Galveston in the Summer time

Galveston in the summer? You bet! We've been wanting to go down there and check it out. Last year we'd planned to go down and a hurricane hit the city. 

Greetings from Galveston...in June!

This time we booked at the last minute. It was a different kind of adventure. We stayed at the Hotel Lucine. Opened in the 1960s, the motel was originally called Treasure Island Motel. It's right on the seawall directly across from Poretto Beach. 

After going through a decaying stage and a new name, the hotel was purchased by new owners and in 2024, it opened as the Hotel Lucine. It still has that 60s vibe. The best thing about the hotel, in my opinion, is the pool. This is the view from our balcony. The pool is enclosed within the hotel courtyard and there's always some shade. It was never too busy during our stay.

The pool is enclosed within the hotel courtyard and there's always some shade. It was never too busy during our stay. We enjoyed quite a bit of pool time.

Another cool feature of the hotel was the upper deck that is over the lobby. You can sit out there and watch the ocean or the people on the beach. Its very relaxing.

We also tried several new restaurants while we were there. At Rudy and Paco's, we celebrated (belatedly) John's birthday. It was very upscale but the food was good. We enjoyed it quite a bit. Another place we tried and liked a lot was the Sunflower Cafe.

As it happens, I forgot to pack jammies. So we walked over to the surf shop where they sell crazy shirts and souvenirs. I got a Galveston shirt to take home. I know it's huge. That's because it's meant to be jammies.

We wouldn't be us if we didn't check out something historic in this town. This is the League-Kempner House. It was built by JC League in 1893 for himself, his wife and his daughter. That's right 14,000 square feet for the three of them...and any servants they had. When Mr. League died, the house was sold to Eliza Kempner. She lived there for several years with four of her adult children. The house was on the verge of being lost. But then it was saved.

When you walk in the front door, this is what you see. At the landing of the first flight of stairs is a stained glass window which has been taken down for safekeeping during the renovation. For the most part, the house is in decent shape. But it will need some work.

For example, there was a termite infestation that took a while to treat. The whole left wall was chewed up but luckily, the buggers stopped when they got to the hardwood built in buffet. This house has so many cool built in features. It was built by Nicholas Clayton who did the Bishop's Palace among other things in Galveston.

We got a guided tour by one of the volunteers. She had lots of fascinating information about the house and the people that lived in it. When Eliza Kempner bought the house, she added on to it quite a bit. She had lots of people living with her. The third floor was servants quarters but she converted it to bedrooms. This is the view out of one of the windows. There's no AC but it's built in such a way that when you open all the windows, you catch the Gulf breeze.

This is the port cochere that leads up to the beautiful porch. There were porches on the second floor off the daughter's bedroom and off the master bedroom but they were enclosed by Eliza Kempner. I love these old houses and it makes me happy that someone else does too. I wish I had the money to help with the restoration.

Relaxing on the balcony of our hotel. It was surprisingly not busy in Galveston. I expected it to be wall to wall people and crazy traffic but it's not. Of course we were down there during the week but even so.

Bolivar Point Lighthouse from Fort San Jacinto.

When we were out here at Fort San Jacinto in the winter, the place was packed! This time we had it all to ourselves which was nice.

We also got a break on the weather, which was beautiful. The sun was warm but in the shade it was quite nice, especially when walking on the seawall. We got a lovely breeze.

The courtyard and pool at night. 

Walking along the seawall at night.

It was a short trip this time, only three days but it was quite enjoyable. I'll leave you with the gang of pelicans that kept flying over the hotel. Sometimes in this v-shape, sometimes...not.

Our Annual Pilgrimage to Colorado Springs

This is our fourth time to escape to Colorado Springs. We first went back there during 2022. We'd been talking about working remotely and decided to give it a shot. Plus, we have friends that live there, so another reason to go back. And finally, we really like it there.

But to get there....

You head north on 287 and you pass through several small towns. In keeping with our "stop and smell the roses" them in retirement, I've wanted to stop in these towns. So we picked one to check out. This is Claude, Texas. It's the county seat of Armstrong county and it's about 30 miles south of Amarillo. This is the courthouse, the second for the county. It was built in 1912.

