Tyler State Park, part 2

This is a lovely, and one of the most popular, Texas state parks. Really should try and get out here more often. Rough guess of nearly 20 years since our last visit. Shameful to be so close yet not visit more often. Weather deteriorating starting tomorrow so that eases the pain of leaving. Mary has surgery next week so the next outing is unknown at this time.

 I leave you with some photos of Tyler State Park.

Tyler State Park

Had a brief window of opportunity between retirement and doctors. Decided to spend a couple of days here.

Not a bad view from the front porch...

Rained before we got here, storms forecasted for Thursday, we got lucky on weather

Brownwood

March found us with a couple of days to roam so we headed to an old friend to use as a base for a long weekend. Coming in on Thursday allowed us to get a nice spot on the hill overlooking the lake.

 Unfortunately we were to discover Friday morning that the shower faucet did not survive the winter. Spent time mopping up water in floor only to discover leak I was unable to repair. That coupled with onset of a cold for Mary brought this little sojourn to an early end.

We camped extensively at this state park when kids were young and we had a boat. Since then kids have grown, sold the boat and central Texas is suffering from an extended drought.

 Dock where we used to park the boat.

Went under this bridge to get from dock to main body of lake. Another view can be seen on right side of picture above.

Might be a little difficult to launch boat today. Nice floating dock, now high and dry, was not there when we were boating on lake.

Next stop, a return to Tyler...

Thursday the 12th, Day 6

 Mary's back was giving her problems so Thursday meant a good book and relaxing in the hot tub and pool. Sorry no pictures :)

Day 5:Wednesday February 11th Pima Air and Space Museum

The 11th found us touring the Pima Air and Space Museum.The guide on our walking tour provided a lot of background information on the planes. Most informative and we enjoyed the visit.

From small experimental planes

To really fast planes, SR71a Blackbird

To planes that Mary's Dad flew over the "Hump" from India to China during WW2

Day4:A trip through time

Tuesday found us heading south from Tucson. First stop was to visit the San Xavier del Bac Mission. This active church was constructed in the 1750's. As it literally is in the middle of no where, one has to ask why. Beautiful fresco's painted on the walls and ceilings. The dry air has helped to protect them, however years of soot from candles placed at altars had to be removed. Only smokeless candles allowed inside now.

 Our next stop jumps forward in time 2 centuries. Having grown up in the age of the Cuban missile crisis, the ability to tour a missile silo was chilling. Entering through dual 3 ton doors, seeing the equipment made one wonder how it must have felt to be there on active duty.