Just Like a Fool, When Those Sweet Goodies Cool, I Eat 'Til I Eat Way Too Much

Last weekend we traveled to Central Texas for a family reunion of David's mother's family.  We ate really well the whole weekend, starting with lunch at Swadley's BBQ in OK City.  

 The food was so very good, and as you can see, plentiful!

 By Waco, TX, we were getting hungry again, and found this sweet place called Health Camp.  It's been there since 1949, serving burgers and shakes.  I've love to know the history of the name, because I wouldn't exactly call it healthy.  It was tasty though, and a fun place.

 Our first morning in Salado, we had sausage kolaches at a great little donut shop called Creamy Donut.  I ate it in such a hurry though that I didn't get a picture.  The next morning, we stopped there again for another kolache, then we headed to Round Rock for the best donuts you'll ever eat.

 They were almost too hot to hold, and SO delicious!  That's what reminded David and I of Jimmy Buffett's song about beignets.

More to come from the reunion (where we also ate very well) but we had such a great foodie few days, I thought it deserved an honorable mention.

Meanwhile At The Lake

We been able to spend the last few weekends at the lake, where it's warm enough now for dogs to swim.  

 Dog swimming results in dog napping in the sun to dry off.  Mom and Dad were able to finally spend the night at their cabin Memorial Day weekend.  I'd promised that Lake Riley was much more calm than Home Riley.  He just a step above comatose unless he's in the water. :)

 Before going on vacation, I'd found this dresser that I liked.  It was 2-3 times more than I was hoping to pay, and we were headed on vacation, so I mostly forgot about it.

Until, that is, I saw it's twin in a different store.  I paid 36% of the price of the dresser above for the one below.  It's just perfect!

 We went for a boat ride with Todd and Emma to check out the lake Memorial Day weekend.

 It was so nice out on the water!

 Dawn, Sam, and Sophia came one evening, and Connie and John came for lunch the next day.  We had a great time, but I managed not to get any pictures. :(

I decided some travel pennants would be fun above the windows, and found this cool Camp Ellis Beach pennant on ebay.  Another one is on it's way for the other window.

We're having a great time at the lake - playing with the dogs, eating, napping, decorating, and eating again!

New Floors

We've talked for some time about having our floors refinished.  They were in bad shape and getting worse all the time.  What better time to have them done than when were were going to be gone for a week+ on vacation?  Gracie went to stay with her grandparents and Riley went to his usual place, so the house was emptied and ready.  The whole first floor has wood floors, so everything had to be moved out.  The floor people moved the big furniture, but we had to empty everything and have it ready.  It was way too much like moving for my taste and may have cured any crazy moving thoughts I had.

  Here are a couple of "before" shots.

As if by magic, we returned home to this!  I should have taken a picture, but near where David is standing, someone before us had started to paint a PINK quilt on the floor.  It's been covered with a rug since we moved in, but it's nice that now it's really gone.

 It took a while to get everything put back where it goes, and we had to wait a month to put the big rug back down.

 It rained a lot in that month's time, and we spent a lot of time obsessively cleaning dirty paw prints off the floor.

 I invested in a couple of new rugs to help protect the floor.  One at the back door where we go in and out, and another at the front door.  Maybe it was just a good excuse to buy new rugs!

 It seemed like no time at all before we could put the big rugs back, and now it feels like home again.

Williamsburg - Jamestown - Yorktown

Somewhere between Charleston and Williamsburg, it began to rain.  The rain settled in and stayed with us the rest of that day and all of the next.  We walked around and ate dinner at one of the restaurants that he been recommended to us.

It was apparent the next morning that my sandals were not going to work well in 55 degree rainy weather, so we made a little detour for socks, rainboots, and an umbrella before setting out to see Colonial Williamsburg.  Once we were properly outfitted, the rain really wasn't so terrible.  I loved all of the buildings and think our reproduction saltbox would fit in pretty well.

 Even in the rain, the flowers were beautiful!

 Every now and then, the rain would let up for a little while.

 We bought the pass that let us into all the buildings and demonstrations and I think made it to most of them over two days.

 Isn't that red house neat?  Some of the houses are owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation but are private residences.  Only one house on the main street is still privately owned.

