Camera trouble!

Such a pain. Just before we left home, my camera began to play tricks. In particular, it reset the time and date every time I switched on. Just as I was wondering whether to bring a spare with me (and charger, battery pack, memory sticks etc) all appeared well, so I didn't bother.

Today, all went totally haywire. A whole battery pack (which normally lasts for several days) discharged within a couple of hours and the resetting date bother returned. It was distracting to say the least and though Mary very kindly lent me her spare Olympus, I wasn't comfortable using unfamiliar kit, especially when it was someone elses! We stopped by a Walmart and I bought another Sony - a smaller version of my current model.

But I'm not happy with the picture quality and really hope to get mine back on track. Perhaps in the next couple of days, mostly to be spent en route to Santa Fe, there will be time to fiddle and try out a few things.

Camera troubles aside, today was spent in the Hill Country, north of here. In particular, we enjoyed Fredericksburg - a little country town with a lively tourist trade and consequently a fair few interesting shops to wander in and out of. One did particularly well from us, as each of us three women bought quirkily shaped linen shirts whilst the "Bellini Brothers" (as Mark and Rick have been named) stood by and admired each of us in turn. Of course, they carried the bags too - thank you gentlemen!

The flowers in Fredericksburg were stunning - I didn't quite work out how this one could have both pink and yellow flowers at the same time. I have no idea what it is.

Next stop was the Becker Vineyard, where we tasted one or two (ok, six) wines. Cheers!

Then on to Johnson City, to visit LBJ's boyhood home - rather interesting and surprisingly humble.

To end the day, Mark and I took a walk around the Riverwalk again, but found it so busy with crowds of tourists we needed to sit and drink margaritas instead.

Off to Las Cruces in the morning, half way to Santa Fe. An early start for us.