Bill and Karens Travel Journal

Day 15 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2012-01-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

Today we are awake and up early, have a quick breakfast and we are on the road by 8am. We have 600 miles / 1000 km to drive today. It was a slow start though because of the fog.

Luckily the fog was lifting when we saw the cattle walking on the side of the road.

After the fog burned completely away, the skies were blue and it was a lovely day for driving.

We were ready for a break as we were driving through Corsicana Texas so we pulled over at the Collin Street Bakery. Although we didn’t purchase a fruit cake, for which they claim they are world famous, we did buy fudge and brownies while we were here.   This bakery has been around since 1896.



As we were driving through Sulphur Springs Texas, we saw a “Western Wear” store. Our upcoming summer plans are taking us to Calgary among other destinations and I had been considering buying a cowboy hat in Texas if I could find a store. This was an opportunity to purchase our cowboy hats, so we pulled in off the highway and shopped in the Circle E Western Store.

The store clerk measured us and then we tried on dozens of hats, trying to figure out which style looked best. We came out an hour later with 2 cowboy hats. We will be in style for our visit to Calgary in July 2012.

Back on the road again, we passed through the town of Texarkana which is on the State Border between Texas and Arkansas.



We cross the border into Arkansas.

At 6pm we arrive at the Best Western Premier in Little Rock Arkansas. We are taking advantage of the Best Western Reward Points that we have accumulated and we cashed in some of them for a free stay this evening.

The hotel was very nice, but I can’t say as much about the onsite restaurant. We should have driven to the nearby Olive Garden, but after driving for 10 hours, I was tired and thought we could just stay put and eat in the hotel restaurant. It was a bad decision. There was literally nothing on the menu that Karen or I could pronounce, let alone even know what we were ordering. The prices were astronomical, but I did see something with pasta on the menu. We both like pasta, so even though it wasn’t on the menu, I asked our waiter if we could just have some plain spaghetti and meat sauce. I am sure that I insulted him and his fancy restaurant by asking for such simple fare, but he agreed that he could come up with some sort of pasta and sauce dish for us. He walked away, I am sure very insulted that we had no interest in anything on his fancy menu. $50.00 later we went to our room. I am sure it is very nice restaurant and you would really enjoy the meal and the ambience if you are into that fancy schmancy dining experience, but that is not our style.



It was early to bed this evening, we want to be up and on the road by 7am in the morning.

To see all of our photos from today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 14 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2012-01-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

We were awake by 7am and had a quick breakfast, then we finished packing the car. We were on the road by 8am.

We drove over the Causeway to the mainland.

But after about 10 miles on our way, I remembered that I did not leave the key to the Airstream and that it was still on my key ring, so we got turned around and drove back to the KOA.

Now that the key is handed in, we can resume our drive.

We drove through the town of San Benito Texas. According to the water tower this is the hometown of Freddy Fender.

Similar to the drive South, as we were heading North, we saw many birds of prey sitting on the hydro poles.



Near Sarita Texas, our drive slowed to a crawl because the Border Patrol Check Point was open and all drivers were being stopped and questioned. Since we weren’t smuggling anyone or anything, we were soon on our way again.



We are heading North on US-77, here are some of the interesting sights we saw along the way.



We exited US-77 and headed East on Texas 358 towards Corpus Christi Texas. We are going to the North end of Padre Island to visit the Padre Island National Seashore for a couple of hours.

This is the John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway that takes us from the mainland across to the Island.



This is the entrance sign to the Padre Island National Seashore.

We paid our entrance fee and entered the park.



There isn’t really much to see or do here, at least not at this time of the year. We stopped at the visitor center and got our National Parks Passport Book stamped and bought some postcards. They did have a hat pin for my collection and we also bought a couple of t-shirts.

We walked along the beach.



The only birds we saw were these seagulls.

I was expecting there to be a birding center here similar to the one on South Padre Island, but there is no such thing. The land and sand dunes are set aside and protected by the National Park Service, because these beaches are the nesting grounds of the Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles but the turtles are only here in May when they come ashore to lay their eggs. So if you want to see and learn about birds you can bypass this and go straight to the Birding and Nature Center on SPI.

After our visit to the National Seashore, we drove North on US-181 past the Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington. The Carrier is on permanent display here in Corpus Christi.   The next time we are in this area we will spend some time in Corpus Christi and visit the USS Lexington.

