Passing through Percé

The colors of Gaspé

This adventure took us through Gaspé and down the peninsula to the small town of Percé. Although it was chilly and a bit rainy, we had a fairly good time learning about life in a small fishing village and about Canada, in general. Percé has become well known for Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island, two scenic spots that attract lots of tourists.

Saguenay Segway

As we sailed into Saguenay I hoped that we’d have a lovely warm day to

Harbor at Saguenay

stroll the small town before going to a stage performance later during the evening. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be. However, we did get to see some of the handcrafted materials from artists in the area. And since it was one of the coldest, wettest days during our cruise we spent most of the day on the ship reading, wandering, and visiting with some of our shipmates.

Quebec City Sites

Once again, our tour of Quebec City was too short to really learn much

Colors of fall above a marina

about the city; happily that requires a return trip! I was delighted to hear French spoken and gratified that I could make myself understood, at least enough to find a restroom and a gift shop. Although it wasn’t a particularly warm or sunny day, the old city was lovely, especially the Château Frontenac Hotel and its environs.

Meeting in Montréal

So we were off on an adventure to see the autumn leaves. Our journey

Fall foliage 

took us from Montréal up through the Saint Lawrence River, out into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, around Nova Scotia, and down the east coast of the U.S., into New York. In some ways it was what we expected – being coddled by Viking, seeing things we hadn’t seen before, and meeting interesting people. What was a bit disappointing was the quality of the shore excursions; we’re not tickled about spending lots of hours on a tour bus. The next few blogs will chronicle our exploration of cities in Canada, and revisiting Boston, and New York City.

Chasing Chihuly

This year our ‘bead camp’ happened to coincide with the exhibition of

Chihuly sculpture

Chihuly glass sculpture at the Biltmore Estate, and since I’m always up for an adventure, I was happy to go. Fall is a wonderful time in North Carolina, and this one was lovely, despite the threat of a hurricane. When it was time for us to go on the tour, the skies cleared and stayed that way. The temperatures were in the 70s and 80s, so everything was close to perfect. We visited the Chihuly exhibit first during the day, then came back at night – this turned out to be a spectacular plan.

Knocking around Knoxville

Every fall for the last decade a gang of us have traveled to the

Knoxville area

Asheville/Black Mountain area to work with little, tiny spheres of glass, find out about each other’s lives, and generally have a great time. This year we had a bit of an obstacle in the form of a rather large hurricane. And although we did eventually get there, some of us had to detour to Knoxville – and thereby began another adventure in traveling. And one of those adventures nearly necessitated a trip to an emergency room; however, if it isn’t a life threatening issue the option of a CVS Minuit Clinic is a good one. They have a doctor on duty, they take most types of insurance, and you can get your prescription immediately – it’s a good deal if you need some help.

On the tour in Kuala Lampur

Celebrating Independence

If you are a KLite, you are a resident of the most populous city in Malaysia, and you’re probably one of three major ethnic groups: the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. However, the city also has a mix of Eurasians, Kadazans, Ibans, and other indigenous Malaysian races. To me this makes the city even more interesting. There are all sorts of cultural areas, foods, events and shopping to sample without ever leaving the city. But to sample some of the things we hadn’t seen in the city, we hired a guide and took off on a short adventure!

On the Bus in Kuala Lumpur

I’ve always said that travel was an adventure, but as to getting there

Petronas Towers

being half the fun…in this case, not so much. Our adventure began with an announcement from out pilot, ‘We have a mechanical issue and we’re landing in Tokyo rather than Hong Kong’. What followed was several hours of bus rides, getting into a hotel room and ‘making do’ with toiletries they provided, finding our luggage, hunting for the next plane, and finally getting to our destination too late to make the first excursion I had planned. However, I was grateful that the pilot made the choice to take care of the mechanical issue rather than flying to Hong Kong with a plane full of people who had been exposed to human waste for more hours than absolutely necessary. So once I was in Kuala Lumpur, my plans had to change, and that’s absolutely what’s expected when one is having an adventure.  I first wrote about KL in 2014 (see Flying around in Kuala Lumpur); I learned a lot more about it on this trip.

