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.