More Fun in Asheville

The weather was not the best while we were there,but we were able to take Bentley for a nice walk around the campground. He loved being in his stroller and Emma and Trevor took turns pushing him around the very large campground.----

-----until Trevor spotted a large pile of gravel and he wanted to play King of the Mountain. Emma gladly joined him while Bentley watched.

Speaking of Bentley, he just cannot get away from Nicholas. Nicholas loves him sooooo much and is always hugging him or licking him, or snuggling with him. Bentley would just like to be left alone.

On rainy days at the campground there were a few things for the kids to do inside like indoor bean bag Tic Tac Toe.

Trevor does everything with enthusiasm, especially when he wins at Tic Tac Toe.

When the rains cleared up the kids were back outside. A 5th wheel pulled in with a Mom and Dad and a family of 4 kids. All the kids got together and had a great time running, screaming playing and throwing leaves into the air and on each other. The little red headed 2 year old little girl in the picture was so cute.

The other family was not staying as long as we were, but the kids made the most of running and playing with their new friends. The squeals of delight were heard by all.

One day when the weather was nice Najla, Ryan and the kids went on  a 3 mile hike to a waterfall. David and I stayed home with the kitties. Finnegan really enjoyed the personal time and attention.

The Meyers had a great time hiking and said the hike wasn't as long as they thought.

I had printed a Nature Scavenger Hunt Bingo Game off the internet before we left and one afternoon we sat outside and played it. It was a fun game. Everyone won at least one game. Trevor helped me call out some of the items when he got tired of playing the game. It was a good  game. with both pictures and words and perfect for building reading .skills.

We made our Hobo meals on the grill, but they weren't the best. The potatoes and carrots were a bit under cooked. We were running low on charcoal and I think the grill just didn't get hot enough. We just might have to ditch that meal as one of our traditional camping meals.

We tried the technique of cooking popcorn in a tin foil packet over the campfire and that was a bust too. We had to resort to doing it in a paper bag in the microwave. Oh well--live and learn.  With the time change we were always eating in the dark. because it got dark so early and fast. We'll have to remember to buy more lanterns.

One day when the weather was nice we went to downtown Asheville. There is a nice mall and shopping area to walk around. It was interesting to see the area and I ran across 2 yarns shops and found some sock yarn. One shop sold yarn, and also tons of knitted hats. I think they had a co-op that made them and sold them there. All, very nice, but not much need for hats like that in Florida and when you don't go out very much. But I did love the yarn shops.

Asheville is well know for it''s craft breweries and craft beer. Najla  and Ryan  found one to go to.so we went to see what it was all about. It was Highland Brewery. Good grief!!!! It was packed with people. It was huge, with hundreds of people. They were releasing a new Winter beer and so they were extra busy that night. They did not have food inside, but they had several food trucks outside where you could buy some really good food and take it inside to eat. There was a live band and the kids had a great time too. Most all the breweries in Asheville are family friendly, one even has story time for the kids. They were busing people in from another parking lots and transporting them in the EMMA bus. No wonder they were so many people there.

Another rainy day and there was time for inside rock painting.  It was all fun.

It was sad to have to leave Friday morning to go home. It was such a great time, a good location and the kids got to experience real Fall weather. Maybe we can do it again sometime. I asked the kids what they like best about camping and Trevor screamed "EVERYTHING".  I think we'll wan to do this again.

A Fun Time Camping in the Fall

We met Najla, Ryan, Emma and Trevor in Candler, NC just west of Asheville to spend a few days camping. The weather was cool and a bit rainy. We had an RV site close to the cabin Najla and Ryan rented for the time we were there. It was pretty nice with one bedroom , bunk beds and a kitchen and bathroom. The campground owners had spent some time and money refinishing the floors and updating things.They even had a swing on the porch.

We arrived a little before the Meyers since they detoured to drive near the Blue Ridge Mountains and look at all the fall leaves and trees. Being from Florida, this was a new view for Emma and Trevor. This was a perfect time to see the Fall colors. Even though we had had rain and wind, there were plenty of beautiful colored trees and leaves to see.

Everyone voted for hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner so David and I headed for the closet grocery to pick up some sides to go with the meal. OMG were we surprised at the local Ingles grocery. It was spectacular and more like a Whole Foods. It was clean, spacious with lots of food options and the had the biggest craft beer selection David had ever seen.

