HOME AGAIN

Home again

We had a wonderful trip to Texas and Louisiana. We visited with our daughter, Mary Lou, and her family. My goodness they are growing up – so much so that we really only saw Maggie for a few minutes. We got to visit with Betsy several times and we spent time with Tony Jr. or “TJ” as he is now called by his Nana and Papa. “little” Tony just won’t fly anymore.

While we were in Louisiana we visited with friends and cousins of Felt’s and we got to see for ourselves the mighty Mississippi. It was indeed flooded in some areas and moving so fast that you could get a feel for the power of the water.


San Antonio River Walk

Our journey home was fun also. We stopped for a visit in San Antonio. Went to the Riverwalk and took a stroll along the river and watched the riverboats float by. That night we stayed in San Angelo – and then traveled on to Santa Fe. We drove down to old town that night and made plans to return the following morning. But after we got up early and drove to the Plaza we found it blocked off and preparations well along for some sort of run event. There was no way we were going to be able to take a walk so we chose to head out for Colorado. We were so glad we did. We saw some of the prettiest country we had seen in years. We stopped at Chama an old original railroad crossroad. They had steam engines and was not commercialized like Durango is. We did drive up to Durango and then headed toward Mesa Verde. We had been there with our family in 1976. I do not remember it being so nice. The sites are improved – well really I guess the area around the sites has been improved and in some ways more accessible. If you have a chance to go visit again or for the first time – do it!



We left for home the next day. It was either that or wait for the holiday traffic to subside – it was a good choice. We did not run into much traffic – and arrived home – yes it is cooler and it rained. But we slept in our own bed last night and have had a relaxing day today.

Our next round of excitement is coming in a few weeks when our grandson, Hunter Hill comes to spend a week with us while he goes to basketball camp at Utah State University.

Summer will also bring the arrival of another great grand child, and a visit by our daughter, Ali! And a chance to see more grands! Always wonderful!

We are going to Texas soon!

We are going to go to Texas soon!

Yes, that is right, we are going to go to Texas in about 10 days. Give or take a day or two. Why are we going to Texas? To visit with and see our daughter, Mary Lou, and her family. And to get warm and stay that way longer than just a few minutes. I write this while sitting in our home with a hand warmer fresh from the microwave across my lap. Yes, I am looking forward to warmth and in fact to being HOT!

We are driving down. We are taking our Prius – 52 MPG. Even with the price of gasoline and hotels, it is less expensive. If we fly, we have to rent a car when we arrive and we love the freedom of driving. For situations just like this: how long as it been since we went to Santa Fe? Well then let’s detour and go! Or this: I am tired, let’s stop and look around a little bit. Or this: I wonder what is down that road? Let’s go see! We used to do that a lot when we lived in Virginia and were never disappointed.

We will get to see three of our grand’s while we are in Houston. Maggie, who is 20 and will be home from Texas A&M, Betsy who is 18 and will be graduating from high school this year and Tony Jr. who is 13 and smart as a whip, musically talented, and who runs track. And then of course there is our first born who we love to spend time with and “catch up” on the things you just don’t get around to on the telephone.

We also have friends who live in the area and cousins we have not seen in over a year. Family visits will be high on the list. We also plan to go to Louisiana to visit with family and good friends. At our age, we cannot pass up the chance to visit – who knows if they or we will be around next year.

One of the things we plan to do on the way home is divert our trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We have always enjoyed that part of the world. And we have not been to Mesa Verde since – we think it was 1976 – so plan to stop there and if we are in that area, we will definitely go ride a steam train. Either at Durango or Chama, both will do.

So stay tuned and check back in again later this month. I will post as we go along.