Camping Discussion for September and October plus Future Camping and Taking Our Dog in Cooler Temperatures

Carrie and I have not been camping in a few months, so we are thinking about going here soon before it gets cold. We are debating on whether to go camping for our anniversary or wait until October. We are looking at options and trying to figure out when we could do a long weekend for another camping adventure.

We learned this week that the annual festival I attend each year, King Biscuit Blues Festival, has been canceled for the second time in a row. Sad to hear we will not be at the festival this year and not able to see our friends that travel from all over the country to attend. Although it makes sense with the rise of COVID cases across the country, it is sad to not be going again this year. So, instead of going to a blues festival, Carrie and I might take a long weekend and go camping instead. Although no dates are set and we do not have anything reserved at this time.

If possible, we would love to be able to do two or three more camping trips before it gets cold. I am not sure how that will work out though. As we see August come to an end, we move into September and if the first few weeks of September are anything like the last few weeks of August, it would be very warm to go camping. Granted, the weather should start cooling down where it will be nice to camp, but it would be cool during the evening and just the day to deal with the heat.

We did learn from our camping adventure back in June (see Camping in Hot Temperatures at lake Milford Near Junction City) that we can go camping in extreme temperatures, but it would be nice to be able to take our dog and not have him overheat in the weather. So, hopefully late September we can get a camping visit done and then two more in October.

I am not sure how much Oliver likes to camp as we have only taken him two times so far in our adventures, but he seems to like the experience. He sleeps throughout the day, enjoys going on walks as we do much more walking when we are camping than at home, and he likes watching the people at the other camp sites. The weather might be too warm to take him in September, but hopefully we can take him at least once in October if we can get a date set.

We did book a camp site for the future (2022) in Big Bend National Park and we cannot wait for that trip. The dates are tentatively set as Carrie could see the dates disappearing, but we do have that to look forward to in 2022.

What trips do you have planned for future camping sites? Do you have a favorite you would recommend that Carrie and I visit? We would love to hear from you in the comments. Until next week, have a great week!

New Sidewalk and Update on Other Repairs for Our Home

We were finally able to have our front walk replaced. We had started the process back in February and because of various issues, we finally had the sidewalk replaced. This goes back to a post I made back in January 2021 regarding Repairs Needed, so it took a while, but we have done the window replacement and now the walk replacement.

For the walk, we went with Perez General Contractor. He did a great job for us and the delays were with weather as each time we had a target date set, it would pour down rain and delay us further. The new walk looks great! I have wanted to replace the walk ever since we moved in back in 2006 as it basically fell apart that first winter we were in the house.

Next, I have a tree trimmer lined up to trim the two trees in the front and then possibly also take out a tree next to our drive that has been slowly dying the past few years. Once we have the two trees in the front trimmed up, I will hopefully be able to reach out to our lawn care company to discuss about overseeing and trying to get grass to grow again under the two front trees. Last attempt at this one as I have done overseeing in the past, but the 2019 into 2020 season was the worst and our front lawn turned into dirt under both large trees and up by the evergreen by the front door.

Future repairs include window replacement, work in our family room, and other odds and ends. It feels good to have at least two items that needed to be done now done and move on to the next steps.

Until next Sunday, have a great week!

Back to Bike Riding After a Month and Half From Not Riding… Felt Good to be On the Bike!

After a fun filled past few weeks of vacation, weddings, and basically not exercising, I climbed back on the bike today. The last time I was on the bike was July 1, 2021. A vacation, out of town, and other events led me to neglect being on the bike the past month and half. 

It felt good to be back on the bike. I did a 20 minutes Country Ride and it felt great! I noticed that my heart rate was running higher than it did when I was riding on a regular basis, so that is not surprising. I had a good workout and look I look forward to riding again on my regular days of Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. 

I do plan to include at least one day of jogging into my schedule as I enjoy jogging. With the cooler weather, I think one day a week of jogging will be good. Mix up my exercise routine and it will also be a good excuse to take our dog, Oliver, for a walk which he loves.

