Springhill Suites - Rosenberg, Tx

Have you tried a Springhill Suites Hotel lately? We just did a couple of weekends ago in Rosenberg, Texas. We really liked it! The decor was really refreshing, and not because it was a new building. I loved the blues and the splash of orange. And the room was really nice. I like the furnishings - all comfortable and modern. I felt like I was in an IKEA catalog. Really. Free internet service that was stable and fast. That's hard to find nowadays, sadly, even with our home service of Time Warner. Booo.

Honey & the TSA

This is a repost from our bee blog but since it fits the topic, I know you won't mind since it means I actually posted here! :-)

Have you ever found yourself wondering if honey travels well? I do a bit of travel for my training job with the steel making company and I like to take a bit of home with me whenever I can in order to reduce homesickness. I typically take one squeeze bottle with me and every single time I have honey in the suitcase (since you can’t carry it on unfortunately), my suitcase gets inspected and they leave me a personal note to let me know. Isn’t that awesome? This time, I made them work for it. I packed two glass jars for a friend to save her some shipping cost and added in six 1-pound squeeze bottles (coworkers wanted to sample them). I individually seal each jar in a Ziploc bag so any leaks could be contained. I would love to know what those TSA people think when they open my suitcase. I also count this as good and free advertising since it puts our name in front of at least one new person. Maybe more if they tell a coworker, “Yea, look at this crazy lady carrying eight pounds of honey around…” You never know.

Harrrisonburg, Virginia

Well, the first picture is not yet Harrisonburg. It was my view for a while as I waited and waited in Denver on the tarmac. But thankfully Denver was not as bad as Atlanta so at least I didn't have to spend the night at the airport. Yay Denver! They had a ton of de-icing trucks out there - very impressive. Traveling out of San Antonio and flying east (or west also, most of the time) is typically an all day or most of the day event because we have to connect somewhere along the way. This time, I chose Denver because I didn't want to go north to Chicago since the blizzard was blowing that way soon. Denver did a great job getting us landed, loaded and off the ground again without it taking hours. Still, I was an hour later getting to Dulles than planned but oh well.



Once I got to Dulles, I got in the car and drove about two hours to Virginia and since it was dark and I had a splitting headache, I can't tell you much except for thank goodness for GPS units. For the most part, they get me where I need to go. The Marriott Residence Inn in Harrisonburg is fabulous! Worth the drive and made me glad I chose it over the Hampton even though I have more reward points with HHonors. LOVED the kitchenette and ate in most of the week, which made it feel less like I was away from home (sort of). There's a Kroger nearby so I was set for dining in and I brought our Gretchen Bee Ranch candles - felt very cozy. The staff of Residence Inn was also awesome so I highly recommend this hotel. I go back next week so guess where I'll be staying. :-) And check out this service below - I didn't use it but I thought it was very cool that it was available. Neat!

Beekeepers in the Hill Country

Recently we went to a conference in Kerrville and stayed at the conference hotel because it has convention center facilities. The environment and scenery were very nice and the bathroom looked fairly recently renovated...but sadly the rest of the hotel did not. As long as the bathrooms are clean, we're good. Still, we think they could draw in huge crowds in the hill country setting if they updated the rest of their hotel.

Traveling IH35 to Pearsall, Tx

Here are some interesting things I saw as we traveled from Seguin to Pearsall, Texas, in order to pick up some bee supplies from a 4th-generation beekeeper there (Youngblood Honey) - it's so lovely there! Here's a shot of the land behind the Youngblood property.



We took IH10 from Seguin to SA, then caught the 410 loop to miss some commuting traffic. Then we caught IH35 from there and headed south.

We couldn't decide if this was a Volkswagen or not. Saw this in Pearsall.



And during our long wait on the highway due to a major, fatal accident :-(, we saw these two things -

Hyatt Lost Pines (Bastrop, Tx)

This is a fabulous resort and I highly recommend it. The scenery is lovely, the hotel is AWESOME and the service is excellent. I can't post all the pictures I want to share but I really enjoyed our few days there!

And near by is the Bastrop State Park so you have to drive through there - it's beautiful and made me feel as if I was back on the east coast. The tall pines and needles on the ground cushioned all the noise. The road went on and on and on for something like 13 miles I believe. We went at dusk and totally enjoyed the quiet. We didn't get out since it was so hot and humid but there was a lot to do there it appears (fishing, hiking, camping, etc.).



And if you get hungry and would like to sample some local fare, be sure to check out Gracie's, which is a block off of Main Street. Their little historic downtown are was super pedestrian friendly and while it wasn't a huge area, it was a nice way to spend an hour walking through shops before dinner. Gracie's has awesome home-cooked food and a great, friendly staff. On Friday nights, you may even catch some live music. We did and loved it. We even got to see a saw being played in person. Very beautiful sound. :-)

Sky Watch from Chicora (PA)

Meant to get this posted sooner but trying to get home yesterday took forever literally and I was exhausted. So a little late but I wanted to share with you a sky over Chicora, Pennsylvania, where I spent my week for work. It is so lovely there. This is Leicher Farm, where I stopped to visit because I saw the beehives! :-) Great people - super friendly everywhere I went.

Check out the other Sky Watchers this week!