 The rain finally let up enough for the afternoon march.

On our second full day in the area, we went to Jamestown and Yorktown.

 I was surprised at Yorktown to find a beach on the York River.  We ate across the small street from the beach at a little cafe with outside seating.  The food was okay, but the view was great!

 Yorktown also had some really neat houses.

 We finished the day back in Williamsburg, trying to see anything we missed.  While we were admiring the sheep, a little boy was trying to pet one.  His mother shrieked "don't touch those!  They look like they haven't been bathed...ever!"  We had to laugh.  I'm guessing she didn't grow up any where near the country!

 The general's rousing speech had to be canceled the previous day due to the weather, but we got to hear it this time, along with the gun and cannon demonstration.

I'm so glad to finally get to see Colonial Williamsburg!  David had been when he was about 10, so it's been a few years.

The weather didn't always cooperate, but it was a great vacation!  We headed home the next day and made it as far at Mt. Vernon, IL.  After lunch at our favorite sandwich place in St. Louis, we made it home.

Charleston

I really loved Charleston.  It was a beautiful place, the weather was gorgeous, the ferry ride to get to Charleston from Mt. Pleasant was nice.

This was a park area where we first entered town.

We stopped by this old church and cemetery for a shady walk.

And put David in church jail. :)  We stopped for a map of the city, and while we stood on the sidewalk staring at it, a man in a suit stopped and asked if he could help us find something.  He was very helpful...kind of a character out of a southern movie.

Everywhere we looked there were beautiful window boxes

and wonderful old buildings.  And palm trees!

I wish one of us had been wearing a pedometer, because we walked and walked and walked.  We stopped for lunch, then walked some more.

Back to the park to board the ferry to return to Mt. Pleasant.  We'd seen Melvin's BBQ on the Travel Channel and wanted to check it out.

I love mustard or vinegar based barbeque sauces and this place had both.  It was really tasty!

Tybee Island - Mt. Pleasant

Before leaving Georgia, we headed to Tybee Island to see what there was to see.  It was a beautiful day at the beach...until the clouds started blowing in.  

 I'd waded out into the water a bit before we walked along the beach and heard a teenage boy squeal that a jellyfish had touched his foot.  We didn't think much of it until we saw 4 or 5 jellyfish laying on the sand.  I stayed out of the water after that!  I don't think I've ever seen one in its natural habitat before!

 

 The clouds rolled in, dropped some rain on us (and the several school groups there) and then rolled on out.

 I don't have any pictures as proof, but here's a little story before our vacation continues.  The first evening we were in Savannah, a black car drove by - Dodge Charger or something similar - and the driver looked just like The Rock (Dwayne Johnson).  Identifying celebrities isn't generally my area of expertise, but he just caught my eye.  Fast forward to our Savannah trolley tour where the tour guide mentioned that Pamela Anderson and The Rock were in town filming a Baywatch movie.  We just had to laugh at the possibility that I might have actually seen and identified The Rock.  When we tried to park at Tybee Island, we found that a large part of the parking lot was taken up by large trucks with huge lighting racks and such being loaded up.  There was even a sign at the beach that filming was taking place and that passing that sign gave your consent to be IN the movie!  I'm pretty sure nothing was actually being filmed while we were there, but we might have to watch the Baywatch movie just to see if we recognize any of the places.

After leaving Tybee Island, we headed toward Charleston, or more specifically, Mt. Pleasant where we stayed.  We had a great balcony that overlooked a restaurant's outdoor seating area and the water.  It was a cool place!  The boardwalk in the picture above was part of a wetland park right outside the front of the hotel.   

Off to Charleston tomorrow!

Savannah

We got into Savannah near dark and walked around exploring and looking for something to eat.  The next morning, we put on our walking shoes and set out.

 The humidity was impressive to say the least.

 It was a beautiful place, and I'm disappointed that I didn't take more pictures.  We took a great trolley tour around town which was a nice chance to rest our feet and learn about the city.

We had a delicious lunch, and ate way too much, at Paula Deen's restaurant.  All of the food was good, but my favorite was the chocolate chip gooey butter cake for dessert.  It might have been the thing that pushed me over the edge and left me feeling crummy all afternoon, but I almost think it was worth it!