HEADIN' BACK TO HOUSTON

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.

FUN DAY IN MEXICO!

Wednesday, October 22 – We made another trip to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, last Friday with Angie and Rick.

Paul and Rick wanted to get haircuts ($4) at what they call "The best barbershop anywhere," (They really do like the haircuts they get at Gloria's Barbershop.), Angie had an appointment at her dentist for a cleaning, and Marsha had some shopping to do.

Marsha was shopping for our daughter, Carrie. She recently moved to a new apartment and wanted some pottery to display on her shelves. Marsha had scouted out various selections on our last trip to Mexico and taken some pictures for Carrie to look at and see if it was what she was looking for. Carrie picked several vases. Marsha was picking them up today to take to Houston.

An outdoor bar located in a dentist mall.

After haircuts and shopping, we headed over to Arturo's for lunch.

We had a delicious Mexican dinner and a couple Margaritas.

Then it was upstairs in the Galleria to the Cantina to listen to the band and do some dancing. What fun!

Our welcoming committee at the Cantina.

Angie and Marsha are always out dancing and meeting new people.

Rick showing us his moves.

Attention all the ladies out there….A little unknown fact about some el baño de señoras (ladies' restrooms) in Mexico. Be sure to check the wall when you enter a restroom in Mexico. You may have to pick up the paper before you enter the stall. What a hoot!

Marsha got her two permanent crowns, filling and teeth cleaned Tuesday, yesterday, morning. We are all set to head for Houston, and we plan to do that Friday morning. Before we arrive in Houston, we are stopping in Goliad, Texas, for a few days.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

TOO HOT FOR THE BIRDS!

Friday, October 18 – Even though we think it's a little early for the migrating birds to reach the Rio Grande Valley, on Tuesday, we decided to go for a hike at the World Birding Center:  Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.

Being a Texas State Park, they do not accept the America the Beautiful Senior Pass, but we read on line that Texas Residents 65+ get a 50% discount. So Paul (He's a young 65.) asked about the discount at the front desk. Sure enough, the girl issued him a Texas Parklands Passport – Senior Partial. He can use it at any Texas State Park for half off admissions. Cool but another card to carry in his wallet!

The gal at the front office told us the birds have been arriving. There was a flock of over 14,000 hawks that arrived this past Friday, and several other species have begun arriving.

Ramp to the hawk lookout.

We didn't see 14,000 hawks, but we saw a few. Also, saw a couple wild turkeys and a few green jays. But the birds must have been staying home in their air-conditioned nest because most weren't showing their feathers.

One of the picnic areas.

That is Mexico on the other side of the La Parida Banco.

We did enjoy a hot 4+ mile hike and were plenty hot by the time we returned to the truck. But that didn't stop us from driving a mile down the road to visit the National Butterfly Center.

Good news folks! Even though thousands of migrating butterflies were getting smashed on the front on cars, many millions more made it to the RGV.

Unfortunately, the Butterfly Center charges $10 admission. That's a little steep in this penny pincher's mind, so we just looked around the visitor's center and took some pictures in the front of the building. It did look like a nice place to spend some time but $10 each.....YIKES!

On Wednesday, we met good friend, fellow blogger, and RV'er, John – Shoeless Joe – for lunch. We found him waiting for us at the Riverside Club. This is a cool bar and grill located on the banks of the Rio Grande River about 75 yards from Mexico.

Paul, Marsha, John, Angie, Rick

We were welcomed by several Texas and Border Patrol gunboats flying down the river. These were scary looking boats, heavily armed and quite a few armed crew on board.  John said they were moving up and down the river since he arrived. They were even accompanied by a helicopter earlier. Must be some of our “south of the border” friends trying to sneak over to the Riverside Club to have lunch with John.

Mexico is on the other side of the river.

It's interesting how seeing this has become “business as usual” and doesn't seem to alarm anyone, including us. There isn't any shooting or obvious danger. These aren't shootouts with drug runners. There is a large number of border patrol personnel in the RGV area. Just part of the ambiance.....LOL

We had a great lunch with John and Angie/Rick. It was nice to hear about John's summer travels. Pretty good food too!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.