We checked into the Best Western in Gonzales Texas. We ordered pizza for dinner and got to bed early because we have a 600 mile / 1000 km day ahead of us tomorrow.

To see all of our photos from today you can click on the link to our FLICKR site.

Day 13 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2012-01-04T20:19:00.000-05:00

Today is our last full day here at the KOA on South Padre Island. It is sad to think that we have to leave the warmth and sunshine and head back to dreary cold, snow bound Ontario. But the reality is, we have to go home to work to earn some more money so that we can afford our upcoming Summer vacation. We have 2 exciting destinations planned, so be sure to tune back into the blog at the end of June to see where we are off to.

After breakfast, Karen did some laundry, enough to give us clean clothes to wear for the drive home. Then we went for another visit to the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center.

Every time we visit the Center, we see something that we have not seen before.

Although this isn’t a bird, on all our previous visits we had not seen this turtle. A Red Eared Slider. It was very fortunate to get these 2 photos because the turtle slipped back into the water before I could take a 3rd photo.

Something else we had never seen is an American Bittern. If there hadn’t been others pointing it out to us we would never have seen it. It took me a long time to even see it in the tall grass, finally when it moved a bit I was able to find it to take photos.



We watched for several minutes till it flew off.



We saw all the typical birds that winter here so I won’t bore you with more photos of the same birds, but this Great Blue Heron was interesting to watch. It had just caught a fish, and I even got a little video of it swallowing its catch.

Great Blue Heron swallowing a fish.

After visiting the Birding Center, we went for one last search for the elusive Pelican Sand Sculpture. We never found it and I am convinced that it has fallen victim to those who do not appreciate such things and find joy in destroying them instead.



The Sanderlings were also enjoying the beach.

There were numerous jelly fish stranded on the beach, the high winds and waves from the last few days must have blown them ashore.



Various other unidentifiable things had also washed up onshore.

The other day we saw the statue of El Cristo de los Pescadores, so that inspired us to go in search of the other statue on the island. The statue of Padre J. Nicholas Balli.   The island was named for him as he started the first settlement on the island back in 1800.



Near the statue of Padre J. Nicholas Balli is a memorial for those who were killed or injured when a section the Queen Isabella Causeway collapsed and fell into the ocean on September 15 2001 after one of the support pilings was struck by a barge. You can read about the incident at this link. Queen Isabella Causeway Collapse.

We came back to our trailer and did some packing and preparing for our departure tomorrow. Karen and I went to the KOA Sunset Deck to see our last sunset until we return to the island again.



If you want to see all of our photos from today you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 12 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2012-01-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

Another beautiful day shaping up outside our Airstream at the KOA Kampground here on South Padre Island.

We had some breakfast and then Karen headed off in search of souvenirs for her family members. No souvenir shopping for me, I took it easy around the KOA enjoying the warmth and sunshine and trying not to think about having to head back to Ontario in a few days.

When Karen returned we ate our lunch then at 1:30pm we walked over to Pier 19 where we met the “Osprey”

We are going on the Dolphin Watch / Sea Life Safari.

While we were waiting to board, the Black Dragon Pirate Ship came in close to the pier and fired off its cannon.

We left the pier at 2:00pm and headed out into the Laguna Madre where a crew member dropped a drag net over the stern of the boat and then 10 minutes later brought it back aboard.   We caught a few things and were shown what was caught.

This is a puffer fish.



And this is a saltwater catfish.

We weren't allowed to handle this one as they are very dangerous. They have 3 long sharp barbs that will pierce right through your hand if you don’t know how to handle these. On the fishing charter boats they don’t let you bring them aboard if you catch one, that is how dangerous they are. The crew member threw it back after briefly showing it to us and talking about it.

There were several other types of fish caught, but I was being distracted by the photo opportunities that the seagulls were presenting as they followed us just off the stern, so I left the talk and went astern to take pictures of the seagulls instead.



After taking seagull photos, I went to the bow of the boat and found Karen out on the bowsprit watching for dolphins.

And it wasn’t too long before she said “there’s some”


I quickly discovered that it is a whole lot easier taking photos of large and slow Humpback Whales than it is of much smaller and quicker Dolphins. But I did get some good shots. You will have to look on my FLICKR site if you want to see all of the dolphin photos and videos.



