Mar. 31 - We're in Eleuthera

“The most important thing in the world is family and love.”  – John Wooden

Blogging last week while we were on vacation was just too time consuming and I was having way too much fun playing with our grands, walking on the beach, swimming, listening to the waves from our amazing house and exploring. This week I'll try and catch up on my posts and share a few more pictures of our wonderful adventure.

A view of Grand Bahama Island...Freeport is just to the left in this picture. 

Just getting to Eleuthera was fun...we flew from Houston to Nassau with Eric and his family and were greeted by Kyle and his gang when we arrived at the airport. Our flight to Governor's Harbour was on a small plane operated by Pineapple Air. The plane only carried nineteen passengers and we made up ten of those. 

Playing at the airport in Nassau while we waited for our plane.

Getting on our flight to Governor's Harbour

The plane was very small...but we had a great time.

Our first look at Eleuthera.

Dinner the first night was at the Sky Beach Club...everyone had fun in the pool.

Our room was on the top floor, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean...we went to sleep each night listening to the sounds of the waves.

The view from our bedroom

Bahamas Adventure

“The memories we make with our family is everything.” – Candace Cameron Bure

We're on our way to Eleuthera in the Bahamas...not on one of our boats, but flying in with the WHOLE family. We're so excited about sharing all the fun exploring and relaxing on this beautiful island with our loved ones. We've rented a wonderful large house just moments away from a great beach. There's room for everyone to relax, unwind and enjoy.

We spent about six weeks in Abaco in 2015 and have always looked forward to returning to the Bahamas. Eleuthera is about 65 miles south of Abaco in the Exuma Sound. It's one of more than 700 islands, cays and islets that make up the Bahama archipelago. Eleuthera is a long, slender island possessing the best of two ocean worlds; a tranquil Exuma Sound and the pulsating Atlantic Ocean. The island offers 100 miles of private pristine pink sand beaches...it has more beachfront than any other Caribbean island, but there is more to Eleuthera than beaches and we look forward to exploring the island and making wonderful memories with our family. 

Our house, Bahama Mama, is one of eight homes located in the charming community of Wykee Estates. Wykee Estates was built in the 1940's for the first Premier of the Bahamas as a holiday retreat for his family and staff. 

The veranda - views of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.

The living room/kitchen area

The bedrooms

The playroom

The View from Our Deck

"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one."

The view from the back deck of Texas Pearl is pretty nice...lots of boats, bait houses, a lighthouse and an ever changing sky. We have the same view from the potholes in the stateroom. It's fun to slide open the curtains and take in this view in the morning. Although this year we've seen a lot more fog than we'd like...we take what we get and enjoy it as much as we can.

Texas Fun Facts

Our time in Texas is winding down. Spring will be here soon...we hope, and we're looking forward to heading north to our summer home. I thought this would be a perfect time to share a few little known, very interesting facts about Texas:

• Port Arthur to El Paso: 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770 miles.
• Brownsville to state line (north of Amarillo): 956 miles. The state line to Canada: 960 miles.
• El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas
• The King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island.
• The name 'Texas' comes from the Hasini Indian word 'tejas' meaning "friends". Tejas is NOT Spanish for Texas.
• Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union) instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag, and Texas may choose to divide into 5 states.
• Texas has had six capital cities: Washington-on-the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia and Austin.
• The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the US which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington, DC (by 7 feet).
• The San Jacinto Monument is the tallest free standing monument in the world and it is taller than the Washington Monument.
• The worst natural disaster in US history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane in which over 8,000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.
• Hurricane Harvey in 2017 brought 51.88 inches of rain to Texas, the highest rainfall total in any storm in the history of the United States. 
• The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water. Destroyed by Hurricane Ike – 2008!
• World's first rodeo was in Pecos, Tx July 4, 1883.
• The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
• The first domed stadium in the US was the Astrodome in Houston.
• The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston", but the Space Center was actually in Clear Lake City at the time.
• Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America.
• Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
• A Live Oak tree near Fulton (Rockport) is estimated to be 1500 years old.
• Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.
• Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper.
• The State Mascot is the Armadillo. An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.