Road Trip: Rosenberg

Aug. 22

Our road trip to Rosenberg started with breakfast tacos with our son and his wife, Pete and Christi, at their house. After great time of visiting, they joined us and we drove to a small farmer's market and purchased some honey and vegetables. Ironically, on our way to visit the Rosenberg Railroad Museum, we had to wait on a very slow train for about 45 minutes. After making our way down town we arrived to tour the Rosenberg Railroad Museum.



While the depot is a replica of the original one, the yard area was very nice and had several railroad artifacts on display. The museum sits next to the modern, active tracks that run through the city.

After a brief introductory video about the history of railroads in Rosenberg, we toured the museum galleries. The Roy Ekstrum Lantern Collection is on display. This is an extensive collection of both oil burning and early battery lanterns used on the railroads

Pete practicing the lantern signals.

A short way into the exhibits, Larry, the museum's docent, joined us to give a more detailed tour of the displays. He was very knowledgeable and interesting and his engineer attire only added to the visit. "There are objects used by employees in the depots, in the railyards, and along the tracks, as well as job titles and descriptions of many long-gone occupations. There are also buttons, badges, tools, lamps, lanterns, china and flatware, locks and keys, brochures and timetables"

The exhibits are educational and informative.

I spent a large part of my time at the Hobo exhibit. There is lots of information and artifacts about the American Hobo. This was very interesting since I remember the hobos that came to my grandparents house when I was growing up. My grandparents lived close to the railroad tracks in a rural setting, actually their land boundry was at the tracks. The hobos would come to the house and grandpa would give them work to do (or grandma since she had a list on hand if grandpa wasn't home) in exchange for a meal and tea or lemonade. While they worked grandma would cook a meal, usually chicken, bread and lemonade. The hobo would eat his meal outside under a tree when his work was finished. Grandma would always wrap the rest of the meal and send it with him. While we kids were not allowed to go outside while a hobo was there, I remember them as very courtious, well mannered and, while their clothy was frumpy and tattered, they were always clean.

It seems that today's hobos are modern thrill seekers who jump train cars for a month or two and then return to their comfy homes and lives. We found out there are even Hobo festivals and reunions.

Christi ringing the engine bell on display in the yard area.
The museum grounds offer railroad memorabilia that can only be displayed outside, the water tower, a hand cart, Tower 17, and the Quebec Railcar.

Inside the second story of Tower 17 the docent walked Pete and Chuck through how the interlocking machine worked. "The electro-mechanical interlocker controlled the railroad signals and switches, and only one route could be set up at any one time, and helped to prevent accidents by allowing only one train through the crossing at a time." (from the RRM web site ) It is set up with green lights on a panel to show how the tracks and trains are changed to move in the desired direction

Directly across the street from the museum is the Another Time Soda Fountain and to my pleasure they really DID know how to make old fashioned ice cream sodas. I'm not sure how old the building is, but when you step inside you're stepping back into the 1950s. The decor is vintage and reminiscent of poodle skirts and saddle oxfords. They have a menu that includes soups, sandwiches, hamburgers, fountain sodas (yes even cherry cokes) and ice cream.

It was a treat to just sit and take in all of the decor and age of the building.

The serving counter is all original as are stools that line the counter and are attached to the floor. Some of the equipment used to make the delicous treats even looked to be original.

Display of original soda fountain memorabilia
Chocolate ice cream soda

Christi & Pete enjoying an afternoon treat.

That evening we enjoyed supper at Los Cucos Mexican Cafe. Chrisit had told me about the stuffed avocodos they served and it was time to try one. The avocodos are stuffed with fajita meat (beef or chicken) and two kinds of cheese, then lightly breaded and fried with a third cheese generously served over the top. Rice, beans and a soft chicken taco completed the dish. It was just as wonderful as Christi had said. The meal was great, served in a timely manner and hot when it arrived at our table.

It was a great and wonderful day!

Aug. 23

We met Christi and Pete at their house then went shopping at an inexpensive and favorite Mexican clothing store. We all managed to leave with purchases, some even on sale to our surprise.

As we prepared the camper to return home Chuck and I were almost giddy from the great time we shared with the kids and the interesting places we got to see. We will be returning to Rosenberg to kidnap the kids for another adventure.

All photos from trip

Road Trip: Bastrop

Aug. 8

It seems 'the creek' (home base for the camper for the south and west road trips) has been semi officially named 'Goat Creek' during this trip in honor of the goat that visits the property from time to time. Our oldest son, Matt, has seen it once as it napped in the storage building. Welcome Mr. Goat!


This was one of the best trips yet. To our good fortune, but Matt and Mel's misfortune, 2 or their cars had broken down. Saturday morning we took a side trip to their house in Elgin and while hubby and son bonded over gears and engines, Mel and I got to spend leisurely time visiting. Any day spent with our kids is a GOOD day.

