Squirrels are cute little critters that are fun to watch as they scurry around. They do, however, play havoc on bird feeders! We caught this fellow snagging sunflower seeds out of the pretty bird feeder in our family’s backyard in Austin.
Texas travel
A real Mexican supper in a real Mexican restaurant
Tonight we went with our family to a real Mexican restaurant here in Austin. Keep in mind that we do not have many genuine Mexican restaurants in central Indiana. Of course there are the Taco Bells that don’t even count. There are sit down Mexican eateries, but they all seem to have the same limited menus and most all items taste alike from restaurant to restaurant.
When you first walk into the La Tapatia restaurant you know that you are in for a real Mexican meal. The interior is simple but clean, and our party of five was directed to sit at whichever table we wanted. Our wait staff immediately took our drink orders and brought warm nacho chips and salsa to our table. Of note was the size of our drinks: the glasses were huge, and must have held at least 32 ounces.
Within a very reasonable amount of time our meals were delivered to our table. The size of the portions were frankly amazing. The amount of food was the most I have ever seen. Even the kids size order for our 5 year old granddaughter was huge! Everyone in our party praised the quality of the food. My plate was filled with 2 enchiladas, one taco, beans, rice and salad. There must have been at least a pound of seasoned ground beef in the items and sprinkled on the plate. The whole plate was covered with shredded cheese.
This was a great restaurant. The food was excellent, the service was also excellent, and I can’t say enough about the portion size. The prices were reasonable, averaging about $10 a person. We all were full when we left!
Home Sweet Home: An RV park in Texarkana, Texas
Home Sweet Home RV Park just west of Texarkana, Texas is a comfortable full hook up RV park. This is not a large facility (48 sites) but the sites are level on stone. The roads are stone and wide enough for easy driving of any size rig. The park has both back in and pull thru sites. Sher and I recommend this park if you are in the Texarkana area.
The normal rate is $30 a night, but we used our Passport America card and only paid $15. For a park with full hook ups and free WiFi, fifteen bucks is a great deal. The hook ups included cable TV. The WiFi worked well, although I had to re-connect a few times the morning we left. Note that all of the electric shore power posts have 50 amp plug configuration. You’ll need an adapter for your 30 amp plug. There is an on site laundry.
Wide gravel roads and level, stone base sites
This is a unique park in that the office is located in the Tire Store next door. Make sure to call ahead to let them know you are coming. The office is open from 8 to 5:30. We arrived right at 5:30 and were met by the park host. He showed us our spot and said we could go to the office in the morning to settle up. This is a very nice, no frills RV park. The management couldn’t be nicer and willing to help in any way. Here is the Home Sweet Home RV Park website with all pertinent information.
Continued journey from Texarkana to Austin
We had another chilly night, this time in Texarkana. We hit the road again mid morning heading along I-30 towards Dallas. I was surprised to see the interstate speed limit of 75 MPH. I never run our RV at that speed, but I did run a little faster than our normal 60!
In front of the massive Dallas Historical Society
We really had a great time when we stopped at Dallas after we spotted the Cotton Bowl from the street. What we found when we turned in that direction was the Fair Park, a huge area filled with tons of different things to see. The plaza was built for the 1936 Texas Centennial World’s Fair and featured large statues and buildings honoring the six countries whose flags have flown over Texas.
Fair Park Plaza with Dallas skyline in the background
There was a butterfly exhibit in one of the science buildings.
One of the many pretty water features
We saw a neat Christmas lights/celebration set up along a large pond system. Bet that this is very impressive at night. Some of the buildings were closed, some were open, and there were very few people in the park. Otherwise, we would not have been able to drive our RV through the park! We met a nice dad who was there with his two kids and two dogs. He snapped the photos of us in front of the Dallas Historical Society building, and told us of the history of Fair Park.
We spotted this from the street and found Fair Park. This is the original Cotton Bowl
We finished today’s journey when we got to our family’s place in Austin. A great ending to a great day!
Took the ferry to Galveston, Texas
On the ferry
We enjoyed a combination of good timing and good luck when we took the free ferry from Bolivar Penninsula to Galveston a couple of days ago.
The fellow at the Texas Welcome Center on I-10 told us about this ferry and suggested that we plan to follow the coast down to Galveston. We waited in line for about 30 minutes and then were directed to board the ferry. What a treat it was when we ended up at the front of the ferry boat. The best view on the vessel.
The good timing kicked in because just as the ferry left we were blessed with the beautiful sunset over the water.
Sunset on the water
The ferry
Roadtirement 