A new project I started was that in order to get out of the house so that we could bask in each other's company and explore our little state we are are going to start day trippin on the weekends. I have done some research and have some pretty good ideas for the months to come, so hold on to your cowboy hats we are going on an adventure!
I am using the following as resources (if any of you are interested):
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Roadside Geology of Texas - Darwin Spearing
*Geo-Texas: A Guide to the Earth Sciences - Eric R. Swanson
*www.roadsideamerica.com
*The Day Tripper - PBS TV Program
*The Book of Questions - Gregory Stock PhD
*The Book of Questions: Love & Sex - Gregory Stock
Why Llano, you ask? Well it is one hour and thirty minutes from our house AND the best part......you can find llanite here! At one time during one of my former lives I thought I was going to be a geology major so I tend to gravitate towards these types of attractions. Llanite is a igneous rock found only in the Llano region. Out on one of the highways they cut through a dike of llanite so it is easily seen right from the highway. I convinced by loving husband that we needed to get out and take a look and that I
needed a piece.
It is a very hard rock so it was not very easy but he managed to get me a good size hunk. The uniqueness about this rock is that it has small pieces of blue quartz in it. This section of the road also had other recognizable rocks such as gneiss and granite. I don't have a real good picture so that you can see what I am talking about but here is one in case the suspense is killing you.
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Llanite boulder |
On the way we found this little historical marker:
It was locked and you couldn't go in. It is probably too creepy to look around anyways but, you just never know what you will find on these historical markers.
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Tin Lizard Bottle Tree |
It wasn't all about rocks we also made a side trip to the "Tin Lizard Bottle Trees". This husband and wife team make these tree like stands and decorate them with glass. It is all over their front yard. They also do mosaics. They respectfully ask that you do not take pictures and for whatever reason I decided to honor their wishes so I took this from the Roadside America website.
We strolled the streets of downtown Llano but, because it was Sunday morning and the part of the bible belt only one shop was open which, was probably a good thing.
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Llano County Courthouse. |
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I like butter. I am not sure what they do here but, I hope it is butter. |
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Veterans Memorial in front of courthouse. |
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Time is running out! |
After watching an episode of "
The Day Tripper" on PBS I thought we needed to treat our self to some BBQ and in the show they said it was a must. We must then. We ate at Cooper's Pit Bar-B-Que. You had to wait in line outside of the building if the line was long we did not have to wait long (church wasn't over yet). You get your meat off the grills that are on the outside of the building, take it in the building where the butchers cut, weigh, and take your money. I am not a big meat eater but I thought it was good. I don't know if I thought it was $50.00 good but, good. The best thing.....the peach cobbler. Yummy! We had enough to take home so we had two meals out of it. I guess that is okay and Molly ate a lot of chicken which it has been super hard to get her to eat any mean and/or vegetables lately.
After lunch we headed home and that is where the "Book of Questions" come in. I thought when we had adult talk time I could ask Raymond some question and write it down in my journal to share with Molly. If the response is too personal I will just keep that little nugget to myself but if it is funny or something you should know, I am going to share it. Raymond said I needed to leave some space so that he could respond to my response or tell you what he was really thinking. I will just clear that up now; in my mind Raymond is always thinking of a three things: money, real estate, and how to tell me to shut up.
Question: What would you do if you found out this morning that you and your partner were pregnant?
Raymond: Money, money, money.
I summarized. He didn't ask me what I would do. He was probably scared of what I would say.