I'm meandering again.

We spent the first offical day of vacation at a rest stop.  The Brooks County, TX rest stop outside Falfurrias to be exact.

This isn't just any rest stop though (for one thing, there might be snakes!)

You might be asking yourself why we spent all day at a rest stop?  A Painted Redstart, that's why.  We don't get this bird where we live, and the only other option for us to see it is to go to Arizona.  We had seen it there, but not particularly good looks. There had been reports for months that this bird was hanging out here, so on our way down to the Rio Grande Valley we hoped to see it, and we did.  

In fact, there were quite a few birds--bluebirds, the painted redstart, the Audobon yellow rump, yellow throat, golden-fronted woodpecker, caroline wrens, and more.  It was a beautiful, warm day, and Steve chased birds and took video, and when I tired of that I sat at a picnic table and drew.

I also opened up my Christmas morning Crackerjacks and found this as my "surprise"

Naturally I posted it to Facebook to rib a few friends who are Royals fans.

Driving to the Lower Rio Grande Valley

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day found us driving to Texas.  The first night we made it to Pauls Valley OK and luckily Santa found us the next morning and brought us stockings.

We drove the rest of the way to Falfurrias on Christmas Day.  I had established a TXTag account earlier in the month so we could use TX Tollways at a cheaper cost, and just drive through.  We took the 130 around Austin all the way to Seguin.  It was great to go 80 then 85 legally!  That last stretch though had really wavy pavement.  It was like being on a boat without the benefits of blue water and dolphins, and at 85 mph you really felt it.

Christmas Night

After a brief stop at the rest area, we checked into our hotel and went in search of food.  There was none to be found.  The ONLY place in town that had food was the Stripes at the gas station.  It was surprisingly good Mexican and the lineup was practically out the door.  The other thing we found in Falfurrias was Game Rooms.  The only places open (besides gas stations) as we drove around on Christmas night were these Game Rooms.  We asked the desk clerk on our return what they were, and apparently Falfurrias is the only place for miles around that have slot machines.  These Game Rooms were packed!  Gambling away the Christmas money I guess.

The Breakfast Room

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express two nights.  The breakfast room is a great place to people watch, no kidding.

A conversation between two young women the day after Christmas:  Did you have a good Christmas? Yes, we went hunting (she's wearing camo pjs).

And PJs are apparently de riguer now.  In addition to the young woman in camo pjs and slippers, a woman in black silk pj pants and short robe made her appearance.

This morning was a little more boring in comparison, although camo jackets, leggings and cowboy boots did make an appearance (yes, all worn by the same person).