Abilene, TX

We are spending lots of time learning about Frontier History.  Abilene has a neat museum called Frontier Texas!  It told about the history of the Indians who lived in Texas and how tribes warred with other tribes to gain control of the area with the Comanches finally winning out.  Then it told about the immigration of the Anglos into the territory.  It featured holograms that told stories from different peoples perspectives.

After this great museum we went to the Paramount Theatre.  It is a landmark theatre in Abilene built in 1928.  It is now open for live theatre and concerts, films and film festivals and for private events.

Friday found us at the Buffalo Gap Historic Village.  This was a pretty ramshackle place but still interesting to see how people lived back in the day.  They had buildings from the 1800's and early 1900's.

After this we went back downtown and visited the 12th Armored Division Museum which highlighted this Division's accomplishments in WWII.  They were successful in rescuing many Holocaust victims.

Saturday we stayed home (in our RV) and watched the Army/Navy football game. Go Navy!  Sunday we went to church and then to some open houses.  A nice day.

Waco, TX

We are in Waco for one week, yesterday did some errands and a little shopping.  We were in Kohl's to return an Amazon purchase when we came across this great sloth.  Jackie and her grandson are into sloths right now, so we had to send her this picture.

After shopping we went to see the Magnolia Farms Silos.  It was a nice place to check out and of course we purchased cupcakes.

We wanted to check out the Magnolia businesses because Chip & Joanne Gains are the one who inspired us to check out Waco, so on Friday, we went to Magnolia Table and had breakfast.

After breakfast, we went to the Texas Ranger Museum. Graham loves the Texas Rangers :)

On Saturday morning we went to the Homestead Heritage, an agrarian- and craft-based intentional Christian community. It was almost like taking a step back in time.  There were demonstrations on thread and yarn spinning and how a loom works.  Also, they had a blacksmith who was forging cheese knives to sell in the local cheese store.  They had a grist mill and sold many types of flours.  They also had a pottery store and many other interesting demonstrations.  They had many hand-crafted items for sale, but were pretty pricey.

Now time for a BBQ sandwich and on to an open house.  What would we get for our money if we bought a home here.  Met a really nice realtor named Ellie and had a great conversation.  

Still some time left in the day, what to do?  Hmmm, sounds like a trip to the Dr. Pepper Museum.  Dr. Pepper was originally sold as a medicine then later when they realized it had no medicinal value, they sold it as a health drink. Much later, they realized that it isn't really good for you because of all the sugar.  Dr. Pepper is one of the top 3 producers of soda.

Bottle washing machine

Home to a Waco sunset.

Wichita Falls, Amarillo and Flower Mound, TX

We took about a week to travel to Flower Mound to visit our friend, Jackie.  She moved to Texas about a year ago.  We plan to arrive so that we can enjoy Thanksgiving with her and her family. :)

We traveled through Gallup and Albuquerque, Santa Rosa, Amarillo, and Wichita Falls.

Wichita Falls always has their holiday parade the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we went to check it out.

This is a picture of our bus boy at the restaurant we ate at while waiting for the parade.  Had to take a picture with him as he is all decked out for the holidays.  He was a super hard worker.

  While in Amarillo, we were notified by one of the campers that there was a spread of Parvo in the park.  A couple of days later, Martha was sick.  I panicked and we called local vets.  Due to a problem with the local spay/neuter company many of vets would only see your pet if you had an established relationship.  We luckily found a vet who would take Martha in.  Gladly, she was tested negative for Parvo.  The very nice vet gave her some antibiotics just in case.  I am glad to say she is doing well!

We also went to the Panhandle Plains History Museum.  This was an interesting museum as it had a very eclectic variety of things to see, from a pioneer town to paleontology.

We went to the Big Texan restaurant where they offer a 72 oz steak. If you can eat it in an hour, you get your meal for free.  We did not attempt this, lol.

We arrived at Northlake Village in Roanoke where we would stay for a week to visit with Jackie. We had a super time helping her to look for an apartment to move to in the spring and meeting many of her friends.  Thanksgiving was wonderful, Jackie is a great cook and thanks to her daughter, Sherry for hosting Thanksgiving at her home. We also attended church and celebrated the first Sunday of Advent.