Monday, February 26. Las Cruces, NM.  We are back in the desert again. Hot days and cold nights. Needing to stretch our legs a little, we went to Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park. It was a nice little desert hike but wrong time of year.  The river was dry and everything was brown and dead.  However, it had some pretty views of the mountains in the distance and the weather was perfect.
After the hike, we stopped at a winery and bistro for a little wine tasting. 🍷 I ended up leaving with 6 bottles of wine. Kay is meeting us in Tucson in a few weeks and I needed some to share with her😄.
We took Jax back to the RV and then went to Old Mesilla for a light supper at Peppers, a cute little cafe.  It was a nice finish to a nice day.

Saturday, 17, 2018.  I have been wanting to go to Luckenbach, Tx for sometime.  Remember the song about Luchenbach?  Anyway, people from the area will tell you that Luchenbach isn’t just a little western-style town, it’s a Texas State of Mind.  Their motto is, “Everybody’s somebody in Luchenbach”. The town was originally a trading post owned and run by the Engel family. When the last Engel owner retired, he put the whole town up for sale, lock, stock, and dance hall. The place was purchased by a character named Honda Crouch and his cohorts. Honda proclaimed himself mayor and head imagineer and his friends were named Sheriff and Postmaster of the town.  It became a venue for song-picking, domino playing, and beer drinking under the 500 year old live oak trees.  The place became famous after Waylon Jennings song about Luchenbach. People still come out to sit under the big oak trees and listen to the pickers, just like we did today.  On some weekends they have dances in the big Dance Hall. If you look closely at Pops’ picture of the tree you can see a rooster way up in the branches. Dogs are welcome and several cats roam around.  We heard that Luchenbach is one of Willie Nelson’s favorite places, but we didn’t see him there today.

After Luchenbach, we drove 20 miles north to Willow City Loop.  This is a 13 mile picturesque ranch road that is famous for the bluebonnet displays in the spring.  There were no bluebonnets today, of course, but the drive was still nice. The gently rolling hills of the Hill Country change to small canyons and rugged cliffs with panoramic views.  And the boots on the fence posts added a little fun.

We finished off the day by having supper at the historic Pecan Grove Store, Icehouse and Beergarten. It is located about 5 miles north of Fredericksburg and is more of a locals place.  It was built in 1957 and serves greasy Dino Burgers and beer. Pops and I split a burger because they were huge.  Even splitting, we got our grease quota for the week!  But they were delicious and the place is really cute.

Friday, February 16, 2018.  Today we spent all morning at the Hill Country Trade Show.  They have this every third week-end. Pretty interesting place with five or six large barns and rows of outdoor booths as well. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Thursday, February 8, 2018. Nice sunshiny day so we decided to check out CrossMountain. The “mountain “ (elevation is only 1900 ft) was, according to legend, an Indian lookout point.  The Indians would watch for White settlers coming into their territory. Later, in 1847, during the settling of Fredericksburg, a large wooden cross was found on the hilltop.  It was thought that it was left there by early Spanish explorers. The town named the hill Cross Mountain.  The original cross was eventually replaced by a large metal one.  There are some hiking trails that lead up to the Cross and a very expansive view of Fredericksburg and the surrounding hill country.

Later that evening we skipped our usual glass of wine and went to Margarita Monkeys To Go.  They call their drinks “cups of sunshine”. The alcohol is supposed to be the cleanest alcohol you will ever drink because they use a special process dating back to the Prohibition era and use no sulfates. They will customize your drink to suit your taste and you can take it to go.  It was pretty tasty! Quirky little place, though.

Friday January 2, 2018.  Very nice evening.  We attended the First Friday Art Walk. The galleries stay open until 8:00 and serve wine and snacks ( cheese, crackers, nuts, cookies, cake, fruit). They had artists there to discuss their work.  Some were painting and demonstrating their individual techniques.    Lots of people attended and the discussions were lively.  It was a fun event. Next, we want to attend the trade show in a couple of weeks.  It is so nice to be able to do this. I love it!

Thursday, February 1, 2018.   Today I decided we needed a new adventure. So I packed a picnic lunch and we drove an hour up to Inks Lake to hike and spend the 70 degree day.  We had a choice of two trails starting from two different places in the Park.  We got our map and headed out for a 3-mile loop. Well either the map wasn’t very accurate or the trail markers didn’t match the map because we got lost twice. I know you’re thinking maybe it was just that we couldn’t read the map.  However, we hiked all over Utah and New Mexico without getting lost so I am sure it wasn’t us (pretty sure,  anyway😄). Fortunately, we met a young couple that was familiar with the trails and they pointed us in the right direction, both times, and we made it safely back. Whew!  We were really tired after having backtracked twice and climbing over boulders all afternoon.  On the way back we stopped at Coopers Famous BBQ in Llano,Tx. This is the place that George Bush had BBQ flown in from when he was in the White House!  It is not fancy but it is delicious. From there we headed back home and an early bedtime.  Good day, but a little disappointed in the Scenery at Inks Lake..

Wednesday, January 31, 2018.   Well, we missed the blood moon. I got up in time but there was too much cloud cover. Once the sky cleared we headed out for our morning hike.  This time we went to the Old Tunnel State Park,  which is a very small park with a lot of history. It was originally a train tunnel.  Now it is home to thousands of bats.  At certain times of the year visitors can watch the bats swarm out of the tunnel at dusk.  There are seating areas and restrictions for viewing, but it is supposed to be fascinating. It was a beautiful hike down to the tunnel.  The only problem we had was that dogs were not allowed on the trail, so Pops and I had to take turns hiking down.
After the hike, we went to Alamo Springs Cafe, whose claim to fame is their famous hamburger.  It lived up to it’s reputation as one of the best burgers in the state. We decided to split one because they were huge.  It included avocados, grilled onions, lettuce and tomato on a jalapeño bun.  The bun was light and sweet, not hot like you might think for a jalapeño bun.
Needing to walk again after that lunch, we stopped at Comfort, Texas and did a little antique shopping and sightseeing. It’s a cute little town.  It was  another enjoyable day with sunshine and 70 degree weather.