Traveling The Roads of Texas on a Budget

Sure do miss traveling. We are now in Texas, Houston area and not out traveling at this time. Spooky is doing just fine and probably happy that she is not on the road in our van or our former motor home.

Money is tight , motor home is sold but I still have the urge to travel and see what I can even if it is in my own back yard.


I will be traveling the back roads of Texas on a budget. We do not have to travel far to have a fun time.

This picture is one of my favorite lunch places in Richmond Texas... Maggie McGee's. They have a fantastic Chicken Salad Sandwich ...





Inside is colorful and cheery


The building is suppose to be haunted by this gentleman. I have not seen him.... yet


Hope to continue my journey of Texas bit by bit.. grace

May We Never Forget

Today is a day we need to take some time and remember that horrible day in our history and pray for all those we lost and their familys.
May we never forget.... God Bless America

Boston Massachuetts Flash Back to 2001

I love to travel. There is so many beautiful places to visit here in the United States.
I love New York, Washington DC and Boston the most. Of course I have yet been able to travel to Europe or anywhere outside of the US except briefly to Canada and the border towns of Mexico so all could change.

There is so much history to be found in Boston. There is Paul Revere's Home, North Church, and Century Old Cemeteries. Some where one of my ancestors is buried among those graves. While in Boston there was so much to see and so much to do. We ran out of time and did not have a chance to research where this grandmother was buried. Some day in the future I hope I will walk the streets of Boston again.

We stayed at the Copley Square Hotel. It was nice and close to all the tourist sights.
We took the tour of the Ship "Constitution ". We at fish by the harbor and clam chowder at a small vendor stand outside by the harbor.

It was so fun to tour the Boston Tea Party Boat. The young people working are so friendly

Hope that you have enjoyed my remembrance of Boston Massachusetts

Fee Free Weekends at National Parks

We are in the middle of summer and you are probably looking for inexpensive things to do with the family.
I received this link in an email from a genealogy group I am involved with. Thought it would be a great to pass on to my readers looking for inexpensive things to do with the remainder of the summer and the family can share the history of our wonderful country.
Fee-Free Weekends in Your National ParksAmerica’s Best Idea – the national parks – gets even better this summer with three fee-free weekends at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees*.Mark your calendars for fee-free weekends this summer:June 20-21, 2009 (Father’s Day weekend)July 18-19, 2009August 15-16, 2009
History is everywhere In nearly 400 national parks and every hometown. It covers everything from the remnants of ancient civilizations to the boyhood homes of U.S. Presidents to the stirring sagas of hard-fought wars to the reverberations of one woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus. History is a part of who we were, who we are, and who we will be.As you explore these pages, we hope you find what you are looking for – but even more importantly, we hope you discover something that surprises you. We invite you to learn more about history and how the National Park Service works to preserve it.
Keep saving , stay safe and enjoy these links I have included thanks to http://www.nps.gov/history/

Touring New York City

We may not always be able to travel as much as we would like due to finances, but if we take the time to take photos, find some fun post cards to bring home we can always return to the memories of our fun adventures. My dh and I have had many wonderful adventures in our 20 years ago. We have traveled much of the US. What memories we have. As I sit and sort the photos I am back in New York City. We were there before that awful day in 2001. We had a small hotel room just off Broadway and 42nd street. We went to the top of the hotel and there was a small bar. There we sat and had a drink and almost next to us was the Empire State Building. We took the subway to Battery Park, took the ferry to the Ellis island to see the Statue of Liberty. http://www.nps.gov/stli/. We joined a bus group to tour New York city. On this tour a wonderful man was our tour guide. A life time New Yorker accent and all . He showed us Greenwich village, we ate chinese in China Town, took the ferry to Staten Island, and best of all visited the Twin towers just before midnight. We rode all the way to the top and drank champagne and ate chocolate strawberries at Windows on the World Restaurant as we looked out over the city. We could see the Statue of Liberty from there what a wonderful site that was. That memory will always be with me. A pleasant memory but also a sad memory. The staff was young, pleasant and helpful. I remember them often and say a little prayer. I love New York City. The people, the taxi's and the noise and of course the wonderful deli's.