A Collection of Courthouses

Lake LBJ

We spent a good deal of time exploring tiny towns on our road trip to Packsaddle, but on the way back we stopped at only a few places. We did spend some time at the county seats, read a few historical markers, and took a few pictures. There were some places that peeked our interest, plus a few we’ll run into along the way, and I’m sure that some later blogs will relate our trips back to these places that I’ll just highlight in this blog post.

Poking around Packsaddle

Fleda V. Starr Smith was born in 1891 in the community of Packsaddle,

Fleda V. Starr Smith in 1921

Texas. That piece of information started our road trip from Keller to Llano and back. Actually it put into motion a whole host of escapades that have led to a lot of interesting information, but not a lot of clarification of one of the family mysteries – just what did the initial V in Grandmother’s name stand for? Grandmother told stories about growing up in the Llano area, none of which I now remember, but I didn’t realize just where that was and I don’t suppose I ever asked what her middle name was. I did find that she was no relation to Belle Starr, but there lies another tale and perhaps another road trip. Recent Texas maps weren’t particularly helpful in locating Packsaddle; thankfully Google Maps has come along and although the little town isn’t on the map, Packsaddle Mountain is.

Llooking in on Llano

There are times when I really wish I had listened more carefully to the

Llano River

stories my grandmother told about her early life in Texas. What I know about Llano comes mostly from studying geology in college: the Llano uplift is a geologic dome about 90 miles in diameter made up of exposures of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks that are surrounded by Paleozoic and Cretaceous sedimentary strata. This makes a geologist’s heart go pitty-pat as does the fact that Llanite is a form of granite that is only found in the Llano Uplift. However, there are lots of interesting things about Llano that have nothing to do with geology.

By and By in Baby Head

Near the former town of Baby Head

In our research for this short road trip, Dave ran found Baby Head Mountain on Google Maps. Being the curious person that he is, he had to see what had been written about the area. He was a bit appalled to find that the information about Baby Head was just as grizzly as the name implied. And after what he’d read, Baby Head became a destination rather than an aside to our road trip.

Charting Cherokee

There is a lot of history in Texas involving Native Americans, but it doesn’t

White Church

pop up on historical markers nor is it referenced in information written about the towns we visited. So just for your information, Texas has had at least fourteen Indian Tribes living in the state at one time or another. The Apaches were in far West Texas, the Kiowas in the eastern part of the pan-handle, the Comanches in Central Texas, the Wichitas in North Texas, the Tawakoni and Kitsai tribes in East Texas, the Caddo and Tonkawa tribes in far East Texas, the Bidalis in the southeast part of the state, the Karankawa along the northern Gulf Coast, the Coahuiteco and Carrizo tribes along the southern Gulf Coast and across to the southern part of the Rio Grande, and the Jumano and Eastern Pueblos along the Rio Grande in West Texas. Their culture and traditions have been marginalized by the coming of the Anglos.

Seeking out San Saba

The first question Dave asked when we rolled into town was, ‘What does

Big horn sheep

San Saba mean?’ Of course I didn’t know (it’s not French or Italian – maybe Spanish?), so we asked the oracle (Google) and here’s what we got: First, there is no translation from Spanish to English for Saba, but San can mean saint. So going with our guess of Saint Saba, our second bit of information told us that Saint Sabas was, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, a ‘Christian Palestinian monk, champion of orthodoxy in the 5th-century controversies over the nature of Christ. He founded the monastery known as the Great Laura of Mar Saba, a renowned community of contemplative monks in the Judean desert near Jerusalem. This community became a prototype for the subsequent development of Eastern Orthodox monasticism.’ The Catholic Encyclopedia pretty much agrees, ‘Basilian monk, hermit, founded the monastery at Mar Saba near Jerusalem. Died 532.’ And if you were wondering, Mar Saba is ‘Old Man’ in Aramaic. There are at least five other saints named San Sabas.  So how did Texas get a river, a county, and a town named after a 5^th century monk? I haven’t uncovered that piece of information, yet!

