Another great weekend was had by all.

We had a great time in Seguin and I took a few good pictures (I know, big shock). Some of them are posted here and more are posted over at the FlickR site, so you can click over there and check them out. Remember, you can click on any of these and see a larger version.



Here's a shot of our camp site. The park there, Starcke Park, is set up in a beautiful pecan bottom along the banks of the Guadalupe river with baseball diamonds and a golf course and tennis courts. That's my tent there and my car, and the cooks truck and the big pop-up tent where all the serious hot and heavy chili cooking takes place.

That's NOT to say that we weren't doin' some cookin' on our own there in the smaller tent. I don't know if it was the full moon, or the setting, or the fact that someone might walk up and hear us, or whatever. Lets just say it was a great night.



There's a happy boy, chillin' in the shade while the cooks sweated out the fixin's. Note the new growth of fur on the chin. It was only a matter of time before I got sick of shavin' every day.

We forgot to bring chairs (I always forget something) so Denise and I made a dash to town Friday night and found a Wal Mart where we got a few of the $9 variety. Mine was already broken by the time this picture was taken the next afternoon. I can't really complain though, seein' as how I weigh in WAY over the recommended tonnage limits on these things. Nothin some good duct tape can't fix.



Here's a shot of the falls over on the West side of the park, where the river flows past the old Seguin water works. Beautiful scenery! The following few shots were taken here, at a few different angles. You can see more of this sort of thing over at FlickR.



Lots of critters were flitting around, with birds dashing here and there and turtles and fish in the water. I wish now that I'd brought a few rods. It would have been fun for both Denise and I to sit on the bank and wet some hooks. I'd never been to Seguin before though and had no idea what we were in for. Next time I'll be prepared.



This is about my best shot from the trip. Very happy with how it came out. Note the little bird on the log and the other one on the bottom left.



Here's a merge showing the huge pavilion where the cook-off was going on. Friggin' thing is about the size of a football field. All the judging and the awards ceremony happened here. People parked their RVs all around it and set up camps where they not only competed for the best chili but also for "Best in Show". The winners in that category turned out to be some ladies who showed up in cute little towed trailers and dressed up in fancy western outfits. They even had live music playing in their camp.



Those ladies are the ones to the right of this picture, in the short frilly dresses. When the awards for chili were handed out they had the recipients sit up on the stage over on the left so that as they went from 10th place to first the stage filled up from left to right with these lucky ladies. When the grand prize winner came up they gave her a bouquet of yellow roses and a crown and sat her down in one of the tall chairs to the left of the bower.

It was very different from what I've seen at other cook-offs I'd been to. Normally you go up to get your prize and give your team a shout-out and then you go back to your seat in the audience. I think this was cooler. It was nice to see all the ladies hug one another and congratulate one another as the seats filled up.

Anyway, we had a great time. Denise and I showed up around 7:30PM Friday night, right after our friends got there and we started drinkin' and havin' a good time as soon as the camp was set up. By 11:30 or midnight we were ready to hit the sack. We got up early Saturday morning and while our friends got started with the chili we went to a local burger place and got breakfast burritos and coffee. The rest of the day was spent ether sitting around camp, walking around the other camps, or driving around Seguin, taking pictures and sightseeing. You can see all those shots over at FlickR.

I'll probably post something else about the trip in a few days. There's too much material there to pass up.

Anyway, I hope all of you had a great weekend too. See ya again in a few. Cheers.