, is of course the Messina Hof wine tasting appreciation seminar. February's subject was chocolate and wine pairings in honor of Valentine's Day. The class is about an hour and a half long and starts at 3 in the afternoon. It runs until we sample all the wines present and then keep going till all the wine is gone. There were about 30 people in the class.

We started with a muscato and white chocolate which was a real surprise as I thought only dark chocolates went with most wines. Then to a riesling with a fruit filled chocolate. Of course, the dark chocolates were still the best with an excellent syrah paired with a bon-bons and mousse and then of course the port paired with a piece of the heavy sweet dark stuff ... wow!

Next month will be our last and the subject will be white wines and food pairings; then we move our wine education to Ontario for the summer.