Jester King Brewery in the Hill Country of Texas

This time last year we were staying at an RV Resort near Lake Travis west of Austin. The first rumblings were beginning to be heard about some kind of new virus that was killing people in China, and it had already shown up in the Seattle area in the US. We were still enjoying our winter in Texas, appreciating the tag “Winter Texans” instead of “snow birds”.

Brew tasting at Jester King Brewery

One activity that we enjoyed while in Texas last winter was visiting wineries, breweries and distilleries. One brewery we liked was the Jester King Brewery. This is a brewery, restaurant, farm and event center. Even though it has an Austin address, the establishment is closer to Dripping Springs, in the Hill Country. We sampled some brews and bought a couple of take out growlers. This is a nice facility, worth a stop if you’re in the area. This is the Jester King website.

Dominating the desert

The awesome and iconic Saguaro cactus is truly the dominant feature of the Sonoran Desert in the Southwest. The Saguaro has become the symbol of all things desert. The towering cacti live to be 250 years old and older. They don’t start to grow their “arms” until they are at least 75 years old!

 

 

 

 

 

The Saguaro National Park has two sections on either side of Tucson, Arizona.  Both sections offer unbelievable opportunities to enjoy the magnificent and thriving desert environments. Walking trails and scenic roads give ample opportunities to get up close and personal with the Saguaro and countless other species of desert plants. A trip to the Saguaro National Park should be on everyone’s travel itinerary. We’ll be back to Tucson and the desert once our travel is possible.

Thrilling orca whale watch

Orcas!

One adventure that we hope to repeat is another whale watching trip out of Bellingham, Washington. A few years ago we were blessed with the opportunity to take a day cruise around the San Juan Islands in the Salish Sea north of Seattle. So many wildlife sightings of both sea animal and birds happened. The highlight of course was the sighting of a pod of orca killer whales, part of which is seen in the above photo we took. Note it shows an adult and a juvenile.

Orange barrels in winter

Road construction in the middle of our town continues this winter

Yes there are crews working today

What you see used to be a traffic circle. The new plan calls for the cross streets to intersect in the middle, passing straight through the town square.  Right now there is one lane each way running around one side of the old traffic circle. It’s quite confusing.

Hot dang we got our appointments

The local noon news announced that Indiana health officials today dropped the age for seniors to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine from 70 to 65. We immediately got online to the State Health Department website and started the registration process. Within about 45 minutes Sher and I both had confirmed appointments back to back two weeks from today, on February 15th at our local Health Department Office.

Won’t be too long before we’ll be able to be back in the rig on the road again.

We’ve been really stewing over when we would be able to get the vaccine. We’ve even looked for states where we might be able to get the vaccine without having residency in that state. Fortunately we can stop that search now. What we have now is the chance to let loose with a sigh of relief and have a timeline in sight for future travel plans.

Remembering summer

Well, we’ve got another 3 inches of snow on the ground when we woke up today. Snow pictures are sometimes boring, so here’s a picture from last summer.

The squirrel is enjoying a little snack of some kind. The young tree in the tomato cage is a Black Cherry seedling that we got free from the local Extension Service. We also got Tulip tree seedlings as well.

We hope we can get our vaccines soon so we can get away from the Indiana winter and head south somewhere where it’s warm.