Goldthwaite Gold

Before we venture out on road trips I try to do at least a bit of research

Abandoned house and well

about where we’re going beyond looking for places to eat and to stay. My task was made difficult because I didn’t pay attention to how the name of the town is spelled. That middle ‘th’ gave me all sorts of problems, but I was sure that there had to be something written about Goldthwaite, so I persevered. Eventually I got the spelling right and found a goodly amount of history concerning the seat of Mills County.

Pretty Priddy

Cedar Oak

Priddy Woman, Priddy in Pink, ‘Priddy Maids All in a Row’, ‘I Feel Priddy’, ‘Priddy Little Angel Eyes’… and more, and more puns. Driving into this tiny town sparked all sorts of silliness from Dave and me. We did calm down enough to look for the historical marker and to learn a bit about this Priddy little town in Mills County.

Checking out Comanche

We had to watch our timing for this road trip because Dave had a

Dave with Royal King, member of
the American Quarter Horse Hall
of Fame

particular restaurant he wanted to try in Comanche. We made it to the town early enough for lunch and to spend a good deal of time walking around the town looking at Texas Historical Markers and Comanche County Historical Markers. The historical society for this county is very active and has obviously done lots of research. What they have posted is interesting and sometimes quite humorous.  We’re planning a trip back to Comanche for several reasons, not the least of which is to take a look at the markers we missed.

De Leon Delicacies

Just south of Desdemona is another small town with a lot of history. De

Old produce store

Leon is actually named for its location on the Leon River. The climate in this area is listed as ‘humid subtropical’ and this is very true. And although this may make it uncomfortable for exploring, it’s a great place to raise crops, and to raise cattle.

Downtown Desdemona

We needed a break from the home front so we decided to take a short

Freeways

road trip. Part of our quest was to see if we could find the town in which my maternal grandmother was born. However in the process we were going to take a look at several historical sites (Texas was first a part of Spain’s holdings before 1821, then it belonged to Mexico until becoming the Republic of Texas in 1836; it agreed to join the United States in 1845). The next few blogs are going to cover our road trip, one town at a time.

What’s New in New Fairfield

When you’re out roaming around sometimes you discover places you

Where we've been

didn’t know exist. I’m always looking for small Texas towns; what caused them to be built where they are, did anything special happen there, who lived here or does live here, is there a good place to eat in the area – all of these are questions I need answered.

Decatur Doings

For more than six months there’s been construction at an intersection

Buffalo

close to our house. Eventually there was a sign posted that gave information about what businesses were being built. We were a bit surprised that two restaurants were opening, a chicken place and a steak house. Both are Texas chains, but one we’d never sampled. And since it’s a hot Texas summer and doing outside exploring is rather limited by the temperature, we decided to make the journey to Decatur to sample the food at the original steak house before its clone arrived in the Keller area. Another reason for visiting Decatur was to see the hometown of the Dave’s movie idol, ‘Big Boy’ Williams.

Notations from Northlake

Northlake

There are four little towns close to us with related names: Southlake, Westlake, Eastlake, and Northlake. And of course I’m curious about all of these little towns. With this blog we’ve visited three of the four. To find what we learned about Southlake and Westlake, take a look at Two Sides of Southlake, Food in Southlake, and Wet in Westlake. Now on to Northlake!

Collecting in Cleburne

Vince said that he wanted fish for lunch, but we were all weary of our

One of the many older houses in Cleburne

usual seafood places. It’s amazing what you can find online, and I found an interesting place for fish in Cleburne. Off we went! We weren’t quite sure about the location of the restaurant, and our GPS took us to it, but we decided the GPS was wrong. It is in an old fast-food building, but the food is much better than fast food! To top off our adventure, we also took a drive through the older part of Cleburne to see what we could discover about its past. Collecting pictures of Texas Historical Markers is one of the ways we collect knowledge about what happened in our state’s past.

