Moving to a new blog platform

 I have had a lot of people ask if they can subscribe to my blog. That way they would get an email every time I post something new.

Blogspot doesn't do that, but substack does. So, I am moving my blog over to substack.

The new url is shakespeareantrails.substack.com.

I was able to import all the posts from this blog over to the new blog location, but the import wasn't 100%.

None of the videos went over and some of the pictures are also missing, so I will slowly be going through the posts and cleaning them up.

Hopefully, this is a welcome upgrade for people and will make it easier for you to keep up with our journey.

There is a search field in the new blog as well. So, if you are interested in a particular location or campground or even topic, you can type it into the search bar and see if there is a relevant blog post.

We just crossed into Louisiana. So excited to add one more state to our list.

California

Oregon

Washington

Idaho

Montana

Wyoming

Utah

Nevada

Arizona

New Mexico

Colorado

Nebraska

Kansas

South Dakota

North Dakota

Minnesota

Iowa

Missouri

Arkansas

Oklahoma

Texas

Louisiana

Twenty-two states down, twenty-six to go.

Falconwood Equestrian - Winnie, Texas

 

We have been in Crystal Beach for almost three weeks, so we started getting the trailer ready to hit the road again.

I had been using the back of the trailer as my office to update my AutoCAD textbook, so we broke down my office to get it ready for the horses.

Well, we had a surprise when we looked in the feed troughs - grass was growing from the hay that had been left in there.

We cleaned it out and put in fresh hay. We considered leaving it as the horses do like to eat fresh grass, but we didn't want to risk them getting sick.

December 11 is our wedding anniversary, so Ari got me these lovely roses.

It's a bit of a splurge because they do take up space in the trailer, but it's nice.

We are spending one night in Winnie, Texas at the Falconwood Equestrian Center. No trails, this is just a layover. The horses are in box stalls - pretty roomy with lots of shavings.

There is a flock of peacocks roosting in the rafters of the barn. This is a first for me. Of course, we have been at other places where there were peacocks - like that cattle ranch in Nebraska, but I hadn't seen peacocks inside a horse barn before.

The place is affiliated with a vet clinic and there is a dog kennel right next to the barn. Ari is worried the dogs barking will keep us up, but so far it has been quiet.

We wanted to get out for a bit and we were meeting up with my friend, Mary Ellen.

So, we went to the Baytown Nature Preserve. We hiked the trails a bit.

We saw this wonderful spoonbill water fowl. I don't think I had seen one of these before and it just was marvelous.

We had to get a picture of Mary Ellen and me with the San Jacinto Monument in the background.

The San Jacinto Monument is a 567.31-foot-high column located on the Houston Ship Channel in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, near the city of Houston. The monument is topped with a 220-ton star that commemorates the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution.

Out to dinner with Mary Ellen at a local Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen restaurant. Ari ordered a Tiki cocktail - very colorful.

Tomorrow we cross the state line into Louisiana.

Last ride on Crystal Beach - Portuguese Man of War Jellyfish

 

Our time at Crystal Beach is nearing it's end. 

We have ridden our horses on the beach almost every day during our almost three weeks here.

At this point, both horses are pretty relaxed on the beach and have even gotten their toes a little wet.

On yesterday's ride, we noticed these sea creatures washed up all along the beach. They looked like jellyfish, but we weren't sure.

Turns out they are Portuguese Man of War jellyfish. I always thought this type of jellyfish would be a lot bigger - man of war sounds like it should be huge.

But, they are actually about the size of a dinner plate or smaller. They are quite alien-looking, like something out of a science fiction film.

Supposedly, their sting is quite painful and it can hurt for a couple of days.

The horses weren't afraid of the jellyfish at all.

We will be moving on towards Louisiana.

Dickens on the Strand - Galveston, Texas

 

We had attended the Dickens Faire in San Francisco years ago, but we thought it would be fun to experience Dickens on the Strand in Galveston, Texas. This is an annual tradition for Galveston.