This used to be the Armstrong County Jail. Now it's the sheriff's office. I'm not sure where the prisoners go now. We got to go to the Armstrong County Museum, which was the highlight of this visit. We thought it would be small and quick. It was not. It was quite extensive.

This is the Gem Theatre. It opened in 1915 as the Claudia Theatre. It started out hosting live performances before it transitioned to movies. In 1992, it was renamed the Gem Theatre when it became part of the Armstrong County Museum. When we toured the museum, we went through. It's been restored, including the balcony. 

Also part of the museum is the Claude Newspaper building. We were outside taking photos before we went inside. We met this lady, I'll call her "Bea". She must have been about mid to late 80s. She was the sweetest lady. She said, "Well, I was about to come out there and ask if I could help you!" I guess she was watching us. I told her we were taking pictures and she said, "Well take all you want outside but you can't take pictures in here." Rats. But, we got a guided tour through the museum. It was awesome! She talked to us for an hour going over exhibits and photos in the museum. 

Next stop was Amarillo. We've stopped here before but we've never stuck around long enough to do anything. So this time, we spent a day there.

Amarillo is the county seat of Potter County. This is the Potter County Courthouse. Those people sitting on the benches are inmates! I'm just walking around taking photos and John said, "Uh, honey..." There was a sheriff sitting there as well.

I'm sure you've heard of the Cadillac Ranch where all these Cadillacs are buried nose first in the ground. That's way off the beaten path. But right near our hotel is the Slugbug Ranch! Same thing, different car.

Almost as soon as we got on 287, we started seeing these signs for the Free 72 oz steak!

Well, here's the restaurant in Amarillo. There are rules. First you have to pay up front. It's $72 plus tax and I would assume tip. Then you have to eat all of the steak AND the fixins which include a roll, a shrimp cocktail, a side salad and a loaded baked potato. You have one hour to finish the entire meal. You can't leave the table once you start. No one can help you or touch your plate. If you get sick (I think they mean yak) then you automatically lose. Oh, and if you lose, you're welcome to take the leftovers with you. The first person to complete the challenge was a 445 lb. wrestler named Klondike Bill back in 1963.

As we were driving around, we saw this sign and the field. So John did a little googling and we found out that Amarillo has a double A baseball team and they were playing that night. Of course we went.

The Amarillo Sod Poodles were playing the San Antonio Missions. The Soddies were on a winning streak but they lost to the Missions that night. The Sod Poodles are a feeder team to the Arizona Cardinals and the Missions are a feeder team to the San Diego Padres. It was fun.

One other quick stop on the way to Colorado Springs was Dalhart, Texas. Dalhart was founded in 1901 and is named for Dallam & Hartley counties. It was a railroad town and a junction for one of the biggest ranches in Texas: XIT Ranch. The XIT Ranch was founded in 1885 and, at one point, consisted of three MILLION acres of land. This is the Dallam County Courthouse. It's a cool looking building.

In Colorado Springs were were going to go to the gym at the hotel to walk on the treadmill when we realized we were in a beautiful part of the country. So, this was our walking trail: The Garden of the Gods! We've been here before but it's so gorgeous that we went back...twice!

This rock formation is called the kissing camels. Can you see them?

Colorado Springs is the county seat of El Paso county. This used to be the county courthouse but now it's the Pioneer Museum. It's free and it's gives the history of El Paso county. They had some pretty cool exhibits and they had a courtroom that they kept in tact.

Later, we had happy hour with our friends, Evangeline and Ariel. John and Ariel used to work together. We always enjoy hanging out with them.

This is called "Selfies with Gideon". We had so much fun playing with the kids. They are most entertaining.

This is the view of Pike's Peak. You can see this from most of the places around Colorado Springs. I never get tired of this view.

We were at Ariel and Evangeline's house when these guys came walking through the yard. There's a lot of wildlife in their neighborhood.

While in the Springs, we got a guided tour of the US Air Force Academy. Our future niece-in-law, Destiny, attends school here. One of her friends was kind enough to give us a tour of the place. It's really cool. You can do a self-guided tour of the campus but you don't really get a feel for what it like for the cadets. 

