Sunday Feb 3 2013 - Packing and Chilli cook-off

Site C64... our site for the last few days at La Hacienda

Sunday Feb 3rd 2013
Today was our last day at La Hacienda, and although we were pretty well packed up from our trip to the dealer on Friday we still had some stuff to clean up and organize before leaving in the morning. So most of the day was spent saying goodbye to the people we had met at the resort, and phoning folks at

Site C58. We have booked it for Feb & Mar 2014

home and abroad in case we don’t have a good internet connection in Galveston. At 3pm the chilli cook-off started and there were about 20 different chillies to taste and choose a favourite. There was an amazing variety, from very spicy to mild and back to ‘blow your taste buds for six’!!!!  

View from the back of Site C58

Even a couple of white chilies,  a vegetarian chilli and a chicken chilli. There was also a table of salads, sausages, snacks, desserts etc. At 5:30 the game started and much cheering, drinking and laughter. A great time. Our golfing buddies Chris and Donna won the ‘pool’ for the first quarter and the final. $75… not bad!!  And for those who notice the captions on the photos, YES we have booked to return to La Hacienda next Feb and March as mentioned earlier. But all we risk to lose is a small deposit if we cancel, so as space is limited and goes fast we decided it was a wise move. So friends and family... make some plans if you'd like to come see us. Of you don't fancy slumming it on our pull out couch, there are some lovely little cabins throughout the resort for rent at a reasonable price!!!! Hint hint, nudge nudge!!!

Ready to hitch up to the truck 

Entrance to Resort - Office on right laundry/showers on left

One row of the chillies.. mmmmm!!!! Crock pot city!!

The tasting table

Saturday Feb 2 2013 - Sun, fun and Karaoke!!

Saturday Feb 2nd 2013

No photos today... the SD card in my camera is faulty.. so gotta get a new one. It was such an amazing, sunny hot day we decided to sit in the sun, have a swim in the pool, BBQ a couple of steaks and head over to the Karaoke night in the pavilion with a few friends from the resort. Had a great time singing along and enjoying some talented entertainment (and some not quite so talented.... but brave).
We did however make the big decision to book here for next year before they are sold out of good sites. We have booked site C58 for next year February and March!!! We love it here and haven;t explored the area as much as we much as we intended... still lots to see. Also a big music festival called South by South West happens in Austin toward the end of March every year and we want to see it next year.
So if we decide to keep on traveling, which looks likely, we at least have somewhere for those 2 months. POssibly Florida in Dec/Jan.

Fri Feb 1st - Dealer's/Gruene

Friday Feb 1st 2013

Left our home at Evergreen RV Center for the day

Great day today. We took off at 6:30 am and headed to Evergreen RV centre in New Braunfels to have the leaking kitchen slide looked at and have them reseal the underbelly of the rig after the 'big flood' and have an air conditioner installed in the bedroom. After some confusion and insistence by 'princess Janice' that we have a wall gauge for the air-con.... they set to work and we took off to explore the area. 

BEST COFFEE EVER!!!!

Found a neat little Historical Village called Gruene.. settled by the Gruene family from Germany (lots of German influence in this part of Texas). We wandered the village and had the very BEST cup of coffee we have had in Texas at the small coffee shop. Janice decided it was time to become a real Texan and bought a cowboy hat. 

Company while we had coffee

This little friend had an unusual song.. and LOUD!!
Any ideas what it is????

Walking through Gruene, Tx

Got myself a hat at the General Store

Now officially a REAL Texan!!!

At the recommendation of the people at the coffee shop we headed to a German restaurant in New Baunfels for lunch.... WOW... I think it was called The Friesenhaus.. but not sure of spelling. Schnitzel and bulbous sausages Sauerkraut, red cabbage, german potatoes etc ... MMMM!!!
We returned to the RV dealer and they were just finishing off.  We headed back to the resort, happy with the day. We walked over to Las Pinas  for a late dinner... and our last taste of their amazing salsa. It really is amazing salsa... the best!!!! 

