Home at last

So, 3,226.9 miles later we're home. It was a wonderful vacation but it's good to be back. Members of our party would disagree with that, but a great time was had by all. 

Rogers that

On our way back to Colorado we stopped by Rogers, AR to see my friend Cliff and his wife Allison. They have a beautiful place with a huge front yard, kittens, rubber band guns, and an Xbox with Kinect...everything you need to keep four kids busy for a day. They spoiled us with a breakfast of homemade biscuits and cream gravy, as well as chocolate gravy, and a breakfast casserole.  For dinner we had salad, smoked ribs, homemade rolls, fried white potatoes and sweet potatoes, and tea. It was all amazing. As evening came we sat on the porch and watched fireflies and played with kittens. Pretty much a perfect way to end the vacation. 

Cliff also makes slingshots and I had a great time learning how bad I am with one. 

Relaxing

Michele's cousin Cathy and her husband Scott live in a nice neighborhood with a nice, big pool. Their daughter Camryn is Molly's age so we went with them a couple times and the kids had a blast. 

We head to Arkansas in the morning to see Cliff and Allison, then start the long ride home. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Boating

We left the beach house today and headed back to Conroe. Instead of taking the straight shot way we  took the long way which includes a ferry ride. The birds we in attack mode so Michele made the kids put the crackers away. They got to see dolphins following the ferry for awhile. It was free so definitely worth the price of admission. 

A few of us walked The Strand in Galveston, which is an old historic part of town with buildings wearing badges that show they survived the monster hurricane of1900. I have no pictures of that because I'm a moron, but I do have pictures of some snacks. They had several flavors.....

Peril. Peril and danger.

The camera on my phone is terrible so you probably won't be able to see it, but in the center of the picture is an Alligator.  The girls came back to the house and said the Fish and Parks guys told them to get out of the water because there was an alligator near shore. So we had to go check it out, and sure enough, about a 6 ft dude was staying just off shore and seemed mighty interested in those birds. Since I was Captain of my High School Gator Wrestling Squad I offered to wrangle the critter, but was denied. 

Da Beach

We're here in Galveston in a house near the beach. It's nice and the beach tonight was beautiful with the full moon and all. 

And the sign on the inside of the door was a reminder of home. 

Tradition

Traditions are important. They let us feel connected to the past while making us comfortable in the present and offer a heading to follow when facing the future. I'm happy to say our Hubbell tradition of someone getting sick on each camping trip or vacation has been upheld!  I give you Nash with a 102 fever....

Eckercise

There is a park close to Donna's house that has exercise equipment and a nice sidewalk all the way around the pond where the Hubbellets could ride their scooters till they were nearly done in by heat stroke. There were a bazillion turtles and lots of fish with a few ducks patrolling the perimeter. It took approximately 4 seconds for the Crane in the first picture to seek refuge on the other side of the water in advance of the approaching hoard.

P.S.

The girls used to call it "eckercise", I'm a bad speller, but....

Lights on for safety

Donna told us her headlights were dim and yellow before we came and asked if I could replace them.  Some co-workers told me about a headlight restoration kit that worked well, so we got one and that was one of my projects today. If you're wondering, all it takes to go from this:

To this:

Is a permanently immobilized shoulder, 10 sheets of 220 and 360 grit sandpaper, one beer and a genuine love for one's mother in law. 

Make that two beers......and some wine.

Tejas

We went to Washington on the Brazos yesterday, the "Birthplace of Texas."  There is a museum there that chronicles the history of Texas and it's like a whole other country, probably because it was a whole other country.   We visited the home of the last President of the Republic of Texas which is a working farm with people in period dress.  It was interesting to consider the Republic of Texas voted to be annexed by the United States after gaining independence from Mexico, and all that was in the mid 1800's.  It's a different place, no doubt, but now it makes more sense.