After the tour, our guide was nice enough to take a photo of us with those amazing mountains in the back. This was outside the gym. If I had to look at this everyday going to and from the gym, I'd be in heaven! 

Just outside the Academy gates is this memorial. This is a B-52 bomber, the type that was used during the Vietnam War. It's huge! Kylie, our guide, is going to be a pilot. I can't imagine her flying something this size. But, girl power! 

On our last day there, we did a hike in the neighborhood. That's Gideon and his Uncle Yoni waiting for us to catch up. I kept getting side tracked by the amazing views.

On the trail is this rock formation. Gideon calls it the animals. I guess they are shaped that way to him.

And he's right. Here's a turtle.

When we got all the way to the top, we got another photo. We had so much fun with everyone. We appreciate them giving up their weekend to hang out with us. We liked it so much that we will have to go back again soon...

The Chaney's hit the road: Waco and Belton, Texas

April and May have been a little tough for me but I'm back and ready to hit the road. We wanted to do a little road trip, an overnighter, some place close enough that we wouldn't be in the car too long but far enough away that we had to book a hotel. We chose Belton and Waco. Why? Why not?

The drive to Belton was about 2 1/2 hours. You go straight down I-35S and when you get to Temple, you hang a right and boom! You're there. Belton is the county seat of Bell County and home to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a private Baptist school.

We stopped at the University first. It's a beautiful campus. I wanted to know who Mary Hardin-Baylor was and why she had a college named after her. The school was originally named Baylor Female College back in 1885 and was named for R. E. B. Baylor (who also helped found the better known Baylor University). So...maybe Mary Hardin-Baylor was his wife? She was ahead of the times and she hyphenated? Nope! 

It's actually just Mary Hardin. She and her husband Jim Hardin were from Burkburnett and they discovered oil on their property. They became very wealthy and they gave a lot of their money away to worthy causes...like Baylor Female College who was in financial trouble. When the Hardins donated money, they renamed the school after Mary who had been a schoolteacher. Mary Hardin (for her) then Baylor (from the original name).

Next on the list was the Bell County Museum. This is a pretty cool museum. It's free and open Tues - Fri from 12 - 5 and Saturday from 10 - 5. On one side they had an exhibit on loan from the World War II Museum about Bob Hope. In this center part of the museum, they had exhibits about the prehistoric inhabitants of the area.

In 1904, the city of Belton received a grant from Andrew Carnegie for a public library. Carnegie funded several libraries across the United States and not a lot of them are still around. Generally speaking, the deal was that Carnegie would fund the building but the citizens had to provide the books and the staffing, etc. 

I was very happy to see that this library was still standing (this would be me expressing my joy through song on the stage on the second floor of the Carnegie Library). The books for the Belton library were provided by the Women's Wednesday Club. It was an active library until 1975. Now it's part of the Bell County Museum and houses the history of the county.

Driving around town we came across this vintage Texaco station. The pumps aren't active but they look cool. I read that it's a car repair shop.

In the center of the town square is the Bell County Courthouse. This is the third version and was built in 1884. The original log cabin was built in 1850 and then sold in 1855 so that a new limestone building could be erected in 1859. That courthouse lasted until 1884 when this one replaced it. In 1950, it was "modernized". That meant removing the clock tower on the top. Luckily, in 1990, it underwent a complete renovation using the original plans and the clocktower was restored.

On the square is the Cochran, Blair and Potts Department Store which was a mercantile business that stocked dry goods, hardware, drugs, and coffins. This store opened in 1884 and has been in business every since. I took a peek in the window and they had leather goods like boots, and clothes. 

At the back of the store on the corner was this mural for Belton. 

Everyone loves a good Coca-Cola mural, especially me. Belton was a cool little town. It wasn't far to Temple where all the major businesses and chain restaurants are. There was an HEB in Belton right at the line where the road bleeds into Temple. 

The next part of the trip was in Waco. If I've driven through Waco once on the way too or from Austin, I've driven through a hundred times. Well, this time we stopped. We stayed downtown at the AC Hotel. It was a great location.

