Grapevine Texas

 

The Vineyards RV campground is it for camping enjoyment rivaling our Barrie KOA. The big difference here is that this is a city park .... wow. Above is the entrance complete with functional vines and the colors of the trees right now.

We have not seen Texas this colorful in the fall season. The locals say it was a particularly hard freeze a month ago that set the trees off, but the result is really very northern.

Speaking of the weather, right now it is 35 degrees in a pretty good downpour with a mix of sleet and maybe a flurry or so and the next two days predict to be the same. However, look at the marina and the tree below!

And then off to the Gaylord Texan resort hotel here in town for din-din on the San Antonio Riverwalk imitation. Here's the ol' guy with a fresh Dos Equis awaiting the arrival of the fajitas.

Our dinner was a burrito and also a plate of chicken and steak fajitas which we shared. This was really good and being able to sit on the Riverwalk replica in 68 degrees was fun. Good service and great food served quickly and hot ... what more can you ask for.

Then another shot of the whole Riverwalk scene in the Gaylord Hotel and our dinner table next to the bridge toward the back ... yes, it is all indoors.

And finally the entrance view as you walk into the Gaylord Hotel and gasp at the over one million lights for their holiday display.

It really does take your breath away and is literally free if you have dinner. Later we will take little Everett into their snow slides and skating adventure ... it keeps getting better!

Grapevine

 

We came up to Grapevine for a couple of weeks to be near the kids and to enjoy this wonderful park. Above is the view from the front of our RV toward the marina.

Unfortunately the lake has water problems and is slowly getting lower ... some say a leak in the dam, others, just the climate. The result is that the marina above is 9.5 feet lower than when we saw it before and that is really an ugly reality.  All the smaller inlets are now just grass and the boats above will have to move to deeper quarters fairly soon.

The kids and grandson Ev came over for the weekend and what better than to feed the geese. Here's the boss giving some military instruction to the worst behaved of the goose-guys ... accompanied by some not so respective back talk by the leader of the pack.

They actually do listen ... even to Bruce ... and eventually calm down to a normal chat and feeding with the little human who is shorter than they are.

Grapevine Vineyards park is a wonderful place whether you are 3 or 68 ... neat and love it.

Mature Moose Moving Inc.

Better known as, "Two Old Farts in an HHR"

 

Below is the moose detail on our shirts as we again engage in one of our most frequent activities of moving boxes and furniture from one place to another.

The more serious reason is that Mom has now been moved permanently to the nursing section of St Joseph Manor. The result is that Dad must now downsize from their two bedroom apartment there in the independent section to a smaller efficiency one ... it's all money ... and big bucks it is.

Anyhow we have gotten Dad now situated in his new quarters and the good part is that he is still just down the hall from Mom and they often eat and do organization functions together on a regular basis.

Speaking of regular functions, October 28th was Pop's 97th birthday and, of course, Cenare's Italian was on for the event. Here is the crowd for the celebration, including Mom, who was very present and patient for the gathering and us nattering about the old guy next to her.

And the patriarch himself on number 97 ... we should only hope for the active longevity he manages to maintain, eh.

Again we reinforced the promise that we will rent the entire place for his 100th party ... and with every year I am more regretting making the promise as he seems determined never to age. We really hope he will be there in a couple of years and are looking forward to the event.

Beer Fest

 

On the 26th of October we headed down to Austin without the Flying Scotsman to attend a beer tasting event that Brooks had bought us tickets for. The event was to be on Sunday the 27th near Dripping Springs about 20 miles west of Austin.

 

Because we were staying in Oak Hill near Dripping Springs on Saturday night we popped over to the Salt Lick BBQ ... YES Bob and Julie be jealous! We were there about 15 years ago with you guys and the place has just gotten better ... hey even their own wine.

 

And here is the fire pit where the tons of good meaty stuff comes from with Brooks explaining to Ev the process of cooking over the open wood fire.

Yes this is the Cracker Barrel favorite golf tee puzzle with Ev mastering a new twist that Jo-Anne had just presented to him.

The event itself on Sunday was interesting. There were 1000 ticket-only patrons privately invited to the Jester King Brewery near Dripping Springs for a tasting. Those 1000 tickets were offered only on one day and sold out in about 20 minutes ... just to show the fanaticism of these serious beer fanciers.

After about an hour standing in the mud to show our tickets we got in and had a really nice pizza and some wonderful weitzen beer before doing some actual tasting.

There were three main lines ... let's see that's about 300 people each ... but each moved fairly quickly so you could sample some of the brewery's most recent craft.

With a lot of time spent like Jo-Anne and Leigh above waiting for Bruce and Brooks to sample the last 2oz offering of sour apricot mash ... or something.

Given the setting and the beers and pizza we were able to sample in a short time, we would definitely go back without the massive crowd to just enjoy the brewery and its products.