Friday, October 25 – .We pulled out of Leisure Valley Ranch this morning heading North. We are on our way to Houston to sit for awhile. We'll be there through the Christmas Holidays.
We stopped about half way to Houston in Goliad, TX. An historic town filled with many Texas sites that we will be visiting and reporting on in future posts.
We are staying at Goliad State Park.
The park is located within three ecological zones and located on the San Antonio River. It serves as the hub for visiting the Mission, Espiritu Santo (located in the park), the Presidio La Bahia, the Ignacio Zaragoza Birthplace, Fannin Battleground, the Goliad Historic District and Mission Rosario.
We are in site #26, a water and electric site. Each site on the outside of our loop has a covered picnic table, fire ring and grill. It is pretty much a large gravel parking lot with sites around the outer perimeter and another group of sites in the very center. It's pretty quiet with only a half dozen campers in our area. The cost is $20 per night but unfortunately, we have to also pay admission to the park for each day. That's crazy, in our opinion. Paul has a Texas Senior Pass providing half price on admission, but Marsha has to pay the full $3 admission per day. Maybe we should hide her in the trunk and sneak her in.....LOL.
Please notice the big, empty field next to our site.
There is another camping area in the park with pull-through sites. Those sites are $25 per night.
We were joined after dark by about 30 scouts camping in the area next to us. There goes our solitude. No problems....they were well behaved and even quieted down by bed-time.
We have company….9 tents.
The park has camping, picnicking, historic sights, swimming, canoeing, fishing, hiking trails and a park store. There is also a walking/biking paved trail into the nearby town of Goliad.
After getting set up, we drove into historic Goliad to see the town and stop at the Chamber of Commerce/Visitor's Center. Goliad is a phonetic anagram of Hidalgo, the priest who became a hero during the Mexican Revolution. (The "H" is not pronounced in Spanish.) Goliad is one of the oldest municipalities in Texas.
Historic Goliad is made up of the Court House surrounded by a block of historic buildings. An excellent walking tour is available describing many of the historic buildings.
The yellow building below is the Von Dohen Building built in 1896. It housed and continues to house the Goliad Pharmacy.
You can't have a historic town in Texas without a “hanging tree.” Located on the North lawn of the courthouse, the tree was often used in the “good ole' days” of Texas to enforce law and order in a pretty wild area.
Why is Goliad called the "Birthplace of Texas Ranching?" The first great cattle ranch in Texas is said to have its beginnings at Mission Espiritu Santo which is located in Goliad State Park.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.
