Happy New Year!

Catching Up

Bells at Tubac

St. Francis at Tubac

Well, December just zoomed by! Work, getting acclimated, we moved sites at the campground, we visited with the Dooleys (my sister's in-laws.) We enjoyed some holiday festivities -- lights at Tubac and Winterhaven, "What a Wonderful Life" with the Dooleys at the beautiful, renovated Fox Theatre downtown, caroling anad luminaria night at Desert Trails. We spent Christmas with the Dooleys -- our home away from home. They're a great,welcoming family! We skyped with some friends and family.We had the weekend off. We read. We walked in the desert. We watched movies, including "Up and Away" which is really well-done and George Clooney is swooney, swooney.


At home

Big Bend National Park

We left Austin to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday in Big Bend National Park, located in southwest Texas on the Rio Grande; the name comes from the “big bend” the river takes there. It was a two-day drive, but the time flew because the landscape was beautiful and full of things to see; and we so enjoyed listening to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on audio.

We stopped in Marathon on day 2 to visit the local bookstore. It’s a small town – one main street – but has a certain coolness factor, with a few fine shops, restaurants and galleries. The Gage Hotel looks like a primo place to stay. I also saw the largest rosemary plant ever, a huge shrub about 4 feet wide!

From Marathon it’s about an hour drive to the east side of the park which is where we began our stay, checking into the Rio Grande Village campground. We had a lovely shaded site, one loop away from the river – and across the river, just a stone’s throw was Mexico! No hookups so we ran off the battery and hauled water. We spent the afternoon getting acclimated and that night we listened to GLPPPS until the laptop battery ran out. We were entranced, and especially loved the characters of Juliet and Dawsey.

Wednesday we hiked to Hot Springs, an abandoned health “resort” which operated from 1909-42. The hot spring still runs, though there’s just a foundation of the old bathhouse on the riverbank. Bobbie went in and said it was warm like a hot tub. On the trail leading to the springs we saw Mexican bead art and walking sticks for sale, though the handwritten signs read DONATION. The pieces were well crafted but it’s against the law to purchase and there were border patrol people around. There were Mexicans waiting across the river and if they noticed someone making a purchase anyway they would cross the border to pick up the money. We saw this again and again throughout the park. The same kind of crafts could be purchased at the visitor’s centers throughout the park – they acted as middleman for some of the artisans, but of course the trailside stores had less expensive wares. I wish I had bought a walking stick. They looked like wood but were made from the flower stalk of the sotal plant – trimmed and sanded, then decorated with folk motifs.

Our afternoon hike was to Boquillos Canyon; a hike that led to a sandy was by the river. It was clear that the river had a much farther reach at other times; we were walking a dry riverbed. Next a short bike ride, and reading at camp. Dinner and more GLPPPS.

Bobbie was avidly reading a local history she bought at Front Street Books in Marathon, Lizards on the Mantel, Burros at the Door, written from the journal and letters of Etta Koch, a woman who moved to Big Bend with her 3 young children in the 1940’s, just after Big Bend was designated a National Park. While her photographer husband was off on the lecture circuit, she was living in a trailer, and later a house (which we saw at Hot Springs) raising the kids and eventually working for the Park Service. Bobbie relayed various parts of the book as she was reading – it was like having a bit of Etta along for our trip.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a drive to Chisos Mountains Basin located in the middle of the park. Amazing views driving to the top, where we had “turkey and all the trimmings” at the Lodge with a view of “the Window” outside the window we were seated in front of. Then a hike.


Friday we took a ride along the Ross Maxwell Drive with many stops along the way to view MORE amazing scenery – Sotol Vista, Castelon, Tuff Canyon and a short hike at Santa Elena Canyon on the west side of the park. Santa Elena was stunning; the trail takes you up the side of a cliff via steps and switchbacks, and then leads you down to the mouth of the canyon where you can sit on rocks by the river. The walls are very steep but there’s a feeling of protection; the water very smooth. I envied the lone kayaker we saw leaving the canyon at the end of the day.

The park is so diverse – the terrain so varied. Mountains, desert, river. I'll write more about our stay in Terlingua at the west side of the park.

"Wintering" in Tucson

Well, we've reached our winter home. We'll be in Tucson AZ for 3 months! I'm so happy surrounded by my beloved saguaros. I'll post some photos of our funky campground in a few days. We stayed here at Desert Trails 2 years ago and we like being back.

Our address through February is:
Laurina Cashin, guest
Desert Trails RV Park
3551 S San Joaquin Rd
Tucson AZ 85735

I have some great photos of our stay in Big Bend National Park and hope to post about that stay in a few days.

Back to work now.

