2024-02-10 Mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga- Goliad TX

 Saturday afternoon, Elaine and I headed over to the mission which is located right in Goliad State Park. I have been several times but it was Elaine's first trip to this area.

We picked a great time to visit as the park actually had someone who was going to doing a guided tour. We elected to go on our own rather than wait but he gave us some tips on where to go and what to see.

Reading that there were apparently some cannibalistic Indians located in this area came as quite a surprise. 

The inside of the church is pretty. It is not currently in use for services and there are no benches for seating.

While this wall fragment is not from this mission, it is what this mission would have been like.

We moved on to the museum part of the mission and Elaine tried on the chain mail and helmet. Both were very heavy. It's hard to imagine what a heavy load the whole soldiers outfit would have been.

Looking at this map shows just how much of the area was taken up with missions. The triangle piece is the only area that is not allocated to mission land.

After the missions were officially disbanded, two priests stayed behind with the town of Goliad.

This portion of wall was the only original wall left before the mission was rebuilt.

These are looms like what would have been used back during mission times along with the yarn showing what natural dyes would have been used to color...everything from plants to types of soil.

This is part of the work that the Indians would have done for the mission.

The Civilian Conservation Corps began rebuilding the ruins of the mission in 1935.

The missions were founded to defend Spain's territory from the French and Indians as well as to convert the local Indians.

We finished our tour just as the tour group including other members of our rally were ready to set out.

2024-02-09 Goliad TX TRR Rally

 Every year for the last 7 years the Texas Ramblin' Roses chapter of RVing Women has held a rally at Goliad State Park in February (yes, even the 2022 Armageddon winter). Vickie and Barbara have hosted every year. This year they were assisted by Marlene. Goliad is a small but very popular park even in February.

Some of us arrived early and had dinner at Agave Jalisco restaurant in town. Forgot pictures but dinner was good. Surprisingly our waitress didn't know what sopapillas are and didn't speak Spanish although she was Mexican.

Friday several of us drove over to the J Welch Winery which is also a farm. It's located near Victoria. They had a very nice little store behind the main building and outside seating. There were many kinds of olive oil and vinaigrettes set up for tasting. Karol is quite an expert at this and she explained that you put a little oil in the tasting cup and hold it in your palm gently swirling it. It warms and it does make a difference in taste. There were lots of other goodies like t-shirts, sweat shirts as well as wine and olive oil gifts.

Our next stop was the outside patio area where some of us tried flights of wine or individual glasses of wine along with cheesy bread, pizza, and charcuterie. It was all delicious.

Back at the park, lots of visiting or playing games like Mexican Train were popular all weekend. 

Saturday morning went into Goliad for their monthly Market Day. This was a Veteran's Memorial by the courthouse.

There were booths all around the courthouse square. Almost everyone left with a purchase of some kind.

This is the Goliad courthouse. It is beautiful and sits right in the middle of the town square like so many small town Texas courthouses.

There is some history here like the Hanging Tree.

Santa Anna's surrender was ratified.

And who wouldn't love these very colorful cows on display.

Saturday afternoon Teri had her new to her vintage RV christened by our president.

We all got a tour after she showed us the outside storage area. She is a full-timer so storage is important.

Next up was a picture of all the rally attendees.

Saturday night the hostesses treated us all to delicious chili while everyone else brought sides and desserts. Entertainment was western poems and stories. Sunday we were treated to a fantastic breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy by our great hostesses. Some of the group had to hit the road while others of us stayed around for some more relaxation. we had some wonderful warm weather for this rally this year. That isn't always true.

2024-01-27 San Antonio Botanical Garden

 Saturday my granddaughter and I took a trip to the San Antonio Botanical Garden. It was my first time but Morgan had been there for a Christmas lighting trip.

This was the only map we saw of the garden which made it difficult to know where you were. For the price of admission, they should give you a map or at the very least have maps situated throughout the garden as it is quite large and easy to miss out on places you wanted to see.

This is Naoko Shirane, a representative and cultural ambassador from Japan. The statue is in front of the Japanese garden.

Pansies, a hardy flower that can take some winter cold. There is a butterfly on the flower but I just couldn't catch him with wings open.

A typical winter garden with ornamental cabbage and hardy flowers.

There are a couple of houses in the garden representative of hill country homes.

Ducks on the pond.

I almost missed seeing all the turtles. Did you notice them in the last picture?

This majestic hawk was surveying the grounds from a palm tree.

There were several different greenhouses with different climates in them.

Also some other sculptures.

Tropical plants and trees here.

Desert cacti here.

I have never seen or even heard about these very tiny cactus each about the size of a brussel sprout.

These cacti were positively creepy. Good thing the lighting was good or I would have freaked about snakes.

This greenhouse was loaded with orchids.

This felt like a visit to Hawaii.

All in all, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon and do a lot of walking.