This is a fabulous view from the third floor of the Stuttgarden Tavern, a German beer garden. We ate on the deck overlooking the plaza and could hear the performers on stage. It was the perfect spot to eat lunch.

We were surprised how many people wore costumes and most of the costumes were gorgeous.

Also, the Dickens Faire in SF is very Christmas-oriented and this fair is not. Also, a lot less vendors, but a lot of entertainment.

This entertainer drew the face on the white board and then was able to make it talk and animate it. I have no idea how it worked.

Ari has fond memories of playing cricket in Australia when he was a kid. I have never actually seen the game played. Here at the Dickens faire, they had a section of the street reserved to teach people how to play and it was lovely. Ari got to bat and he actually managed to hit one of the balls a decent whack.

We were really happy we took the day off to go into Galveston and experience Dickens on the Strand. It was well worth it.

Beach Living - Crystal Corral Stables, Crystal Beach, Texas

 

A seabird visits the pasture to hang out with the horses.

To get to the beach from our campsite, you ride down an access road. Luckily, the road is not too heavily trafficked and there is plenty of space for us to ride off the road.

Once we are on the beach, it is pretty easy riding. It is flat. The waves are not too big. We are in off-season, so the beach is pretty empty.

We have done three rides on the beach so far and each ride my horse relaxes just a little bit more and is a little bit more brave - getting closer to the waves and the water. 

Vehicles are allowed on the beach and so we are passed by dune buggies, vehicles, and even motorcycles.

Our horses are getting used to the vehicles and doing really well with all of it.

The shelters for our horses

There is an amazon locker at the Big Store/Ace Hardware about three miles from where we are, so I have been ordering items and having them delivered to the locker.

We are here for another week. We are getting to experience what it would be like to live on the beach and Ari pretty much hates it. He is getting bitten by mosquitoes. He doesn't like the local restaurants (to be fair, we haven't gotten a decent meal eating out here yet. The places in Galveston were excellent. But, most of the places here on Crystal Beach have been over-priced and pretty lousy.)

On the other hand, Ari is enjoying riding on the beach. It is lovely.

Lennox waiting for his next meal

Black Friday - Galveston, Texas

 

The day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday - was our fun day out.

We took the ferry into Galveston.

Our first stop was The Strand, a shopping district, in historic downtown Galveston.

I spotted these dreidels in one of the shops. Instead of the Hebrew letters, they have Spanish instructions on what to do when you spin your turn.

I pointed this sign out to Daniel, but he didn't find it amusing at all.

This is a really cool idea. You dip your dog's paws in this little hand-held tub and it cleans the muddy paws. This is definitely on my "to get" list when we are back in a regular house with a dog.

Cute little mouse greeting customers at the door.

I love public art with a touch of whimsy.

Lunch was at this Italian place. Lisa had recommended it. It was lovely. A bit pricey and the menu was a little limited, but nice.

Our next stop was Pleasure Pier. This is a boardwalk, similar to Navy Pier in Chicago or the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, CA. 

I didn't like that they charge $10 just to walk onto the pier - even if you don't plan on going on any rides.

The rides were the usual boardwalk type rides, most of them go over the water during the ride - for a little extra joy.

It was so lovely to be able to spend a weekend with our son, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Evi.

Last ride was on the bumper cars.

I have broken so many bones in my spine, I am limited on which rides I can do.

Our final ferry ride - returning to camp.

Evi and Daniel took some pics with the menagerie for their last morning.

Before we headed to the airport, we took one last walk on the beach with our guests.

We went to Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for lunch. Daniel ordered the Painkiller, a drink with rum, pineapple, and toasted coconut. It was quite decadent.

The food was quite good and Evi was a little overwhelmed with the amount of food she ordered.

When you are on the road full-time, you really miss being with family. We are so grateful that our sons are willing to fly out and meet us as we make our way around the country.