We watched the dolphins for about an hour, then the Captain took us out into the Gulf of Mexico. We left the Laguna Madre and sailed between the Isla Blanca Jetties out into the Gulf of Mexico.
We have never seen South Padre Island from out in the Gulf, so it was very interesting to see another perspective of the Island.

On the jetty there is a statue of El Cristo de los Pescadores, which translates to Christ of the Fishermen.

This is the view of South Padre Island as we head out into the Gulf of Mexico.

At the very end of the jetty, the waves are sending spray high into the air.

We are in some pretty big rollers as we pass from behind the shelter of the jetty, but we get a nice view of South Padre Island.

As we head back to Pier 19, we pass several shrimping boats (called Shrimpers) that are heading out to catch shrimp.



We even saw the shrimper that our friend Paul McNamara owns.



Back at the KOA after our afternoon cruise I got the bbq lit and cooked us a steak with potatoes and onions for dinner.

While I was doing that, Karen walked over to the sunset deck to capture some more sunset photos.



That brings to a close another beautiful day in paradise.

To see all the photos from today you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 11 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2012-01-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

We slept in this morning, but eventually got up to get the day started.

It is a beautiful sunny day after yesterdays rains and high winds. The winds are dying down and the sun is out and the sky is blue. Another beautiful day here at the South Padre Island KOA.

We are enjoying our vacation in the KOA Airstream. The KOA has this one Airstream for rent, plus they have some large waterfront Kabins and some smaller Kabins that are not on the waterfront, plus they have 2 Condo apartments above the general office. So if you don’t own an RV you can still rent a unit from the KOA and still enjoy everything that the Kampground has to offer.

There are actually lots of places to stay on the Island, just about every hotel chain is represented here. The Day’s Inn is renting rooms for $24.99 per night. Karen and I stopped by to take a look. The rooms have been freshly painted, there is a fridge and microwave in the room. The floors are tile, there is a pool, hot tub and free breakfast every morning. The TV was an older tube style, but for $24.99 per night I don’t think you could find a cheaper place to stay. Although it was quiet while we were there, I suspect that since the price is so cheap, that this place is probably occupied and noisy, with late teens, or 20’s partying hard kids, as it would suit their budgets more than the $50 to $100.00 per night hotels.   I happened to notice the population sign today and the population for South Padre Island is 1752 people.

So today I had planned on driving our car down onto the beach, but that plan was quickly aborted when I saw the condition of the beach. Yesterdays high winds and pounding surf has torn up the beach to the point that only a crazy fool and a 4 wheel vehicle would take the chance to drive along the beach. There is still way to much surf washing up on the beach and it will take a few calm days and lots of vehicle traffic to get the sand packed down again enough for me to be confident that we wouldn’t get stuck somewhere. Tows off the beach are probably not covered by CAA and I can’t imagine that it would be cheap if we did get stuck and have to pay.   You either pay the asking price for a tow or watch your car being swallowed up by the high tide.

We did drive North on Padre Blvd as far as the road block, we did encounter some drifting white stuff, but it wasn’t snow, it was sand.



We parked the car on the pavement and walked down to the beach. You wouldn’t know it was so windy until you get right down to the sea shore.



We decided to go across the Queen Isabella Causeway to the mainland town of Port Isabel. Karen had noticed some dolphin statues around the town and she wanted to photograph as many as she could find. Here are a couple of samples. Local artists have painted these fiberglass statues. I doubt we found them all, but we did find quite a few.



We also walked out onto the Pirates Pier. If you have been following our blog, you will have seen photos of a pirate ship, well this is the Pier where that ship ties up to. There are lots of pirates on the pier to meet and greet you.



There were even a couple of pirates that looked surprisingly like Karen and I. Pirates probably never wore glasses though.

After our visit to Port Isabel we drove back over the causeway and back to the KOA Kampground. It was another lovely sunset tonight. I lit the BBQ and while I was tending to the steak and potatoes on the grill, Karen walked over to the sunset deck and snapped a few photos of the sun going down.
This is the sunset deck.



This is one of the waterfront Kabins I was telling you about earlier. You have a beautiful sunset from your own private front deck every evening.

And of course, the sun set.



Tonight I BBQ'ed a steak, this was my first attempt at BBQ’ing a steak and it turned out delicious. Of course none of this would be possible without my iPhone BBQ Grill Time App.

To see all of our photos from today you can find them by following the link to our FLICKR site.

