Category: RVing with Grand Kids
Lose Now, Eat Later!
November 7, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · Leave a Comment
Do your clothes fit too snugly lately? Does it feel like you put on 5 pounds by the end of each and every year? If so, it is time to start losing some of those extra pounds before this year’s “Holiday Eating” even begins. Pondering my schedule for the holidays this year, I couldn’t help but think of all the eating I am inevitably going to be doing. Because I, like so many Americans, LOVE to eat! Given the opportunity and availability of delicious food being set out before me (think holiday parties), I tend to overeat. So by the time I am ringing in the New Year, I am a good 5-10 pounds heavier than I was when wearing my Halloween costume. If you, like me, are not looking forward to the inevitable holiday weight gain, join me in my new found personal weight-loss challenge. My goal this year is to do what I can to curb my appetite and exercise in the few weeks I have left before Thanksgiving. Since we all know, there is no dieting during Thanksgiving dinner. ... [Read more...]
Still More Reasons to Love Texas Food
November 5, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 1 Comment
Texans take their food as seriously as they do their football. Many Winter Texans and other visitors to the Lone Star State have the good sense to agree with them—that Texan food is that of the gods. 1. City Market Barbecue fans head to downtown Luling to satisfy their craving for City Market’s succulent brisket, hot links, and pork ribs. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved One of the great joys of RVing is visiting new places and making interesting discoveries. Another is just the opposite—revisiting those places that demand a closer look. Sometimes that second chance leads to a third—and a fourth. City Market in Luling, is such a place. The meat-market-turned-barbecue-restaurant started in 1958, and over the years has become a barbecue icon. This is the arguably the best barbeque in all of Texas which helps explain why Luling is perennially included on our Texas itinerary. 2. Lockhart: Barbecue Capital of Texas A short hop, skip, a jump from Luling is Lockhart, the Barbecue Capital... [Read more...]
50 Things We Love About Texas
October 23, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 5 Comments
1. Texas Hospitality 2. Paso Del Rio, or River Walk, the Jewel of the City (San Antonio) 3. Fresh from the Gulf shrimp and oysters When in the Clear Lake/Galveston area we head for Rose’s in Seabrook for a supply of shrimp. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved 4. Exploring the pine and hardwood forests of the Piney Woods of East Texas 5. Saying howdy 6. The Alamo 7. Texas’ wide open spaces 8. Hiking Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, north of Fredericksburg 9. Tex-Mex, especially in far South Texas 10. The way small-town drivers wave to everyone they pass 11. The timeless beauty of Presidio La Bahía near Goliad, and its rural setting 12. Stopping for lunch at almost any small-town BBQ joint and sitting elbow-to-elbow with folks you have little in common with except that you all love good ‘cue 13. Blue Bell Ice Cream. Wow! 14. The wind-swept, dynamic rippling sandscapes in Monahans Sandhills State Park is one-of-a-kind 15. Stopping for kolaches at a small-town bakery 16. Driving... [Read more...]
“THROWED ROLLS”
October 22, 2012 by Professor95 · Leave a Comment
Have you ever been in a restaurant where the servers throw huge 5-inch in diameter, hot, yeast raised rolls across the room with hopes that you will catch them? If you answered yes, you have most likely visited one of the three locations where Lambert’s has one of their original “Throwed Rolls” cafes. We stopped at Hinton RV Park just off I-55 in Sikeston, MO. When we checked in, the park attendant handed us a packet of information on local points of interest. The one that caught our eye was for Lambert’s Café. We were told that Lamberts would send a driver to the RV Park to pick us up for dinner and then bring us back to our RV. With an offer like that, how can you refuse? When we arrived at the restaurant our chauffer took us to our table, gave us some preliminary warnings and left us to our server. At that point, a young man in jeans and red suspenders came down the center isle of the restaurant shouting “Throwed Rolls” and then pitching them to anyone that held... [Read more...]
Best Kept Secret in Camping: Maricopa County Parks & BOGO
October 4, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 1 Comment
One of the best kept secrets in the World of RVing is campgrounds located in county parks! But where are they, and how do you find them? A delightful end to another day in paradise at Usery Mountain Regional Park. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved Sometimes they’re located in Woodall’s and Trailer Life Campground Directory. Often times they’re not. County parks are often relatively small and off the beaten path. But if you’re looking for a quiet place to relax, do some bird watching, hike a near-by trail, or do some great sightseeing, it might be well worth seeking out some of these neat spots. A county park system worth checking out is Maricopa County Regional Parks in Arizona. The parks circle the Phoenix metropolitan area and all are within a 45-minute drive from central Phoenix. And unlike Arizona State Parks, no Maricopa County park has been closed or has suffered cutback in services. With 10 regional parks totaling more than 120,000 acres, Maricopa County Regional Parks... [Read more...]
