Quick Trip to Dallas

Quick Trip to Dallas

September 25, 2019

Old Red Courthouse

The Old Red Courthouse is an iconic structure in Dallas that I often planned to visit in the past, but it never seemed to happen.  So, when the opportunity took place recently, Pat and I invested a little time to explore what is now the Old Red Museum.

Visit Dallas

The first stop was to visit the Dallas Visitor's Center on the first floor to search for other events and places we might also experience while in town.  We found out that Phil Collins "Not Dead Yet" tour was performing that evening at the American Airlines Center.  I looked at Pat.  She smiled and shook her head and verified my own conclusion.  So, I guess we will wait till after he is dead.

Welcome

We enjoyed the museum displays about the history of Dallas such as this photo of the first riverboat to make it up to Dallas on the Trinity River.

Harvey Riverboat

We were also reminded of the history of the Texas State Fair -- back to 1890.

After the museum, we booked a room in the Hampton on Commerce Street and spent the afternoon, evening, and the next morning foraging and exploring the downtown area.  Lunch foraging revealed an Indian food restaurant named Spice in the City where I dined on Gosht -- whatever that is.

Indian Steak Gosht

Then there was a happy hour in a very noisy Irish Pub, and an excellent Irish stew washed down with -- you guessed it -- a cold glass of Guinness.

Irish Stew and thick, brown bread

For rent, electric scooters could be found on almost every street corner, and lying in other various places.  I started to rent and ride one -- against Pat's advice -- but when I read the rules it was clear that they were only legal in the street, not the sidewalk.  Of course, many young folks were riding them on the sidewalks anyway so that they were a little scary to us pedestrians.  Anyway, Pat got her wish, and I broke no old bones.

Lyft Scooters

On Main Street, we happened upon this eyeball exhibit that's about 30 feet tall.  Interesting.

Giant Eyeball

I sometimes wonder why we ever visit a big city like Dallas.  After all, we love the country where we live and find city-driving a little nerve-wracking.  So, we sometimes calculate the costs and benefits of city visits.  Of course, cities can be dynamic, energetic places with lots of things to do, -- but at our age, bars, nightclubs, sports, and theatrical events do not hold enough attraction for us to be worth the effort.  However, museums, parks, and some restaurants sometimes suck us into the city.  And, obtaining a TxTag for driving on Texas tollways makes the driving much less complicated, but it's still no great fun.

Guess I feel lucky to still be able to drive city traffic without somebody honking at me more than once or twice on a visit.  So, maybe one reason we sometimes visit the city is to prove that we still can.  Oh well!

Maybe the main reason for writing this particular blog is so that when the itch to visit a city returns, I can re-read these words to assist in the decision-making process.  Yes, the city can be an exciting place.  But, when we return to our woodlands and listen to a pair of Barred Owls excitedly exclaiming their devotion to each other -- then the quiet of the woods returns -- I'll take the peace, tranquility, and nature in my woods over the city any day.

Table of Contents:  https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6813612681836200616/3382423676443906063?hl=en

Most Dangerous Beach

Most Dangerous Australian Beach

 

September 17, 2018

Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia

According to someone named India Irving (1), "Fraser Island is located just off the Southeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, and is the number one "most dangerous beach in the world." 

First of all, the island is an actual favourite hangout for young Great Whites.  However, it is not only known for shark attacks, but for dingo attacks as well. Dingos are a breed of feral dog native to Australia and, like any wild, undomesticated predator, can be extremely dangerous to humans. Beyond the sea, even the sand itself is dangerous on Fraser. Whether you are walking or driving through it, the sand poses a number of hazards.

The ocean itself is known for being exceptionally rough, and for its powerful riptides. Since there are no lifeguards on patrol at Fraser, nor any warning flags, tourists often jump in for a dip and find themselves unable to get back to shore.

Many tourists, for example, find it enticing to run down sand dunes into the lakes below, but, because the sand in the lakes can’t be seen, the depth is often hard to measure, leading to enthusiastic sand-divers sustaining head injuries yearly. When it comes to driving your car through the sand, there are multiple accidents and roll-overs every year too."

Tourist diving into Lake Wabby

So, why is this large, dangerous, sand island of interest?  Because it's where I took my family for a Christmas vacations back in 1975.  See that guy in the above photo taking that dangerous dive -- that's me.  I survived.

Remember, Christmas in the southern hemisphere takes place in summer, so it was a little warm during the day but sea breezes kept it rather pleasant overnight.

My new friends (the Bloods and Yules) at the University of Queensland, organized this trip to the island which required that we rent 4-wheel drive Land Rovers, tents, cooking utensils and such which were ferried across Hervey Bay to Fraser Island.  Hervey Bay is know as a Humpback Whale nursery, but we saw none.