Around the Island (Γύρω από το νησί)

House in Margarites

On our last day in Crete we hopped on a tour bus for a trip around the island. Again, I saw scenery I hadn’t expected on this island and heard mythology I was completely unfamiliar with – I didn’t know that Hera was the second wife of Zeus. It’s great to learn new things! If I could do this trip, again, I’d do it in reverse order – this tour first, then Knossos, then time spent exploring Chania – I think it would help to put things in a more historical perspective and allow me to more closely investigate this unique part of the world.

Getting to Know Knossos (Yνωριμία με την Κνωσό)

Having had a rather average education, I thought I had at least a working

On the way to Knossos

knowledge of Greek mythology and a smattering of Greek history. No, I didn’t. But that’s one of the reasons I travel: to learn things. Getting on a bus for a half-day tour of an archaeological site I knew very little about was excitement in and of itself. Going with a bunch of librarians, all talking about what we were going to see – not necessarily in any common language – was a very real treat. Hat, sunglasses, camera, and water bottle at the ready…let’s go!

Cruising through Chania (Κρουαζιέρα στα Χανιά)

Flying into Crete for the first time I was struck by how much it looked like

Sunset at the Old Venetian Harbor

West Texas – rather desert-like instead of lush green, and with white sandy beaches. It’s amazing what perceptions we have before we go somewhere that blows our misconceptions sky high! Crete is a mountainous little island and, as with other mountainous regions, they have a phenomenon called rain shadow. I was seeing the side of the mountain that gets less rain than the rest of the country. Parts of Crete are very green, especially where people raise crops. The olive trees, of which there are thousands, are a grey-green (that would be olive green, of course), the fruit trees are a dark green with spots of bright yellow lemons, and the fields of cabbages, beans, tomatoes, and other vegetables add to the verdant shades that assault your eyes. There are also a dazzling array of flowers that contrast quite nicely with the red-brown cliffs and the bright blue skies. The beaches remained a surprise. If they weren’t craggy, the sand was a dark brown reminiscent of beaches found in south Texas. Just where would I have to go to see white sand; obviously not to Crete. We landed near the city of Chania and because of several delayed/changed/missed flights (see the Around the Island post on July 6^th for reviews) had to make our way to our Airbnb without the aid of our host. This turned out to be a good thing because we got to interact with the local taxi drivers. Not only were they helpful, but they were good natured, funny, and knew a lot about their island. In fact, we only met one old grump during this trip; everyone else we interacted with seemed to be happy.

Fooling around in Frisco

Public art in Frisco

The only reason we go to Frisco any more is to do some business. Back in the ‘good old days’ we’d run up to the Abby Restaurant (now defunct), or take the 30 minute drive from my door in Plano to a friend’s house in Aubrey. Now, even if I lived in Plano, it would take at least an hour to get to Aubrey. Frisco has really changed.

Yonder in Euless

City of Euless

Before it was a town, the area near Euless was on the edge of Bird's Fort in 1841. The community actually began in about 1845, when Isham Crowley and a small party of pioneers reached the convergence of Big Bear and Little Bear creeks. There, on what is now the DFW airport grounds, a post office was founded in 1857, named Estill's Station. Nearby were a school, a church, a store, and a cotton gin. The post office closed in 1868 then reopened in 1881–1904, under the name Estelle. Most of the community gradually wandered away, moving to the present Euless and Irving.

The Edge of the Prairie

Oxalis

Eons ago I needed a job and found one as a placement councilor at an employment agency. The agency didn’t stay in business long, quite possibly since there were so few jobs to be had at the time. This business was in Grand Prairie, Texas. One thing I learned was that I really didn’t want to work in that field longer than absolutely necessary; I also learned how to spell ‘prairie’.

Västerås Mängd (Västerås Variety)

Part of the school

The second day we spent outside of Stockholm was in Västerås. Although we had to work most of the day, we did get to spend some time wandering the streets and getting a quick look at this little city. It does have an interesting history and at least one place I’d like to return to see. There was also a very nice restaurant in which we glimpsed a popular opera star.

