Sorry it’s been a quiet week in here. Last week my divorce from my ex-husband became final. 4 days later he called to tell me it was time to put our beagle to sleep. She had lost all control of her bladder and her health was failing. After losing Casper at the end of January this year and handling that all by myself I knew this was going to be a rough time for him. Yesterday was her final day and my heart is still hurting from it. Sorry to make this beginning so sad but it’s been a tough week and I wanted to explain why it’s been so quiet.

Tomorrow we leave to go to Lake Livingston State Park here in Texas. We’ll be there till Friday morning so expect pictures and updates from the road. We’ll be back Oct 2 and start preparing to head to Colorado for a pretty exciting adventure. More on that to come soon. Here’s a couple puppy playing pics to make you smile.

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We’ve been planning for a few days to have a day “date” to McKinney Falls State Park. Weather watching was in full effect but it still sprinkled on us for most of the visit this morning. We had packed a picnic of some cheeses and crackers, summer sausage and fruits along with some boiled eggs and drinks. We hiked out to the upper and lower falls in the park and also toured the campground making note of campsites we were interested in for future visits. The park is about 15 minutes from home but once you are in it – it feels much further away. After us getting a bit drenched and the dogs paws being muddy we ended up coming back home with our picnic saving that for later and headed to our local Mexican restaurant around the corner from the house for lunch.

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Yesterday afternoon with Michael’s help we did a poured painting on stream (pic of the finished product to follow). This was an acrylic painting on canvas. Basically you pour some paint on the canvas and move it around with your hands shifting the paint making shapes, lines etc with the paint. It’s actually a really neat way to create art. I also finished an afghan that I’ve been working on for a bit and have started another one. We’re currently planning another camping trip a bit north east of Houston area the end of September in to the first of October. I’m looking forward to having more pictures to share of more adventures while camping here in Texas. Meanwhile here are the pictures of the artwork.

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Several weeks ago I had found through Facebook a drive-in movie theater not too far from home in Austin. Doc’s Drive-in located in Buda – it’s about 20 minutes from us – is a cute little 2 screen drive in movie theater. They show “older” movies no new releases – we saw a favorite of ours Pitch Perfect last night. They are also classified as a restaurant where they serve sandwiches, burgers, appetizers – including popcorn and candies – but they also serve beer and wine for the adults. We took a portable radio – so many cars have the automatic shut off for the radio and rather than risking killing the car battery this worked out really well for us. The food we had was okay nothing spectacular in our opinion – a bit greasy even. However, it was a great date night. It’s a neat little place not tons of people and of course with Covid outside your vehicle you have to have a mask on. Great way to go to a movie with social distancing. We definitely are looking to go back as the weather continues to cool here in Texas.

The temps the last few days here in Austin have been cooler – yesterday we didn’t get above 65 degrees outside. Some rain moved in with a cool front and we actually were able to have the windows open yesterday. It’s been a tough week for me I’ve been battling some severe anxiety attacks but thanks to a very supportive boyfriend and a bit of time I’m much better now.

Today we’re making a breakfast casserole that we’ve made several times when traveling. I’ll be uploading pics of the casserole in progress as well as the finished result. The recipe is my adaptation on a low carb breakfast I saw online.

• 1 lb ham/bacon/sausage or any combination thereof
• 1 to 2 bell peppers any color works
• 1 onion
• Mushrooms
• Spinach
• 8 eggs
• 1/4 heavy cream
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Dice up the pepper and onion and start sauteing them in a skillet to start softening them. (If using bacon or sausage start cooking them first then add the pepper and onion.) Add in the mushrooms to soften and finally the spinach. I use baby spinach. While those finish put your eggs and cream with salt and pepper in a separate bowl and whisk together. Stir the cheese in and set aside. Place the mixture from the skillet with the meat and veggies in the bottom of your 9×13 pan and then pour the egg mixture on top. Stir things around for an even distribution of the mixtures together and top with a bit more cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 – 22 minutes or until your eggs are done as you like.

This recipe can be made for a large brunch or as a make ahead meal to heat up portions of throughout the week. Also food allergies and preferences can definitely determine any additions or subtractions from this recipe.

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Today’s adventures took us just north of Austin proper to Round Rock and the IKEA store there. I’ve never been to one and it was huge. We enjoyed getting ideas of things for the house and RV as well as sharing our likes and dislikes in decorating as well. We did leftovers for dinner – we made some Indian Butter Chicken yesterday – my first time tasting any kind of Indian food and it was even more delicious leftover tonight than when we made it last night. The recipe we used was: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/.

When we got home today I made a blueberry cobbler. I’ve never made a cobbler before on my own and never remember having a blueberry one before. It turned out really well and I’m proud of my first cobbler attempt. After a bit of relaxation I streamed on Twitch with some Stardew Valley – a farming type game that is very laid back and makes it very easy to visit with my friends in chat.

It’s been a great Saturday relaxing and enjoying a cooler day here in Texas. I enjoyed streaming on Twitch while gaming with some friends and celebrating a friend’s birthday. Michael actually put the hammock up in the backyard today and was able to sit out and enjoy it while listening to an audio book. Tonight we made our taco recipe that we’ve been tweaking over the last 6 months. In the Tasty Tid Bit section you’ll find the recipe and pictures from tonight’s dinner. Enjoy a photo of some pups who’ve been relaxing this day as well.

Today we woke to thunder continuously and a lovely rain for a few hours this morning. In a city that has been very, very dry the rain is welcoming to a northerner like me. After a bit of a morning stream for me and a massage for Michael we brunched at one of our favorite local places. La Madeleine is a wonderful little french place near us and they have an amazing tomato basil soup that I love and french onion soup he loves. We sat out on the patio listening to the gentle rain and enjoying the cooler air that we are having.

Some days the best laid plans go to heck in a hand basket. This week due to some unforeseen circumstances we have changed some of our travel plans for the rest of the year. We are taking the time to re-evaluate our plans and taking care of some of the normal mundane things we need to do. We both needed to pick up new eyeglasses we had ordered. Another important thing was getting the A/C checked at the house here as the downstairs unit was not functioning.

We are also looking at changing some of our travel equipment for the future and have been looking at a new RV and vehicle for towing. We went to an RV dealership yesterday and saw a really neat fifth wheel that we both like. One of the things we are looking at is there are some trailers that have a mid-bunk room that can be used as an office. This would be perfect for anything we need to do work-wise while traveling as well as a space I can use for streaming and writing.

Tonight we had dinner at one of our favorite little Mexican restaurants in Austin that’s local to our neighborhood. One of the best things about Austin is some of the amazing restaurants available for eating in and for take out.

No food pics today but here’s a great pic of our pups Moki and Bella playing on a recent trip.

Welcome to the Travels, Tips and Tasty Tid Bits Blog. My name is Tessa and my boyfriend and I started traveling together shortly after we met. Part of that was brought on by a necessity to quarantine in the early days of the Covid virus. Since the beginning of March we’ve camped at 4 Texas State Parks (some we’ve actually repeated already), took a 34 day journey through 9 states, and spent a week by the ocean. We have more plans to travel in the coming months as well as sights to see around the Austin Texas area we currently call home.

I currently am a content creator on Twitch where I stream a variety of video games as well as some crafting streams while I crochet. If you have questions about our travels feel free to add a comment as well as using the contact us information to reach me. Thank you for coming along on this journey I look forward to sharing our travels and adventures with you.