Robin and Kyley Yule, Ellen and Brian

Our goal was to drive around this largest sand island in the world and explore its beautiful beaches, inland rain forests, and fresh water lakes and such while camping along the way.  There were no paved roads and the sandy beaches could sometimes be a little soft, so 4-wheel vehicles were necessary.

Our first night was spent in the rain forest of huge Eucalyptus trees in a place I named "Camp Mossy" -- because our tent was too small for all five of my family so I slept in the un-screened Land Rover and fought mosquitoes all night.  The word "Mossy" is the Queensland language for mosquito.

Camp Mossy

But, next came the beach -- the beautiful, wide, beach with almost no other person in sight.  The sparking, blue-green waters of the Coral Sea curved far out over the horizon toward the islands of Melanesia -- islands out there somewhere that were too far away to see.

View from Indian Heads

The colored sand cliffs offered a scenic and challenging part of the trip.  When driving this long beach backed by cliffs, it was virtually impossible to escape from the beach at high tide.  So, if we were stuck in the sand at high tide -- goodby Land Rovers.

Colored Sands

We found camping sites up off the beach where we could find some firewood and some protection from winds.

Middle Rocks Campground

We spent Christmas day here, eating Christmas watermelon.

L to R: Russell Yule, Ellen, Jimmy, Kylie, Barbara, Robin, Brian and Pat

L to R: Lloyd Blood, Brian, Kynwyn, Ellen, Jimmy, Kylie and Russell opening presents

The wives took turns cooking over a campfire.

Pat's turn to fix the tucker

 

When we began to feel a little grubby, we visited one of the inland, fresh-water lakes where we could clean up.

Time for a bath

Then we fed bacon to the tame turtles.

Feeding Turtles in lake Borrarady

Every day, we would break camp and drive further on the beach -- stopping at interesting places.  This big "blow-out" (where the sand overwhelmes the vegetation) of sand dunes is a place we observed some Brumbies -- the wild horses.

Blow Out

Stop at Platypus Bay

But, maybe the highlight of the trip was a visit to a large sand dune on the northern end of the island.  It was maybe the largest sand dune in the world -- but maybe that's just Texas guesses.

Ellen helping Lloyd Blood to the top

At least the largest dune on Fraser Island

Jimmy and Russell flying over a sand dune

 

Ellen and Kylie helped little Kynwyn walk the beach.

Ellen, Kynwyn Blood and Kylie Yule

Peter Blood often stayed in the tent to read while the rest of us frolicked about on this playground island.  So, that's a major reason he was not included in these photos.  Here's a photo of him from another location so that all members of our Christmas party can be seen.

Peter Blood

 So, we finally took the ferry back to the mainland.  Other than donating a little Texas blood to mozzys, nobody was eaten by a great white shark and nobody cracked their skulls by diving into a shallow lake.  The kids all got along very well and seemed to have a good time.

After reading Mr. Irving's article about this dangerous place, I never really thought about it being so dangerous while we were there.  I'm actually skeptical that it is the most dangerous in the world -- but what do I know?  But it was certainly dangerous to this Maheno ship that wrecked during a cyclone.

The Meheno Ship wreck

 

I certainly treasure the memories of this great, Christmas vacation in such a wonderful, exotic Australian location.

(1) India Irving:  https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/this-is-the-number-one-most-dangerous-beach-in-the-world/

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High Adventure in Gatesville

High Adventure in Gatesville, TX

September 5, 2017

When my wife Pat and I wish for "high adventure," we go for a drive in the country. On one such drive, we packed enough clothing for several days and then decided which direction we might wish to go -- with no destination in mind. Since Houston was under water, the easy choice was west of our home in Bryan, TX. We got away bright and early -- at about 10:30 AM -- drove slowly on country roads, stopped frequently for coffee, lunch, naps or whatever. As we approached Gatesville, we decided that we were tired and checked in to the Holiday Inn Express.

We were told that the Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville is the second most beautiful in Texas -- second only to the one in Waxahachie. But, the locals in Coryell County know full well that their own courthouse is best.

Well, London, Paris and Rome may be great tourist attractions -- but Gatesville is the Spur Capital of Texas, if not the world.

The centerpiece of the museum is the Spur Collection.

A fellow named Lloyd Mitchell started his collection of spurs and established a reputation as a collector of historic spurs, so other folks began to send him spurs to add to his collection.

He even collected spurs from some well-known, the famous Mexican bandit Pancho Villa and Jackie Kennedy.

 

A little fine Texas art doesn't hurt the museum's reputation.

A few of spurs in Mitchell's collection -- that he donated to the museum.

One of our major finds in the Museum sales area, was this map of a couple of tours that can be taken in Coryell County.

Having nothing planned for the next couple of days, we bought this two-CD set of driving instructions and local history that we could play while we drove the recommended routes.

Much of the route was on small, country roads where we crossed through some rough cedar breaks, then open, green prairie pastures containing cattle, horses, deer and exotic animals. We found many small towns like Pancake, Turnersville, Coryell City, Oglesby, Leon Junction, Ireland, Evant, Bee House, Pearl, King and Pidcoke. Many of these towns were in some stage of decline and Fort Gates and Grove were ghost towns. 

