Hill Country (Part 2)

I spent the night in Fredericksburg, which has to be one of the best towns in all of Texas. Main Street goes on forever with restored buildings from the 1800s now turned into shops, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts and a park brimming with fragrant flowers in the town square. Early Sunday morning I drove to Enchanted Rock State Park before the temperature hit triple digits.

This is the creek at the park which now has no water, just sand. This is the second year for the draught in this area and the countryside is hurting. Nearby at Canyon Dam, the water in the lake is down 15 feet lower than the record low.

With all the dry river beds in the area, it was odd to see the flood guages next to them.

(Cute store fronts in Fredericksburg.)

Bummer...I don't think you can see it, but there are little specks on top of the Enchanted Rock that are actually people. In the foreground is my new best friend and pilot, Andy and his dog, who treked the rock with me. (And here my parents were feeling bad for me for not making any friends!)

The rock and the hills.

Nancy and the rocks and the hill.

I took a tour of LBJ's "Texas White House", which was just opened to the public this year, and his ranch. You could see the airplane hangar, his show barn, and drive around the fields. It was really interesting. Lyndon Johnson spent a lot of his presidency right here and a lot of foreign policy was made under this live oak.

There were a couple of steers in the show barn and this was was nice enough to pose for me. Those are weights on the tips of his horns to train them in position. I liked the fact that the branding is done on the horns instead of the hide.

It was a great mini-trip. But honest, folks, it really is hot down here.

Hill Country (Part 1)

With just three weeks left in Houston, I took a weekend to drive through the 'hill country' of Texas. The Houston area is completely flat, as was the drive down to the bottom of the state. But just 3 hours west, near San Antonio and Austin, lie the rolling hills and winding rivers.



This is also a huge peach and pecan area and they were both in season and delicious! I was surprised to see an area with numerous vineyards, because 100 degree weather for months on end just doesn't seem to be conducive to growing grapes for wine. I guess I was wrong.




I went to the Guadalupe River State Park where the river was so low that all you could do was wade. The people in the above picture had the right idea on this hot day. They are sitting in the river with their cooler and boombox.

Reflections

I had southern chicken fried steak while watching the river roll by. Honest, as I was eating, I looked up and saw a doe and her fawn run across the opposite field.

I drove through a small town where the historical museum had some of their frontier displays right out on main street. It was very interesting. And yes, this cowboy is riding a long-horn steer, which I am told, is no easy feat.

In another small town I stopped at the oldest operating dance hall in Texas. I did a couple of two-steps and boot-scootin'-boogies and hit the road.

NASA Johnson Space Center

Here's me and my new friends (the real ones!).

Yesterday I went to the Johnson Space Center just outside of Houston. It was incredible! The Saturn V rocket was there in it's own building, lying on its side. You don't realize how huge those things are until you see it in person.

The Command Center: "Houston, we have a problem."

This grove of oaks was planted as a memorial to the astronauts who died on a mission.

This short flat building is the home of all the moon rocks.

From what I understand the lunar rocks and sand are kept stored in pure nitrogen. At the visitor's center, they have the largest collection of moon rocks in the U.S. on display, under glass and the whole section was in a vault.

Here is the Saturn V, on it's side.

I spent 5 hours at the Space Center, watching IMAX movies, taking a tram tour around the grounds and seeing all the buildings, looking at the displays, watching live presentations and buying my new "Failure is not an option" coffee cup. I also bought one of those rubber bracelets that says, "It's not rocket science" on one side and "Oh, wait...yes it is" on the other side. I just laugh. I crack myself up.

I'm having fun. I miss Hooch. I'm getting use to the heat.

Love you all,

Nancy