Hot and Cold

Well, the outside temperatures have been hot and the refrigerator did get cooler -- at least for a while!!!  We stayed in the Rockport area until after Memorial Day -- fishing, beach time, lots of hiking and enjoyable tourist things to do.  But it was time to move on, so we drove to Lake Somerville State Park, not too far from the cute little community of Brenham.  The state park was nice, but absolutely deserted after the long weekend.  The ranger even put us in the space ordinarily reserved for the camp host, so we had a full hook-up with 50 amp service (great for running both the a/c's), water and sewer.  I think there were only a couple other families camping there.

We parked on a slight rise, and it was such fun to see the deer grazing out the back window.  We sat out one afternoon towards evening and I am not sure who was most surprised -- us or the two does that came around the corner of viney growth next to the open area they were grazing in. 

Walking in the morning hours, not long after the sun came up (and a pleasant 75 degrees )we were pleased to come upon a Texas Speed Bump!  I had my camera with me, but could not get close enough to that armadillo to get his picture.  He waddled down the trail ahead of us, moving at a pretty good clip! 

Loved all the wildlife we saw, including the many species of butterflies and birds.  In fact, we had a 'house' full of Purple Martins lodging across the road from our parking place, and the number of Cardinals in the trees around us made the boy from the St. Louis area feel right at home!

One day we drove into Brenham, toured a great museum and after talking to the curator, invested in several bottle of locally bottled salad dressings.  They are the "Brianna" label -- no preservatives, and it was nice to be able to buy them at the museum -- a win-win situation for both parties.  They get a small profit to show for themselves, and we got some great dressings!  After the museum, we did a turn about the town -- such a picturesque place -- then drove out to the Blue Bell Creamery.  All that is made there is ice cream, and what great tasting ice cream it is!

This is the original delivery truck used by Blue Bell -- quite a conversion to allow it to keep the ice cream frozen.

A small fee for the tour is charged, but you get it back with the dish of ice cream at the end of the tour!  Each day there are sixteen flavors to choose from, it was really tasty to try two we had not had before:  Ken chose Southern Blackberry Cobbler (self-explanatory) and mine was Southern Hospitality, a great combination of berry syrup swirl, pineapple and pecans. What was not to like?!

Back at the campsite, the refrigerator had been through its warm-up period and then cooled down after about 24 hours, so we were baffled.  After a few days at Lake Somerville, (and the refrigerator working so well), we opted to go a little further north to Lake Livingston State Park.  I was so glad Ken was at the wheel for parking the trailer -- long spaces, but D-E-E-P drainage ditches on either side of the parking pad, so getting into the space called for precision.  At least, if you are parking something as long as our trailer, precision is what's called for! 

By the following a.m., we noticed the 'fridge was warming up again, so opted to leave and head back towards Rockport to the technician who helped us out to begin with.