To stay fresh, we parked our car and took a nap. The photo below depicts our napping spot under a shady walnut tree by the St. John's Lutheran Church near Coryell City. This area was settled by German immigrants and grew lots of cotton back in the 1920's or so.

Grove city ghost town. 

  

We drove through Mother Neff State Park that has suffered badly from floods of the Leon River in recent years. The have solved the flooding problem by building a new office, roads and camping areas on higher ground. 

This tour took two full days and we ended at Copperas Cove.  OK, maybe the tour was not really "high excitement," but it was fun and about enough excitement for us codgers.
 

Table of Contents:  https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6813612681836200616/3382423676443906063?hl=en

Tangaxuan in Patzquaro

Tangaxuan II

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Tzimtzincha-Tangaxuan II (died February 14, 1530) was the last cazonci (monarch) of the Tarascan state, the kingdom of the Purépecha from 1520–1530. He was baptized Francisco when his realm made a peace treaty with Hernán Cortés. He was executed by burning by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán on February 14, 1530.^[1][2][3]

After hearing about the fall of the Aztec Empire, Tangáxuan II sent emissaries to the Spanish victors. A few Spaniards went with them to Tzintzuntzan where they were presented to the ruler and gifts were exchanged. They returned with samples of gold and Cortés' interest in the Tarascan state was awakened. In 1522 a Spanish force under the leadership of Cristóbal de Olid was sent into Tarascan territory and arrived at Tzintzuntzan within days. The Tarascan army numbered many thousands, perhaps as many as 100,000, but at the crucial moment they chose not to fight.^[4]Tangáxuan submitted to the Spanish administration, but for his cooperation was allowed a large degree of autonomy. This resulted in a strange arrangement where both Cortés and Tangáxuan considered themselves rulers of Michoacán for the following years: the population of the area paid tribute to them both. 

Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, then president of the first Audiencia decided, to march on northwestern Mexico with a force of 5,000–8,000 men in search for new populations to subdue, and when he arrived in Michoacán and found out that Tangáxuan was still de facto ruler of his empire he allied himself with a Tarascan noble Don Pedro Panza, known as Cuinierángari, against the Cazonci. The Cazonci was tried for plotting a rebellion, withholding tribute, sodomy and heresy, and he was tortured and executed.^[5] His ashes were thrown into the Lerma river. A period of violence and turbulence began. During the next decades, Tarascan puppet rulers were installed by the Spanish government.

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Relaxing in Patzquaro

Relaxing in Patzquaro

August 28, 2019

The horse was knee deep in mud and being riden round and round in circles.  What in the world was going on?

Horse in Mud

 

 

We were visiting with new-found friends who were neighbors in an RV Park in Patzquaro, Mexico and watching this strange behavior.  The activity in this mud pit that was certainly not an accident of nature, it was obviously man-made.   Although none of us had ever seen this operation before, it did not take long to figure it out.

The workers added hay to the right kind of soil or clay, then water and the horse functioned like an animal mix-master to mix all that stuff together.

Adding Hay and Water

Of course, they were making adobe bricks.  After they got the right consistency and mixture, they shoveled the stuff onto a waiting wheel-barrow, and hauled it to the brick-making area.

Hauling the mud mixture

Using rectanglar boards, the mud mixture was packed inside and the bricks were formed.

Then, the bricks were left in the high-dry climate and after a certain time, were dry and hard enough to be used in building construction.

 

It was a very labor-intensive operation but the materials seemed to be relatively cheap.  With these bricks they could build a home like the one in the following photo.

This all happened on a trip that Pat and I made in 1988 down the east coast of Mexico, around the Yucatan Peninsula, to the southern tip of Belize, then over to and along the Pacific coast until we climbed back into the mountains and Patzquaro in the state of Michoacan.

So, there we were in the shade of our motorhome awning, chatting with this interesting British sheep farmer and his wife while enjoying a cool drink or two.  Interestingly, Authur and Jean Topping continue their RV adventures -- mostly in southern Europe while Pat and I sold our last motorhome a few years ago.  We still receive their fascinating travel reports. 

Looking carefully at this photo, you will see binoculars and bird books on the table.  Yes, we were also watching Mexican birds.  A blue, leaking faucet provided water for the local birds and was located very close to us.  Here are some of the birds we saw and photographed.

Audubon's Warbler

Black-headed Grosbeak

Bushtit

Curve-billed Thrasher

Hepatic Tanager

Summer Tanager female

Vermillion Flycatcer

Silky Flycatcher

OK, it's a pretty lazy way to go birdwatching, but it was very relaxing and fun.  We also saw other interesting birds such as a Blue Mockingbird, but failed to obtain a good photo.

Patzquaro proved to be one of the most interesting stops on our trip.

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