Texas

 

 Texas is

a big big state. 
a world of it's own
diverse and interesting

I drove from cold Carlsbad through Western Texas. It has to be the ugliest area of the country, perhaps of any country. Fracking, Oil rigs, blowing trash unhindered by anything, miles of nothing but scrub and low income housing for the miners/rig workers. There were many miles just to slog through and not a lot to see or do. I will not venture there again. And you might not want to either.

I made it to Corpus Christi to meet up with an old dear friend who would spend the next ten days with me. We had hopes that CC would be more interesting and warmer. I had thought of spending time on the beach soaking up some sun but it was quite cold- like the rest of the trip. We put Gina in a doggie caretakers house for a couple days and went to a variety of spots to catch the famous Texas coast. The cold rain put a damper on our excursions. We found a couple of interesting places but nothing that invited us to spend time relaxing. We took a ferry and say dozens of dolphins, fed the grackles from our hand as we waiting and explored the coastal towns northeast of CC. 

One highlight of our time in Christi was the King Ranch, 45 minutes from CC where we had scheduled a Nature Expedition. A small van took our group of 8 over miles of this huge territory (The King Ranch is bigger than Rhode Island). We saw many different birds, javelinas (similar to a wild pig) an armadillo, deer, their specialty cows- which were quite lovely. It was many hours of stopping and seeing, my favorite kind of excursion. In Corpus Christi we had fair barbeque and some Mexican food. (high on the list).

     After picking up Gina and tending to some minor fixings to the van we headed to San Antonio. Molly, my friend, had gotten a hotel right in town - The Crockett, which we enjoyed very much. It was convenient to the Riverwalk, the Alamo,  and we visited a historical mission,  visited an architectural part of town,a botanical garden. Ate more barbeque. One night we went to the rodeo. It was quite the affair! In a stadium setting with lots of cowboys, families and decked out couples- fringes, cowboy boots and hats. A real slice of Americana. 

The following day we walked along the Riverwalk and had an outdoor breakfast with Gina enjoying the

folks walking by. She was very into being part of the group and enjoyed being included in activities. As it was Valentines Day there were many courthouse weddings going on in the central square. Nice to feel the love. Heading to Austin, Molly was a good sport to travel with Gina on her lap as we traveled.

As we did not spend days on the coast we headed for Fredericksburg, Northwest of Austin which had a fair amount of history and a large beginning of German heritage. It was a nice little town, busy as it was a three day weekend for Presidents Day. We found a funky hotel and spent a day walking the streets and eating and wandering in and out of shops.

We were right near Luchenbach, known far and wide from the Willie Nelson/ Waylon Jennings song  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jptq7fKHIqQ&ab_channel=FordCountryboy1995) so we deviated a bit and it ended up being one of my favorite spots. It is not a town as was expected but a music venue with some weathered buildings and stages scattered among the trees. It was a spot I could have settled into one of the live concerts which are frequent and regrettably not playing when we were there but we partook of the local color and bought souvenirs. 

Austin, a young, vibrant city is chock full of 20/30 somethings. We were the oldest ones wherever we went. Walked around the town, visiting parks, hip streets, had a pleasant evening with some good jazz. A woman singer, a guitar player and a fine bass player. We visited cowboy boot stores, ate local ice cream, and walked, walked. Molly flew home from there  and I began the long trek home.