Thurs Jan 31st - Hanging out /packing up

Thursday January 31st Hanging out /Packing

Just a day of relaxing and a few chores. Washed the sheets and did other laundry and packed up the trailer ready to go to the dealer's tomorrow for warranty work etc and move to a different site number at the resort. Sorry... no tales to tell today.... !!!

Wed Jan 30th - Carlos and Charlies /Lake Travis

Wednesday January 30th

Enjoying a beer at Carlos and Charlies

View from bar patio.... the floating docks that aren't

Mainly a relaxing day talking with neighbours and having a quick dip in the whirlpool. We decided to explore the area a little and headed out to find Carlos and Charlies bar at the tip on the peninsular we are on (Lake Travis) After much scratching of heads we found it and were amazed at how far down the water level is in the Lake. The floating docks outside the bar are not!!!! They have been forced to move the Marina so far out into the Lake that the restaurant/bar has suffered and is in danger of going out of business. We enjoyed a beer and a margarita in the sun chatting with the bartender before heading back to the condo to barbeque some chicken.

View from patio at Carlos and Charlies

Another view from patio

A good idea of how low the water level is in the lake 

Tuesday Jan 29th - Trailer wash/wax. Shepherd's Pie

 Tuesday Jan 29th 2013

Iron Man Kirt .. arrived at 9am

Decided to wash and wax the trailer in preparation for the salt and sand in Galveston. Also decided that it was a job for a pro (I mean we are way too busy!!!) so "Iron Man Kirt" arrived with his 'grandson', a big tank of hot soapy water and many rags. They set to giving our condo the royal treatment. It took around 3 hours and Derek and I were exhausted when it was done... watching it that is. They actually did a great job and the condo looks like new again.

Derek hard at work supervising. 

Janice had an uncontrollable desire for some home-mad shepherds pie, so we tripped off to the store for ingredients and she set to chopping, dicing, and cooking enough shepherds pie to feed a small army. Both Mike and Travis on each side of us were alone, as their wives were away on business trips, so they both got their share of pie, and we had enough left to freeze and have when we get to Galveston next week (plus enough for dinner and tomorrow's lunch). Gotta tell you though it was delicious and tasted of 'home' .... our trailer will also smell like 'home' for a few days!!!!!  LOL. 

Monday 28th Jan.. Erlewine Guitars and State Capitol

Monday 28 Jan 2013

The answer is NO Derek!!

I mean it!!!

Went into Austin and made a point of dropping in at Erlewine Guitars. On the way in a quote from Janice “before you ask… the answer is NO!!” Derek said he didn’t have his wallet in him, Janice said she did, but the “the answer is still NO!!”.  Met Mark Erlwine who makes all the guitars and chatted about our friend Nick’s Lazer and all the old blues guys. He told us about how he met Johnny Winter, who is now his best advertisement for Lazer guitars, and how he designed the Chiquita Travel guitar with “ZZ Top”.  After a while, and much looking around, we realized how neat the Chiquita travel guitar is; it is very compact, unique and qualifies as hand luggage on planes, so just had to have one…at least that’s what Janice said so we got one as Derek’s new toy. Such is the translation of “NO”!!!!

Well Maybe!!

They are cute!!

Second one from the right .... SOLD!!! Chiquita Travel guitar!!! 

LOGO on building

We are here and the tours are free!!!  Yey!!

With much depleted funds and big grins, we headed over to the Capitol building and got a personal guided tour. As luck would have it the Senate was in session so we got to see part of the discussion regarding how Texas schools are positioned regarding student safety. Very interesting to find that the schools are supposed to complete an audit of their capabilities BUT there is insufficient regulation to make them comply! And the “audit” is a self description with little consistency of standards. 

Texas State Capitol

Senate in Session

Sen. David Crockett 

Texas Lone Star on EVERYTHING!!

Star in centre of ceiling dome is 8 feet wide!!!

House of Representatives

Original Chandelier  in House of Reps
(Light bulbs spell 'Texas')

Door Hinges solid brass, each weigh 8lbs!!!

Underground expansion (with glass roof at ground level)

Through the glass roof.. top of dome

Tile work on floor below dome!!