Day 10 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2012-01-01T22:56:00.000-05:00

We awoke this morning to a rainy, windy, cloudy, stormy morning. We are nice and dry inside our KOA Airstream. This is the first day since we have been here that it hasn’t been a beautiful sunny day.

We only took 11 photos today. We spent the day inside our trailer, working on our computers, plotting our route home from here and choosing and booking hotels to stay in along the way.

Looking ahead at the long range forecasts, the weather looks like it will be fine for the 4 day drive home, no major snow or ice storms on the horizon.



Between rain storms, Karen ventured outside to take this photo of me inside our Airstream trailer, watching TV.

There was no chance for a sunset tonight, and it was way to windy to BBQ so we had a couple of frozen spaghetti dinners instead.    Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny again.

You can see the photos we took today on our FLICKR site.

Day 9 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

We got up a bit early today and had breakfast and got ready to go to the Birding Center. We thought there would be another guided walk today, but when we arrived we discovered that the guided walk had been cancelled. So we walked around the boardwalks on our own.

This is a map that shows the layout of the boardwalks around the center.

Once again we took over 200 photos at the Birding Center, so I will just show you a couple of the more interesting ones.

These two White Ibises are having a bit of a squabble.



I watched this alligator for about 20 minutes as he lay in hiding watching his potential next meal. I am convinced that he was not hungry because the Pied Billed Grebe and the Tri Colored Heron passed within grabbing distance but the alligator never took the opportunity.

We watched the Pelicans fishing for their meal. It is starting to get foggy, that is why the photos are a little washed out.





We watched this Great Blue Heron fly in and land on a post.

This Great Egret was kind enough to stretch its wings for us.

After our visit to the Birding Center, we resumed our search for the elusive Pelican Sand Sculpture. Our sources told us it was in Andy Bowie Park so we paid the admission fee of $4.00 and went in to search. The guy in the booth at the entrance gate had no idea what we were talking about when we asked him where the sand sculpture was. It was very foggy at this part of the Island.



You can just see the tops of the nearby condo towers peeking through the fog.

We never did find the Pelican Sand Sculpture, so we will have to do some further research before our next attempt to locate it. Perhaps it fell victim to vandals and has been destroyed. We will give it one more attempt in the next few days to try and locate it.

We drove further North to Beach Access #5.   I wanted to check out the laneway there to see if it would be suitable for using to drive our car onto the beach. A lot of the beach access points are not suitable for anything less than a 4 wheel drive vehicle, but I was told that at Access #5 it would be suitable for getting our 2 wheel drive car down onto the beach, and upon inspection by me, I found that it is hard packed sand and so we will come back here on a day when it is not foggy and go for a drive along the beach.

This is Beach Access #5 as seen on a foggy day. Not a good day for photos.



The seagulls thought it was a nice day.



The horse back riders seemed to be enjoying their ride along the beach despite the foggy conditions.

Back at our trailer in the KOA Kampground, we read our Kindle e-reader books till it was time to start the BBQ for dinner.

The fog set in heavy just before sunset, so there are no sunset photos this evening. I BBQ’d hamburgers for dinner. Now that I have had some practice, I am going to step it up a notch in a couple of days and BBQ some steaks. Tonights hamburgers were delicious.

We were worried that the fog was going to obscure our view from our patio of the fireworks this evening, but around 9pm the fog cleared and at midnight we had a front row seat to the firework display put on by the South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce.   They anchor a large barge in the center of the bay to light the fireworks off from.

Our camera takes the worst possible photos at night, there are several dozen automatic settings and of course the ever intimidating manual settings, but I have never figured out or taken the time to learn how to take night photos, or more precisely, photos of fireworks at night. Anyways, here are a few samples of the firework show to ring in the New Year, SPI Texas Style.





HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you from South Padre Island Texas.

To see all of our photos from today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 8 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

Woke up around 8:30am this morning, there isn’t much chance to sleep any later because of the noisy Grackles that sit in the palm trees around our Airstream trailer.

We ate breakfast then hung around our trailer for the morning. After lunch we decided to leave the KOA campground and drive around the Island for a bit. We had to pick up some groceries, but we also went in search of a few Sand Sculptures that are scattered throughout the Island. The best known one is the one at the Visitor Center.

There is another one at the Police Station.   This is a flying turtle.



There is one at a private residence. It is titled “Un-Litter”.

