Texas - part 1

Big Thicket National Preserve

In our last post we didn't get round to explaining that we had to exchange our rental car in Baton Rouge - it turned out that the car we were assigned had been sold ! Although inconvenient we ended up getting a nicer car and with a full tank of gas too, so we did alright out of it, but there were more car troubles ahead...

Anyway, as we crossed the state line in Texas in the new car, we stopped at Big Thicket National Preserve, a heavily forested area that has been preserved as a county park. Multiple habitats converge here in South East Texas, providing an incredible diversity of wildlife, and we did a lovely five mile hike through some of the nine different ecosystems that thrive here. Driving south, the Gulf Coast drew within sight and as we passed through Port Arthur we started to see oil rigs and support vessels lining the waterways. On the coast, Sea Rim State Park remains undeveloped and serves as a wildlife sanctuary, in stark contrast to the developments of beach houses that became more prevalent as we drew closer to the Boliva peninsula. Its still a nice area though, no supermarkets, chain stores or fast food joints, just lots of houses on stilts that look like they are holiday homes. Though there is little else here, just a twenty minute free car ferry ride to nearby Galveston can get you to everything you need, which is where we based ourselves for a few days.

Historic Mission Control at the
NASA space centre Houston

From Galveston we drove up to Houston to visit the NASA Space center, doing a tour of the campus by mini road train to view the historic mission control room that served NASA for many years. It was here that either some or all of the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle missions were controlled and managed from, and therefore the place where those famous words "One small step for Man" and also "Houston, we have a problem" were first heard, which makes it a pretty special place. The room is now decommissioned and serves as a museum, and the new mission control is just one floor directly below.

Boeing 747 Jumbo with a
Space Shuttle on its back 

Flight operations were in progress when we visited so we were unable to see that room but they did put a live feed on the tv screens for us to see what was going on. We also saw the Space Vehicle Mock Up Facility, another full scale Apollo rocket, plus there was plenty of space history on display in the visitor centre, and a jumbo jet with a Space Shuttle on its back in the entrance to the car park, so it really was a full day out.

The San Jacinto Memorial.
At 567 feet tall it is the worlds tallest masonry column.
The Star on the top weighs 220 tons !
Everything is bigger in Texas.

Texas has in interesting history, as we learnt at the San Jacinto battle monument and museum. Originally colonized by the Spanish in the late 1600's, the land that is now Texas was claimed as one of New Spain's provinces, becoming part of the original Mexico. In the early 1800's Mexico rebelled against Spanish rule in the Mexican War of Independence, and subsequently became its own nation, encouraging immigration from the fledgling Union by offering land very cheaply. Colonists came in their droves, and in fifteen years immigrants outnumbered Mexicans by five to one. Mexico subsequently stopped immigration and imposed central goverment control, but unsurprisingly the settlers didn't like this, and in the early 1830's they rebelled against Mexican rule. The battles between Colonists and Mexicans culminated in the decisive battle at San Jacinto in 1836, led by General Sam Houston, after which Texas declared its independence from Mexico. It then briefly became a Republic until 1845, when it was admitted to the Union and became the 28th state. The monument at San Jacinto is a grand memorial to all those who died at that bloody battle, the tower standing 567 foot tall and with a small observation platform at the top giving commanding views over the area, including the nearby WW1 battleship "Texas" memorial museum.

Batttleship "Texas", taken in panorama.

On our way back to our base at Galveston, the car flashed up a "Change oil soon" message on the dashboard. It had only done just over 7000 miles but America changes oil at much shorter intervals than Europe does - often every 3000 miles. So, another call to the rental company, who suggested driving it up to Houston to swap cars again. "No way" we said, partly the traffic, partly because we've only had this one for a few days and partly because its a nice car and we weren't keen to risk getting another crappy one in return. To cut a long story short the company agreed for us to get a drive thru oil change done on the car at a nearby Firestone garage, and despite a little hitch getting payment on account we were done within the hour, so fingers crossed for no further problems as we have plenty mileage coming up.

Greeting from Austin !

