Becky and Beth's Awesome Adventure, Part 1......

   So first of all, I want to say thanks to all of you who wished me well a couple of weeks ago when I had a bad health scare. The good thing is that I'm on some drugs that are helping and I am going to HH every once in a while to help out. If all works out I hope to avoid surgery!!!!
   For the last few months , my wonderful friend Becks, has been asking me to go with her to the Retreat at Artesian Lakes, about two hours from Houston. Last weekend seemed to be a good time to get away and relax, so we took off late Friday afternoon. I never knew this place existed.....but it is absolutely beautiful!!! The reason this post will be in two parts is because I have so many pictures and stories....
   That afternoon we pulled in, really , it's in the middle of nowhere, and checked into our private cabin. Most of the cabins have their own part of the lake right below the balcony, complete with gators and turtles.

   This was our buddy, Jack (yes I named him). He showed up not long after we got there and basically pushed out a couple of others so he could have us to himself. He was rewarded constantly, bread, crackers and anything else we had!!! He hung out there for the time we were there and probably gained about ten pounds!!! I will say the back of the cabin is up on stilts , maybe 15 feet from the water so we weren't in any danger. Here is the inside..........

   There is a nice kitchen, so you could bring your supplies (believe me the restaurant is expensive!!) and the most comfortable bed in the world. Maybe because I didn't have four dogs pushing me around all night!! Also, no TV's or loud music.....truly a retreat.

   We still had a couple of hours on the day, so went down to the lake to swim.....didn't know if we would see any gators there, but there were a ton of people swimming, so I imagine they had quieter places to hang out.

   You can see how pretty and serene it is , and besides Becky and me , everyone ignored the no alcohol sign!! We swam for a few hours and decided to go back to the cabin for some dinner. Becky was making a burger and I was eating some yogurt , and feeding Jack....when I turned around from the picnic table to see this.....

   Probably the tamest raccoons I've ever seen, I'm pretty sure they hit every cabin they can....you can see how chunky they are!! So,of course they invited another friend and our stock of crackers and bread started getting severely low. We figured we could replenish in the morning.

   Our biggest concern that night was keeping them away from the waters edge and Jack, he was eyeing them!! A call to the front desk didn't help, so Becky filled her pots with water to keep them closer to the cabin. As you can see they were having a great time....when we finally went to bed I'm sure they went on to someone else's cabin.

   After a great night's sleep, I'm an early riser, I went outside for some coffee and a book. This is what it looked like that morning.....

   Yes that's Jack's head sticking out!!!!

   We got a very cool ride to breakfast that morning, in a horse drawn carriage. Very fun. 

These are pictures of beautiful Belle as she is taking us for our meal!!!

That's it for now.....I have some adoptions to catch up with too, but Part 2 of our adventure tomorrow...

Have a great evening......

Go Texans?????