While driving to Elgin we stopped at the Hopewell Rosenwald school. The school is not being used except for storage. It stands neighbor to the Hopewell Baptist Church on Hwy. 21. close to Cedar Creek and only a few miles from the school/community center at St. Mary's Colony. This was a one-teacher school built in 1921-22.

Rosenwald Schools, Fisk database

"The smallest design was for a one-teacher school, but it was not a one-room school. Throughout the rest of its existence the Rosenwald program would continue to classify its buildings by the number of teachers, rather than the number of rooms, to emphasize that its schools provided work rooms, cloak rooms, and, in larger schools, auditoriums and offices as well. Thus the one-teacher school included a classroom for academic instruction, a smaller industrial classroom, a kitchen, a library, and cloakrooms."

"Sliding doors and removable blackboards to open up interior space was a signature element of the Rosenwald schools."

Detailed information about the exterior and interior of the schools can be found HERE.

We spent the late morning and early afternoon with Matt and Mel, unfortunately two cars were still not running when we left.

The kids met us later in the evening for supper at Cedar's Mediterranean Grill in Bastrop. This restaurant offers Mediterranean and Italian delights. Between the four of us we polished off a chipotle hummus with pita bread for an appetizers, entrees of chicken parmesan, chicken rollitini, lasagna, and salmon. We topped it off with cheese cake and baklava and took lots of leftovers home. I can personally recommend the chicken rollitini - it was fabulous! Cedar's Mediterranean Grill Well worth the stop, excellent food.



Aug. 9

We drove to Bastrop and made our first stop at the Fishermen's Park. This park is at one end of a very nice, paved, lighted river walk. Ferry Park is found at the other end of the walk.

Fishermen's Park has vehicle access, as well as, access to a boat ramp. Nice shaded playground equipment, picnic tables and benches. Being Sunday morning, or the fact that it was already in the high 90's, just a few folks were out and about, running or walking their dogs, otherwise it was quiet and very nice.

The river walk is about 3/4 mile long and meanders along the Colorado river. We decided it was much too hot to walk the entire length, but did wander for a short distance and caught glimpses of turtles sunning on logs, ducks and geese, and a couple of kayaks. Earlier we had read there would be Christmas lights displayed on the entire walk from the week-end after Thanksgiving until New Years. We decided we would come back at that time and walk the entire length.


We then drove to Main St. and with a walking tour guide in hand walked up one side and back down the other side soaking in the information and history about this very old town. Here is the Bastrop Opera House located on a side street. Built in 1889 and restored in the 1970's, you can enjoy a variety of live performances.








The 1890 Old Iron Front Saloon with second story raised parapet of pressed tin.








Lock Drug store built
in 1905, complete with
soda fountain still
in operation.





The 1883 Haynie Building boasts an ornate parapet.

We again found that so many of the smaller Texas towns have so much to offer and Bastrop is no different. We will visit their museum on another trip through this lovely, old town.

Road Trip: St. Mary's Colony & Capitol of Texas Zoo

July 26, 2009


This road trip was actually to drive to Dripping Springs for Chuck to purchase an RV generator. A close friend was meeting us at 'the creek' to pick up some pipe and our oldest son was coming out for a while. Rather than sit and wait, we drove up the road to check out a sign we see everytime we travel Hwy 21.

St. Mary's Colony: according to the Handbook of Texas Online "St. Mary's Colony, a black farming community, is located in the far western corner of Bastrop County, seventeen miles west of Bastrop on State Highway 21. The Doyle and Patton families founded the community shortly after emancipation when their former owners, George and Mary Doyle, gave them 2,000 acres of land. St. Mary's Colony was named by a preacher known as Meridan. At one time its population was more than 300. "

"After World War II many people moved from the colony to Austin for employment rather than endure the hard life of dry-land farming. The colony had dwindled to a few families when Willie Mae Wilson, a former resident, sought the help of United States representative J. J. Pickle to bring water lines to the area. In 1976 Pickle secured a $2.7 million grant enabling the Farmer's Home Administration and the Aqua Water Supply Corporation, a Bastrop-based water cooperative serving rural areas of the county, to do the project. Water lines began serving St. Mary's Colony in the early months of 1979, and former members of the community began to return and set up summer homes. The St. Mary's Community Center, formerly an old two-room schoolhouse, was renovated in 1979. "
We drove down the road marked St. Mary's Colony. It led to a large water tower at the end of the lane. There was also an abandoned building that we soon realized was a church. There were a few pews left behind and scattered papers and hymnals. From the papers and 2004 church bulletins we figured out this was the St. Mary's Baptist Church. The bulletin was for a 33rd church anniversary on April 4, 2004.