Our first stop was the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum. We're not talking baseball here. The Texas Rangers started back when Texas was still part of Mexico. They were regular guys that would help patrol the area and keep the settlers safe from attacks.

This is a sample of one of the guns they would carry. Its a Colt Walker Repeating pistol. This thing is heavy! It weighs about the same as a two-liter bottle of soda. If I had this thing in a holster, it would pull my pants down!

The museum was pretty cool. It's the history of the Rangers, warts and all. This the an exhibit about the capture/killing of Bonnie and Clyde. The guy that set up the ambush was Frank Hamer, an ex-Ranger. 

Then speaking of Rangers, we go to our next stop. This is the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. I had no idea this place was there! They recognize people that have made "lasting fame and honor to Texas Sports". And of course there's an exhibit for everyone's favorite Texas Ranger, Nolan Ryan.

There was also an exhibit for our 2023 World Champion Texas Rangers.

There were several exhibits for various sports. On one wall, they had the songs for all the various colleges in Texas but they missed the best one, University of Texas - Arlington! We had a song...I think. But then we went into the Tennis exhibit and that's where we found a shout out to UTA. Our tennis team won some stuff!

The next museum was the Dr Pepper Museum. This was the busiest museum we visited that day. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco at the Old Corner Drugstore back in 1885. This was the building where they made it.

Inside they have a timeline of inventions of various soft drinks. Coca-Cola was invented by a guy who used it to try and get over his morphine addiction. Who knew? This replica of the drug store is cool. When you walk in, there are the two guys in a video talking about how they invented Dr Pepper.  

This is a well that was dug inside the factory so they had direct access to the water source. The water was from an artesian well. They had to stop using it in the 1920s due to drought. So they filled it with trash and then cemented over it. It was discovered and cleaned out when the museum was opened.

This building was where they would bottle the Dr Pepper. Inside they have a soda fountain where you can get drinks and treats like Dr Pepper flavored cotton candy. Uh, no thank you. 

After the tour, you get a nice refreshing glass of Dr Pepper pulled from and old fashioned soda fountain. It was pretty good and Dr Pepper is not my preferred drink. This place was fun and very interesting.

Waco is the county seat of McLennan County. This is the McLennan County Courthouse in the center of downtown. It's the fourth one. The first was a two-story log cabin built in 1851. Then in 1856, a brick courthouse was erected but not very well. There were deaths associated with the "faulty second floor". Another courthouse was built in 1877. But the county outgrew it and in 1901, the current courthouse was built. I love these old courthouses. I'm glad that its still in use.

The Silos. This is where the Magnolia stuff related to Chip and Joanna is located. Pre-Chip and Jo, there was a cotton mill here. The Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company, which was formed in 1910, would purchase cottonseeds and then extract the oil and store it in these silos. The oil was used for cooking. I've never heard of that before.

In 2014, Chip and Jo bought the place and restored it. Now, there's the Magnolia Home Store, Magnolia Press for coffee and the Silos Bakery.  I'm not really a fan but you have to give them credit. Prior to their show, Waco was known for the Branch Davidian disaster and now it's a tourist destination so that people can come see everything Chip and Jo. Plus, I do appreciate preserving history. We didn't go over there during the day so I'm not sure how busy it was but at night, not so much.

On our last day, we went over to the Brazos River and walked around. This is the Waco Suspension Bridge. It's a pedestrian bridge that spans the river, so we took it. Built in 1870, this was originally a toll bridge for wagons, pedestrians and cattle. In 1889, it was sold to the county and became a free bridge.

We walked back over on the Washington Avenue Bridge, built in 1901. I love walking around the river. 

Waco has it's own Riverwalk, right along the Brazos River. It's quite peaceful with plenty of trees and places to sit and rest. It was cool in the shade. One thing I thought was odd was that in some places there was no barrier between you and the river!

We wanted to walk around Baylor University but we ran out of time. So much to do! Baylor is definitely a college town. School was out and all the kids left so it was a great time to visit in that there were no lines.

If you're in the area, don't drive through. Stop. The museums are cool and the river is beautiful. We had a great time. Cheers from Waco!