This is about 1/3 of the craft beer section and they had 5 rows of wines from all over the world. David was amazed.

Dinner was great except for the fact that with the time change we were eating in the dark. We did have a couple of lanterns and a campfire. Of course after dinner we had to have s'mores to finish the day. I don't know who had more fun at the campfire--the kids or Ryan. Emma and Trevor had a good time for sure. They even cooked their hot dogs over the fire.

I had made a new quilt for my guest room bed, but ended up putting it on the MH bed instead.  I loved the yellow and gray fabric. It was a little small for that bed, but at least we weren't tripping over it.

I made the kids Glow in the Dark quilts. Emma's had Unicorns and Trevor had Dinosaurs.

.All 3 kitties were along for the trip and they were all cuddled in their beds for the night.
It was a great first day.

The campground had a mile long trail around the campground so we went on a hike. Quite a bit of it was uphill and we were all trying to catch our breath--even David and Najla and they are in much
better shape than me.
                                      

HEADED HOME FROM TEXAS

We left Fort Worth, headed towards home. The traffic going around Dallas wasn't bad at all, except for the maniac drivers. On the way home we stopped in Mineola, TX for the night. The main reason to stop there was to visit Stitchin Heaven, a well known quilt shop that has a BIG on line business. They always seem to have a ton of fabric on line and a lot of Blocks of the Month. They also have quilt cruises and look like a great shop. The on line store is very impressive, but the shop--not so much. It was in a little run down strip mall in a tiny town in the middle of no where. They had lots of batiks, patterns, panels and fabric, but nothing that exciting. I did see some Tula Pink fabric with kitties that was really cute.

This is their mascot which I found in their back room. What else, but a Texas longhorn.
The best part of this stop was that the campground was only 2 blocks from the shop. I found a great campground at the Mineola Civic Center. I was a little worried about what type of area this would be in, but it was very nice and clean. The Civic Center was a great community area with basketball courts, soccer fields, picnic areas and a full hookup campground for $28 a night. The sites were arranged in a circle around a field and we actually had pretty good WiFi. We were one of only a few  people there and there was no one any where near us. The boys had lots of room to sit our in their play pens and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine without being worried about traffic or dogs nearby.

                                     What a pleasant surprise this campground was. Very spacious.

  When reading the reveiews of the CG we saw a comment that you must go to town and get some of the fried pies. So to town we went to find them. There were two stores next to each other selling what they claimed were the "best fried pies". We chose the one on the corner with the yellow fried pies banner. They had a huge selection and we bought a few to have with our coffee in the morning. They were not quite like Grandma's, but they were very good.

Mineola was a one night stop and we left the next morning for Vicksburg, MS. It was right on the Mississippi River, although our CG wasn't exactly on the river. We stayed at the CG that was part of the Ameristar Casino. It was cheap, we had full hookups and it was for one night.

They even had a shuttle that would come pick you up at the CG and take you to the casino, but we  drove across the street to the casino for a hamburger and to check it out. We aren't gamblers, but the did spend $5.00 on the slot machines. It was interesting, but not for us. I'd rather buy fabric. We saw many AA people sitting in there playing slots. Of all the many people only about 1% were white.  They were playing big time slots. One woman had over $800 worth to bet with. I don't think you can ever win with a slot machine unless you are lucky and can walk away after you win a little I couldn't believe how many AA were in there in the middle of the day gambling big time. Sad.

After Vicksburg we stayed in Cottondale, AL  for the night and left for home. It was a nice vacation, but it's always nice to come home. If only we didn't have to do mounds of laundry and cleaning afterwards.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS, AND WHAT'S UP WITH THESE DRIVERS AND THEIR OBSESSION WITH DONUTS

Our next stop was Fort Worth, or actually Mansfield which was a little SE of Fort Worth. The campground was easy to get to, being just off a major highway,but close to absolutely nothing. It was a very nice campground and we had a great site right on the end of a row. It had a little grass and a picnic table, but it was just too windy to sit out. This is the windiest state I've ever seen. The wind has been like this since we were in Galveston.The people here drive like maniacs and fly past you no matter what the speed limit and cut you off. Usually they are in BIG pickup trucks. I guess Texans must have somewhere important to be because they all drive like that.

