South Padre Island

 Aggh.. it has been a long time since I posted anything, yet again. Sorry!

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I started work at an aerospace company in 1985, right before I graduated from USC (Master of Liberal Arts) and worked there for nearly 10 years, until the programming department was outsourced. I worked for the company that got the outsource contract for another 27 years, supporting the same customer. I finally had the chance to become 'A Real Girl' when the customer decided to employ me directly! I switched jobs on my birthday this last year and one of the things that came with the job was 50 hours of vacation. Now at this company you have to use your vacation before the end of the year - if you have time left at the end of the year, you can only save up to 40 hours and those have to be used by March of the next year. So what to do with my 50 hours?

We decided to investigate the southwest part of Texas (we have explored the northeast, the southeast and central so far). Plane flight to Austin the day after Thanksgiving and then we started our exploring. One of the things that was highest on our list was visiting Starbase in the very tippy bottom of the state.  We made it down there just before sunset and decided we liked the area a lot. 

One of the Starships

Sunset at Starbase

South Padre Island is near  to Starbase as the crow flies, but to get to it from Starbase means a 35 mile journey. We were looking for someplace to spend the night and decided we wanted to be near the water. We found a hotel with beach access and headed there.

View from our room on the fourth floor - you can just make out the water. The guy at the front desk said they USED to have full beach view, until the building in the back was put up.

Walkway to the beach

 Port Isabel Lighthouse

 From Port Isabel, you take the Queen Isabella Bridge. You can just make out Starbase (it was foggy a lot!)

We liked it so much that we spent most of the rest of our vacation days on South Padre, though we did take jaunts out to the surrounding area. It was fairly hot compared to the beach! We liked Los Fresnos and Harlingen. We explored Brownsville and Edinburg, but they are a bit noisy!

There was an amusement area. Tucked into a corner was this amazing sandcastle display.

I spent some time sewing up the Winding Ways blocks from my Go bag. I actually finished all 9 of the blocks and sewed them into a top. (It's going to be a table mat)

We went down to the beach every day, sometimes more than once a day.

View of the Gulf of Mexico.

Collected lots of sea shells.

I can identify most of them - there are several cockle shells, several oysters (the outsides of several look like they are rocks, but turn them over and you see they are really oysters), a partial mussel shell, a partial whelk shell, a baby's ear, a blue-edged scallop, a sundial, a clam shell, a lettered olive, a bonnet shell - could be a white scotch bonnet which the identification pages say is pretty rare, and a half-naked pen shell. 

There is a wee orangish cockle shell on the bottom right that has a hole - evidently Moon snails like to latch onto other mollusks and liquify the owner for their dinner.  

My favorite is the lettered olive - it has such an interesting surface - very polished and smooth. The pen shell is the most delicate - it traveled home inside the large oyster shell at the top. 

I need to find a way to display them. Probably need to get a shadow box.

And we made it back to Starbase before we left. Amazingly we got there just as the road was closing for the movement of the launch vehicle - the rocket part that will lift the Starship into space, back to its hanger. The guard was so excited!  We pulled over on a side road and got out just as it was passing by. It's HUGE!

Video of the launch vehicle being moved - not sure if this will work in the published version of this post - I can't get it to run in the preview. We shall see!

We went back up to Austin the day before our flight home so we would be 'in the area' and not have to rush to the airport. (We learned that lesson when we went to central Texas a few years ago..it was quite the wild ride and we were so frazzled when we got on the plane) We took a drive north of Austin to see more of the Hill Country. Since it was Fall, there were lots of gorgeous trees.

We want to go back to South Padre!

Stitching in the Great Outdoors

More stitching on the Fire Mountain Bargello's applique today..we went off adventuring and I got to stitch in the great outdoors for a while..twas glorious!
There are oodles of oranges on those trees...

 Watched a para-sailor ride the updrafts over the top of this mountain...

 A crashed balsa wood airplane  on the upper left (I think)!

Some dark clouds...rain maybe (we hope!)

