2024-10-24 Halloween Rally Fun

 We had some Halloween fun at this rally too. Anne always has her site decorated and Halloween was no exception.

She actually wore this costume all day even when we went to the Wimberley Glass Works. She left off the high top piece and the wings because it would have been impossible in the car. Check out the full look in the other pictures.

Here she has added the branches to the headpiece and has her wings on. Karol also had a great costume that took some time to put together along with the makeup.

Judy and Susan were a bit scarier with their costumes.

Judy and Lois were all decked out and kind of scary too.

There was no way to tell this was Hilde until she started talking!

Here is the whole group that dressed up. Tina and Lori had folk or square dancing costumes. Mary made her costume right there at the park out of some neat trick or treat bags we got. Her dog toby even made a walk around the park in his cape.

A final view of the outdoor area we had for the rally. Too warm for a fire and we didn't use the TV but it was nic.

Until we gather again!

2024-10-24 Wimberley Glass Works

 Our next tour was the Wimberley Glass Works located about five miles east of Wimberley on Highway 12.

You can actually watch the glass items being made. They have a small bleacher area just in front of where they work. It was very warm and even hotter where they were doing the actual blowing.

They were blowing pumpkins for the upcoming holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. He started with a small blob of molten glass. He blew it a little larger and then began to shape it.

He had to insert it back into the furnace a couple of times to keep it hot enough to be elastic. The cone shaped containers with ridged sides in front contained some silvery color that added the grooves in the side of the pumpkin and emphasized them with the silvery color.

Before we got to this step, the master blower snapped of the part of the pumpkin that was attached to his blowing rod. Another blob of glass was attached to the top for the thick part of the stem and then he pulled it out into a long curlicue which was wrapped around the stem. This is his assistant who took the finished pumpkin from him and carried it over to the cooling over where it would take all night to gradually cool down.

Tim De Jong is the owner and head gaffer of the glassworks. He was born in Saskatchewan Canada and got a bachelor's degree in fine arts specializing in glass. He visited the Hill Country in 1991, fell in love with the area and opened the original glassworks the following year. In 2006, the glassworks was moved to a larger facility where they are currently.

There is a large show room out front where you can purchase all kinds of glass.

There are so many different kinds of items on display including wall art and jewelry.

It was very interesting and I definitely want to make another trip to see them creating something else.

2024-10-23 Blue Hole Regional Park, Wimberley TX

 Our next excursion was to the Blue Hole Regional Park. They have a beautiful gate at the entrance. It looks like carved wood but is actually metal.

The Blue Hole refers to the swimming area which is a dammed up area of the creek.

Looks like they are ready for Halloween too.

You can go in the swimming area to see it but the season is closed. During the season, you make a reservation for 4 hours in the morning or 4 hours in the afternoon and there is a charge. This time of year it's just open for viewing.

The water is very low here and would not be good to swim in even if warm enough as the flow is not strong enough so there is algae.

There are beautiful cypress trees all around.

They put lots of planning into conserving water.

Interesting flora too.

In the evening our hostesses planned a kabob event for dinner. They had beef, chicken, and pork bagged in individual servings and plenty of vegetables all cut up for putting on the skewers. The park had nice big propane grills right next to the outdoor kitchen/living area.

Here some of the women are still putting their kabobs together.

It was a really well planned fun event.

2024-10-22 Wimberley Valley Winery TX

 I headed up to the Horseshoe Ridge RV Resort in Wimberley Tx on Monday afternoon. It was a very short drive as it was only about 30 miles from Potter's Creek. I realized as I was going through my pictures that I did not take many photos of the park itself while I was there but you will see a few scattered through my posts. It is a nice park but no trees in the RV sites so A/C was definitely needed in the full sun on concrete sites. They have a really nice firepit area at the edge of the park where we sat and took some sunset pictures.

The next day some of us went to the Wimberley Valley Winery which was just a few miles away.

They had a beautiful set up where you could pick out wines to try.

There was comfortable furniture to set and relax and visit.

Karol posed with one of the other ladies.

They also had a taproom for those who prefer beer.

There were hats available for purchase.

This outside area would be nice when you needed a little protection from the wind but wanted to be outside.

We were encouraged to go outside and visit the grounds. Even if you are not a wine drinker, there is usually other things to enjoy with your group. They were having an outdoor movie on Friday nigh.

Who could resist visiting the miniature horses and donkeys?

I couldn't really capture how unique this view really was. There were geese lined up next to the chicken pen talking to the chickens all lined up on their side of the fence. The chickens were huge and the gossip was flying back and forth between the two groups.

There were tables and chairs under the trees in the yard with lots of people taking advantage of the beautiful day. I recommend a visit!