Day 16 - 25 ~ TEXAS

We will be spending 10 days in Texas re-visiting San Antonio. Visiting for the first time will be Austin and Dallas. Also, a two-day visit with friends at their ranch outside of Dallas.

 

Feb 20^th:  We had to pull over about 20 minutes into the drive. The winds were very strong. We continued on hoping it would eventually change directions to where the wind would be behind us instead of pushing us sideways. The wind did calm down a bit after a few hours

We traveled into Texas on Highway 10. We had to go through another border patrol checkpoint. We also went through one when we entered New Mexico. As with New Mexico, we were just waved through.

Texas has the best roadside rest stops. The comfort stations are inside a beautifully designed building.  Some include a tornado shelter. The grounds surrounding the main building are landscaped with gardens, walking paths and covered picnic stations. Outside are landscaped gardens.

FORT STOCKTON

It’s a long drive to our next destination so we broke it up with an overnight stop at Fort Stockton. This town dates back to 1858 when the US Army established a cavalry post on this site which soon prospered as a trade center. Today is there are oil fields all over the landscape.  The only thing here (besides the oil fields) is the Annie Riggs Memorial Museum. A 1900’s hotel that catered to early travelers that came through on a stage coach route.

We drove into a new time zone; we lost an hour. We also lost an hour when we drove into Arizona, so we are now two hours ahead of California. After 286 miles and 6 hours we arrived at FORT STOCKTON RV PARK.  It was dark, cloudy and very cold.  We set up camp and since we are only staying overnight, we did not unhook the trailer. This is a small park with about 100 sites. It is an unimpressive park with natural landscaping and dirt interior roads and pads.  The sites are spacious though. There is cable TV, but very weak WiFi. Dave could get connected, but I could not.

 

SAN MARCOS

Feb 21:  We departed early as it was going to be another very long day.  We continued on Highway 10. It was an uneventful, boring drive.  Not even the scenery was pleasant. After 349 miles and 8 hours, we arrived at PECAN PARK RIVERSIDE RV. 

This RV park is outside of town alongside the San Marcos River. There were a couple of caravans in this park. One of them was an Airstream group. It’s a family owned and run park and fairly nice.  There is an indoor pool and rec room that the owner family uses as well (their kids use rec room as a playroom). The service buildings do need work. But the grounds have grass and trees and the sites are spacious. Unfortunately, the caravan groups do get loud and rowdy in the evenings.

We are spending four nights in San Marcos. This location is between San Antonio and Austin, two places we want to visit and explore.

SAN ANTONIO

Feb 22:  San Antonio is about 50 miles to the south of us. It took an hour to get there and we had quite the busy day. We visited the botanical gardens, the zoo, and had an early dinner along the River Walk. We did not visit the Alamo which was near the River Walk.  We’ve visited there a few times before so we skipped it this time. But we drove by it. We got home way after dark to two very hungry kitties.

 San Antonio Botanical Gardens

We sent about two hours exploring the gardens. It covers 38 acres and includes the Lucile Halseli Conservatory which is a complex of 5 green houses that showcase orchids, tropics, desert, palms and fern grotto. It was a beautiful day to explore these gardens.

San Antonio Zoo

The next three hours was spent exploring the 56 acres of the San Antonio Zoo. We visited here 10 years ago. There has been many improvements and expansions.  We did not recognize anything. 750 animal species reside here and it was fascinating to see some species we have never seen or heard about before.

 

 Spectacled Bear ⇩ 

 Fossa – Madagascar’s fiercest predator

This is a species you don't see too often in zoo's. 

 First time we've seen this animal.

 Clouded Leopard  ⇧

 I asked a zoo staffer, "What's with all these buzzards?"  
He said "It's Texas". These birds are local and all over the state.

 Nile Crocodile    ⇧ 

 Bush Dog  ⇧

Another species you don't see often in Zoos.

  At the time this statue was made, there were only 3 Northern White Rinos left in the world. Breeding had been unsuccessful 
and now the only male is gone. 
Soon there will be none. This is so sad 😞

River Walk

At the last minute we decided to go to the River Walk in the downtown area and have an early dinner. The San Antonio River runs through the heart of San Antonio and tends to flood in that area, some years it causes death and destruction. To solve the problem after a devastating flood in 1921, they created a channel to relieve the pressure. This channel is a 15-mile loop off a section of the San Antonio River. The developer’s loved it and built hotels and restaurants and made this area into an attraction. At one end of this channel is the Alamo, a famous and major attraction to this city. After we got there and noticed the thick crowds gathered along the water, we realized they were celebrating Mardi Gras. Parade boats cruising the river were tossing colorful beads to everyone. We could not get close enough to the water’s edge to catch any.  

Did not visit the Alamo, 

but we drove by it on our way out of San Antonio

FREDRICKSBURG

Feb 23:  Was first settled by German farmers who began arriving in 1846. Downtown main street has quaint boutiques, home décor, unique clothing, German restaurants and tons of winery tasting rooms. It’s about a 1 ½ hour drive, west of San Marcos. We spent the day there enjoying the shops; only looking – did not buy anything.

 Very little signage of Trump supporters in Texas so far. This is the first mass merchandise I've seen in a store. Have yet to see anyone wearing a MAGA hat yet.  Hummm, are Americans waking up? Time will tell.