Oliver is never really sure what to think when I am riding the bike. He loves walks so much, walking on a Saturday will be a fun way to get him involved in the process and mix up my routine. I think he will love it and his motivation for wanting to walk will help to motivate me to do my run and walk with him afterwards.

The ride this morning was with a new instructor I do not believe I had seen before. Olivia Amato in the 20 min Country Ride was a lot of fun and I look forward to future classes with Olivia. I did manage to keep my “streak” going the past month and half of consecutive weeks of using Peloton, but those were primarily meditation days at least once a week the past few weeks. I did have a few days of walking in there, so that was good, but I think I only walked and counted it with the app once or twice.

Short update for today, but I plan to do more Peloton posts in the future. What is your routine to get back into riding after taking a break?

Wedding Celebration for Nephew, Seeing Family, and Having a Lot of Fun

What a way to end July! Carrie and I attended a wedding to end July 2021. We spent the weekend in Kansas City for the festivities. My nephew Jack got married on Saturday, July 31. Carrie and I reserved rooms a while back at the Hilton President in downtown Kansas City. We were invited to the rehearsal dinner and decided to make a fun weekend of the celebration. Celebrate we did!

We had a great time! I was able to see many of my family members. On the way into Kansas City on Friday, July 30, we dropped off Oliver at my mom’s, so we were able to see my mom. We had not seen here in a while, so it was good to see her. Agh the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and reception, we were able to see family I had not seen in a while. We had a great time!

The event was to see Katie and Jack get married. Jack is the youngest of my brother Tim. We had a great time. The rehearsal dinner was at a distillery in Kansas City. The drinks and food was excellent. We plan to go back some time to check out the place further. I heard the tour they give is really good and worth checking out. We were able to see of course Jack and Katie which was good to see them. We saw Brian and Udelle, Patrick and Rachel, and Spencer and Danya. Plus we were able to see my sister Jen and her husband Kent. What a great weekend of celebration.

Until next time, have a great week and I will talk to you next Sunday.

July Coming to an End, Heat, and Looking forward to Cooler Weather

It is really hard to believe that it is August. Where did the summer go? We did a lot over the summer. We started camping, worked on getting in shape (sorta), we went on vacations, and got things done around the house. Sometimes we pack so much into a summer that it makes the summer go by that much faster where if we had nothing planned maybe the summer would drag. But that would not be any fun at all, so we cram as much as we can into the summer to get as much as possible done over the summer months. It is what makes the summer fun and also go by so quickly.

Technically, summer does not end until September 22, but when August ends, that's when it starts feeling to me like summer is over. I can remember as a kid gong to the lake well into September and enjoying the water, tubing, water skiing, etc., but still, in my head, it feels as though the end of July and summer is coming to an end. Granted, I could say that for the end of August too as grade schools are back in full session, but I think for me it feels like summer is over thinking back to when I was a kid and end of July meant school was starting.

Like our dog, Oliver, when it is so hot, staying inside is a must. When I have been outside and back in the house, I just want to lay around and do nothing. So, while I am sad to see summer gradually come to an end, I am happy to know that cooler weather is behind the change and we will start the whole process again where I can look forward to summer again next year.

I hope you have had a great summer! Hopefully you were able to do a vacation over the summer months or have a vacation planned as we come down to the end of the summer months. What is your favorite time of the year and where do you live?

Until next time, have a great week!

Our Vacation to Dallas, Houston, and Texarkana in the Summer of July 2021

Carrie and I went on vacation from July 9 through July 20 to Texas. We stopped in Dallas to visit our friend Javier and then on to Houston to visit our friend Corrie and her family. This update will highlight some of the places we visited and some of our trip. No, it will not be a day-by-day account of what we did, so hopefully it will not be too boring and you will read all of what I have to say and comment.

Our first night in Dallas, Javier took us to Fortunata Winery. Wow! What an amazing environment. The wines were fantastic. Carrie and I did a tasting it was one of those instances where I could easily have purchased a bottle of each of the four that I tasted. I started off with a Chardonnay, Red Blend, Painted Lady, and finished off with The Colonel (see full menu). Fantastic spot where they host parties and have a huge outside area to enjoy your selected wine. After our tasting, we each got a glass to enjoy plus two pizzas. 