With the car sorted, we headed off to the city of Austin, which is the the capital of Texas. We stayed outside the city and took a 30 minute bus ride in each day, doing an organised tour on the first morning to get our bearings. Its a big and diverse city, and the tour took us to the Capitol building, around the huge University of Texas campus which is the fifth largest in the nation,  Hope Outdoor Gallery which is basically a legal graffiti park, the site of the first Whole Foods Market and nearby the current Whole Foods flagship store and offices, plus various music and art districts, and the best places for food trucks.

We spent a few days here exploring on our own after the tour, plenty of walking around and a few trips out in the car too. The city reminded us of Portland, Oregon, in that it has a young population, quite arty, new age and alternative, healthy and fit, and full of street art such as the famous "Greetings from Austin" postcard painted on the wall.

Gruene Hall

Leaving Austin we headed for the city of San Antonio, stopping in Lockhart for lunch at Blacks BBQ which is the oldest BBQ pit in Texas, established in 1932 and continuously owned and run by the same family. We also stopped at the historic village of Gruene, to see Gruene Hall which is the oldest music hall in Texas, built in 1878. The tables were all engraved with names, date and slogans, and we reckon the place could tell some tales.

The Alamo on the right, with the Long Barracks to the left.

And so here we are in San Antonio, which has a very Spanish feel to it.  We've been all round the Downtown area, and along the Riverwalk both by boat and walking, which is just such a great place with its waterways winding along beside a plethora of restaurants, bars and cafe's. Nearby is a stark contrast with what remains of The Alamo - the site of the famous battle where the Mexican Army laid siege and subsequently slaughtered the defending Texans. Again we've learnt a lot of history here, far too much to put into this blog this time but you can read about the Battle of the Alamo by clicking here.

Here's the latest selection of photos on Facebook too, and we'll post again soon.

The gulf coast of Florida to Pensacola, and then across into Louisiana

Apologies in advance as this is a double helping since we've fallen behind a little with everything we have been doing and seeing !

Enjoying the sunset at Cedar Key

Leaving Homosassa we stopped for two nights at Cedar Key, a network of islands extending into the Gulf of Mexico. Theres only one road in and one out, and it felt like going back in time - a bit like being on Alderney, but without the wind blowing. There wasn't much to do here but it was so calm and quiet that we could hear and see the dolphins hunting for fish in the shallow waters, and the sunsets were simply stunning.

Heading westwards toward the Big Bend region of the Florida panhandle, we stopped at St Marks Wildlife refuge where the park rangers were doing a controlled burn to clear the undergrowth. We also saw the St Marks Lighthouse, built in 1867 and up until very recently the original fourth order Fresnel lens was still in daily use

Selfie with the Batmobiles !

Reaching Tallahassee, the state capital of Florida, we did a great tour of the Tallahasee Automobile and Collectibles Museum. It is a private collection that is more than just a museum, sporting a wide selection of cars, from vintage to modern, motorbikes from all era's, vintage outboard engines, and a collection of rare steinway piano's. That's not all, there's collections of knives, golf clubs, guns, sporting memorobilia, fishing lure and vintage spark plugs, and more besides. Arguably the highlight of all the collections is the Batman section where three original Batmobiles are displayed along with many Batman artifacts, making it quite a unique place to visit with something for nearly everyone.

Sunny day at Wakulla Springs

Nearby is Wakulla Springs, the longest underwater cave system in the US and the sixth longest in the world. The spring is a first magnitude, and water flows at an average of 200-300 million US gallons per day. This forms the Wakulla River which flows southeast to join the St Marks river before emptying into the Gulf at Apalachee Bay. Here we took a short boat tour down river to see more wild Manatee and the abundant bird life, and we're told its the closest we'll ever get to the true wild Florida. It was a stunning place and easy to see why this park was used for filming scenes from the original Tarzan movies, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The Birthday Girl !

Making our way back to the coast via the Apalachicola National forest preserve we ended up at Panama City Beach. Its a stark contrast to the nature that we came from, very built up and touristy, and nicknamed the Redneck Riviera. Its a prime destination for Spring Breakers, when in March around 200,000 college students head for a week of partying in the sun. Its geared up for it too with plenty of tacky souvenir shops, funfair rides and happy hour bars- just imagine Benidorm meets Blackpool, but in America. Fortunately late January is still quiet season, only a few snowbirds still around and the town starting to wake up and get ready for the onslaught. We didn't do too much here either but had several nice walks on the beach, browsed some shops and celebrated Sel's birthday with a slap up meal at a popular seafood restaurant. (We might add that it was not the place in the photo !)