AUSTIN

Feb 24:  Is about 35 miles north of San Marcos. We spent our last day there visiting the capital of Austin. It’s a large city, but only a few skyscrapers. But the traffic is as bad as any large city. There was major construction on a few blocks by the State Capital. This was our first stop and it took forever to find our way there as all the streets around the capital were closed. Finally, we found a parking garage nearby under a museum we will visit later.

State Capital

This is quite beautiful.  It was completed in 1888 and is made of “sunset red” granite and the dome is crowned by the “Goddess of Liberty”; a 16-foot-tall statue of a woman holding up a gilded five-pointed star.  We took a guided tour and the inside is quite impressive. It is 3 levels and the rotunda and dome are large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty. There are also 3 levels of the capital below ground.

This group is singing under the dome with no microphones.

Impressive!  Turn your volumn up.

  Senate ⇧

 House ⇧

All the doors have these hinges ⇧

The Bullock Texas State History Museum

This museum is a few blocks in front of the Capital.  We visited this place until closing. The museum covers three themes; Land, Identity and Opportunity.  There are 3 floors of interactive exhibits showing the first inhabitants and early explorers, the fight for independence and statehood, and the contributions to space, industry and technology. In the Texas Spirit Theater, we watched an ½ hour movie called “Shipwreck” about explorers looking for the Mississippi River, but ended up shipwrecked off the coast of Texas. There where special effects such as wind, mist, lightening, spraying, and birds flying by the back of our heads. A very interesting museum. We really enjoyed our visit here.

 

 

 

This was exciting to see; 

I was a Blue Bird and a Camp Fire Girl once upon a time. 

DALLAS

Feb 25:  It's going to be a long trip this morning as we head for Dallas. Stopped at another of those great Texas rest stops. Checked out the storm shelter there and read about tornadoes.  

 

We are staying in Grapevine, TX, about ½ hour outside of Dallas. We will be here for 3 days and plan on exploring the sights in Dallas. We have never visited here before. After 234 miles and 4 hours, we arrived at the VINEYARDS CAMPGROUND & CABINS. This is a very nice RV park. It is on two fingers that stick out into Grapevine Lake.  Most of the sites are lake front. Out site is spacious with a nice view of the lake. Unfortunately, there was a cold front during our 4-night stay with lots of extreme wind. We could not sit outside our trailer and enjoy the views and beautiful sunsets. It was freezing. In fact, our water hose froze one night and we had no water in the morning.

After “setting up camp”, we went to historic downtown Grapevine to find a place to eat.  Lots of quaint shops, tasty restaurants and of course lots of wine tasting rooms. We had a nice Italian dinner at Farina’s Winery and Café. Darn…I had forgotten my phone, so no pictures of this excursion☹.
    

Dallas Museum of Art

Feb 26:  It is referred to as DMA and was established in 1903.  It is among the 10 largest art museums in the country. It has more than 24,000 works and spans 5,000 years of history.  It is a very impressive museum. 

"Hart Window" 1995 - Dale Chihuly

 

⇧  This is a tomb marker where the plaque describes the deceased as a 41 -year old woman who died in the early 4th century CE.  Chinese grave markers often include a tortoise, one of 4 "spiritually endowed" directional deities. The other 3 are the dragon, the phoenix and the unicorn.

⇧   "Heavenly Guardians" Tang Dynasty (618-907)

⇧   Still Life, Tea Service 1872 - Claude Monet 

 

 ⇧   "Dorothy" 1900 - John Singer Sargent 

⇧   Marshmallow sofa 1954-1955 

Across the street from the Museum of Modern Art is Klyde Warren Park with lots of fine eateries. We had a wonderful lunch at a classy place called "Savor". 

  

Dallas Zoo

Feb 27:  This is a very large zoo and most impressive. It is in two large sections; ZooNorth and Wilds of Africa. There was a lot of construction going on in the massive Savanna habitat.  So no viewing of elephants, giraffe, zebras, ostrich and Kudu. We will have to return. We had fun at the gorilla habitat.  There we saw a family of mom, dad, and two babies; a brother and sister. Sister was a year older. 

 Gigantic sculpture in at entrance to parking lot at the zoo.

 

The zoo "train" rides on a track above the zoo.  

Gives you a much better views of the animals.

KICK BACK RANCH

Feb 28 & 29:  About 160 miles east of Dallas, near the town of Longview is Kick Back Ranch, built by our friends Nancy and David. They are from Napa and moved here about 5 years ago. They built this beautiful ranch about 2 years ago.  We set up our trailer on the property and enjoyed a wonderful visit with them for two days. We were spoiled with delicious breakfasts, dinner and great conversations. They showed us great southern hospitality. We hated to leave.

 David and Nancy

 

 The ranch includes 5 cows, all hopefully pregnant, and 2 heifers.

I went ahead and named the two heifers below Princess and Buttercup.  
Now that they are named, they can't be eaten!    

David and Nancy took us to Canton (an hour’s drive away) to experience the famous First Monday Tradedays.  This event takes place on the weekend before the first Monday of each month.  This is the worlds largest flea market that covers 450 acres with 7,500 vendors.  Wow, you would not even see all of it over the 4 full days.  It was so overwhelming.  Everything you could possibly want or need would be here. Everything you don’t even think you need or want would be here too.

Got the above pic off the internet. Those are not parked cars.  

They are all vendors. There are also vendors inside all the buildings.

Next stop is Louisiana!