Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Laredo, Texas… friends and fun…

Laredo TX 001

We accomplished what we set out to do when we headed to this part of Texas at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park. We were able to scoot far enough south to not be shivering after the cold front passed through. The weather here was beautiful the day we arrived but yesterday after the cold front blew through the temperature dipped down in the 50’s… Still too cold for my liking but if it is in the 50’s here it was plenty colder where we were further north, therefore mission accomplished!

So we have been just chilling a little while here (pun intended) after moving so quickly south. A few minor maintence issues have been taken care of as we made our rounds of interior cleaning and tightening the various screws, nuts and bolts that have a tendency to wiggle loose during our drives. Going down the road we are constantly simulating 4.5 earthquakes on the interior living space. Without this routine maintenance I am sure many things would simply fall apart.

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One goal we had while here was to visit with some dear friends that we met in College Station who now live in Laredo, Beth and Eduardo. We emailed them before arriving here and were able to nail down a night to chat and have dinner together. The tex-mex we had for dinner was a welcome treat as was the lively conversation we had with our friends. Realizing Eduardo had to be out of town for work the next few days, we invited Beth to drive over to our park after work for happy hour and a home cooked meal.It was fun for us to create this treat for Beth as we prepared chicken cordon bleu, home baked artisan bread, grilled squash and roasted rosemary red potatoes.  We topped off the meal with my homemade key lime pie topped with fresh made whipped cream.  During preparation we were amused remembering and reflecting on our initial struggles to learn how to use our convection oven.  Over this year and a half journey we have mastered the convection oven allowing us to have all our family favorites.  Having good food, good wine and chances to visit good friends sum up the best reasons to be full timers…

Tomorrow we head down to the Rio Grande Valley where we have reserved two months allowing us time to wind down and enjoy the slower pace…

7 comments:

  1. Enjoy that nice weather. It has been overcast and ugly here for two days. Very cool here right now...60. When there is on sun, it is cold!

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  2. Great analogy: "we are constantly simulating 4.5 earthquakes"

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  3. Oooh that food sounds so good! Glad you were able to share some with Beth.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  4. I can relate to the rhythm of your days, fleeing the cold weather and looking forward to settling in for a two month stay. Having also had the pleasure of experiencing your dual talents in the kitchen, I can easily picture the bountiful meal you prepared for Beth. Lucky her!

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  5. Dinner sounds awesome, nice that you were able to share with Beth. Enjoy the Valley.

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  6. Enjoy the valley, we aren't going to get there until February.

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  7. Oh, you're going to South Texas - cool. We did that one year. Danced our feet off!

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