Texas and the Old Spanish Trail

We met our friends, Pete and Suzy Lybecker at Potters Creek campground on Canyon Lake on Sunday 4/4/10 just north of San Antonio. Our plan is to travel as much as we can along the Old Spanish Trail (more about this later in this post) in the southern states.



However, we couldn't leave Texas without visiting the Alamo. The fort is a lot smaller than you would expect and located in the middle of downtown San Antonio, TX.

This a side view of the main area of the fort. The lower window is located in the room that housed the only survivors of the battle.

The grounds of the Alamo were beautiful and the plants were getting their spring growth.

Not far from this historial setting were some modern art displays.

A beautiful, park setting is the well-known Riverwalk of San Antonio. It began as a river flood control project and grew into a below street level walkway along the river. We took a 40 minute boat ride with a great tour guide with a good sense of humor.

Some of the riverwalk is located near hotels and shops but some areas are quite peaceful.

The following pictures are some of the historical sites along the boat ride.

An optical illusion.

Some new baby ducks. The mother gave us a brief look at them.

Launched in 1915 in Mobile, Alabama, as a connector route between New Orleans and Florida, the Old Spanish Trail (OST) soon expanded to a transcontinental trail linking St. Augustine, FL, to San Diego, CA. Pete and Suzy have already traveled along some of the OST in Arizona, New Mexico and eastern Texas. In San Antonio, we found this decorative bench provided by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

We visited the Guenther House. This was the home of Hilmar Guenther and his family. He was the founder of the Pioneer Mills which has been in business for over 150 years. The home was set up as a museum, restaurant and gift shop.

The original mill still exists on the property.

This is one of the original grind stones.

Near the Guenther house, there was a walking tour of some historical homes. They all had an interesting story and were unique in design. Many of them are now owned and maintained by a historical society.

We spent a few days near Columbus, TX and enjoyed walking around this town that was also on the OST. This building currently houses the United Daughters of the Confederacy Museum.

This building was built in 1886 as the Stafford Opera House and is the largest flat floored opera house in Texas.

There was also a cute Santa Claus Museum.

This log cabin was built in 1836 by a colonist of Texas.

It was fully furnished.

Who's older - the cabin or the couple in front of the cabin? It's a trick question.

We next drove from our campground in Broussard, Louisiana, along the OST route. We were excited when we spotted this sign and soon discovered that Louisiana is one of the only states to promote the history of the OST. Some of the cities along the trail and our drive were New Iberia, Jeanerette, Baldwin (where Suzy spotted this sign), Franklin, Patterson, Morgan City, and Houma. We had seafood gumbo and boiled crawfish and shrimp for lunch at Big Al's in Houma. We really enjoyed seeing this part of Louisiana.

We were intrigued by the spanish moss growing on oak trees. It is actually a plant but resembles moss.

Because of the high water table in Louisiana, the vaults in the cemeteries are above ground. This is an older cemetery and needs a little TLC.

Here's a newer cemetery. It was fascinating.

Because of the frequent floods, most houses are built on blocks of sorts so the water can just flow under them. Probably helps in drying out after the water recedes.

We saw water everywhere. They are actually called bayous.

Everything was green in this area. There were flowers and wildlife along the bayous.

Saw this snapping turtle along one of the waterways.

We ended our tour of this part of Louisiana with a stop at a french bakery.

Bill enjoyed the orange blossom baklava.