Car Shopping And A Trip To Galveston

We are going to be a two car family again!  Mom says it will be so strange to have a car of her own again.  She got Buddy four years ago so that she would be able to get out while Dad was at work.  We stayed at several places where she couldn't ride Buddy though.  The place we are at now is one of those places.  There is a McDonald's just down the street that she would like to visit but the wind here is crazy!  Even if it wasn't windy, she has not found a decent route for Buddy to go shopping.  We are located right at the highway and the route that she thought would work has a closed road.  We will have a new car soon enough and then Buddy will be sold.  Mom will get the Jeep, which now has over 200,000 miles on it.  She is not complaining about that. I am just saying that our Jeep has been good to us and Mom and I both really like it.  Dad will get the newer car because it will get better gas mileage and he needs a car more than Mom does.

The folks went car shopping on Saturday.  They are going to buy a Ford Focus because it is a car that can be towed with four wheels down like the Jeep.  Dad rented one last month and he liked it.  They test drove one on Saturday and they really liked it, but the car dealer wouldn't budge on the price.  Dad has seen some others with less miles for less money, so they passed on that one.

They found another restaurant that they really liked.  It is called Jax Burger and Fries.  They both had the Fried Pickle Burger and shared an order of garlic fries.  The burger was spicier than they expected. It had jalapeno ranch sauce on it.  Mom said the garlic fries were fantastic. They have butter and tons of garlic on them.  Mom said they will definitely eat there again.

On Sunday, the folks drove to Galveston for lunch.  On the way, they stopped at an RV park that Dad wanted to see.  Mom said it would be wonderful to live there.  It is right on the bay.  The site that she wants has a private pier.  Dad would love to fish there. The sunsets are spectacular.  The rent is a little less than here, but they do charge $20 a month for laundry and it doesn't matter if you use their machines and there is a $15 a month charge for EMS because they are on an island.  It is about an hour drive for Dad.   It would be really nice and Dad said maybe we would move there in the fall.

We would park the motor home so that this is our view out of the windshield.

This is where our chairs would go.

Dad said these are the flowers he saw in Hawaii.  They are at the RV resort.

 The folks ate lunch at The Spot in Galveston.  It was packed and there was not any room to sit outside.

Dad had a seafood plate.

Fried pickles

Mom's dried out burger and fries.  She brought me a few fries. I liked them.

 The drove along the beachfront.

Mom said it was nice to see the beach again.  It made her happy.  She has been pretty lonely the last few weeks.  There is no one here to talk to and she can't get out on Buddy.  This week, she has been busy trying to earn money by doing surveys.  She has her eye on a robotic vacuum.  She used to have a Roomba which she really liked but it was always breaking down.  We think maybe our house was too big for it.  It worked great in the old motor home.  Mom said it was so nice to turn it on and leave and come back to a clean RV.  The vacuum she has her eye on now will probably work well in our little home.  She doesn't think I will like it, so she plans on turning it on when we go for our morning walk.  We will let you know when we get it.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Sleeping Through The Night Again

Galveston, Oh Galveston

The folks recently made a return visit to Galveston.  They decided to visit Bishop's Palace.  The house was built between 1887 and 1893 for lawyer and politician, Walter Gresham.  It survived the great hurricane of 1900 because it was built of stone and steel.  In 1923, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston purchased the house and it served as the residence of Bishop Christopher E. Byrne who is from Missouri which is our home state.  The cost to built the house was $250,000. The value today is estimated to be over $5.5 million.

The home is quite impressive.  Home tours are given twice a day, but visitors are able to take an audio tour on their own and that is what the folks chose to do since they arrived 2.5 hours before the next tour.

We apologize for the crooked photos.  We fixed all of them, but the changes are not saving and we are tired of playing with it.

Bishop's Palace

Stained windows are throughout the house.

Tulip chandelier which hangs over the foyer.

Impressive fireplaces are located in every room.

The stairway.

 

The basket holds calling cards from guests.

Photos of the family were displayed in this.

Sitting area.

 

Ceiling of the above picture.

Kitchen

Dining Room

The wood carving is amazing.

View of windows on the second floor.

Bishop's bedroom.

Chapel across from Bishop's room.

View of staircase from second floor.

Mama said she enjoyed touring this house.  It was a little chilly even though the fireplaces were all running on gas. 