We will probably stay at Crystal Corral Stables for another week before we head towards Louisiana.

I want to spend some time working on my textbooks.

Crystal Corral Stables - Crystal Beach, Galveston, Texas

 

Our first mistake was not calling 30 minutes before our arrival to let Lisa, our host, know we were on our way. We pulled into the main driveway and immediately realized that there was no way we could get through the arched entry - our trailer is too tall and too wide. We backed out with the help of Ethan, Lisa's son and moved one driveway down to access the electric and water hook-up.

The horses are in a large one acre pasture with two run-in sheds with cover.

This is their favorite type of accommodation.

My only complaint is the amount of manure. There was easily a week's worth of manure accumulated in both run-ins. It took me half an hour to get them cleaned out. It was a good two inches deep.

Most people don't clean out pastures of manure, but they bring in a tractor or some equipment to spread the manure out so it breaks down.

Lisa said she has a guy come out once a month to spread the manure, but looking at the pastures I would say it needs to be done at least once a week.

We have been cleaning the run-ins of manure each morning. There is a corner of the pasture that is dirt, so I have been dumping all the manure in a pile. That should make it easier for whoever to spread it if they ever decide to do it.

It's Thanksgiving week and our son, Daniel, is flying in to spend the holiday with us. He is bringing his girlfriend, Evie.

They are flying into Houston, so we drove to the airport to pick them up.

To get there, we rode the ferry from Crystal Beach/Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston and then on to Houston.

The ferry is free and it runs 24/7. There is a ferry every 20-30 minutes. The ferry has a Twitter feed, so you can get updates on the ferry on Twitter.

You drive onto the ferry. You can get out of the vehicle and walk around during the ride over.

It is about a 20 minute ferry ride.

By the time we had picked up Daniel and Evie and gotten on the return ferry it was dark. So, we got to see the lights of Houston riding the ferry back to Crystal Beach.

It was Thanksgiving eve, so I made Korean BBQ ribs and sticky rice in the trailer for their dinner.

The next morning we walked down to the beach with the horses. I wanted the horses to get used to being on the beach again. They actually did just fine.

Me, Daniel, Evie, and Ari on the beach. The horses have now seen the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

This lovely water bird was in an estuary on the walk to and from the beach.

It's about a 15 minute walk from the camp.

Evie made lunch for Thanksgiving day. It was real Philippine food. We had Chicken Adobo and Pancet.

It was delicious. She made enough for an army.

We ate in a small open air pavilion.

There were turkeys.

There were goats.

There were chickens and roosters.

There were cats - that kept trying to jump on the table and eat our food.

And a large Great Bernese dog that was also hopeful for table scraps.

After lunch, we played a game of Jenga.

I had ordered all the Thanksgiving dishes from Whole Foods. We had picked up the order on the way to the airport. Now, I had to figure out how to heat up all the different dishes.

I had spoken to Lisa about this and she had said we could use the oven in the trailer where Daniel and Evie were staying, but it turned out they just had a microwave. Lisa offered that there was a range and oven in the pavilion area. We tried to use it but the rain had completely soaked the oven. It was so wet the pilot light wouldn't stay lit.

Lisa has a total of three RV trailers available for rent - all of different sizes.

We ended up using an oven in one trailer for the turkey; an oven in the second trailer was used for three of the sides; and we used our small convection oven for the candied yams.

We had planned on eating Thanksgiving dinner in the pavilion, but the rain had made it fairly unusable with lots of puddles; and all the animals - especially the cats - made it rather unpleasant.

So, we ended up eating at the largest table available in one of the trailers.

All the food turned out just fine. 

At times, I would forget which food was cooking in which trailer when I went to check on things, but overall it worked out.

Thanksgiving can be stressful under the best of circumstances, so I was just grateful to be sitting down with one of our sons and being able to enjoy a nice meal.