Visiting the Wildflower Center

Sunday, I drove out to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for the afternoon. Bobbie's away in PA and this was a good outing to keep me busy and away from my laptop.This wasn't the time of year for wildflower carpets, but I thought it was stunning in that way when you see tones and texture. The buildings are based on a kind of "Hill Country"architecture that I loved and found fitting. There's a gallery, auditorium, library, learning center and, for kids, the "little house." It was a lovely visit.


Entrance

Observation Tower


Now in bloom


Current exhibit


The natural garden





Have a seat

Past Travels

I thought I'd put up some photos of places we've been, good times we've had since -- oh, last spring.


Appalachian Trail, MD


Harper's Ferry


Mount Vernon


Wolf Trap


lc's almost Alma Mater -- Trinity College/Washington DC


A new breed


Spring lilacs


Better than cow-patterned clothes


Northshire Bookshop/ Manchester VT


Garden center near Burlington VT



Chautauqua NY


house detail, Chautauqua NY

more to come ...

Austin on a Saturday

Today we took some time to take Molly to an off-leash park on the river and of course, she had a great time.She still seems a bit bewildered by it all but she played and ran with some other dogs -- it was crowded -- and met many fans. Bobbie commented on how many other "relatives" of Molly were at the park -- border collies, australian shepherds and the like. We even saw 2 Irish Wolfhounds -- huge! No camera though, we left it at the RV.

Next we went on to the Farmer's Market -- how neat that's it's year-round here. Many locovores and supporters of sustainable agriculture. Such a bounty and samples galore! We loaded up on vegetables for soup, a yummy goat cheese,wheat bread, and ate the best scones ever. I sampled a divine chocolate -- a roasted cococa bean which was dipped in white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate and then dusted with cocoa. Can you imagine? You must try them -- go straight to the website now. It was a great morning.

Texas Book Festival

We spent some time wandering the Capital grounds during the festival and even managed to see some publisher friends of ours who were exhibiting.

Inside Austin City Limits

We're having a great time in Austin. Our friend Sally is here and we're celebrating her 6oth birthday. We've been all around the city -- Congress Ave., 6th Street, Hyde Park, the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, and Barton Springs. We stopped at a vintage neon place Sally knew of and had a chat with the neon artist Todd Sanders, one of the nicest people I've ever met. We've eaten Barbeque at Stubbs, tacos at Guerro's, Amy's ice cream and had more than one stop at Hey Cupcake! Yesterday we spent some time at the Texas Book Festival and visited a Day of the Dead exhibit.

Today we'll drive around some of the Hill Country. And of course we hope to hear some music.

I'll add more photos later.
photo by Sally Lindsay

Where have we been?

Here's a recap of where we've been so far in 2009:

January
Del Ray Beach FL – Educational Paperback Association annual meeting
Denver CO – ALA annual

February
Christmas RV Park, Christmas FL
Merritt Island FL

March
Tampa/St Petersburg FL
Key West
Anastasia State Park, St. Augustine
Travel to Maryland

April
Knoxville MD
Annapolis MD
Newfoundland PA -- Pocono Weekend
Travel to New Hampshire
The Boston Marathon

May
Upper Hudson River Valley NY
Vermont
New York – BEA

June
the Cape
Travel to Michigan – Niagara Falls, Chautauqua Institution
Brighton MI

July
Chicago – ALA
Northern Michigan – camping on Lake Huron
Brighton MI
Ohio – camping with Bobbie’s family

August
Sterling State Park (MI) on Lake Erie
visits to Brighton and Ann Arbor

September
still in Michigan
travel to PA/ MD

October
Knoxville MD
10.23.09 travel to Texas


Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine FL

Chautauqua house

B & L at BNP

Molly at Mackinac Mill Creek Campground in Michigan

at Sally's farm

Fort DeSoto Beaches (FL)

Back again . . .

Well, it's about time to get this blog up and going again, don't you think? I know many of you would agree. We're not promising every day posts, and maybe not even every week. But we'll check in when we can and share a few notes and photos.

We arrived in Austin Texas after a 3-day drive west, leaving from Knoxville Maryland. It felt SO GOOD to be on the road again, seeing new terrain even from a highway. We had a lovely stop in Hot Springs Arkansas -- wasn't on my destination list but was a delightful surprise. We stayed at the National Park campground, small and one of the older ones, and we were fortunate to gain a spot on the river. The next morning we toured Hot Springs downtown, visiting the old bathhouses and getting a sense of what it was like during the Golden Age of Bathing. The architecture was stunning -- each building was different, two are still waiting to be restored. There are several open springs throughout town and the water is very hot. It's weird because the town lies within the National Park boundaries but is separate.

This was a great break before we began our 9 hour drive to Austin. We arrived after dark but managed to get set up before the rain began. Today it's still raining and we've stayed inside catching up on email and work. I'm thrilled to be in Austin and look forward to exploring this cool city -- music, barbeque,and a different Texan sensibility.