Find it, Make It
October 1, 2012 by Canadianladybug · Leave a Comment
Find it, Make it – Outdoor Green Crafts for Children Written by Clare Young Published at Cico Books About the book Keep kids entertained with Clare Youngs’ brilliant collection of toys, jewellery, gifts and more that have been designed with the environment in mind. Every project incorporates some kind of recycled material, whether using a plastic bag as the sail for your orange peel ships or creating pretty fairies out of dried flowers. Wherever you are, there will be a project to make that includes the materials close to hand. If you fancy a day at the beach, make sure you gather a few shells for the shell mice, or pick up leaves and twigs on a walk in the forest to use on the leaf mobile. Even the back garden is home to materials that can be turned into a whole host of playtime essentials. Budding artists will love the ideas for natural dyes, bark rubbings and handmade paper, while junior gardeners won’t be able to resist the cress heads that you can decorate with fun faces.... [Read more...]
KanJam The Ultimate Disc Game
September 21, 2012 by Canadianladybug · Leave a Comment
What is KanJam? KanJam is a game that is gaining popularity and is based in throwing a flying disk into a container to mark points. This game originally started back in the mid 1990s when a few guys were throwing a disc into metal garbage can just for the fun of it. This game is now found in tailgating, camping, beach parties, school gymnasiums, college campuses, neighborhood parks and backyard parties to name only a few places where it can be played. How to Play KanJam consists in flying a disc into a scoring containers and make a goal. It looks easier than it is but while practicing and having fun, you are exercising yourself. Here’s the rules and point scores for the game. And believe it or not there are tournaments and leagues forming as more and more people are discovering this game. Our Thoughts When I stumbled on this game I was curious and immediately requested to review one. Our KanJam arrived quite rapidly in the late spring and we decided to bring it with us as we spend some... [Read more...]
MYSTERY RV DOWSES FOR SALTWATER (or…. The Magnetism of the Ocean.)
September 12, 2012 by Professor95 · 1 Comment
Finding the “Y” shaped Willow Tree branch jammed up under the front steering gear of our RV didn’t come as a surprise. The Willow branch confirmed what I had always suspected – somehow the RV had a diving rod attached that steered us toward saltwater. For a number of years, our RV has predictably wandered toward an ocean beach – just like a dog tugging at a leash. It didn’t really matter where we were or where we actually planned on going – the beach would eventually end up as one of our destinations. So, here we are again – relaxing on the sand of a North Carolina oceanfront RV resort soaking up the still pleasantly warm September rays of sunshine. The sky is billowing with puffy white clouds surrounded by robin-egg blue and the ocean waters beneath are striped with hues of dark green and vivid blue. The Little Red Sun Shelter – Oscar & his ball – Summer Cottages high up on the dunes As I sit here under our little red pop-up sun shelter, I alternate... [Read more...]
Guadalupe Mountains National Park Celebrates Anniversary
September 6, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
This year commemorates the 40th anniversary of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, a desert mountain environment with more than half of its 86,000-plus acres designated as wilderness. El Capitan Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Photo credit: Dustin Nelson/NPS) Authorized on 1966 and established by Congress September 30, 1972, the national park lies along the northern limits of the state’s “boot heel” and shares a border with New Mexico. The park originated with a 1959 land gift from petroleum geologist Wallace Pratt, and was supplemented by the purchase of J.C. Hunter Jr.’s Guadalupe Mountain Ranch a decade later. Pratt loved the country’s rugged beauty enough to build a summer home on his McKittrick Canyon property, a riparian waterway in the northeast corner of the park where bigtooth maples attract hikers in the fall. Hunter’s ranch holdings comprise the lion’s share of the national park, forged from several smaller ranches in the surrounding sierras and foothills. Guadalupe... [Read more...]
Birding Hotspot: Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, NM
September 1, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 2 Comments
UFO sightings may have put Roswell, New Mexico, on the map, but at nearby Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, strange creatures are more than visitors. Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge offers a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities. Visitor Center can be seen in the distance. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved They inhabit odd sinkholes, playa lakes, seeps, and gypsum springs fed by an underground river. Straddling the Pecos River the Refuge consists of an assortment of water habitats. Numerous seeps and free-flowing springs, oxbow lakes, marshes and shallow water impoundments, water-filled sinkholes, and the refuge namesake, Bitter Lake, make up these unique environments. Scattered across the land are over 70 natural sinkholes of different shapes and sizes. Created by groundwater erosion these water habitats form isolated communities of fish, invertebrate, amphibians, and other wildlife. Located where the Chihuahuan Desert meets the Southern Plains, Bitter Lake National Wildlife... [Read more...]
