After the National Parks, we wanted to explore Texas and visit friends spread out across the State. This post is a brief summary that tries to capture the adventure. Our first destination was Kemah, where some of our hometown friends were living on their sailboat.
We were able to spend a week or so with them, and their adventurous spirit strengthened our wanderlust. Their boating community was so warm and welcoming, we weren’t in a hurry to leave. We were spoiled with meals, sailing, docktails, and lots of puppy snuggles. They certainly left their mark on us.
Kemah is not far from Johnson Space Center, which we were eager to visit. We loved learning about the history of NASA, and finding the cousin’s picture on the wall.
We took a facility tour, walking under and around rockets, modules, and shuttles. There was so much to see, it is difficult to adequately summarize it all here. You’ll have to go check it out for yourself.
Honestly, you can know something is big, but until you are standing in front of it, you just don’t realize how much you underestimate size.
After saying good bye to our friends in Kemah, we journeyed on up to San Antonio and the Alamo. We were grateful that there was a bus stop right next to our KOA, so we could explore downtown without having to navigate in our camper.
The River-walk was beautiful, and as dusk was falling we loved all the lighted trees and tour boats.
From there, we headed to Austin and the surrounding Hill Country. Of course, we had to get our BBQ fix with a stop in Lockhart along the way. Once in Austin, we stayed with dear friends who we don’t see often enough.
They took us on a duckboat tour of the city, and their son took over the boat. It was a great day full of giggles and silliness. They even brought us to their family Thanksgiving feast, and we felt like we were instantly adopted by this amazing tribe.
We camped out at their ranch in the hill country, where we learned ax throwing, and they took us out to explore the town of Fischer (of course we bought the t-shirts), we even got to see nine pin bowling at a private club. It was the first time we’ve seen people manually setting up pins at an alley.
We wrapped up this leg of our Texas tour with a mini North Kitsap class reunion.
Such a small world, you never know who you will see, or where.
Next up was stop in Grapevine to see more friends and have dinner at Esparza’s. The restaurant more than lived up to our memories, and it was great to catch up with everyone.
Our final stop was to watch some college football at Jerry’s World with our Austin friends. College football in Texas is something to behold. The energy in that stadium was incredible. Sadly, the Longhorns lost to the Sooners, but wow, what a game!
It was an amazing experience and was the perfect way to wrap up our time in Texas. Well, the game and these waffles.
Traveling Team Fischer 