Comfort, TX and Bill's Birthday, March 12, 2010

On Friday, March 12, we took a drive to Comfort, Texas, a small town of 2350 people, located between Kerrville and San Antonio. This quaint little building is the Comfort State Bank building.
Comfort was settled in 1854 by German immigrants as were a lot of the towns in the Hill Country.

The downtown area is possibly one of the most well preserved historic business districts in Texas with over 100 structures dating back to the 1880's.

After visiting several shops in Comfort, we continued on towards to San Antonio and had lunch at the Red Lobster. (Seems like we had Bill's birthday at the Red Lobster in Melbourne, Florida last year with his family.) Red Lobster could get to be an annual event!

Our friends and fellow workampers, Sue and Bill Cookson joined us for lunch. Sue helps me with flowers and works in the kitchen and Bill provides nighttime security for the park. They are originally from Butler, PA (Small world!) but spent most of their adult life in California. They have been living full time in their 5th wheel RV for several years now.

National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, TX March 2, 2010

We took another trip to Fredericksburg, this time to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. This museum is actually 3 museums. The Admiral Nimitz Museum is the cornerstone of the National Museum of the Pacific War and has exhibits that focus on the life of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, his family, and his connections to Fredericksburg. Admiral Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg and raised in the Texas Hill Country.

Behind the Nimitz museum is the Garden of Peace, a gift from the people of Japan in honor and memory of Fleet Admiral Nimitz.

Also behind the Nimitz Museum is a large, outdoor memorial to the many soldiers and ships that were lost in the war. There were hundreds of plaques surrounding this beautiful garden area.

The second building houses the National Museum of the Pacific War-George H.W. Bush Gallery. This museum takes you through the complete Pacific War. Thirty-six different areas beginning with the "Seeds of Conflict", then Pearl Harbor, Corregidor & Bataan, Midway, New Guinea, etc, etc, to the "terrible new weapon" and Victory. Here Bill is standing by a jeep that was originally designed by American Bantam in Butler, PA.

This is the "terrible new weapon", the atomic bomb. Not very big, is it, for as powerful as it was and the destruction it rained on Japan.

Outside the Bush Gallery is a tribute to all the presidents from the beginning of World War II to George Bush.

The third part of the museum is the Pacific Combat Zone, which is a guided tour. This three acre site showcases the museum's large artifacts in their unique environments.

This hanger deck has a TBM Avenger, with wings folded back to save on space.

The PT boat base houses the actual PT 309. It wasn't a very big boat and was build out of wood.

This is a mock up of an invasion beach with landing craft and artillery.

An army tank was tucked back in the trees.

There was also a field hospital along with several other tanks and army vehicles.

And last was a "cemetery" honoring the six branches of our military: Army, Air Force, Navy Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Merchant Marine. Each cross told how many men were lost in each of the branches of our military. It was very humbling.

This is such a large museum that your ticket is good for two days. It is well worth a visit should you ever be in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Line Dancing in Bandera, March 3, 2010

Three days a week several of the girls get together for aerobic walking. After we put in our 2 or 3 mile workout some do Yoga and the rest do Line Dancing. I was the one who volunteered to teach the line dancing class. It was loads of fun. Here is a card Alice made for me:

I taught them 5 different dances and Alice had a comment for each one!

Char, Sandy, me, Pat and Alice. They gave me a hooded sweatshirt embroidered with "Coach Barb" on the front and a bottle of wine!

So cute!

Of course we had to go to Bandera's 11th Street Cowboy Bar and "strut our stuff". On Wednesday they sponsor a "Steak Night". Everyone takes steak, chicken, whatever you want on the grill. They provide the grills and you can buy "sides" of potatoes and salad.

Steak night brings out a lot of people and it was really crowded but we found a space to dance. They always have a live band on Steak Night.

Here's the happy gang after a few beers! (Except Bill, of course) Bill, me, Sandy, Alice, Pat, and Charlie (Alice's husband). Pat and Sandy are retired teachers from Michigan and Alice and Charlie are from Colorado. What a fun night!

2010-03-01 This and That Around Buckhorn

Just a typical day around Buckhorn Lake Resort starts with a breakfast burrito of, eggs, potatoes, sausage, and salsa on a tortilla.

My sister-in-law, Judy, was visiting a friend in San Antonio and we were able to get together for lunch at the Peach Tree Cafe in Fredericksburg. It was good to see her again. She has been busy showing her two Golden Retrievers in Florida the month of February. I'm glad we got the chance to see each other before we head to Oregon this spring.

Usually once a week several people in the park get together for a "jam session" in the barn. We have a banjo player, mandolin player, and several guitar players and they all sing! Here's BC (right) doing a Willie Nelson song. BC is a workamper and does all the mowing in the park.

Here's the group pickin' and grinnin'. It is fun to sit around and listen to them play and sing.

Spring is peeking into the Hill Country. This is the flower bed filled with pansies and daffodils in front of the office. We've planted about 10 dozen pansies around the park.

Here's another bed in front of one of our cottages.

Bill is hard at work keeping the pools clean.

I've taken a liking to Mexican food! Here's supper: rice, beef enchiladas, and refried beans.

I took Ceilidh for a walk and shot this sunset picture. This is just west of our tennis courts on the bank of Goat Creek which runs through the resort.

A full moon is overlooking an empty site beside our RV tonight. The end of another perfect day at Buckhorn Lake Resort.

Life is good.......