Just as we got back in the truck we noticed an entrance of some sort flanked by short, square columns made of brick with a hanging gate. It didn't take us long in wandering around to see that this was a cemetery. Some of the stones went back to 1933, but as we drove off we saw through the underbrush several other stones that looked older. It's quite overgrown and I'm sure a lot larger than we first thought.





Additional sources online showed that the two-room school at St. Mary's was a Rosenwald School. The Rosenwald Schools played a significant role in the black communities of the South. Knowing a little about them, we drove back up the highway to check out the St. Mary's Colony Community Center. Yes, this is the old Rosenwald School. Built in 1925 - 26 it seems to have had some changes, though few, and probably new siding. Rosenwald school linkshttp://rosenwald.fisk.edu/
http://www.rosenwaldplans.org/


As we got back on the highway to check out the next treasure, a Rosenwald school at Hopewell, we saw our son pull into the drive of 'the creek' so we went to meet him. Most of the afternoon was spent driving to Dripping Springs with Matt (son) and our friend, Carson accompanying us. We mentioned to Matt yet another sign we see every trip to 'the creek', Capitol of Texas Zoo. Knowing that the Austin zoo is on the west side of Austin, this peaked our interest. We jokingly commented that they probably had one really old camel and a llama. Matt had heard of it and said in 2008 there had been newspaper articles about a camel named Moses and it's side-kick, a shetland pony, being stolen from the that zoo. OK, so we'll just see a llama! We decided to check it out on Sunday morning.

That evening we drove to Elgin and had supper with Matt and Mel at a Mexican restaurant. A completely and wonderfully great time visiting with the kids. We so enjoy any time we have we our kids!


July 27

Sunday morning we drove to the middle of NOWHERE to the Capitol of Texas Zoo . I had finally, after a lot of searching on line, found they were open on Sundays and the admission was $8 per person. As we drove up to this very small building to the left and nothing (I mean nothing) but bare sand in front of us, I remarked that $8 each was going to be waaaay too much to pay to see this place, but we were there, let's see it anyway. Surprisingly there were a couple of families inside the fencing and we could see some of the kids feeding goats. OK, so they have a petting zoo.

We walked into the little building and found a young man that is the owner/founder of the place. He has a degree in zoology and had previously worked at 3 major zoos before deciding to start his own little zoo. He found property that he could afford in Bastrop county where the restrictions on this type of organization was not as strict as Austin or other areas. Thus, the Capitol of Texas Zoo in the middle of nowhere! Very likable man. Inside that building we looked at the prairie dogs (who would be getting a new colony built at the zoo soon) that had been rescued from some northern state when their colony was going to be bulldozed to build a subdivision/strip center, a rescued cockatoo, some pythons, snakes (the rattle snake decided to make his presence known, ugh) and some lizzards. Bought a cup of food and was about to enter the zoo. I did mention Moses the camel being stolen. But to our delight:
MOSES IS BACK! The owner said he was pretty sure he knew who had taken Moses and his friend, the bossy shetland pony, Coco, but could not prove it and no charges were filed. Several days after they disappeared, an elderly black man mile or so away (completely unaware that there was a zoo or a camel anywhere around), got up one morning and saw he had a camel and a pony in the pasture with his cows. He called the sheriff.





While Coco would not cooperate in the photo session, Moses was more than happy to oblige. He loves attention.

This place is carved out of 23 acres of cedar trees. One main path has been cleared with little cul d' sacs feeding off of it. The cedar trees that were cleared are used as fencing and posts in several of the animal cages. The place was a whole lot larger than first impressions. While it was already starting to get very hot, we were always in the shade but for the walk from the lower area to the upper area where the lion and white tiger were housed.

The zoo has had the white tiger since it was 10 months old. We happened to be there when the volunteer that takes care of the tiger and lion was there feeding and caring for them. The tiger was rubbing against the fence to get his quota of petting and loving for the day (by the volunteer, not us). The lion, named Bamboo, was breed to be in movies, but alas turned out to be a cowardly lion and not suitable for movies.




We also saw many species of parrots, ostrich, lemurs, tortoise, wild boar, pot-bellied pigs, goats, a huge mountain lion, bobcat, small deer, several things I couldn't even pronounce and were asleep in their dens and couldn't be seen, turtles, rabbits.......... well, the list just goes on and on.

The zoo is manned and operated by the owner and volunteers. We talked to a couple of the volunteers who were very nice and informative.

The zoo has public restrooms and has added a snack bar area with 6-8 picnic tables. They have programs they take to schools or organizations and you can rent the facilities for birthday parties, etc.

We left very satisfied at paying the $8 each and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our visit. We knew that, again, we had found a surprising and delightful little treasure. It is well worth the trip to visit the Capitol of Texas Zoo.