Another one at a private residence is titled “The Wizards Roost”

There is one that we were not able to find, it is a Pelican. We will keep looking for it over the next few days and hopefully find it.

Back at the KOA Campground on South Padre Island I lit the BBQ and and cooked dinner, then we walked over to the sunset deck to watch the setting sun. We sure have been lucky this year at seeing the sunsets. On our previous visit to the Island 3 years ago, it would always be cloudy in the late afternoon and the clouds would of course completely block the sunset.





To see all the photos from today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 7 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

We woke up at 7:30am and had breakfast and got organized to go to the Birding and Nature Center for a guided tour. A group of us met our guide Ryan on the front deck. He talked a bit about the Birding Center and then led us on the walk. We saw birds that we had not seen before and it was great having Ryan along to tell us the names of the birds and tell us a bit about the birds and their habitat.

We took over 200 photos on our walk, I will spare you the agony of looking at all 200 photos and just show you some of the best photos.

A Willet

A Killdeer

A Redhead Duck

A Reddish Egret

A Snowy Egret fluffing its feathers

A Little Blue Heron

A Hermit Crab

A Red Breasted Merganser

Very rarely seen during the daytime, a Black Crowned Night Heron

A Common Moorhen

An American Coot

A Great Egret

A Pied-Billed Grebe

I don’t need to tell you what this is…



A Northern Shoveler

A Lesser Yellowlegs Sandpiper

After walking the boardwalks at the birding center we came back to our trailer and had some lunch. After lunch I relaxed, worked on my computer for a bit and read part of the book that I am reading on my Kindle. Karen went to the laundry room and did our laundry.

It is a beautiful sunny day, high of 25 Celsius.
We walked over to the sunset viewing deck at 5:30pm.





To see all of our photos from this evening you can find them on my FLICKR site.

Day 6 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

We woke up around 8am, it is a beautiful sunny morning, the temperature at this hour is 14 Celsius. Going to be a high of 23 Celsius today under clear blue skies.

We ate breakfast and worked on our computers. We finished unpacking and organizing our trailer. At noon we had lunch and then we headed out for a drive North as far as the road will allow us to go.

The first stop is at the South Padre Island Visitors Center to look at the sand sculpture they have in their lobby.

We drove till we got to the road blocks across the road. I am unsure why the road is closed at this point because it actually does continue for another couple of miles before the pavement ends.   We got out here, (Beach Access #6) and walked for an hour along the beach, watching the shore birds and looking for interesting sea shells.



People were fishing from the waters edge.

Lots of sea shells and someone took the time to make this heart out of sea shells.



We decided to go to the Birding Center, but I was wearing my sandals and needed to change into proper shoes, so we headed back to our trailer. Along the way we stopped to watch the horseback riders heading down to the beach to ride along the seashore.



Now that I have proper shoes on, we spent a couple of hours at the South Padre Island Birding Center.
The Visitors Center is brand new since we were here 3 years ago. All of the original boardwalks are still in place, but many new ones have been built. There is now an entrance fee, which is $4.00 per person per day, but we bought a pass that allows us to come every day.

Whenever we come here we wind up taking over 200 photos of the birds, but I will just show some of the better photos here.

A Northern Pintail Duck

An American Coot

A Willet

A Snowy Egret

A Roseate Spoonbill

A Great Blue Heron

A Tricolored Heron

A Reddish Egret

Back at our trailer, I fired up the BBQ and then we went to the Sunset Deck to watch another spectacular sun set.



After the sunset, the BBQ was ready and I cooked some hotdogs, nothing fancy, but very delicious.

To see all of our photos from today you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 5 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-27T23:09:00.000-05:00

We awoke this morning to a noisy Grackle outside our trailer and 14 C. inside out trailer.   It is 7am, so at 9am I will be the first one in line at the KOA office when it opens and get this heating issue looked after.

The KOA sent a guy over to check out our heating issue and it was a simple fix, just add propane to the empty propane tank and voila, instant heat. I had a few more questions about the unit and then Karen and I went for breakfast at Pier 19.

After breakfast we walked out to the end of the pier. There is a bar right at the end of the pier.



Took some photos of the skyline.

After breakfast we drove back over the causeway to Port Isabel where there is a large Wal-Mart and we bought provisions that we will need for our stay.

It is a nice sunny day, blue sky overhead and 24 degrees Celsius. On our way back to the Island we got another shot of the Welcome to South Padre Island sign.

