Holidays: Celebrations, Snow

Fall color was beautiful in the weeks before Christmas

Those three weeks before the Christmas break from school were very hectic for us – studying for exams, doing a little Christmas shopping and preparing to take off on a month-long adventure in our RV, Silver.  However we did take some time to enjoy our first Christmas season in Nacogdoches.  A few walks in the woods enjoying the last vestiges of fall color helped calm us during exam week and checking out the Christmas decorations both in town and on campus helped to get us in the holiday spirit.

 

Along the Sweetgum Trail at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center

 

The azaleas were also blooming before Christmas

 

 

The ‘Seven Flags’ Christmas Parade in downtown Nacogdoches was the first Christmas Parade I had ever seen in person.  It was a cold night and we bundled up and found a good spot on the square to view the parade.  Most of the store windows were decorated and lit up and many downtown businesses were open.  While not exactly the Macy’s parade, it was a big parade with all the trimmings including music, dancers and lighted floats.  I think everyone in Nacogdoches and the surrounding area was either in the parade or watching it.  

 

Parade Watchers

 



A very festive store window in downtown 'Nac'

 



Another store window with a 'Darth Vader' Christmas Tree



After exams we spent a day loading up Silver for the trip.  Since we haven’t been living in Silver, we had to take a little more time making sure we had put everything in that we needed.  Winter camping requires a little more preparation since you never know what weather you will run into.  But after much checking and re-checking, we were as ready as we were going to be and headed on down the road for West Texas.  We made a couple of stops along the way to see family and friends but pretty much headed straight for Odessa. 

 

We couldn't believe how many RVers decorated for Christmas

At lot of the 'residents' at the commercial RV parks are 'winter Texans' taking refuge
  from colder climates.  I guess it makes since that they would decorate for Christmas.

 

It was good to have several days before Christmas to visit, cook and do that last minute shopping.  We had a nice surprise of my dad’s sister and niece from Arizona flying in for the holidays.  It had been several years since they had come for Christmas.  My brother and his wife hosted a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner.  Mom and dad were feeling pretty well and in good spirits so it turned out to be a very fine Christmas indeed. 

 

Christmas Eve entertainment with a little help from a friend

We had planned to go to either Ft. Davis or Ruidoso after Christmas, but Mother Nature had other ideas.  The day after Christmas Odessa had 7 inches of snow.  And eastern New Mexico got much more.  Roads were closed and it was mighty cold, so we elected to stay put for a few more days.  Just when we were thinking about venturing out in Silver we heard that more snow and cold weather was on the way.  Things were not quite working out as we had hoped – we had been envisioning a warm New Year’s celebration in the Big Bend area.

 

The 'blizzard' hits

 

As it turned out, we spent almost two weeks in Odessa before we finally took off in Silver.  Not exactly what we had planned, but driving an RV on slippery roads is not our idea of a good time.  And we still had fresh memories of last year’s trip to Ft. Davis when we were caught in an ice storm.  It was beautiful, but confined us mostly to the RV which was without power part of the time because of the storm.  Maybe we are getting ‘soft’ in our old age, but camping in freezing temperatures isn’t quite as much fun as it used to be.

 

 

Anyway, we are finally on the road in Silver and it still isn’t very warm anywhere in Texas but the 50s are better than the 30s and below.  Most likely we are headed for the coast.  We are hoping to get a few warmish days somewhere in Texas during the ten days we have left...