Summer Fun on the Frugal

Summertime. It brings back all kinds of memories. Playing Grocery store in my garage or putting on a play, hopscotch and freeze tag with the neighborhood kids, sitting on the front porch reading. Riding my bike with my sister to the library to find another mystery to read . We had only one bike growing up and would share it. One of us on the seat and the other on the back pedal. Going to church summer camp for a week or 2 weeks. We would swim, ride in a canoe go to church of course , and best of all meet the new cute boys from the big city of Minneapolis. We would buy candy or chips and drink sodas that were so cold they were half frozen. We would playing for hours on end outside, coming in only for potty breaks and to eat lunch. I grew up in Duluth Minnesota and we lived 1 1/2 blocks from Lief Erickson park. Lake Superior was my front yard. My mother would pack us a picnic lunch and off we would go to sit on the rocks of Lake Superior. And of course going to the old downtown theater every Saturday morning to watch 3 Horror movies. Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula oh so scary.I hope that my 2 boys who are now grown men also have great summer memories from the past. And of course I hope that my grandchildren will some day look back to wonderful summer memories.But let’s face it, times have changed. I can’t fathom my small grandchildren going out to play all day long with what we now know about sun exposure. And in this post-Adam Walsh world we live in, I can’t imagine their parents sending them off on a bike to a day camp, park or library one or two miles away.I have come to the conculsion that you do not have to be a child to enjoy the summer. There are things we as adult's can do and still keep the cost reasonable. I will be searching for things that my husband and I can do this summer.We have a beautiful pool at our complex and already have been down there 3 times. But that is only 3 times in the month we have lived here. So one plan is to spend more time there. We love to search thrift stores for things to sell on eBay. I have compiled a list of thrift stores in the Houston area. From this list we have only visited about 10 of them. So we have many more thrift stores to visit. I love to wander old cemetaries. Just miles away I hear there is a wonderful cemetary in Richmond Texas with lots of history. That is on my list for this summer. Maybe I can find more interesting old cemetaries with history. We are not that far from Galveston, walks on the beach how great can that be.And of course there are the movies. We do not go to movies often, so this is on my "to do" list this summer. When we do go, we always go to the early movie that has reduced priced tickets. So I hope to see more than one movie this summer.As I was searching for movies I found that at theaters owned by Regal Entertainment, free movies are being offered every week from June 16th through Aug. 13th. In our area, the theater is offering its Free Family Film Festival on Tuesdays, Wednesdays. To top it off, the theater is offering a G-rated movie and a PG-rated movie so you and the kids could see as many as 18 free movies over the summer on the big screen. Some of the offerings at our local theater include Charlotte's Web, Kit Kittridge and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.Now that’s a great deal. Click here to check for a participating theater near your home. The selection of movies varies by location.So while you and your children are enjoying a movie hopefully dh and I will be next door seeing the latest Tom Hanks movie or what ever is playing at the time. Watch for future posts on fun adventures we are having this summer on the frugal. My picture is part of my back yard as a child. Lake Superior at Duluth Minnesota. Of course the picture is from the present.It is so built up with shops and restaurants. Not the same that is for sure. Hope that you will share with us some of your summer plans on the frugal. This post was put on my other blog site but I feel it fits here also. Watch for future blogs on fun adventures while still be frugal this summer

Miss Spooky

Well spooky is doing well. She had to have surgery a couple of weeks ago. She came thru it just fine.
We are keeping it a secret from her that we will be moving to Texas end of April.
We have sold the motor home so all traveling will be by the van and staying in motels. Even without the motor home we will have lots of adventures. Our years together have taken us across the US many times and I look forward to that continuing in the future how ever that may be for the three of us.