We unloaded and stored all of our provisions and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Around 3pm I lit and cleaned the BBQ so that it would be nice and clean for cooking our dinner on this evening. We will have BBQ`d hamburgers with potatoes and onions wrapped in foil for dinner.

While I was BBQ`ing the dinner the sun was setting so we walked over to the sunset deck and snapped these photos.



The hamburgers were delicious, as were the potatoes and onions. Considering that I have not BBQ`d for about 15 years, I am very pleased with the results. It has not inspired me to buy a BBQ for the house, but I am planning on BBQ`ing while we are here on SPI.

To see all of our photos from today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site

Day 4 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

We are up again with the dawn, and had a quick breakfast and are on the road by 7:30am
Karen took some photos of Lake Ray Hubbard from the balcony of our hotel room.

Very shortly after leaving the hotel, the skyline of Dallas TX appears through the early morning haze.



This giraffe statue indicates where the Dallas Zoo is located.

With Dallas behind us, it is a straight run south along US 77 to our destination of South Padre Island TX. We should arrive shortly after 5pm.



The skies gradually clear and the temperatures warm up the further South we travel.



We noticed dozens and dozens of what we think are Peregrine Falcons perched on the tree branches and hydro poles in search of their next meal. They are easy to spot, but not so easy to photograph when travelling at 70 mph.



Palm Trees, now we know for sure we are getting close to our destination.

Ahead of us is the causeway that takes us over to South Padre Island.

As we cross heading East over the causeway, Karen pointed the camera back towards the West to catch this lovely shot of the sun starting to set. A beautiful shot with the pelicans flying by.

We have arrived at the South Padre Island KOA.

The office closes at 5pm so we went to the late arrivals board to gather up our check in information and the key to our home for the next 10 days.   Then we went to the sunset deck to watch and photograph the setting sun.



After the sun set, we went to our campsite to check out our new home. This is a 26 ft Airstream travel trailer.



We even have a little patio and BBQ.

This is the interior, before we load all our luggage and stuff inside.



After checking out our accommodations, we walked a short distance to Pier 19 Restaurant for dinner. When we got back to the trailer, it was rather cool inside the trailer. I tried adjusting the thermostat but could not get any heat. Fortunately it wasn’t freezing cold outside, but it was cool. First thing when the office opens in the morning, I will have someone figure out why we don’t have any heat. For now we just put an extra blanket on the bed and went to sleep.

If you would like to see todays photos, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 3 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-25T23:23:00.000-05:00

We are awake by 6:30am Christmas morning, I set up our Christmas tree and got a nice fire going in the fireplace.

We quickly had some breakfast and exchange our Christmas gifts to each other.

Then it was “dash away, dash away, dash away all” because we have 1000 KM to cover today to get us near Dallas TX.

We started out by heading West on I-40 towards Memphis TN. The Interstate is empty this morning so we are making good time, but had to slow down for the elephant crossing the road.

Past Memphis, we crossed into the State of Arkansas. I never realized that part of Memphis (West Memphis) is in Arkansas

We saw flocks of migrating birds as we continued along our way.

Nice blue sky as we crossed over the Arkansas River.

As we drove through Texarkana we cross over the State Line into Texas. It is kind of obvious that you have entered Texas when you see these plaques on the bridges.

We saw another large flock of birds heading somewhere.

We are staying tonight in Garland Texas, just outside of Dallas Texas. The local Denny’s is open Christmas Day so we each enjoyed a Christmas Turkey dinner. Early to bed tonight because tomorrow we have to be up early for our final day of driving.

To see all of the photos from today you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 2 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-24T22:10:00.000-05:00

’Twas the day before Christmas, we are up with the dawn, there is no time for sleeping in, we really need to be gone.

We got up at 7am and had breakfast and got ready to leave the hotel. Our hotel is just minutes from the border so we arrived at Customs by 8am. There were no cars lined up this morning, we just drove right up to the booth. The Customs agent asked us several questions, Do we have any food, alcohol, tobacco, how much money do we have and do we have any rice.   That’s the first time for being asked the rice question.



The Customs agent waved us on. The road construction that we encountered the last time we crossed at Windsor / Detroit has all been completed and there is now a short ramp that takes you directly onto I-75    That is a big improvement to the old way of getting to I-75

The Detroit factories were belching smog as we drove past them. The billboard in the 2nd photo is very appropriate, the young girl won’t live long breathing in all that smog.

