Trip to Goliad State Park, TX

The day was very overcast with dark clouds looming and we got a late start but we headed off to visit Goliad State Park anyway.  It took about an hour and a half to get there but we stopped to take some of those wild flower pictures in the last post.  Definitely worth it.

First I need to explain about sock monkey as you may see him appear occasionally in pictures.  My son and daughter in-law picked him up in New Orleans as a travel mascot.  So, sometimes he comes to visit.

We arrived at Goliad State Park and headed to the picnic area.  We planned to have a picnic lunch.

The area was nice and it is certainly green.

The kids picked out a picnic table.

Oops, no wood fires?? Only charcoal??  Oh, we forgot matches anyway.

You are going to cook the hot dogs in a package on top of the engine??  Really???  Can you do that??   Sure you can.  The engine is hot, the hot dogs are covered.  Presto~we forgot the hot dog buns???   So, low carb hot dogs served with apple slices, string cheese, chips, drinks.  No problem~

So we took a look at the San Antonio River while the hot dogs were "cooking".

Wow, this tree really has to hold on tight!

Our visit had a special bonus today that we did not even know about until we got there.  The rangers were teaching the kids how to make corn husk dolls.

Morgan and I headed to a table where they were making girl dolls with skirts.  This volunteer gave Morgan some special assistance with the tying.

These young ladies had already finished their corn husk dolls and offered Morgan some pointers.

Cameron and Steve headed over to a table where the rangers were giving some pointers on male corn husk dolls.  Steve had to tie the last couple of knots when Cameron added a cape to his superhero.

The kids had a really great time doing this activity.  Great idea rangers~

Pretty cool, these are just corn husks soaked in water and string.

Next we were off to see the Mission Espiritu Santo.

This little garden was ready to plant but a couple wild flowers showed up early.

The Mission was built by priests and native people in 1758.  The stone remains were still there when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored it and coated the church building with white plaster.  The CCC did so much for parks all over the country.   

Inside the buildings, there were some great displays of items used in those early mission days.

There were a couple of large looms with fabric partly completed to show how they worked.

The kids are looking at a forge and bellows with an anvil next to it.

This room was set up as it would have been used for living.

This is the church with a bell tower on the top right.

There were cannons in place to defend the whole mission.  Sometimes we tend to think of missions as just churches but they were actually whole communities.

Inside the church.  There were no benches here but pretty much everything else for a working church was in place.

The colors were so bright and beautiful.

Remember the bell tower.  Steve is pointing to the sign that asks each person to pull the bell rope only one time as it is old.

Morgan had a little trouble getting her "gong on".

Next we were off down the Aranama Nature trail.

Our next hike was over to the Karankawa camping area. It was quite nice and also had screen shelters one could rent.  They had a picnic table but you would have to bring your own cots or mattresses to sleep on.

The signs were very clear about why you should not feed the animals.

We also checked out the Vaquaro and Longhorn Tenting areas as well as the Jacales Camping area.  All the areas were full of campers having fun in spite of the threatening skies.  Our next stop was....