Flashback Time

 

Last weekend we took grandson Ev and his mom and dad literally across the street to the Sandy Lake Amusement Park.

 

Sorry but this is memory time as this place, while purchased in the 1970's has been in operation since the 50's. This is an old time amusement park for kids and is really cool ... pure simple rides and fun for the young.

This is actually a huge piece of property between I-35E and the Bush Tollway and includes many venues reminiscent of the 1950's style amusement park I was familiar with. Lake Lansing Amusement Park near Haslett Michigan was very similar and this place brought back fond memories.

Here's the Tilt a Whirl thrashing about.

And then a whale ride ... all new to the four year old and really fun.

And then on the carousel which is one he often gravitates to. Papa Brooks looks like he is enjoying the hopping horses as well.

And then the train. This is a gorgeous effort by the park for this thing. Not knowing much about park trains but this thing is beautifully restored and maintained by this place. We had a leisurely tour of the facility on the train and with the local engineer narrative was pretty neat.

Again, small, old style, but just across the street to walk to and really brought back memories of the parks we went to when we were kids ... hey, kid recognize fun no matter how simple and old the technology is and try to forget the tablet, I pad, or whatever new tech gadget there is, eh, and funny thing was he had a super day.

Warmth at last

 

With official Spring almost upon us the Texas weather finally has come around to what a lot of folks come here to enjoy. During the last couple of days we have finally broken the long, dreary, cold, misty remnants of the snowy past and it has almost gotten pleasant.

 

We've been in the College Station-Bryan area for about 10 days to see Bruce's parents and help out where we can. Bruce's dad at 98 is still doing great and has promised to do a pen and ink rendition of the Flying Scotsman ... should be good as he is still a wonderful and talented artist. Mom on the other hand at 96 is having some serious issues with cognitive things and we'll see how that plays out over the next few months.

 

We stayed at the Holiday RV park in College Station as the Aggieland was booked. Nice park with fairly large paved sites and we had a comfortable time to see and help out with the (super) seniors and also socialize with brother Richard and Kerry ... i.e. wine and Chinese food eh.

 

 

And a nice but maybe too dark sunset over the home of the Texas A & M Aggies.

 

 

Then this morning off to Kroger to fill up the bus and get some groceries as we do every time here. We got 35 gallons at $2.29 a gallon and then 35 more at $2.49 which is not bad as we saw the average around here to be about $2.58 or so for diesel.

And from Bryan we took Highway 6 to the northwest toward Waco but cut north on Highway 14 after Calvert which is a nice little antique friendly town. 14 is a nice two lane road and has a roadside picnic area reminiscent of all Texas roads in the 1950s and 60s. Beautiful 70 degree day as we sat and had our picnic lunch by the oak trees ... the silence was mesmerizing.

Then off to Sandy Lake RV park for the next month to catch up on our life. For the RV improvement side of our life we a doing a couple of things. The first is to order a formal computer desk that is built to fit our bus and make the space we have more efficient. That's coming from the Amish in Elkhart and Bradd and Hall Inc. We'll chronicle the arrival of the massive crate ... should be interesting!

Also from the same RV folks we are ordering new captains chairs up front which have disintegrated from use and poor manufacture. The maker of the RV admits that they were crap but refuses to do anything further ... oh well. We'll finalize the order of those things in the next few days and pick them up in Elkhart on our way north.

Now, I won't divulge where I saw this sign, but it was in one of the washrooms we have been in recently in some park ... never thought this was a problem but apparently it is ...gotta love RV life!

March Madness

 

This has been a crazy time since we came back to Grapevine and the Vineyards.

 

On Wednesday we were sitting  the front of the Flying Scotsman watching the waterfowl on what's left of Lake Grapevine and this dude or dudette trotted by at about 3pm, apparently also interested in the waterfowl on Lake Grapevine ... maybe a little different interest though.

 



 

Then the rain began. It was a pounding 30 degree rain ... and oh, by the way, the propane delivery that we had ordered Monday arrived at 5pm on Wednesday. There was a 25mph wind and the propane guy and I were in the mud under the bus trying to free the frozen and now broken cap to the propane inlet ... the finest in RV life, and now we have gas!

The rain and wind still howled until about 2am when the 22 degree night took over and we ended up with about 4.5 inches of snow according to the weather folks in Dallas. Our rooftop weather station ceased to function when it was frozen solid and covered in a blanket of snow.

The next morning was a spectacular winter wonderland! For the 5th of March this was a show to remember. There was absolutely perfect quiet ... no planes or cars and no tracks in front of the RV.

The previous evening's ice storm under the new snow really made for some cool pictures in the 24 degree morning air.

And there were even some mature angels out there doing things reminiscent of younger days where we both grew up.

I didn't react quick enough but there were even some kids going down the slope in front our site on a plastic camp table ... time to improvise with whatever piece of flat stuff might be in the RV to enjoy this short-lived winter wonderland.

All in all one of the most spectacular March events we have witnessed in Texas in a long time and today was the perfect 34 degree clear blue of photographer's dreams ...

Texas Spring?

 

In other years about this time in Texas we would be begin getting the plants out and enjoying the warm spring weather ... not this year. While our winter/spring has been much less spectacular than that to the north it is starting to get old ... especially in the motorhome.

 

We are still in Grapevine and in spite of the continuing rain, sleet, snow and monotonous 33 degrees have gotten out of the bus to see the area as well as the family.

 

 

Our site at the Vineyards as it was yesterday and it then began to warm up a bit but overall we got about an inch or two of snow/sleet/ice.

But before the warm-up I realized the park spigot had frozen solid and I had to improvise several chunks of hose to reach an open faucet to fill the tank. In theory the city will be over tomorrow to repair the busted outlet. We also had the propane truck over a couple of days ago and filled up but because it has been so cold, we should get more ... still predicting a 24 degree night Wednesday ... brrrr.

Like I said we have still managed to get out into the great town of Grapevine and decided to try a new venue called Wine/Wood; a combination of upscale dining with roaring mesquite fire and an impressive wine cellar.

We hit the place for lunch and were not disappointed. While the wine was overpriced and the attentive wait staff a bit pushy to get you into the higher priced stuff it was still an excellent lunch.

Jo-Anne had their signature grilled cheese which was comfort food defined ... three cheeses grilled into three slices of bread and accompanied by tomato bisque soup and a nice pinot. I had a turkey club that was excellent also with the tomato soup.

Everything very fresh and well presented and I had a malbec wine which was quite good ... nap time as we prepare to head out later this week on a new adventure.