I did not record which pizzas we got, although Carrie likely remembers, but they were both very good. We bought a bottle of wine that Javier and I split and Carrie got a watermelon drink which she liked. It was a fun first night and the place is very close (5 minutes) from where Javier lives. Javi said he takes people here any chance he gets and this was our first visit, so he recently discovered this place that is less than five minutes from where he lives. Worth checking out Fortunata Winery if you are in the area. Sitting outside in July with a cool breeze was amazing while enjoying delicious food and wine.

We spent a few days in the Dallas area with Javier visiting various places. He took us to Truck Yard and we decided to take Oliver with us. The Truck Yard is an outside area with various vendors and a lot of beer. We were a little concerned taking Oliver as he can sometimes be aggressive towards other dogs; however, on this adventure, he was a perfect little gentleman. Interacting with other dogs and being rather friendly. One particular dog he went up to three or four times, tail wagging, and generally friendly. It was rather odd to see after seeing Oliver try and take out other dogs his size or larger. It was a nice surprise.

We had a great time at Truck Yard where we ate from the food trucks and drank a lot of great beer. We were able to meet up with friends of Javier. While it was around 95 degrees when we went out to the Truck Yard, it was really not bad at all. We had a wonderful time and good to meet new friends of Javier and some that we had met in the past. It was a fun time!

Following our time in Dallas, we headed to Houston on July 11. We had a great time in Houston spent with our friend Corrie and her children. We ate and drank a number of wonderful spots in Houston. Pluckers Wing Bar, Snooze Eatery which is a breakfast spot we first found in Colorado years ago and continue to seek out, Floyds Cajun Seafood which is another place we always try to visit when Houston, and Taste of Texas where we had dinner one evening.

We had good drinks at all the locations listed previously and I would now like to call out some of the places where we had fantastic drinks. Gulf Coast Distillers in Houston was a fun spot. The presentation of the spirits were good and the taste of the drinks was even better. We spent a few hours at Gulf Coast Distillers and we ate dinner there too. I highly recommend visiting Gulf Coast Distillers if you are in the area as it was well worth the visit the time spent.

Another favorite when in the Houston area is to visit Cyclone Anaya's where we spent a few hours enjoying margaritas. The chips and salsas are delicious and the variety of good strong margaritas makes the afternoon fly by. 

As our week concluded in Houston, we spent our final day at Uncle Tommy's house for a pool day. It was a day to remember as we all had fun and the drinks were flowing easily. I was the bartender and had fun making drinks for everyone. Oliver was being good and we were surprised he wanted to get on a raft and float around the water. Of course, we were pushing him around the water, but he was enjoying his time around the pool. We had a great time and it was good to finally be able to enjoy being outside after it rained everyday since we had been in Houston.

We left for Dallas on July 18 where we stopped at another favorite spot which is eatZi's Market & Backery. Picked up some food to take back to Javi's house to wind down and enjoy the evening. Monday would have Carrie and I leaving Dallas to head to Texarkana to see Carrie's uncle. We had a nice visit and met is girlfriend, Audra, and her little dog JoJo. We had a wonderful visit and went out to eat that evening meeting up with a cousin of Carrie. A short visit as Carrie and I left early the following morning to get back to Topeka.

Oliver slept the whole way home and most of the days following returning home. I think Oliver had just as much fun as us on the trip even though he was taken out of his normal routines. I went back to work on Wednesday and recall when I came home for lunch on Wednesday, Oliver had been sleeping all morning and was a bit grumpy where he growled when I went to pet him as to say he needed more rest.

It was a great trip and look forward to a doing it again in a year. Thanks to the hospitality of Javier, Corrie, Tommy, Robert, and Audra, it made for a wonderful trip.

Different Kind of July 4 Celebration and Driving Around Kansas Camp Sites

July 4 celebration was a little different for Carrie and I this year than previous years. We decided a few weeks ahead of the holiday that we would drive around Kansas to look at camp sites. This was really more to help our our dog, Oliver, who is afraid of thunder, loud noises, and especially fireworks. We thought it would be a good way for us to check out various camp sites and also get Oliver out of the house and away from our neighborhood where fireworks can go off into the late hours of the night.

