Victoria, Texas

What on earth is in Victoria, Texas, you may ask??  A really quiet, clean, city-run RV park for just $12/night for full hook-ups.  No bathhouse, but with full hook-ups that's no problem.  Wow...we were impressed with this little campground!  There are only 18 sites, and they are first-come, first-served, but there were 3 spots remaining when we arrived.  This place is definitely a gem!  Even though it is next to the road, the road noise is minimal, though there are some loud trains at times...can't say they bothered us though.  Some of the sites are really awesome, with lots of space (those were full), but even the others are spacious enough for the kids to get out and play between the sites.  Plus, there's an open, grassy area that separates the two campsite areas that the kids can play in.  It's also not far to several playgrounds and fishing areas at Riverside Park.

Victoria is distinguished as the only county where all six flags have actually flown over Texas.  This is such a neat little city!  We went to The Texas Zoo here, just about two miles from the RV park.  This is a small but totally awesome zoo!  We arrived shortly after it opened at nine, and the animals were really active.  One of the tigers was pacing and roaring a bit, and we later learned that she doesn't care for hats (everyone except Steve was wearing one since it was cold out), and she especially doesn't like the color red (Jake's hat was red)!

The aviary was pretty cool because the birds were allowed to roam free, so they actually got quite close to you.  There was a bright green parrot named "Steve" that is super friendly ('tho he also bites & has a particular fondness for chewing on shoes) that came right up to us.  Outside the aviary, there are peacocks roaming around, as well.

These monkeys were locked in a long embrace

This turkey was beautiful, if you can get over the ugly head

We especially enjoyed the lions, two female Barbary lions.  They were right up against the glass and interacted with the kids.  They also played with toys and wrestled a bit, giving us a great show!

Right as we were leaving, two school buses of small kids arrived, so we were delighted that our timing was so perfect!  What an awesome little zoo!

Steve also took the kids to the Children's Discovery Museum here.  I stayed back in blogging purgatory...hey, it's not so bad when I can hear myself think, and I don't have to sacrifice sleep to do it!

Other than that, we hung out at the Public Library, much to the kids delight.  Even though we couldn't check out books, they were delighted to be around so many books again!  We definitely miss the library and even our own somewhat formidable collection of books.  Now you know much of the contents of our little 5x5 storage unit!

At the library, notice Jake asleep on the chair

Victoria also has a historical driving tour, and although we didn't stop by the Visitor Center and get the info for it, we did spend an evening driving around, ooh-ing and aah-ing over the beautiful old houses and absolutely spectacular old trees!  Guess we were too busy enjoying it to remember to take pictures though!  When we got back to the RV, Genna expressed great frustration that "We didn't pick a house!!" Lol...there are definitely times we still long for the good things about living in a regular house.  Interestingly enough, though, as time keeps ticking, and we realize that there will indeed come a day when we will kiss this lifestyle good-bye, we are ever more cognizant of how bittersweet that will be.  Though this has certainly been challenging to adjust to, it will be just as challenging, I think, to re-adjust to "the way things used to be."