I managed to leave the house without my camera, so all photos of this trip were taken on my cell phone camera. I won't make that mistake again! Photos are not the best, but you can see all photos of this trip here: Road Trip: St. Mary's Colony & Zoo

Road Trip: Luling & Rockne

July 10 & 11

Hubby and I put the girls (our 2 dogs) in the truck and pulled the Casita camper to our property just outside of Mustang Ridge (better known as 'the creek') and set up for a two day mini vacation to see some of the sights in the little towns close at hand on July 10 & 11.

We started out by driving over to Luling. We got there too late to visit their little museum, so made our way over to Zedler Mills. http://www.zedlermill.com/History.htm This is a site on the San Marcos river where a Mr. Zedler ended up owning a complex of mills; grist mill, saw mill,

cotton gin, corn crib, mule barn...... you get the idea. The Zedler Mills Foundation and the city of Luling are working at restoring the complex as an exhibit/educational site with a meeting/reception area. The setting is beautiful and while work has begun, it seems they have a long way to go. http://www.zedlermill.com/Zedler%20Mill%20Philosophy.htm

The dam on the San Marcos river used for power at Zedler Mills.

It was a very enjoyable outing and we spent about an hour and half on the site, but in 103 degree weather on a Texas July afternoon, the heat finally won and we moved on to the next curiousity.

We then drove a few main streets of Luling and saw the artwork on 4 or 5 of the small oil/gas pumpers scattered throughout town inside the city limits. It seems the city contracted a local artist to "dress up" the little buggers. It really was cute, especially the ones where the eyes on the face moved back and forth or the football players legs moved.

We drove back to Lockhart to meet our youngest son, Pete, for THE thing Lockhart is known for....BBQ, the decision made to return to Luling to visit their museum another day. Since then I have found there are a couple of other museums in the Luling / Lockhart area, so we have another full week-end trip in our future for the area. In Lockhart we met Pete at Kreuz Market and spent a leisurely 2 hours enjoying good BBQ, Bluebell Ice Cream and great conversation.

Finished for the day we went back to 'the creek' to let the girls have some outside time.

Sunday, July 11, 2009

Back in the truck, we drove to Rockne located on Hwy. 20. Most of the information about the smaller towns in the area I found online. Rockne is a small Catholic parish named after Knute Rockne and has a small museum and pioneer cabins. I honestly wasn't expecting much, but, then again, we weren't out to see the big city sites. I was in for a very pleasant surprise.

The little town had a couple of previous names, but in 1931, Fr. Francis Strobel proposed that Sacred Heart Parish community have an official name. School children were given the choice to vote on the names Knute Rockne or Joyce Kilmer. The boys voted for the football coach and the girls voted for the poet resulting in a tie. The next day one of the girls changed her vote due to a conversation with her father who was a great fan of the coach, thus giving the community its name, "Rockne".

Three wonderful ladies swarmed on us (and I mean that in a gentle, likable way) and gave us their complete and total attention. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of two of the ladies, but Minnie (center of photo) is the museum's Director. She and her volunteers have done an outstanding job with the museum and displays. They gave us a thorough tour of the one room museum and it was obvious that not only they, but the entire community, has a deep sense of pride in their community and it's residents. History and information was not just gained through the displays, but through the three of them reminiscing about growing up in the community, the weddings, funerals, and family gatherings they attended.
We then went outside to Hilbig Park where the community, as volunteers, relocated two of the early pioneer cabins and reconstructed them as part of their display of history. A very large undertaking for such a small community. We toured the two cabins and said goodbye to the ladies of Rockne. It was an absolutely delightful visit!

for more info about Rockne: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txrha/b-histry.htm

From Rockne we traveled west on Hwy. 20 and drove through Red Rock and on to Dale. Since our property has a Dale address we wanted to see the town. It has a post office and 2 - 3 older store fronts. One seemed to house a metal artist, but was not open. There are 2-3 churches, a volunteer fire dept. and a handful of houses with a railroad track running through the middle of it all. At the time it didn't seem like much, but with further investigation later, apparently we were visiting at the wrong time of the day. It seems Dale is known for it's ghosts. http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/7/Texas_Dale_ghost_sightings.html

We've decided we will not be returning to Dale during evening hours to check out their particular history.

All in all it was a very pleasant and delightful week-end. The fact that it was an inexpensive week-end made it even better. I recommend it to anyone wanting to "see Texas". So with one such trip under our belt, we have decided to do it again and again. Looking up the history and then visiting the little towns and hidden places within 40 miles of 'the creek'.

All photos of trip

http://picasaweb.google.com/ljvest/LulingLockhartRockne#

One of the more pleasant and enjoyable things we can do while using 'the creek' as home base is visiting with our oldest son and daughter-in-law who live in Elgin. As we completed this trip, we drove to Elgin and visited with them for a couple of hours. A very nice conclusion for the trip.

I'll let you know what we find!