By 9am we were crossing into Ohio.

1pm we crossed into Kentucky.

By 3:30 pm, (thanks to the time zone change) we enter Tennessee.

We stopped for the night in Nashville. We drove 900 KM today. This is a good days run and puts us in a good position for the rest of the journey.

We had planned on having Christmas Eve dinner at a nearby Shoney’s and I had even called ahead a few days earlier to make sure that they would be open Christmas Eve for dinner. The person answering the phone assured me they would be open. Well they were closed when we got to their door at 5:10 pm, the sign in the door said closed at 5pm.. so much for planning and phoning ahead.   Instead we had Christmas Eve dinner at a Jack in the Box next door.

Early to bed this evening, we have a 1000 KM day planned for tomorrow.

If you would like to see all of the photos that we took today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Day 1 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011

2011-12-23T23:45:00.000-05:00

We begin our annual Xmas Vacation by leaving the house at 4:30pm and driving as far as Windsor Ontario. The drive took 5 hours and was uneventful, dry roads and very little traffic. We will get up early in the morning and cross the border.

Day 55 Summer 2011 Road Trip

2011-08-26T19:05:00.000-04:00

We slept in this morning and had a late breakfast. Then we packed our suitcases and loaded up the car. We are going to head across the river to Sault Ste. Marie Ontario this morning.

We paid the bridge toll and drove across the International Bridge.

Half way across and we are back in Canada.

Clearing customs was a breeze, only 2 cars ahead of us. We were asked how long we had been in the USA and where we had visited, then the customs officer waved us through.

We have some time to kill before we can check into our hotel so we went to check out the Canadian Locks.

There are security rules and regulations to be followed when visiting the locks, but nothing compared to the American locks, we were able to walk along the edge and right out onto the lock gates.



Next we visited the Canadian Bush Plane Museum.



The bush planes were interesting to look at. I asked if they had a plane to take us up for a flight, but unfortunately there are no charter services in the area. It would have been fun to fly over the locks and down the St Mary’s River.



After visiting the museum we checked into our hotel. We had dinner this evening at Docks Riverfront Grill.
To see all of our photos from today you can see them on our FLICKR site.

Day 54 Summer 2011 Road Trip

2011-08-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

We have a busy day planned for today, so we started off with an early breakfast at our hotel, then drove to the waterfront to see about getting tickets for the Soo Locks Boat Tour.

This is the boat we will be on as soon as the people onboard get off.

A float plane flies overhead.

Our tour starts by going upbound into the MacArthur Lock. We wait for the lock gate to open. Of the 4 locks only the MacArthur and the Poe are operational, the other 2, the Davis and the Sabin are shut down and are awaiting demolition so that the Army Corps of Engineers can begin the construction of a “super” lock.

We enter the lock. As you look up the wall of the lock you can see the lock viewing platform is full of people waving at us.



The lock fills with water from Lake Superior to raise us 21 feet.



In the Poe Lock next to us the Canadian Freighter “Birchglen” is just entering the lock travelling downbound from Lake Superior into Lake Huron.



We leave the MacArthur lock behind us and head out underneath the International Bridge that connects Sault Ste. Marie Michigan to Sault Ste. Marie Ontario. There is also a lift bridge that carries the rail line be the two cities across the river.



We headed over to the Canadian side to get a close up view of the Algoma Steel Company.



We watched as the freight Michipicoten unloaded its cargo of coal.



We then headed into the Canadian Lock. Known as the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. The original lock was built in 1798 but was destroyed in 1814 by US Forces during the war of 1812. The lock was then re-built and completed in 1895. However on June 9 1909 the lock was seriously damaged when a ship crashed into the lock gate. The lock was repaired 12 days later and operated until 1987 when the lock was damaged by ice. The wall shifted 18 inches. A new, smaller lock was then built inside the existing damaged lock and re-opened in 1998. The lock is now only used for pleasure craft and tour boat traffic.



The Canadian Flag is at half mast because of the death of Canadian Politician Jack Layton.

We will be lowered back down 21 feet and then we will proceed past the Sault Ste. Marie waterfront.



The tenants in these waterfront apartments sure have a great view of the ships coming and going through the lock system.



