Taking Some Scenic Tours

Hi, everyone!  Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!  Ours was quite nice!  Mommy cooked up a storm:  antipasta, roasted turkey, ham, sweet potato pie, cheesecake squares, apple crumb cake—I’m getting fatter by the minute just thinking of all the good eats!  Claudia and Mike, our traveling buddies, joined us, and a wonderful time was had by all.

 

 

I'm sorry I have not corresponded in quite some time, but it’s been quite hectic here.  My parents have been working 50 hour weeks, so they come home pretty bushed!  We have had some very traumatic weather here in North Texas over the last month or so, too.  Tons of rain causing flooding in many areas, severe thunderstorms with booms so loud, I fell off my chair.  And even more frightening, tornado warnings!  We have been fortunate, however, and have fared well.   Some of our friends and co-workers were not so lucky.  Several had to relocate their RVs due to flooding.  And one campground advised their guests to evacuate due to tornado warnings!

 

 

On the few days off where we had good weather and my parents had the strength, we visited some area attractions.

 

 

 

The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens were wonderful and a real value—the general gardens are free of charge!

 

 

  

How Cool--Madame Butterfly Got in This Pic!

 

 

 

  

The Conservatory, a tropical paradise complete with waterfalls, cost a mere $2/person.  What funky plants, trees, and flowers!

  

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

The expansive Japanese Gardens were $5/person, but well worth the visit.  There were HUGE koi in the ponds, and they were so accustomed to visitors, they actually came up and begged for food!

 

 

Turtles sunbathing on the rocks!

 

Yours truly resting on the park bench, taking in all the beauty around me!

The begging koi!

 

The visitor center had a huge aquarium filled with clown fish, yellow tang, long-nose butterfly, starfish, live coral, and an array of other salt water habitants, which brought back some memories of the 55- gallon reverse osmosis salt water fish tank Daddy had many years ago.  It was an expensive hobby—especially when the lion fish ate all the others!  Not to mention the $100 octopus Mommy bought him one year that kicked the bucket after 2 days!  Daddy didn’t want Mommy to know it died, so he went out and replaced it—for another $100!  Sorry, I digress…

 

We visited Eagle Mountain Park, a unique area “where the prairie meets the timbers”.  Most of these 400 acres of land remain pristine, natural habitat, unaltered by man.  Saw lots of wildlife—deer, cranes at the lake, even a red tail hawk who swooped down to grab a snake for lunch before soaring back into the blue sky!

 

 

 

 

Well, gotta run—Mommy is baking cookies and I am the “official” taste tester!  Talk to you soon!