Greetings from a very cool South Texas

This week we spent in the car visiting sites around the Bryan/College Station area. I forgot to mention how charming Fredericksburg was during last week's report. It is a town with strong German roots and has managed to maintain the wonderful architecture and influence of it's heritage. It is a great place to go shopping, but I think we will go back to study the history and visit the wineries. It will definitely take a couple of days to see it all.

On the way to B/CS, we stopped to visit Bastrop, a place that initially intrigued us because there was a nice bunch of "piney woods" and lush green landscaping, right after emerging from the chalky Hill Country. They have a historic downtown area, but haven't done a great job of perserving some of the old houses and original features of the town. It was very foggy and cold when we were there, so we may need to revisit it to see it in a different light.

Yesterday, we drove to Lake Livingston and Lake Conroe, both just north of the Houston area and east of Huntsville. We REALLY liked Lake Livingston, as it reminded us a bit of Lake of the Ozarks. It also seems there is a lot of affordable waterfront property and may still be a bit primitive. It does have an active RV community and this is the home base for the Escapees, a very large club that specializes in mail forwarding. We went ahead and joined, and will use that address as our permanent address. Lake Conroe is smaller, more refined and a closer commute for those Houstonites who prefer a weekend respite. The housing does seem affordable but you'd have to like your neighbor, as the houses are close together and there are a lot of condos.

Today, we drove to Brenham via Navasota and Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park, which is beautiful and has a special place in Texas history. We spent a short time in the park, then traveled on to Brenham, home of Blue Bell Ice Cream and Blinn Junior College where one of my little sisters went to school. The town has a wonderful square with lots of antique shops and cute restaurants. After touring the town, we traveled back to B/CS via Lake Sommerville and found a wonderful little RV Campground just off the highway. This is a small Corp of Engineers lake, so there are no home available, but it is a beautiful setting. I also understand it has an active summer life, but it looked kind of sleepy and peaceful today. It got up to 73 degrees today, so this was a wonderful day to explore.

Tomorrow, we head back for Bandera, but we will go via LaGrange, which we are told is another wonderful little town just off I-10, halfway between San Antonio and Houston. We will report on that trip next week. Meanwhile, we wish you and your family a wonderful holiday. Stay warm and safe!