Uppåt till Uppsala (Upwards to Uppsala)

Uppsala

On one of our days in Sweden we journeyed to the small town of Uppsala. Because of the excellent public transportation, the less than an hour train trip was comfortable and interesting. The countryside, viewed through the train window, was lovely; the seats were comfortable and there was free WiFi – what could be better?

Slår ut för Stockholm (Striking out for Stockholm)

Sweden has always been one of the places I’ve wanted to see, but have

Ice on the river

been deplorably ignorant about.  It has good food (smorgasbord), a lot of snow, and people who say ‘ya’. I was right about the food, but not about the snow, although we did have a chilly visit, nor did even one person say ‘ya’. Everyone we spoke to had little to no accent and used excellent English. We visited three different towns during our stay, and all were delightful.

A Pleasant Point

Not too far from Cleburne and from Keene is an old cemetery. We’d

Entrance to the cemetery

driven by a couple of times, but never stopped. On this pretty spring day, we did have a bit of time and decided to explore this small plot of history and art.

Kicking around Keene

When I was really young I loved to listen to the stories my grandparents

Texas Bluebonnets and shadows

told about their lives in Texas. As I got older, I didn’t pay as much attention and time slipped away. Thinking back I wish I had listened more closely or had written down some of the things I was told. Looking at pictures in old albums, I wonder who some of the people were and if they were the ones who lived at Keene.

Hiding out in Cedar Hill

Cedar Hill meant nothing more to me than some hills and some cedar

Antennas, cedar trees, on a hill

(juniper) trees. It’s a pretty area near Joe Pool Lake, and it’s a bunch older than I had anticipated. Of course, the day did not cooperate – a slow drizzle that became a rather chilly rain, instead of bright sunshine. We did find a nice place for lunch, so that mitigated the gloom, somewhat; and I did get a look at Joe Pool Lake.

Coming into Coyote Flats

Getting from one place to another in rural Texas may mean that you see

Coyote Flats City Limit

lots of plains, or trees, or deserts, or shorelines, or mountains (Texas has every ecosystem except Arctic tundra and rainforests). You also may see little towns that may not be apparent on a normal scale road map – it’s amazing what Google Maps will show you when you zoom in. When we run across one of these small hamlets, with no obvious historical trail nor railroad siding, we wonder just how it came about. Coyote Flats is one such example.

Sanity in Sand Flat

Friday is our day to get out and about. And it was a beautiful day so we

Farm near Sand Flat

decided to take a road trip to some of the more rural areas. Sand Flat is a rural community that sits on Farm Road 4 about six miles southeast of Cleburne. It was also supposed to have a place to eat that had gotten some good reviews. What we didn’t know was that it is one of the oldest settlements in Johnson County.

Browsing in Bernalillo

Out into the desert

Bernalillo is the county seat of Sandoval County. It’s got several places to eat, a casino, and is developing into a small city. There is a tradition of growing grapes and making wine, and it’s close to Albuquerque. But none of these characteristics was the reason we visited. Two friends, Dave, and I went to Bernalillo for the Enchanted Bead Retreat. And did we have a good time!

Along the Santa Fe Trail

What kid growing up in rural Texas didn’t want to be a cowboy and ride

Santa Fe Trail historical plaque

the Santa Fe Trail? Spending your days on your trusty horse, driving herds of cattle across the plains, fighting rustlers, and bedding down at night around a campfire with your comfortable bedroll and the stars as your ceiling; life couldn’t be better! When I was a bit older, I learned that sitting on a horse all day could get pretty uncomfortable, those herds of cattle kicked up billowing clouds of dust, and the desert perfume was probably manure. I decided I’d rather be a hairdresser.

Parked in Plano

Plano is just north of Dallas in southwestern Collin County. We moved to

Former residence

this growing community in about 1990 and lived there for 20 years. When we arrived, our neighborhood was bordered by a wheat field and a blimp airport. By the time we left, the airport was replaced by houses and an elementary school took over the fields. This growth has continued until on a recent visit I nearly didn’t recognize the area. Plano wasn’t always a hotbed of growth. It has some of the same mundane roots as other towns in Texas.