The folks visited a few other places, but we will save that for another day.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Thinking Of His Friends Who Are Having Bad Weather Today

Please Turn Off The Rain

We have been having rain since last Friday or Saturday.  It has been nice. However, the rain started around 3 a.m. and it has not stopped except long enough for us to get in two short walks.  The rain has been very hard. The local stations are having continuous weather coverage which we have not seen even in bad storms. They said we were getting 4"an hour for a while.  The front lake here is out of its' banks and the lake by us is full. It has always been quite low. The ducks are swimming in the field.  Mama keeps checking the gully behind us to make sure we are okay.  It is fine, so far.  We just need this rain stop because Mama is getting nervous.  Heck, if Mama has to move the RV due to flooding, we will be nervous.  LOL  I am sure if the worst happens, Fred, the park manager will help us.

Exciting news!   It sounds like we are headed to Washington DC for a week and then on to our next destination after that.  We have a verbal commitment for the next destination and hope to have it in writing today.  It will probably only be for a month this time. It's a place that the folks have never been before. 

Dad made the reservations for the campground near Washington DC.  It sounds really nice. It is the Cherry Hill Park. They have buses that stop right at the campground to take people to the city or to the Metro System.  The campground has a cafe, theater, nature trail, pools and many other things.  Mama is very excited.  The folks visited DC in the 90's and loved it.  They will be able to see the sights on Monday, Thursday afternoon and Friday.  Dad has meetings on Tuesday - Thursday afternoon.  Mama said she might take a tour or something while he is gone or we may just explore the park.  They took the night tour of  DC when they were there before and really liked it.  We had hoped to stay in DC for a month or two, but so far, that is not where we are staying.  It is very expensive!  The campground charges $900 a month, plus electric.  That is out of our budget, but if we end up there sometime, we will just have to deal with it. DC has so many things to see and do and most of them are free.  Mama says it is a fun city to explore.

Mama ordered a new battery for her Dell laptop this morning.  She has needed a new one for a very long time. It should be here well before we leave on the 27th.  We will be able to update the blog while we travel with a new battery, hopefully.

Now that we know we are really leaving on the 27th, we are busy making plans for our last two weeks here. This weekend, Dad wants to wax the RV and the folks are supposed to meet up with some relatives that Dad hasn't seen in like 25 years.  Next weekend, there is a big dog show here that Mama would like to attend. It is the Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows.  They have a ton of vendors and Mama would like to do some shopping.   Mama said she needs to double check with Dad though because at one time, he wanted to visit Moody Gardens which is near Galveston. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Hopes The Rain Stops Soon

Day 41, Be Careful What You Wish For

We have been hoping for rain.  It has been so dry.  Yesterday afternoon it looked like it might pour.

It just sprinkled.  Around midnight, it rained hard.  We are not sure how long it rained because we were sleeping.  We saw on TV that the town we border had 3" of rain.  There are puddles all over and we were happily bouncing in and out of them this morning.  However, we then reached our trail and it was muddy.  It was still dark out and Mama was sliding all over.  She said we would have to wait until daylight to do our long walk.  Finally, 6:15 a.m. arrived and Mama and I started walking around the lake.  We then started sinking.  Mama's tennis shoes sunk down and my feet sunk.  I thought it was kind of fun.  Apparently, the dirt in Houston is different than at home.  It's more sandy. We read a review of our campground and one person said that his travel trailer sunk while he was pulling into his site.  We couldn't imagine that happening, but now we can. Mama said we will not be walking around the lake until it dries up.  It's supposed to rain more today though. 

See we have water puddles now.

Since our normal path is like quick sand, we walked along the road to the fire house this morning.  I love watching the firemen.

I really want to go inside and meet the guys!

I know you are anxious to hear what Mama fixed for dinner last night.  LOL  Last night, she fixed Creamy Chive Casserole.  The recipe was a little mixed up.  The grocery list said to buy cream of chicken soup, but the recipe called for cream of mushroom soup.  Mama figured the recipe must be wrong since there was no chicken in the recipe.  She used the cream of chicken soup.  She also added a diced chicken breast to it since she thought it needed it.   

Mama thought it was good, but maybe a little too rich.  Dad made no comment, but ate it all.  We didn't get a chance to try it.

8 oz thin egg noodles
(¼ c butter, 1 T dried chives)
½ c chive & onion cream cheese
½ pint sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
(½ sleeve buttery cracker crumbs)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Mix butter, chives, cream cheese, sour cream and cream of chicken soup together. Gradually stir in noodles until consistency is moist but not wet. Place into a casserole dish and top with cracker crumbs. Bake at 325° until hot and bubbly.

The folks will be doing tourist things tomorrow, but haven't decided for sure what yet.  It depends on the weather.  Mama doesn't want to be far from us if storms are predicted.  They thought about going to Galveston, but that is 80 miles away.  There is a Bubba Gump restaurant there and they are going to try it.  Mama loved the Forrest Gump movie and the restaurant is themed after it.  Has anyone ever eaten at one?  If so, was it good?  There are several in the U.S.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wants To Ride In A Fire Engine