Remembering 2006

From Popeye 2006

Part of this past weekend was spent in utter frustration. This is partly due to two people using two different programs to organize our pictures with neither of us really having learned the programs. Add to that different versions of each program on different computers, and you can imagine the trouble we made for ourselves.

It seems that when Bob backed up all of our 2008 trip photos, he unintentionally put them into one file containing 2006 and 2007 photos. That left me with over 18,000 photos to sort through, and that was only up to Oct. of 2008. Finally, I found the 2006 photos and put just the photos taken from Sept. 20, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2006 into a separate album. That narrowed it down to just under 2,700 photos.

Of these, I selected the pictures most representative of our trip, from the time we picked up Popeye at the factory on Sept. 20th until the end of the year. I put those 216 photos into a separate album and created a web album of these.

Since these pictures have never been made public, I thought it would be fun to display 20 or so here, and if you like what you see, move to the right column and click on the link to my web albums. There you are free to view all 216. Enjoy!

From Popeye 2006

The lighthouse at the top is located at Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Washington side. We made a circle tour of Oregon, before returned to the factory and picking up our dining room chairs, which needed to be reupholstered.

This next picture was taken en route to Nevada. From there we went through Arizona, New Mexico, and stayed in Texas for the rest of the year. Therefore, the remaining pictures were all taken in Texas.

From Popeye 2006

Who would have guessed that downtown El Paso has such great art? We had never been downtown in this rough and tumble city, and found much to our surprise.

From Popeye 2006

Our next stop was at the Caverns of Sonora, really out in the middle of nowhere! This is a great place to stop for a private tour of these amazing caverns. They even have an RV park with hook-ups.

From Popeye 2006

Next stop? San Marcos Texas. Actually they have a nice walk along the Colorado River, but this public building sits in the middle of the town square.

From Popeye 2006

Here's a view of the inside of the Capital Dome in Austin. One word of caution: If you park on the streets under trees after dark, be prepared to wash your car, that is, before you drive back from where you came!

From Popeye 2006

This photo of Carp was taken at the Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin. A neat place to visit if you've never seen it.

From Popeye 2006

After visiting with family in Plano (I'm sorry, but it's an ugly city for pictures!) we parked in Kemah, which is more or less between Houston and Galveston, which makes a good base for sight seeing. Of course we went to the NASA Johnson Space Center!

From Popeye 2006

We came across this interesting Quilt Museum in Galveston. Much to do and see, although the town probably doesn't look as good as my pictures since Katrina.

From Popeye 2006

An icon of Houston, there was much to do and see here. We got a fabulous tour of downtown, and without further commentary, here are a few of my favorite pictures:

From Popeye 2006

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From Popeye 2006

Here's a picture of the opposing ferry as we crossed over to Port Aransas. This was a great vantage point for visiting Corpus Christi and the surrounding areas. Would you believe the ferry ride was free!

From Popeye 2006

I found this display inside the USS Lexington. We visited way too many battleships to show here.

From Popeye 2006

How about a view of the beach and Gulf of Mexico?

From Popeye 2006

Naturally we visited San Antonio on our way back. A favorite city that also has a Central Market!

From Popeye 2006

This was taken at the Lyndon Johnson Ranch, and is the resting place for President Johnson. Lady bird was still alive and living on the ranch when we visited.

From Popeye 2006

Finally, we visited all the missions, beginning with the Alamo. I think this may be Mission San Juan, one of the last missions on the chain. They are all beautiful and we're glad we were able to see them all. If you want to see more, just click on the link to the web albums to the right and visit Popeye 2006.