Update on Trip

Good Morning from Enterprise, AL. I thought I should probably do a quick post to catch you all up on our trip. Yesterday I did a few posts of our visit to Ft. Worth. We have been in Enterprise, AL for a week now and leave tomorrow morning some time (June 1st) for our return west.

It was a very busy week with my son-in-law's family from Ohio and San Diego here. It was sure good to see them. The last time we were all together was in October of 2006. Stephen's younger brother Mike and Janis have a little girl now. Ava Rae just celebrated her first birthday and is a beautiful little girl. Stephen's 88 year old great aunt flew to Ohio from Southern California and came to the graduation with Stephen's parents. Graduation was fantastic. I will blog more about that later. Stephen's family left Friday morning so Gerry and I have had a few days to enjoy being with Denise and family by ourselves.

We are going to church this morning at the coffee shop and then are going to drive to Florida, which is about an hour away, to the beach and see the Gulf of Mexico. The kids tell me the water is beautiful. We will find something down there to stop at for lunch. We had thunderstorms the first few days we were here and a storm did delay the graduation for a few minutes. We've had nice days since.

Our next stop going west is Baton Rouge, LA.

Trust all is well!! I will check in again later, need to get dressed. :))

Cousin's BBQ, Ft. Worth, TX

After we left the Japanese Tea Garden, Keith took us to another fantastic restaurant. Cousin's BBQ had been featured on Good Morning America the day before as one of the best BBQ's in the country. Voting was being done and the restaurant was to find out on Sunday the results of the voting.

This was another different experience. You took a tray, told the servers what you wanted. Then you chose 2 different side dishes, dessert if you wanted, a drink and the cashier was at the end of the counter.

Gerry had a giant baked potato with pulled pork, sour cream and chopped chives. There might have been something else on it, however, neither one of us can remember what. :))
I had the pulled pork plate with Texas toast and a side of very creamy macaroni & cheese and potato salad. Yum, yum!!

Keith had sliced brisket with Texas toast, baked beans and fried okra.

This was our 3rd Texas BBQ meal and it was just as yummy as the other two BBQ meals we enjoyed.

I am doing these posts a week later than when they occurred. Unfortunately some of the details are a bit sketchy. I had to ask Gerry what all he and Keith had to eat and he couldn't remember any of the details any more than I can. He told me I need to start taking notes. LOL!!! So Keith if you're reading this, let me know if I messed this up!! :))

Japanese Tea Garden, Ft. Worth Botantical Gardens

Gerry and Keith got back from their bike ride around 3 pm on Saturday, 5/23. Keith went home to get cleaned up and after he got back we went to the Japanese Tea Garden located in the Ft. Worth Botantical Gardens.

Right after we got there we had some rain which lasted just a few minutes.

As we walked through the gardens, I thought of my Hawaii blogger friends, Jalna, Les and Erick. I saw several people with some serious looking camera equipment and thought Jalna, Les and Erick would have enjoyed the photo ops.

This was so interesting. There were some patterns that had been racked in the sand.

I love squirrels! And yes, I do know that they are rodents and can cause a lot of problems. :) Here was one sitting in this tree.

These are very strange looking rock formations along side the edge of the koi pond.

A tea house.

The other side of the tea house.

A close up of the rock formations.

The koi were so beautiful and huge. There were dispensers of fish food located in different spots around the pond. For a quarter, you got a handful. At this spot, the koi gathered expecting to get fed.

Some koi are congregated up against the rocks under the waterfall.

A beautiful magnolia blossom. They smell so good.

Gerry & Keith's first bike ride.

After we left the Stockyards, Keith took us to a Japanese restaurant that he has gone to a time or two. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures there. I had a couple of really good sushi rolls, Gerry had teriyaki chicken and Keith had vegetable tempura and a California roll. The food was very good.

After we left there, we went back to the hotel and Gerry and Keith got ready to go on a bike drive. They rode up the bike trail and back for a total of about 34 miles. Gerry brought his single speed bike and Keith was on his road bike that he found on eBay.
Gerry riding around the parking lot at the hotel.

A view of the bike trail, river and park of Trinity Park.

Here they come!

Keith is ducking his head down. :)) Remember he doesn't like his picture taken. Father and Son going off together.

They got back from their ride rather late so we walked across the street to Panera Bread for a some dinner. Gerry and Keith had a sandwich and I had a Chicken Apple salad which was very good. I will have to remember that when we get home. We like going to Panera Bread at home for lunch.

Saturday morning, 5/23, Gerry and Keith went on another bike ride. They rode a total of 54 or so miles going up the bike trail to the end of it then taking country roads to the town of Aledo and back.

Gerry sure enjoyed the time spent with Keith riding their bikes.

Texas Museum, Ft. Worth, TX Stockyards

After we watched the cattle drive, we walked over to tour the museum. It was quite interesting. There was a Cowboy Hall of Fame and then an exhibit of the different wagons that have been used over the years of the early west.

A typical chuck wagon used on cattle drives.

The cowboys sitting around the camp fire.

Here begins the different wagons, carts and buggies on display. I tried to get a picture of the signage explaining each other. The pictures are continued in two other posts. There were so many of these and I wanted to get pictures of each one.