Visit to the Reagan Presidential Library

We ventured out to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Saturday with DD for Father's Day. Got there just after they opened - a good thing, since the parking lot filled up quickly and when we left, there were cars parked all along the drive for almost a mile!

Very impressed with the grounds and the Library..we got to go thru Air Force One and  the helicopter that Reagan used...the exhibits were very interesting. I even went riding with Ron:

What I didn't expect to see were QUILTS!! They had a baseball exhibit that featured a number of quilts along with bats, gloves, baseball cards, peanut roaster carts, uniforms, models of the old baseball stadiums, pinball games, pictures and even the traveling trunk that Babe Ruth used!..the curator said it was only 1/3 of the collection (Wow!) My apologies for the dimly lit pictures...they have a no-flash rule at the Library, the quilts were behind glass..and there is only so much you can do with editing..

This last one did not have a card explaining who the maker was:

The Baseball exhibit will be at the Library til September 4.

The 1100 Year Old Tree

On our adventures yesterday, we found this 1100 year old oak tree...imagine what this tree has lived thru..it was around when the Magna Carta was signed!

The grounds are a popular wedding venue..we even saw a Bride walking down the dirt path towards this spot...

View from behind the oak tree:

The rest of the grounds are pretty interesting..its an old resort with ancient buildings...and this pond in one of the center park areas featuring a wee castle at the base of the tree..over time, the tree has cracked the castle so its ruins...

View from the other side of the pond on the stone bridge:

A light house on the far end of the pond:

And a waterfall on the other side of the stone bridge

Easter 2014

After a delicious Easter dinner of roast lamb, we had a yummy pineapple upside down cake:
I made the Easter table runner many years ago and put it out every year.

And we took a wee drive into the hills. Car was getting a bit hot so we turned around after a few miles but I managed to get a shot of these sunflowers..might put them into a quilt someday.

Spring!

We took a little jaunt up into Apple Country this afternoon. The apple trees are blooming! In all the years we have lived here, we have never gone up to Apple Country in the spring...we have gone several times in the fall, to pick apples and raspberries.

The air was very hazy and there was a lot of glare, so I was lucky this picture turned out - I could not see it on the phone and just had to hope it was ok! No idea why it was so hazy though.

It was peaceful up there without the crowds!

Flying Kites

For my DH's birthday this year, we gathered in a park to fly kites.
Here is our favorite kite-flying spot:

Granddaughter Lily flying the dragon kite:

One of the other features of this park is it is next to Santa Ana River...and if you are careful, you can climb down to the river...last time we went to this park, the mere thought of going down that hill caused tears, but this time, Lily was a brave, brave girl and went down the hill!!

You can sense the hesitation!! Holding tight to Daddy:

But she made it all the way down!

And back up! (it was getting dark by the time she and her Daddy came back up)

Southwest Trip

DH and I went on a driving trip for our anniversary this year. We toured the Southwest.We left really early on Saturday morning. By the time we got to Baker, it was daylight and lo and behold, the desert was GREEN due to some rain we had a week earlier.

Stayed in Nevada for a couple of days then headed to Arizona. We crossed over Hoover Dam. Though I have been there several times, its still awesome and huge!

Then on to the old Route 66, heading for New Mexico for the tour of  Spaceport America.

We stopped to change drivers in this wee little spot on the map - Grasshopper Junction - where I got a quick shot of this handsome fella!

Our major goal for the trip was to take a tour of the Spaceport America outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  The Spaceport has not quite opened for business but they allow a tour company access.

This is the highly polished glass windows of the terminal building. You can just see us reflected in the glass as I took the picture. (We are the couple on the left). On the lower floor is the waiting area for family and friends of the astronauts. On the top floor is the prep area for the astronauts  -  they come a few days ahead of time to get ready for the space shot. Behind the waiting area is the hanger which stores the spaceship and its launch vehicle.

This is looking at the hanger/terminal building from the operations center. Those dark panels are the doors to the hanger part.

