Vinyl Victory

The forest green vinyl sides are up this week on the campground Pavilion and it's looking really great! Each section has a clear panel window that allows a great view of Grapevine Lake from all sides. A door was added for easy access, and when the heating fans are installed soon—it'll be ready to go.

There's extra electricity for Events use, so let's plan on a casual grand opening Party next Saturday night to try it out! We'll furnish the pizza and drinks - you bring whatever else you want - salad, dessert, smiles... See you at 6pm - okay?

Power Walking

Yesterday, the statewide "Texas Round-Up" Challenge kicked off in Grapevine. Our staff at the campground is determined to help the city claim the Governor's Challenge for the "Fittest City in Texas" this year! The state-wide mission of the "Texas Round-Up" is to improve everyone's health through the education and promotion of physical activity and healthy living. Not a bad goal for all of us, huh?

This is the first time that the state-wide media event was hosted outside the capital of Austin, Texas. More than 200 folks and lots and lots of mayors from neighboring cities attended the event in downtown historical Grapevine, challenging each other to have the most exercise logged-in within in the next six-weeks.

The 'Get-Fit-Texas' program has really cool online tools that The Vineyard's staff is using to log-in exercise time. The city with the most mileage/exercise wins—yard work counts, and so does any other physical exercise. So, if you see us out walking our dogs seven times a day, know that the staff is in "competition-mode." Campers are welcome to join us at any time of day, in any weather...especially in the peaceful morning fog off of Grapevine Lake this time of year. We need the support—walking and jogging are great fun on this beautiful campground.

Golden Experience!

Today and tomorrow, temperatures are expected to be between 28 and 18 degrees, which would be the coldest weather seen in North Texas in more than a decade. Yet, in a few days...it will be back to normal 'wintering-in-Texas' at The Vineyards Campground; so we'll "hunker-down"...as folks say in Texas.

After breakfast, we fed the birds, putting out birdseed for the Cardinals and House Sparrows that usually hover around the campsite like good neighbors. But today, there were absolutely NO birds about—usually nature's signal that a raptor is nearby. And sure enough, surveying the campground from above was one magestic Golden Eagle, perched atop one of the larger native Live Oaks. It stayed there long enough so we could get binoculars to indentify it. As the eagle moved its eyes along the shoreline of Grapevine Lake in search of food, you could see the light golden plumage on its head and neck. Truly magnificient! Did anyone else see this?

Today's strong artic cold front probably forced its migration further south this week. Though Goldens usually travel in mated pairs, we couldn't find another one in the tops of nearby pine trees. Stationary for about 5-minutes, memories we have of the Golden's in-flight take off was worth the stay at The Vineyards! It's powerful wingspan was almost 5-feet across, and it soon disappeared, hunting beyond the southwest end of the campground.