2025-02-13 San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site Museum

 We left Goliad on Monday and headed to Stephen F. Austin State Park to meet up with a friend who was camp hosting there. There was a pretty good size group of friends. Unfortunately, the beautiful weather disappeared and we were treated to drizzly winter weather. It put a damper on activities since there is no rally room. Teri rented a shelter but even with heaters, it was darn cold since there are only screens on the openings. We did take advantage of a lull in the drizzle to visit the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site Museum.

There is a nice museum which commemorates the location and shares the stories of early settlers in this region where in 1823, Stephen F. Austin established a headquarters for his colony in Mexican Texas.

I should mention that they had an amazing wall size interactive display which was a map of the early town where you could touch the picture of each building and get a whole writeup on it. I've never seen such a great feature that covered a whole wall.

I was the only one of our group that braved the frigid weather to get some pictures of the "village" display outside.

It is definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere near. If you are staying at the state park, you get a coupon for reduced admission.

2025-02-11 Attwater Prairie Wildlife Refuge

 Teri talked us into a visit to the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge which was only about 20 minutes away from the state park.

Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge was established to conserve the coastal prairie habitat and the critically endangered Attwater's Prairie Chicken but the refuge is host to many other wildlife species found on the prairie.

We arrived only to learn that the new facility was not even open yet with the grand opening several days away. An employee inside spotted us and invited us inside for our own private "opening".

They have great displays of all sorts of wildlife to be found in the refuge.

The bird on the top right is a great example of the Attwater Prairie Chicken.

They are establishing birds with radio tracking collars so they can find and monitor activities. Activities at the facility include biking, birding, hiking, painting and drawing, photography, picnicing, running, and wildlife watching. The first Saturday Van tours were scheduled to start the next week. We enjoyed the special opportunity to preview the new facility.

2025-02-08 Goliad Rally

 This year's Texas Ramblin' Roses Rally at Goliad State Park in Goliad TX was unique in that the weather was warm, very warm in fact.

Many of us arrived early and stayed longer than the actual rally. there are two campgrounds with hookups for RVs, Jacales and Karankawa plus a couple of tent only camping areas as well as a day use area. Many attended the annual Taste of Goliad on Thursday night. I passed this year but it was reported to be just as much fun as it usually is by those that attended.

Other years we have been bundled up from the cold but this year we took morning walks early because it quickly became a sweaty event after 9:30 AM. It still looked like winter but didn't feel like it.

Saturday morning many of us headed into town for the Goliad Market Days. We saw this cool mural right after we parked.

These food trailers had a lot more business as the morning progressed.

There are booths lined up all around the courthouse square.

There is a lot of Texas history in the Goliad area and the courthouse grounds have numerous plaques about the history of the area. This one is from just after the Civil war.

Business was beginning to crank up as the morning progressed. There were booths for crafts, food, and just all kinds of things.

This plaque recognizes a much earlier time, the war for Texas Independence.

This is the Hanging Tree right outside the courthouse.

Vicki organized a nice potluck where she provided chili and baked potatoes and others brought sides and deserts. We played lots of games in the rally room. It was a nice rally.

2024-12-19 Coca-cola Classic Christmas Show, San Antonio TX

 We had another Christmas show on the books several days later. I didn't look great but off we went. Fortunately, my knee didn't give me a lot of trouble in spite of being very black and blue. The face we just all ignored.

Here the show was all about the lighting.

They had an ice slide here too with a longer line. Steve and Helen were game but Morgan opted out.

Displays were all around the stadium field with some paths to follow.

In addition to all the food concessions right after you entered, they also had booths with things for sale.

There was an ice rink and there was also this musical square area with lots of adults and kids dancing on it.

We also did a tour of the Wincrest neighborhood lighting displays earlier in the week. They are always amazing. The streets have barricades to direct the traffic in one direction winding around. It is astonishing how much some of the people decorate their homes and yards. I always enjoy it but I really wouldn't want to live there. Getting home after work must be a nightmare for a whole month.

2024-12-16 Ice Show! at JW Marriott, San Antonio

 We went to the ICE How the Grinch Stole Christmas Show at the JW Marriott Hotel on the 16th. Not knowing what to expect, we were surprised when it was all inside.

There were a couple booths selling cocoa and some people sat around a fireplace enjoying a drink while others just enjoyed the fireplace ambiance.

There were ice slides set up in part of a huge room. Steve, Helen, and Morgan decided to give them a try.

Of course there was also a huge area with all kinds of Christmas things for sale. We browsed but that was about it. Next up was the ice sculptures. Another enormous area was cordoned off with curtains to provide a trail through the sculpture rooms. Before going in, everyone had to put on one of the big, heavy jackets that were provided. It was really, really cold. I came with a jacket but I had to wear one of theirs because they were so much heavier. I was really wishing for some gloves and a hat before we got done.

The ice blocks were enormous and the displays were built on site.

Another ice slide without tubes.

Every bit of this was blocks of ice assembled into the characters.

The displays were huge.

The pictures of this ice manger scene don't begin to show how fantastic it was.

All was going well until we headed back to the parking area to leave. It was a trek. They had a few 6 passenger golf carts picking people up to ferry them out to the lots. We saw one coming up the road. He stopped and we headed across the grass to the road. I stepped off the curb onto what should have been an 8 inch drop to the road. Instead, the road slanted back towards the curb with a big 20 inch drop. Of course, the street lighting was out in that area and the curbs were not marked or painted. I went down and face planted on the road with my feet down into the drop area. There won't be any pictures but my chin was abraded as well as black and blue. I was very lucky I didn't break any teeth but the whole area was swollen. My elbow was damaged and my knee was very black and blue. Not a good way to end the evening.  the driver just wanted to give me a hand and pull me up but I couldn't move at that point. Thankfully my son is very strong and just got behind me and lifted me up. I would say the Marriott has some real safety hazards they need to fix.