We started off visiting Cross Timbers State Park located on Toronto Lake in Woodson County. We drove around looking at various locations and found a few good spots. The first camp site we visited, Manns Cove Camp Site, was not ideal as we could not see the lake from the camp site, but we found other locations that would work. Good views of the lake and tree coverage to keep us cool tent camping. 

As we reviewed the spaces, we thought about making a trip to Cross Timbers State Park in the fall to see the lake and tree coverage. Toronto Lake is in the woods with heavy tree foliage, so we thought a fall visit would be fun to see the area, hike, and camp in cool temperatures. We noticed a few different spots to hike while we were driving around, so that was interesting to see and something to look forward to check out in the future.

The next camp site we checked was located at Fall River Lake and included the Fall River State Park. Traveling to Fall River State Park from Cross Timbers State Park took us deep into Kansas countryside. Cell signal completely stopped working, but luckily, our GPS continued to work and had us going through fields, gravel roads, and single lane dirt roads as we passed by fields and country houses. 

We really liked this camp site and had fun looking around the spillway that was partially open as every lake we looked at during the day was way above their normal lake levels. Some areas were completely covered with water or could not access the area we wanted to check, but we were able to see all of the spots we wanted.

We found Fall River State Park various sites that we would love to check out in the future. The camp sites at this location, as well as the first site, were not nearly as crowded as we thought they would be on a holiday. They were busy, but not overrun with campers. Both sites included many RVs but the primitive sites were not busy at all. It was nice though as we were doing the whole day to get Oliver out of the house so he would not have to hear fireworks that all State camp sites prohibit fireworks, so that was nice we did not have to worry about loud booms while we were in the various camp sites.

We found a nice little trail to follow down to the water and the state had done a lot of work to make the trail accessible by all. A path where a wheel chair could get down to the water although it was still being worked on and washed out from the flooding, it appeared as though they were going to pour cement and make it accessible all the way to the dock. With flooding, the path to the dock was underwater (picture to the left), but we could see how they were making progress and going to have it be a nice set up with wheel chair paths all the way to the dock. 

We will be back to visit the Fall River State Park site in the future. We enjoyed the area, the camp sites, and views from the sites we visited.

Our final site to visit for the day was located at El Dorado Lake. El Dorado State Park is the largest State Park in Kansas. We had about a 40 minute drive from Fall River State Park to El Dorado State Park.  Carrie drove while Oliver and I snoozed. Of the three lakes we reviewed through the day, I was excited to be at El Dorado Lake. I had driven over it for years when going to Wichita to visit my sister over the years and always liked how the highway went over the lake. It was fun seeing the camp sites. Again, we found that on this holiday, RV sites were crowded, but primitive camp sites were mostly open. 

Carrie and I stopped at an open camp site to have a picnic. Like the other two lakes, the area was flooded and so the camp site we found in primitive camping was not reserved or we thought was not an option to reserve. The grill for the site was partially in the water, so it was a perfect spot for us to spend a while enjoying the cool July 4 weather at the lake.

We had cheese, crackers, and grapes. It was perfect! I could have spent a longer time at the lake, but we wanted to try and see my sister in Andover. We had not given them any heads up as we were not sure of our schedule from going from lake-to-lake, so we ended up not being able to connect with them. We headed on home after finishing the site review at El Dorado State Park as we were unable to meet up with Jen and her family.

We had a great time on our July 4 camp site visits. We left the house later than we had expected as we left about 1. We got back to Topeka around 10:30 that evening. It was a wonderful drive back as we could see fireworks being fired from El Dorado, Emporia, and Topeka. 

What a wonderful time spent driving around the state of Kansas. We enjoyed our time together as we searched out future camp sites. I think we found some good options for next fall/spring and look forward to being able to visit them in the future. Carrie and I talked about our camping at El Dorado State Park that we would be able to invite Jen and Kent out to our camp site to eat with us. I think it sounds like a fun time and look forward to being able to do so in the near future.

What Kansas camp sites have you visited? Which ones do you like? Any recommendations for us to check out in our future camping adventures?