2/27-3/1 White Sands Community RV Park, Alamogordo, NM

A park right in town!  Not too bad, lots of permanent trailers, but fair amenities here.  It is close to alot of stuff:


 We toured the Valley of Fires lava flows, Three Rivers Petroglyphs, and the Alameda Zoo, all in one day!

Then we went to the White Sands Missile Range Museum and the White Sands National Monument.  Steve got to slide down the sand, and was helped by the dog!  ( he belonged to the Iowa State people we met there)  At the museum, we saw what could have been the reason for all the flying saucer sightings! (they claim it is a weather monitoring balloon!?!)

2/19-2/27 The Ranch SKP Park, Lakewood, NM

The Ranch park is between Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns, but otherwise is in the middle of nowhere.  It is full of very friendly people, though, and Steve helped install some new piping for the water system.  (they must have been desperate for help!)  There IS a post office, and the park gets most of the mail business!


Took a day tour to Roswell (what a tourist trap it is).  But we did see the county courthouse and the museum of the area.

 Visited Carlsbad Caverns, which weren't too bad for the claustrophobic Cathy!

Went to the Living Desert Zoo and to the courthouse in Carlsbad, where Cathy sat in the judges seat!

Toured the Guadalupe Mountains National Park and saw El Capitan.

2/12-2/19 Lost Alaskan RV Park, Alpine, TX

Steve's brother Randy and sister-in-law Jackie came to visit with us for a week while we were here.  What a blast.


We visited Marfa (home of the Marfa Lights and viewing area) and the Presidio County Courthouse.  We didn't see any lights there, and we didn't find the geocache, either!

We went to visit Fort Davis, only some of which is restored.  The rest of the buildings have adobe outlines, so you can see the whole layout, though.




Onward to McDonald Observatory where we participated in the Twilight show and Star Party (too cloudy to see out of the telescopes, though).  We went back the next day to take the tour and Daytime show.  Such cool looking telescopes!

We toured the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross University, where Dan Blocker attended school (Hoss Cartwright for those of you in the know).

We took two days to tour Big Bend National Park, and we saw the Rio Grande at what must be it's shortest distance across (about 4 feet).

After our tour of the park, we ate at the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua.  What an interesting town!!!!

2/5-2/12 Broke Mill RV Park, Del Rio, TX

Well, here we are in Del Rio, Texas, right on the border.  You can see the enormous fence by the Rio Grande River, which seems like such overkill when you consider that about 20 yards away is someone's backyard, which is open to the river!

We have eaten a couple of times at Memo's on the creekside.  We were entertained by a trio of bird out the window:  a Kingfisher, a crane, and a hawk who was eating his dinner at the same time.

We toured the Whitehead Memorial Museum, the Val Verde Winery, Lake Amistad; which is an international lake on the border.  We went to Langtry, to see the Judge Roy Bean museum, and toured downtown Del Rio, which has some beautiful buildings made by the Italian stonemasons that settled there.

We also toured the Seminole Canyon and Rock art!

You will not believe this, but is SNOWED on us on the morning we left!!!

2/1-2/5 Lake Casa Blanca International State Park, Laredo, TX

We weren't here for very long, but it is a very nice park.  We were able to tour the downtown, where we saw this great tiled building; and the old Fort Mcintosh, which is located on the college campus.

We went to Laredo's first ever beer fest, but were underwhelmed.  Steve lucked out though because someone gave him their drink tickets, so he tasted 22 beers instead of just 12!

On to Del Rio!

1/1-2/1 Isla Blanca State Park, South Padre Island, TX

We started off the year with a fireworks display.  We watched with Barb and family from their balcony.  Steve and Uncle George watched Nebraska lose their bowl game.  A bad mood prevailed!  Then we received a visit from Steve's cousin Lyle, wife Tammy, son with girlfriend, and Lyle's inlaws Jerry and Margaret.  We ate at an oyster bar and Steve tried the fresh oysters on the half shell.


Our afternoons were filled with sunsets like this one.


Took a trip to Laguna Atascosa, where we saw lots of birds last year; rewarded with only ONE bird, and not even an interesting one!  We saw more birds, including this little blue heron, at the birding center on the island!


Barb and Steve took in the Elvis Festival at Little Graceland again this year.

Cathy and Steve went to Brownsville to see the Gladys Porter Zoo.  We saw these two turtles trying to tip each other over, and we saw that this Joey didn't need to expend any energy while grazing!



Cathy even participated in the "Boozer" Ride with Steve and friends Bob & Pat and Loren & Carla.  We also went to an RV show in Mercedes, and then on to Mission to visit with Jerry and Margaret.

Steve participated in the fitness walk across the Causeway again, and attended the local music festival.  We visited the Sea Turtle Rescue center with Barb and tried to find some geocaches.  That was the big hit this year for Barb and Steve - geocaching! You will have to have them expain it to you if you are unfamiliar with it.

We were able to go on a Dolphin Watch again with Captain Scarlett and Rozzie the dog; and took Barb, Bob & Pat.  This was the day after our happy hour bacon fest at a local bar.

On to Laredo!

12/26-31 - Isla Blanca State Park, South Padre Island, TX

 What a great feeling to finally be on the beach where we started this year!

This has been a busy week getting settled in and seeing Barb and her Mom Jane and her Aunt Jenny and Uncle George.


We have been to the bird sanctuary already to see herons and cranes.

We had a visit from Steve's cousin Lyle, and family;  ate lunch at a great seafood place, then Steve went to visit them in Mission the next day and they all went to Mexico.

Steve has already gone orange picking, so it's time to make juice!  Off to see Barb and company for New Year's Eve fireworks!  Talk at you next year!!!