travel

A little over a year ago

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Here is a look back to February 9, 2020. The concern over COVID was growing, and we were within a couple of weeks of leaving our RV resort near Austin to head back to the “safety” of our place in Indiana.

Solstice Outdoors is a unique gallery

Out side of Dripping Springs, Texas in the Hill Country near Austin is a thriving landscape design business that also doubles as a place to view and purchase unique outdoor artwork. Solstice Outdoors Ltd. is based in a former ranch home surrounded by 2 acres of what is now a whimsical display of outdoor works of art and decoration.

Solstice homestead

Outdoor fire pit complete with pyramid and butterfly seating!

 

 

 

 

 

Through an online mobile search Sher found this place while we were prowling about the Dripping Springs area. Thanks to google maps we soon found this surprising gallery of both indoor and outdoor craftsmanship. Each of the rooms in the house were used to display local artist’ works, including jewelry, tapestries and pictures.

Another metal man

Bull/man iron soldier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By far the most unique part of Solstice is the “backyard”. As soon as you go out into the yard you are greeted with a variety of ‘creatures” in all sizes and materials. The company offers landscaping design and construction. Walking through the grounds was like walking through an outdoor arts garden.

This face is kind of creepy

A different media for a longhorn!

 

 

 

 

 

Often we don’t have a set itinerary some days when we explore an area. It is always an adventure to find things by just driving around looking for signs, or hitting up the mobile search for “things near you”. The day we found Solstice Outdoor, Ltd. was one of those days.

What’s in that rock?

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As we normally do, Sher and I were outside on the stone pad sitting and enjoying the end of the day in an RV park in central Ohio. My undergraduate major was in geology, and I always look at rocks, be it outcrops along side a highway, distant mountain ranges, or in this case, the rocks on which our RV was parked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love finding fossils, and low and behold there on the ground at my feet I spotted some nice fossil crinoid stems in the 2 to 4 inch sized rocks.  OK, you say, what in the heck are crinoids? Reader’s digest version: Crinoids first showed up about 500 million years ago and some 600 species are still around today. The drawing show how one looked living in shallow seas.  The fossils in the rock are pieces of the stalk.

White Dove of the Desert

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Following are excerpts from an article we posted in January 2016. Hope you enjoy it!

About 10 miles south of Tucson, Arizona you will find the “White Dove of the Desert” also known as the Mission San Xavier del Bac. This magnificent Spanish mission was completed in 1797. The first Spanish missionary, Father Eusebio Kino, arrived at the site in 1692. Throughout the years the location has been part of New Spain, Mexico, and finally a part of the U.S. after the Gadsen Purchase of 1854.

When you enter the church you cannot help but be amazed by the incredible amount of 18th century statuary and murals. The impact varies for everyone who walks the interior of this powerfully spiritual place. Candles are always lit and displayed. A shrine to St Francis is a prominent feature and one of solemn devotion. The edifice is still a functioning Catholic Church that primarily serves the Tohono O’odham tribe, formerly known as the Papago.

The San Xavier website is packed with information for your visit planning assistance.

Revisiting a great restaurant

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After we get our vaccines we are so looking forward to getting back on the road and actually sitting down for a meal inside a restaurant! Here’s a revisit to a place we visited  back in 2018.

Hamburger Inn Diner an integral part of Delaware, Ohio

The Hamburger Inn Diner is on the main drag in the central Ohio city of Delaware. Our family enjoyed lunch there last weekend. (Read our post here) I was fortunate to meet and have a conversation with Bill Michailidas, the owner.

Bill shared how the Hamburger Inn Diner is really a focal point in the community. The generous serving of Thanksgiving dinner to nearly a thousand folks is a shining example of the good this Diner shares. Besides, it has been serving the people of Delaware great food since 1932.

Since 1947 the diner has become the place for local citizens to gather and share coffee and conversations. Oh, the wisdom that has been shared in the gatherings for the past seven decades.

The diner is open 24 hours on the weekend. As you can imagine, the diner is full of law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel . Workers from all shifts can find a time to eat, and local college students can enjoy great food and a safe place to study after hours.

Delaware, Ohio is fortunate to have the Hamburger Inn Diner. Be sure to stop in when you are in Delaware.

Jester King Brewery in the Hill Country of Texas

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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.

Thrilling orca whale watch

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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.

Hot dang we got our appointments

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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.

What to do and so many choices

/ Roadtirementvintage / 57 Comments

What to do and so many choices.  That is the situation we are in.  We sold our spacious 4 bedroom home with an in-ground swimming pool 5 years ago.  Our kids were all grown and college educated and we were ready for a big change.  So we sold our house and bought an RV to travel the country.  And that is what we did for 5 wonderful, exciting years.  Then coronavirus struck and shut down the US.  Being of the 65+ older population, yes we are “baby boomers”…we decided to play it safe and stay in our small 2 bedroom house in Indiana.  Plus, we have our youngest son, who is unmarried and takes care of the house while we are gone, that would be able to help us.  You know, grocery shopping, picking up our meds and etc.

Then we fast forward, or slowly forward to today.  Should we continue our adventures or should we acknowledge we are getting older and stay put?  It’s a big decision for us.  Our kids live in Washington state, Texas, Ohio and Indiana, we’ve always had fun visiting them while we travel.  We are pretty healthy and able to get around and take care of ourselves.  We’ve spent a winter in Harlingen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley which we loved.  We were enjoying wintering in the Hill Country west of Austin when the virus hit the US and then we got coronavirsed in after retuning to Indiana.  We were going to spend this winter’s months in the southern part of Texas and visit our Texas family while there.

So, maybe writing it down has helped me see things clearer and I’m questioning why I’m even thinking of giving up our adventurous traveling lifestyle. We just wish we could get our COVID-19 vaccines sooner than later.

Our current favorite wine is from Buck Creek Winery

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Found our newest favorite wine!  Road House Red from Buck Creek Winery in Indiana has won the taste test and proven to be our favorite.   We had been to Buck Creek Winery about a year or two ago and had even taken a tour of the winery.  We knew we liked their wine, but we hadn’t found one that totally captured us. That is until we returned a couple of weeks ago.

The Road House Red variety is a sweet concord grape wine with an 11% ABV. It is sweet, smooth and very tasty.  It is good with cheese and fruit.  We also liked it with chocolate.  In fact, we liked it with everything we tried it with.

We spent a lot time trying different wines from wineries while we had been stuck with the coronavirus.  Not that we had it, we were very fortunate, but then we didn’t hardly leave our house for almost a year now.

We also like the Road House White and have ordered some more of it too.  Did I mention it can be ordered online and mailed to you? They have an extensive wine list for your buying pleasure.

But, Road House Red has become  our favorite.  You can check out the other varieties they offer at the Buck Creek Winery website. The winery is only 30 minutes from downtown Indianapolis off of Interstate 74.