#44 Dancing, Dining and Drinking 1-3 thru 1-8-09

Before 2008 ended we drove to another RV park where there is a social hour/dance each weekday. The couple that were performing live were a couple that Alice and Don wanted us to hear. They were very good, and were going to be the New Years Eve entertainers for this park. We enjoyed the different Christmas decorations inside the Rec hall and even danced a little to their music.

There were a lot of people at the social hour and two men were celebrating birthdays, and they paid for the beer and homemade cookies were passed all around. It was quite a social hour with lots of dancing and even some singing. One song that we really got a kick out of was "Who the Hell is Alice." Of course, we were sitting with Alice and had to point her out!!

After dancing and all the excitement of the afternoon, we decided we had to have a little nourishment. Look at the size of that burrito Alice ordered. Good thing she shared it with Don.Our next foray was a Cruiser's dance at our own rec hall. This band plays a lot of the 50' music and is very popular in the valley. On Jan 3,--a great way to start the new year--Dixie and Frank danced the night away. Well, anyway we danced until 10 p.m. Down here that is dancing the night away. Most of the Winter Texans here in our park are early risers and early to bed people. Farmers and such from Iowa, Kansas, Canada and those other northern states. As you can see, we had a wonderful time. The dance floor is great, the music was wonderful and the weather just can't be beat.
Now it is Sunday afternoon. Don't these people ever stop dancing? We went to Pepe's on the River, (Rio Grand River) for a drink and some more live music. It was packed!!! We had to really hunt for a table. Must have been 300 people there for the afternoon. Lots of western dancing, but the dance floor is way at the other end of the room. Here we are sitting near the entrance. There are a sea of people behind us. Every chair is taken and those that are empty are waiting for the dancers to fill them. Amazing! It was a very warm day, so we all had to have something to quench our thirst. Now it is Thursday, Jan 8. We have been invited to visit some friends we met at the North Little Rock Rally. They did a little Cajun dancing and then we went to their RV site and had an "little intimate" pot luck with cajun cooking and 34 other friends. One thing about the Cajuns--if you meet them once, you are immediately friends. Above and below is just some of the food and people gathered for appetizers and dinner, RV style. Frank and I have so many invitations to visit and see Louisiana we may never make it across that state. This is true southern hospitality. We love it!!

Not only did we have wonderful Cajun food, but we had live entertainment. The couple you see in the picture below are professional entertainers, and friends of the Cruisin Cajuns. They sang with "The Plummers," who are the first family entertainers to have their own theater in Branson, MO. Very nice music and wonderful people.

What a wonderful first week of 2009. If this is the way the year is starting, we're anxious to see what the rest of the year brings. Good friends, good food, happy times and wonderful experiences.

#43 - Christmas & The Zoo at Brownsville, TX 12-26-2008

We didn't do a lot for Christmas. Because we weren't in the mood for Ham dinner with 300 other people, we decided to have Prime Rib and share it with Alice and Don. Sooooooo-now this is the story and I'm sticking by it!

Frank and I went to Sam's Club to pick up his new glasses, while he was fitting the glasses I went to the meat department to see if I could get a nice prime rib for Christmas Dinner. All they had was 8 rib roasts. That is way too much for four people. While I was asking the man behind the counter if he could cut it in half for me and sell it at the same price, another gentleman was also asking the same thing. Boy, did we have a hard time with getting our meaning across to the employee. He just wanted to say "no" and get back to what he was doing. So I asked to see his manager! She came out and the gentleman "Dwight," and I both told her that we each wanted half of the prime rib. She said she could cut it in half, but had to sell it as one item. So we agreed that we would just go through the check stand at the same time and meet outside and split our prime rib. And that is just what we did. I gave Dwight money for our half, he paid for the entire piece and we split it outside in front of the bell ringer for the Salvation Army. That bell ringer got a big kick out of our little exchange.

Needless to say, it makes for a good story, and the meat was wonderful, the dinner turned out great and we all had a blessed Christmas right inside out RV! Of course, the next day we had to have prime rib sandwiches dipped in Au Jous. And they aren't good unless the bread is really fresh. So we had to go out again and buy fresh french rolls. Mmmmm good eating. We miss you kids, but you were all with us in spirt for dinner and left overs!

The day after Christmas we tok a ride to Brownsville, TX, which is about 40 miles from Alamo. Don, Alice, Frank and I all went to the Zoo. It was a windy day, but not cold. In fact there was quite a bit of humidity in the air. The animals at the zoo loved it. The monkeys were extremely playfull. The land for the zoo and a big park were donated by the Porter Family. So they named the zoo after Gladys.

This monkey was playing inside. I had a hard time taking a picture of him/her because he/she jumped all around the play area.

This is the tortoise and tortoise race. It was funny to watch them go around the track. There was another tortoise on the rocks watching.

The flowers were blooming even though it is the middle of winter. I just had to take a picture of this orchid. The entire bush was filled.

Here we are with the giraffe's in the back ground. There is a baby giraffe huddled among the herd. It was fun to watch them protecting the baby.

After the zoo we went out to lunch at the Holiday Inn. Don and Alice had some coupons that had to be used before the end of the year. We lucked out and the lunch buffet was fresh crab, shrimp and other fish. Yummy! It was a really cool restaurant with half of the swimming pool inside the restaurant and half outside in the sun. Of course, it was a little too cool for swimming, so the pool was empty.