We spent Saturday and Sunday at the beautiful home of our niece Shelley and her husband Tim in Allen, TX, a northern suburb of Dallas. We learned something interesting about our GPS in route to their house. Most of the freeways around here are toll roads and the GPS selected a route that avoided all tolls! It probably took us longer to get where we were going but we estimate that it saved us $10-$20! Since we are retired, we can afford the time more than the money.

We really enjoyed the gracious welcome awarded us by Shelley, Tim, son Anthony, and daughters Olivia and Grace (listed oldest to youngest). Their oldest daughter, Katie, is away at school at Texas State University pursuing her interest in journalism. We spent our time together catching up for years of not seeing each other. Tim works for AIG, a large insurance company and travels a lot throughout the south; Shelley is an adjunct professor at several smaller universities teaching dance and is starting her own yoga school (www.bridgewateryoga.com); Anthony is on wrestling and soccer teams and was off on Sunday for a couple of hours of practice; Olivia is a cheerleader in middle school (and had a few friends over Saturday night for a slumber party); and Grace plays the French horn and is active in team problem solving competitions (and went to a friend's house for a slumber party). Very active family!

The weather is remarkably pleasant with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the 50s; and everyone notes that it is unusually warm for early March in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (but no one is complaining). Two editorial notes on our blogs about Western Texas and the much nicer/cleaner environment around the greater Dallas/Ft. Worth area - locals refer to the latter as Northern Texas, not Central Texas as we have done; and it has been suggested that the reason Western Texas it so trashy is that it is so near Mexico (we don't know if this reflects local prejudices or if there is something to it).

We are planning to visit Sharon's high-school best-friend tomorrow and then head back through the wasteland of Western Texas on Wednesday to Carlsbad, New Mexico. After touring Carlsbad Caverns we will head north to the Santa Fe area.

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