Inside the National Naval Aviation Museum

Reaching the western boundary of the Florida coastline we stopped at Pensacola, visiting the National Naval Aviation Museum. Its the largest museum of its type in the world, with 350,000 square feet of exhibition space displaying over 150 aircraft from all era's of flight. The museum is in the grounds of the Naval Air Station Pensacola which is home to the Blue Angels, the US Navy's aerobatic squadron, and many of their former planes are on display here too.

Downtown Pensacola has plenty of history, being one of the first European inhabited settlements of what is now the USA. The Spanish were the first to arrive and settle here during the 1500's but the city has been ruled by five governments - Spanish, French, British, Confederate States, and the United States, earning it the nickname of the "City of Five Flags"

A balcony in the French Quarter,
ready for Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Having changed rental cars at Pensacola we hit the freeway, crossing the state line into Alabama briefly, then crossing into Mississippi, and then into Louisiana. Our destination was New Orleans, pronounced by locals as Norlins or N'Awlins. Straddling the mighty Mississippi river, New Orleans is a major port and well known for its unique blend of culture, music and cuisine. Its a true melting pot and most tourists head for the French Quarter, where the world famous Bourbon Street is located. By day the streets are filled with bands playing Jazz and Zydeco, and on weekends those streets are filled with party go-ers and revelers. With Mardi Gras coming up soon, many buildings were elaborately decorated in the parade colours of gold, purple and green.

The French Quarter, New Orleans.

Mardi Gras runs for several weeks and now has many parades, culminating in the big parades this year on the 17th Feb - Fat Tuesday. Its mixed emotions for us that we'll miss the biggest parades but we did see the preparations and also the first parade of the season which gave us a good taste of the big day, but without the crowds. We saw plenty of other things here though, the historic French Market, Louis Armstrong Park, and the historic St Louis Cemetery no 1. We also sampled Cajun and Creole cooking, with dishes like Jambalaya, Gumbo, Crawfish Ettoufee and Corn Mach Choux, plus a bite of Alligator, though our favourite place was definitely Cafe Beignet on Royal Street where they served hot sugared beignets (donuts), freshly made to order.

New Orleans skyline from
the Steamboat "Natchez"

No trip near the Mississippi would be complete without a ride on a paddle steamer, and New Orleans is home to the last authentic one on the entire river, the Steamboat Natchez. We picked the perfect afternoon for great views, and we also learnt lots about the history of this unique city too. One area we passed on the river was the ninth ward which was the area completely devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The Louisiana state museum near Jackson Square has an amazing exhibition on this subject, providing an incredible insight to the devastation and destruction, the hardships that followed, and the spirit that rebuilt the city. Looking around now there is little sign that it ever happened, but it was amazing to get a feel for what the citizens of New Orleans went through.

Sampling Tabasco on Avery Island

As we left New Orleans heading North to Baton Rouge the rain poured down as we drove through dense swamp land on elevated roadways. On the way, we stopped at Avery Island, better known as the home of Tabasco sauce. We did a free factory tour there, learnt about how the peppers are mashed with salt from the mine on the island, aged for three years in used bourbon barrels, before being strained and mixed with vinegar and then bottled. We were surprised by how many different products lines Tabasco make and they had every one available to taste, including a Tabasco soda and two flavours of ice cream.

The Mansion house at
Oak Alley Plantation

Arriving in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's state capital, we visited both the old and new state Capitol buildings, the old looking like a castle and now used as a museum, and the new one having an observation deck on floor 27 with commanding views over the city. We also doubled back a little to visit Oak Valley Plantation, the site of an old sugar plantation where slaves used to live in the shadow of the mansion house, which has 300 year old oak trees lining its magnificent quarter of mile front entrance. The house has been restored and is open for tours, and the plantation grounds are a museum to plantation and slave history.

Phew, Thanks and well done if you've read this far, its been a long haul this time. We'll leave you with the latest album of photos on Facebook which brings us all up to date. Next post will be from Texas.