Looking for Leo

Muenster, the home of Germanfest and a mayor named Leo, is a good

Entrance to the City Park

place to go in search of German cuisine. And so on a rainy day we ventured forth to look for lunch away from home and to see what might be to the north of DFW. Dave learned about this town and Germanfest back in the 1970s when he and Mayor Leo Hess worked together for a technology company. Someday we’ll go to Germanfest and maybe find Leo, again.

Wet in Westlake

Pond at the Circle T Ranch

Westlake is an upscale bedroom community just south of Trophy Club. We drive through the area every now and then getting from our house to that of one of our relatives. It’s pleasant countryside with cattle and horses grazing in open pastures, along with a few streams and ponds. The area is becoming more of a business center, but there are still large trees and lovely little hills.

Food in Southlake

'Lake Ledbetter', our flooded backyard

Since we’re still staying close to home, the only thing I’ve got to write about this week is a new restaurant. If the rain doesn’t stop soon, we’ll need a boat to do any traveling!

Old and New

February seems to be the time we stay home. It’s cold, wet, and generally

Tessellating Fish

dismal. All I want to do is make quilts or design bead work, or read – and find new local places to eat. This month has been no different. We haven’t ventured far from home, but we’ve experienced a few new places. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.

Elusive Elizabethtown

Coming from Denton I’ve passed the Buc ee’s and turned down highway 114 on more than one occasion. Off to the south of this highway I’ve

Highway sign

noticed a hotel, a gas station or two, and some apartments. What I didn’t know is that this was once the location of Elizabethtown, Texas. On a lovely, but cold and windy Monday Dave and I decided to go exploring.

Covering Coppell

Entry to Coppell

There are some towns that take you by surprise. I know that Coppell also has an excellent school district, and that the science program is particularly outstanding. It also has several interesting cemeteries, and some unusual places to eat.  I thought that Coppell was a town with a short history, but, as with many small towns, this is not the case.

Tangling up Temple

This is the third year we’ve been to Temple for the Texas Bead Retreat

The Hub in Temple

and we’ve discovered another place to eat in this little town. While the old town remains relatively unchanged, except for some refurbishing, the area around this original spot is booming. The two previous blogs are Tempting Temple and Beaders on the Road. They have historical information and also some reviews of where we stayed and ate during those visits.

Angling around Annetta

Going down the road

One Friday we went looking for a new place to have Italian food. The restaurant we had heard about was closed so we ended up in Weatherford (see Way Back in Weatherford). We did find a good place for lunch, and in the process stumbled onto three tiny towns that seemed to have something in common. North Annetta, Annetta, and South Annetta lie in a line along Farm to Market Road.  It was a pretty day to discover a bit more about Texas history.

Off, Again!

So where are we off to in 2018? Lots of places!  Of course, we’ll visit

Winter trees

small towns in Texas. We’re planning to head in a more northward direction to see what’s happening in places such as Krum, Bolivar, Slidell, Era, and Rosston. I’m sure that there is lots of hidden history for us to discover. We’ll drive to these small towns, and it will be day trips. We’re not in danger of over packing for these jaunts, but on longer road trips, perhaps to Galveston (yes, I know that’s south), it’s hard to resist taking everything I might remotely want. For instance, I do like my own pillow, but do I really want to haul it around and risk leaving it in some hotel? Do I really need five pairs of shoes? What about that sack of snacks? The answer to these questions is a resounding NO!

The Best of What We Ate in 2017

As we’ve trotted around the world we’ve eaten at some fairly horrible

Texas-shaped corn bread

places, but these were greatly outnumbered by wonderful places. This blog is an amalgamation of all the places we gave a rating of four or more carrots. If you want to read about the places these restaurants are found, just follow the links to the associated blog. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews. Within the blogs are also loads of pictures and more information about the places the NearNormal Travelers have visited.