 I wish w had thought to count the number of Dollar Stores and Family Dollar Stores in Texas. I have never seen so many. There seems to be on every other block and sometimes more closely. We passed 2 Dollars Stores on the same block. Good grief! Then there are the donut shops. Texas must be obsessed with donuts. We noticed it more in Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth rather than the smaller towns. We decided to go to one to see what they were all about---I mean what is so different about  Texas donuts?  BUT they were closed. As a matter of fact there were lots of donut shops, all closed or out of business. HUMM. Texans must have made some bad investments in donut shops and switched over to Dollar Stores.

We decided in Fort Worth we were going to eat steak and or Bar B Que instead of Mex Tex.W  e ended up at a Mex Tex anyway the first night because that's the first restaurant we could find near where we were staying. It was actually very, very good. The second night we did drive to Arlington for a very nice steak restaurant and it was excellent. We didn't really have any plans of things to see in Fort Worth except a visit to the tourist area the Fort Worth Stockyards. I've been to Dallas/FT Worth several times either for medical dosimetry meetings and several times while on the Board of Directors for the Palm Beach Komen Foundation, but I never visited the actual stockyards. So away we went in search of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Two times a day they have a demo of a group of cattle drivers herding longhorns down Exchange Street which was the original Chisholm Trail. Also, there are a few cowboys along the sidewalk with their longhorns, just in case you want to climb on and have your picture taken. We saw several people do that----HUMMMM I think I'll pass on that. One little boy about 5 yrs old was so nervous he just couldn't take his eyes off the longhorn long enough to look at the camera for his picture. He was so cute.

At 11 am they drive the longhorns over to one pen and then at 4 pm they drive them back. Pretty exciting. It was more fun watching the cowboys and the different outfits and hats they had on.

Here they come!!!!!

https://youtu.be/8nwr-grlxo4

                       I couldn't post the video here, so you'll have to check it on on youtube.

Also on Exchange Street was the Cowboy Coliseum and the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame.
It was an actual rodeo coliseum and downstairs were photos of hundreds of Texas award winning rodeo participants.

 There was no rodeo going on while we were there so we could wander around and take pictures.

We walked over to the longhorns that were now safely in their pens. They were munching hay and how they kept from poking each other's eye out (and stabbing other areas) with those long horns, I'll never know. We saw one poke another right in the eye. OUCH!

There were a couple of nice sculptors along the street.

This tourist area was full of bars (saloons), restaurants and lots of shops full of Stetson hats and beautiful cowboy boots. The buildings were original and there were a couple of other museums there also.

                                                We had dinner here and the food was very food.

                                          The Stockyard Hotel, still in business.

Another saloon/restaurant.

                          This was a old General Store that still had T shirts and souvenirs to sell. I loved the                                                                            old buildings.

                                        All along the sidewalk were stars of fame for various famous cowboy stars.                                                           My hero was Annie Oakley.


Thirty years or so ago I was in Dallas for a AAMD meeting. At each annual meeting there was one night that you went to a local well know place for dinner or an event as part of the meeting. At this meeting the event was going to Billy Bobs. Being from Florida and not having a clue what Billy Bobs was I had no idea there was such a thing.. Let me say Billy Bobs is HUGE as in 100,000 sq ft inside and 20 ares of parking outside. I remember our tour bus pulling up and parking in this massive parking lot. According to the info BB's can accommodate 6,000 people. There are restaurants,
30 bars, a country dance floor (they give line dancing lessons regularly), they have live country entertainment with stars like Willie Nelson, Montgomery Gentry, Clint Black and others and they have a bull riding ring.
Thirty years ago I was amazed to see actual bull riding going on in a bar. Texans take their rodeo seriously. Billy Bob's is known as the World Largest Honky Tonk and it IS.

                            https://billybobstexas.com/about
                             https://billybobstexas.com/

    We walked around from the back to the front door and went in. The visitor info booth had given us free tickets to get in. Of course at this time of the afternoon there wasn't much happening except a dance lesson and them setting up for the night.

   One quick walk through and David was ready to head for the door.

Everyone in there was dressed in jeans, cowboy shirts, cowboy hats, and boots. As David said he felt like an idiot wearing his shorts with his skinny white legs and his Jesus sandals.

 He was outta there!!!!!

It was a nice tourist area and we enjoyed walking around and checking out the old buildings.
Back to the MH for a nice relaxing night.