We still don’t have the best internet connection but we haven’t done much to blog about anyway. We move to a new destination tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll have better internet and phone service. Barry has spent most of his work time at an area McDonalds. It’s a bit of a pain but the girls love taking turns to go with him. It kind of works well for me, too. I send one girl off with a bunch of schoolwork while I get to work with the other two.
Today was a very uneventful day. Barry and Éva went to a little church in the area that they enjoyed very much. I stayed home with two kids that didn’t feel well. It was quite windy but very sunny.
Our blogs posts are going to come in spurts for at least the next week. The internet here is the worst we’ve had yet. Barry will have to go to McDonald’s to work every morning. We may have to post 2 or 3 days worth of blogs at a time.
We didn’t do much today. It was in the 70s but very humid.
The thought struck me today as we were walking on the beach at the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas, that just a few months ago we were walking along the shoreline of Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan. I couldn’t help but remember some of the places we have visited on our way from the top of the country to the bottom. We’ve only been in 7 states so far on our trip and yet we’ve seen so many different areas. There really isn’t a work to describe how amazing and beautiful our country is!
This morning we left Willis, Texas. We headed to a new RV Park that is closer to Houston. We drove through a very different and interesting area. It was very flat with a lot of scrubby vegetation but it was beautiful. Because of all the rain, the grass here looks like new spring grass. We enjoyed seeing more Texas Longhorns than we’ve seen since we’ve been in Texas.
Another sunny day! This is two in a row. Can we go for three? I think we will!
Today we drove north to College Station, TX. The Houston area still has quite a few brightly colored trees. The farther north we drove today, we saw less and less color. Still it was a nice drive. It seemed to be a country of wide open spaces.
One of our goals is to visit all 12 of the Presidential Libraries. In 2013 there will be 13 when George W. Bush’s library will be completed. Guess we’ll just have to make another trip back to this great state! Today we visited George Bush Presidential Library and Museum (#41). It’s our third library behind William J. Clinton Library and Museum and Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
We haven’t blogged very faithfully because we’ve been busy with Christmas. Things have finally settled down a bit so I’ll hit a few of the high-lights.
On Monday, December 19, we woke up to rain (Surprise! Surprise!) so Barry spent the morning working while the girls finished school. After lunch, we headed to San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Fortunately, it quit raining.
The Missions are a very different park in that you have to visit each of the four missions separately, driving to each one. The missions are a set of four Catholic missions (The Alamo is technically the fifth one but is not a part of the National Park Service) that were established in the early 1700s by Franciscans and Spanish representatives with the purpose to acculturate and Christianize the native population and make them citizens of Spain.
I haven’t blogged because we have put all our energy into two areas: school and the sights in and around San Antonio.
I don’t know where to begin. We fell in love with San Antonio. We arrived at our campground in Schertz, TX, in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, December 18. We set-up camp and headed right to the Alamo. I think I mentioned in one of the previous posts that we had just studied the Spanish Missions, The Alamo, and The Texas Revolution in U.S. History, so this was perfect timing. The Alamo and the grounds around it are beautiful and very interesting. An informative movie by the History Channel and various displays helped explain all that happened at this historic site. You couldn’t help but feel a great sadness for those brave men, women, and children, sense their desperation, but also admire their grit and courage.
I know that I’ve mentioned clean cities, universities, and attractions in other blogs. This may seem strange but we have been to a few places where cleanliness has stood out so much that it was the first thing we noticed. Of these places, Austin, Texas, wins the award for the cleanest of the clean!
We enjoyed everything about Austin. What started out as a somewhat cloudy day turned out to be a beautiful, spring-like day in the 50s. Every now and then we would see a tree still in full color to remind us that it is technically fall. We spent as much time outside as we could.
We know that we won’t be able to see everything we would like as we travel the United States. We’ve been in seven states and feel like while we’ve seen some amazing things, we are only scratching the surface. Our goals for each state help us choose which places to visit. The state capitals, National Parks, Presidential Libraries, and major historical highlights of each state top the list.
The Texas State Capitol is amazing! It is very big and is somewhat different that other capitol buildings we’ve visited. Our first stop was the very well done Capitol Visitor Center. It has exhibits on different aspects of the capitol building and Texas history. I was very pleased when we saw exhibits on the very sections of history we had read about last week in school.
Self-guided tours of the grounds and capitol building are offered but we chose to take a guided tour that gave highlights of the origins of some Texan Christmas traditions. I was a little skeptical about the Christmas part. I wondered what could be so special about Texas Christmas traditions over any other state. It turned out to be very interesting. When we think of Texas, we think of a strong Mexican influence. Our guide and exhibits along the way, pointed out that Texas also had a strong European influence as well. It was interesting to learn how each group had a part in framing Texas Christmas traditions.
Our tour also included a tour of the Senate Chamber, The House Chamber, Rotunda, and Foyer. It was neat to find out that the capitol was designed by architect Elijah E. Myers from Michigan who also designed the State Capitol in Lansing. His original design included skylights in both chambers. The Texas sun made it impossible for the politicians to meet so a roof had to be put over the skylights. We could have taken elevators up to the beautiful Chambers but we choose to take the stairs with their old fashioned banisters. Texans are proud of their history and they show it through the many paintings, statutes, and décor that are found throughout the capitol.
The grounds around the building are worth a visit in and of themselves. There are several government buildings that border the manicured lawns and gardens. Statues tell of the bravery and grit of several aspects of Texan history. We were delighted to see Santa ride up to the Capitol on a horse and a wedding party using the beautiful grounds as a backdrop to their special day. None of us wanted to leave so we took the long way to the parking garage.
We drove by the University of Texas and Memorial Stadium on the way to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. I highly recommend touring this very fascinating place. Presidential libraries and museums are not only about that particular president but about life in the White House and a history of the time in which that president served. They deal with a very small period of American history in great detail. You not only learn about what that man did as president but get a glimpse into his personal life as well. We found the exhibits that dealt with Lady Bird Johnson, the Kennedy assassination, and a very 60ish oval office to be especially interesting. There is also an actual moon rock and presidential portraits of every president and first lady from Washington to Clinton. If you visit, make sure you leave time to watch the movie on LBJ’s life.
Before leaving Austin, we drove by the Governor’s Mansion which is under construction due to a very extensive fire in 2008. We couldn’t see very much of it but we did learn quite a bit about it at the Capitol Visitor Center.
Austin, Texas, is worth a visit. There’s so much history and beauty to this great city. We’ve loved Texas and feel like Austin was the icing on the cake!