The Ray Adventures: Christmas week

This is our second Christmas in Rockport at Bayview RV Resort, we've had a lot of fun but did miss the family gatherings, especially the mountains of gift wrap in the middle of the room that the grandkids scattered.

Wed., Dec. 17th, The alarm went off at 5:30 (I hate alarm clocks) so we could be in Corpus Christi by 8:00 for Gary's dermatologist appointment. Corpus is about a half hour drive from here. He had a pretty good report but did have another spot frozen. I was also looking for a Santa hat for Luci for our Christmas photo, we stopped at Petsmart with no luck. JoAnn fabrics was our next stop, I needed backing for the quilt I just finished. After getting my fabric cut we wandered around the store and lo and behold we found a small Santa hat, I bought the hat and some elastic to sew on to keep it on her head. Our next stop was NAS Corpus Christi for groceries at the Commissary , while I was shopping Gary went next door to the Exchange. When I got to the car I text'd him to say I was finished and it turned out I text'd myself. We had to stop at the AT&T store to get the problem ironed out.  Wednesday night in the park is "dinner", our wonderful cook Betty made lasagna, garlic bread, salad and cheesecake. Delish as usual.

Thursday, Dec. 18th. After tossing and turning all night worrying about not getting enough fabric for my quilt I had to go back to Corpus to pick up more. Thank goodness they hadn't sold out of that fabric. I hurried back to wash and dry the fabric so I could take it to a quilter here in Rockport. Mission accomplished. We played Pegs and Jokers with the usual suspects in the evening.

Friday, Dec. 19th, We had a bit of rain today, the weather has been "mostly" nice with occasional drippy days. Fridays at 4:00 is Happy Hour, after we went to Hatfields BBQ again for dinner with Steve, Marty, Teri, Larry, Bob and Sharon. The Meza Band from Woodsboro, Tx (about 45 minutes away), a father and 2 sons trio played a nice mix of country and oldies, Their very first song was one of our favorites "Sweet Home Alabama". We were the majority of the audience so we had fun interacting with the band, requesting songs, some silly that they hadn't heard of, Gary requested one of his favorites "House of the Rising Sun" which they sang quite well.

Saturday, Dec. 20th, We started the day walking Luci through the back roads here at the RV park, it's a great time to have Luci off leash to run (and run and run) When we got back we worked on our itinerary for Louisiana. We leave here the 7th of Jan, for Galveston, Houston, Lafayette, La., then the New Orleans area for a couple of weeks. We needed to find a place for Gary to hang out while I take off for Oregon for 6 days. In the afternoon we went to Rockport Festival Grounds for a Holiday Market, lots of interesting stuff, we only bought a cookie. On our way back to the park we managed to find 5 geo caches. Last year when we were here we wanted to visit the Fulton Mansion but it was closed for to renovation. As we drove past the mansion we decided to stop at the visitor center which is open. The volunteer told us that the renovation turned into much more than anticipated, kind of like any house project, you start with a small repair in mind and end up with a major project. The salt air and humidity have done it's number on the mansion which was built across from Aransas Harbor in 1877. It was quite the house with gas lighting, central heat, running water and a flush toilet. We watched a video about the house and grounds, before they started the renovation they had to remove all furniture, etc. from the house. I asked the volunteer where all the furnishings were stored and he said they were in storage units all over Rockport, he added that if they were to get a hurricane all those things would be removed and taken up to San Antonio, that would be quite a chore to get everything moved. I asked if there had ever been a hurricane, he showed us the blade from a windmill that blew from Oakhurst into the neighbors oak tree and now the tree  has grown around it. The mansion was name Oakhurst because it was surrounded by live oak trees on three sides. George Fulton was from the Philadelphia area where, they say, most homes had basements. Well that didn't work so well, the elevation is probably 3 feet, so needless to say, it was wet most off the time. The basement housed the kitchen, laundry room, furnace, cistern and fuel storage. The home had 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, library, parlor, sitting room, master suite and dining room. After the Fultons left there was a succession of private owners, a restaurant, a back drop for a trailer park and a recreation center until it was donated to the Texas Historical Society in 1976. They hope to finish the renovation by this summer. Maybe next winter we can finally see the inside.

Sunday, Dec. 21st., Another cool day, a good time for housekeeping and laundry. We played Pegs and Jokers in the afternoon with the usual gang plus another couple, Bob and Donna. She has been full-time rvi'ng for 17 years and Bob for 10. She was widowed, staying in Quartzite when Bob knocked on her door. He said he could cook, they got married. I asked her what she had to trade to get Bob. Quartzite is a big area in the desert of Arizona known for Swap Meets. After the games we watched the Seahawks whomp the Cardinals35- 6, holy smoke what a game! My sister that lives in Phoenix disagrees with me. Only one more regular season game, time sure flies.

Monday, Dec. 22nd.,We woke up to a beautiful day, Gary did his 15 mile ride to Allegro Key and back while I went to Snap for a work-out. In the afternoon, I took a break from trip planning to ride to the park office to pick-up our mail. Before the Texas drought started there were two lakes in the middle of the property, now just ponds. As I came back I saw a Spoonbill and a Blue Heron and about 15 turtles. We had an impromptu happy hour at Bob and Sharon' in the afternoon. Gail and RJ, Karen and Steve, Steve and Marty and Marge and Mary showed up. Came home, ate leftovers and watched Cincinnati beat Denver. Hahaha Denver.

Wednesday, Dec. 24th, Christmas Eve, everyone took appetizers for happy hour and gifts for a crazy gift exchange. I smoked some chicken wings for the party that turned out mighty fine even if I do say so myself. We took a Red Neck Salsa Basket, with a local salso, plastic bowl and spoon, some napkins and tortilla chips, and a 6-pak of beer Gary was hoping to bring back with us. Gary had several gifts "swiped" from him, he ended up with a bottle of wine that I like and I got a vibrating pillow after losing a couple of nice things.

Thurday, Christmas Day, Gary fixed French toast, bacon and eggs for breakfast, we had our "tree" then took Luci out for a walk. Poor Luci got "nuttin" for Christmas. We talked to Chris, Stacy, Leah, Judy(my sis), Punch,(my bro) Gary's three sisters Laurie, Carol and Suzanne. My sister Lauri called later in the evening. RJ came by to snap our Christmas photo, thanks RJ, he did a good job considering his subjects. The park put on a nice dinner of ham and scalloped potatoes and the rest was pot luck. I made a shrimp salad. The cook Betty had a cream cheese "goodie" on her plate, she asked if I'd made it. No I hadn't. She had the cranberry salad I made for Thanksgiving, she watched who left with the dish. I ran into her in the dog "yard" after Christmas, can you believe this!?! The cook asked for my recipe. Cool! I digress, after dinner we went into a food coma. I napped. I had to perk up to go back to the club house to play Pegs and Jokers.

Friday, Dec. 26th, Did the usual housekeeping chores then went downtown for a little shopping. I wanted to get a few pictures along the waterfront for the blog. As we drove down Fulton Beach Road we saw a suspicious couple, they were geo caching. The couple were from Ottawa Canada. It was fun talking with them, the particular cache they were looking for took Gary 4 tries to find. Our neighbors invited us over for margaritas at 4. Dick and Ruth are originally from Austin Tx but now spend half their time in Denver where their daughter lives.

Enjoy the pictures and a Happy New Year to ya'all!

TTFN

Gary and Pam

                                                   Luci wasn't crazy about the hat