The Canadian freighter Birchglen has exited the Poe Lock and is on its way down the St. Marys River on its way to Lake Huron and beyond.



Back over on the US side of the river, we pass by some dry docks where ships are being repaired and inspected. There is also a small RV Park at the waters edge, another great viewing spot for seeing the Lake Freighters.



Back at the dock we walked across the parking lot and visited the Museum Ship “Valley Camp” The Valley Camp is an actual Great Lakes Freighter that you can explore and tour.

There are numerous displays and artefacts onboard. Here are a couple of oil paintings of the Valley Camp.

There is also an oil painting of the David Dows, the largest sailing ship ever on the Great Lakes.

We thought of our friends Carol and Darrell when we saw this snow mobile..I bet they wish they had this sweet ride.



Up on deck, we walk towards the bow where the wheelhouse and crews quarters are.



The most significant display is the Edmond Fitzgerald Memorial and Exhibit.



The only 2 lifeboats recovered are on display here. One of the lifeboats is torn in half.



The names of all the crew members are displayed on a wall.

After touring the Valley Camp, we drove the short distance to the Soo Locks Visitor Center to check the lock schedule. There is a ship on the schedule that I recognize… The Frontenac. The Frontenac arrives in Midland Ontario late each fall and docks at the grain elevator there for the winter. So we will come back this evening and watch the Frontenac go through the lock.

We went back to our hotel for the rest of the afternoon, then came back to the waterfront for dinner at The Lakeview Restaurant. We ate here last night and the meal was delicious so we have no hesitation to dine here again tonight.

After dinner we went across the road to the lock viewing platform and watched as the Federal Patroller entered the lock system. The ship is hard to photograph because the setting sun is directly behind the ship.



I can see the Frontenac waiting patiently for the Federal Patroller to clear the lock.

The Federal Patroller is lowered to the level of Lake Huron and exits the lock.



The lock is refilled back up to the level of Lake Superior and the Frontenac is given the go ahead to enter.



It sure is a tight fit, the hull of the Frontenac is a mere few inches from the wall of the lock.



At this point we left the viewing platform and walked to a location along the sea wall where we could view the Frontenac as it exits the lock and heads out into Lake Huron.



I took a lot of photos today, approximately 350 or more. I also took some videos of the Frontenac entering the leaving the locks.

To see all of the photos and videos from today you can find them all on my FLICKR site.

Day 53 Summer 2011 Road Trip

2011-08-24T21:42:00.000-04:00

We have a short drive ahead of us today from Escanaba MI to Sault Ste. Marie MI. Most of the way we will be driving on US 2 as it hugs along the shore of Lake Michigan.



In Manistique MI we found a Paul Bunion roadside statue.

We also saw the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse.



Some more scenery along US 2.



Where US 2 crosses over I-75, we got onto the Interstate and it will take us North to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan.

There was quite a storm brewing in the sky ahead of us and then we drove through it.   The storm was heading West to East and we were heading North, so we drove through it fairly quickly.





We arrived in Sault Sainte Marie Michigan and our hotel. We will be staying here for a couple of days while we explore the area.



We have a very nice room.



We went to the Lockview Restaurant and had a very delicious white fish dinner.

Then we walked across the street to the Soo Locks Visitor Center where we got an overview of the lock system and learnt how the locks work to raise and lower the large lake freighters between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.



How the locks work.



Outside of the visitor center is the lock viewing platform. No ships in the lock system right now.

We will return tomorrow to see the ships lock through. There are several ships scheduled at various times throughout the day.

To see all of our photos from today, you can find them all on my FLICKR site.

Day 52 Summer 2011 Road Trip

2011-08-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

This morning we left Burnsville MN and we are going to head East and North into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Crossing over the St Croix River we enter Wisconsin.



State Route 29 through Wisconsin is a nice 2 lane road. We aren’t blasting along an Interstate so we can slow down and take some photos.



The signs warn us to watch out for horse and buggies on the side of the road, but we didn’t see any.

We drove on State Route 17 for a while. I have to figure out what crops are growing under these protective mesh screens.



Leaving State Route 17 we drove on County Route Q which then became County Route G.



Then onto County Route Z. As some point we crossed into Michigan, but there wasn’t a sign to mark the State Line. Then we got to US 2 which took us into Escanaba Michigan.



We are staying tonight in Escanaba Michigan.

To see all of our photos from today you can find them on our FLICKR site.