We had a great day today ...

Comfort:

We spent the whole day today with Nick. Our first order of business was to drive about 45 miles northwest of San Antonio to the tiny rural area of Comfort, Texas. Nick was going to check on a house for rent and had an appointment to meet the landlord at 10:00 a.m. We arrived a little bit early, so we drove around to take a look down the pretty road where the house was located. The road finally comes to a dead end ... right here. It's pretty rugged country out here ... almost feels like the middle of nowhere ... but so beautiful.

Right across the road from the rental property is a small villa kind of place where these long-horn sheep and the donkey were hanging out ...

The house for rent sits on quite a few acres. The landlord has 10 or 11 acres and this house is on a parcel of his property. We took a ton of pictures of the house, inside and out, but I'm not going to post those because it would be incredibly rude to Rachel if I got to post pictures of their new location before she has even seen it. I personally liked it very much. I love the wide-open spaces. I love being away from the city.

The house itself is a double-wide that has been on the property for awhile. It is well kept. The front porch alone would "seal the deal" for me, as it extends the entire length of the house and has a hanging bench swing that looks so inviting! The house itself has three smaller bedrooms, one master bedroom, and two nice-sized bathrooms. The kitchen is large with a dishwasher, great counter space, snack bar area, and very attractive tiling. The front room is also really large with a nice fireplace. It's a spacious place, and after living this year in an exceptionally small third floor apartment, this will seem practically like ... heaven! The view from the house is wonderful from all directions. There is a wire-fenced in front part of the yard with cool playground equipment and sandbox, plus two peach trees, a fig tree, and a bunch of other gnarly-looking incredibly beautiful trees. And in the back, there is lots of land and a tire swing too.

The landlord, a really nice fellow, lives within sight, but not too close. He is building a very nice house and has three horses, a donkey, and three (I think) cows. We saw deer roaming about as well. And the sounds ... I closed my eyes and just listened for awhile ... delightful rooster crowing, the chirping of birds, the soft wind blowing ... so I'm pretty sure Nick clinched the deal and the house is being held for them, ready to move into in just a few weeks.

Kerrville:

After talking for quite awhile with the landlord and looking all over the property, we drove further northwest, about 16 miles to Kerrville. Nick is scheduled to start managing at the Chili's on the River there in about four more weeks. This is the Guadalupe River, the view from behind the restaurant.

Nick and Grandpa Jones out front of the restaurant. We ate a really delicious lunch, splitting an order of chicken/steak/shrimp fajitas, as well as steak portebello fajitas ... as well as one of those unbelievably yummy chocolate desserts.

This was my favorite sign inside the restaurant ... ouch!

This sign was posted outside on the deck ... I didn't see any cats out there, but I guess the customers are not supposed to feed them if they show up!

After lunch, we decided to walk around and explore Kerrville. It's a very nice little town of about 20,000+ people, split down the middle by the river. We had a lot of fun looking around a huge antique store.

I found a few treasures that absolutely HAD to be purchased ... all of them used books! I found a great copy of Anna Karenina, which I have never ever read, but have intended to for quite awhile. I found a copy of Jo's Boys, which I read probably 30 years ago, but I don't own a copy. And I think the best find was a book written by Winston Churchill, a second edition copy (1904) entitled The Crossing. I can't wait to read it! I also picked up a book that I think Sabrina will enjoy ... it was not expensive, and I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow! :)

Nick also took us to a little cafe' that used to be the train depot for Kerrville.

The young folk who worked inside were so nice. They showed us a scrapbook of the history of trains through Kerrville. Mr. Jones took many pictures of that book and I think he will have fun going to the web sites that were listed too.

These signs were kind of fun ...

The afternoon was pretty much over by the time we drove back to San Antonio. The hotel where we are staying has an evening "snack" that is SO abundant, we just used it as our dinner and had Nick join us for the fun of it. I hope that was OK.

Mission Concepcion:

A few years ago, Andrew and Sabrina took us to the Alamo here in San Antonio; but I had never been to any of the other missions. So after dinner, Nick took us to two really beautiful sites. We took SO many pictures. I hope you can just look at them and enjoy. I can't give you much information about these historic sites because I haven't even had the time to read up on where we were myself!

The pictures really don't do it justice. Such a quiet, serene, and wonderful place to visit. I wish we'd had more time here!

Mission San Jose':

Down Mission Street not more then 10 minutes, is Mission San Jose'. The grounds and the structure itself are just immense.

I know I've shown you a lot of pictures, without much commentary ... but it is the best I can do for now! We have another big day ahead of us tomorrow meeting Sabrina and family at Sea World, which is only about 15 minutes from our hotel. I'll try to post pictures of the fun we had there, but I strongly doubt I'll get that opportunity tomorrow ... so perhaps Sunday afternoon I'll try to sneak some time to do that.