This is out on the runway. Probably the ONLY time I will be on that runway...unless I should happen to run into a couple of spare millions and could sign up for one of the flights. (They start at $200,000! Lets see, that would be at least $400,000 for the both of us...um..not happening anytime soon! But we can dream!)

DH looking out of the top floor of the operations center. The white smear in the distance is the runway.

Here is the window he was looking out of from the other side!

This is an aerial shot (from a news service - not my picture!) showing the terminal/hanger building. The operations center is off to the left of this picture.

One of the other features interesting features near Truth or Consequences is Elephant Butte Dam. It was built before Hoover Dam and at the time, was the largest dam in the USA.

Elephant Butte Reservoir..the water level is way down due to the lack of rainfall.

We headed to White Sands after the Spaceport. One of the interesting sights was a two humped camel in a trailer - this is not the actual camel we saw, but it looks kinda like him..the camel looked like he was having the time of his life, rolling down the highway. I was driving or I would have snapped a picture.

This is the center at White Sands. I love the pueblo styling and the color.

A picture taken near White Sands.

This is the lake at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. We got there after dark and were hoping to stay there. Went up to the front desk to ask if they had a room and were told no, but that not all the guests had checked in yet - check back with them in an hour - maybe they would have a cancellation. So..in an hour, we went back up to the desk and a guy tapped DH on the shoulder. Said he had heard us inquire about a room when we were there an hour ago...and that he had one he was going to give up - he had asked for an adjoining set of rooms but what he got were rooms that were on opposite sides of the hall..he really didn't want his young daughter to stay across the hall! So they were going to get a rollaway for her and if we wanted, we could have the room! So...we got the room..thanks to an alert and generous guy.

Next morning we toured the lake and then headed for Roswell..and the famous alien landing!

Here I am looking at one of the tourist trap gift shops - this one has a depiction of the alien ship's crash landing, complete with flashing red lights. The McDonald's in Roswell is themed after the alien ship as well.

We drove up to Gallup next, with Four Corners and Monument Valley as the next destinations. This is Shiprock on the way to Four Corners.

Four Corners...with little booths all around in each of the four states - New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah..Since its on an Indian Reservation, the booths were staffed by Indians of various local tribes. Some of them were really interesting to listen to. We watched a lady that made sand paintings using rocks she ground up from her backyard. Turquoise for the blue, sulpher for the yellow, quartz for the white, coal for the black. She would paint a thin line of white glue on a tile, then shake some of the rock dust onto it and would make wonderful pictures. At the end she coats them with an acrylic to keep the sand set.
Another couple were making the most intricate carvings on clay pots. The wife used a sharp tool to inscribe the clay and he added the colors once it was fired. They really were wonderful (but really expensive!) The guy told us about a scenic way to get to Monument Valley - it was thru some really desolate areas.

The hills turned RED once we got into Utah. I couldn't stop to get one shot that I really wanted as the road turned into a completely red valley. It was so peaceful and quiet, and hardly any traffic. (Which could have been a bad thing (see the end of the post) but it turned out ok - our Guardian Angel was watching over us!)

Monument Valley.

Another view of Monument Valley.

After we left Monument Valley, we headed to Sedona. I had heard it was beautiful and the drive down into Sedona from Flagstaff was so gorgeous. This is Bell Mountain in Sedona. We decided not to stay in Sedona because of the cicadas...they made such a racket that I don't know if we would have slept! It sounded like some weird kind of motor, humming away at max volume! Some day we will come back and we plan on climbing Bell Mountain to see if there really is any truth to the stories of it being an energy vortex.

The hills were still red outside of Sedona.

The setting sun thru the clouds.

It was a good trip. The day after we got home, we went to start the car and OMG, the battery was dead. It had hiccupped a couple of times on the trip but always started the engine...So we put the charger on the battery and the next morning we headed for Sears to get the battery replaced (It was time anyway) Thank goodness we didn't get stuck out there in the middle of one of the nowheres we were in on the trip!