February 19 - 22, 2024:
I can't get out of Alpine without taking a couple more photos.
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| Big Bend Saddlery's scenic mural and windmill |
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| Alpine welcome sign |
My first stop was Marathon, Texas which was very interesting with many old adobe houses, some rather artistic, some with large windmills in backyards and others partially falling apart. The one upscale part of town is adjacent to the historic Gage Hotel, another building designed by HenryTrost. It’s a destination kind of place with a beautiful outside pool, a beautiful courtyard and luxury accomadations. Adjacent to it is a brew pub, a few nice cafes, a coffee shop and around the corner is the Spanish Market.
https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/texas/experiences/news/what-to-see-and-do-in-marathon-texas
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| Built in 1926-27 for a wealthy cattle baron |
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| Very nice |
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| I could spend some time here |
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| Historic landmark sign |
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| Very unique residence in town |
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| Many wind mills and storage tanks remain |
Next stop is Sanderson, Texas which was especially depressing as half the town appeared to be vacant, a semi ghost town of sorts, but in its day, it was a very prosperous, vibrant town. It suffered a wild flash flood in 1965 that killed about 30 people and wiped out portions of the town. In the center of town a huge building absolutely filled with Mexican pottery, ornaments, signs and a huge hardware section, like a mini Home Depot.
I found much to photograph, but it's mostly sad stuff, but the link below tells of its past glory, perhaps it will return some day.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-sanderson/
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| The brightest area in town |
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| Hometown pride not going well here |
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| The old gas station |
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| Discount prices from years ago |
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| Great sign but very faded |
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| Good news is that a dam is now in place to prevent this |
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| The visitor center appears closed these days |
Next is Langtry, Texas; it is a very historic town due to the famous Judge Roy Bean who doled out justice in this part of the west for decades. His original Jersey Lilly Saloon / Pool Hall / Courthouse (Justice of the Peace - The law west of the Pecos) remains and is located at the curent information center, museum and a botanical garden. This information center is a must stop ! Across the road is a scenic road that winds to a viewpoint overlooking the Rio Grande River and the rugged cliffs of Mexico on the other side.
https://www.americansouthwest.net/texas/langtry/index.html
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| The melting adobe of an original settler |
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| View looking across into Mexico |
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| The judge had a crush on Lillie Langtry |
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| I love Beans reply to her water fountain offer |
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| It's amazing that this still remains |
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| Photo back in the day |
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| Quite an amazing story |
Driving on route 90 I pass through dozens of road cuts where several layers of Limestone are exposed where the rock just gleams in the sunlight and is beautiful. In some places, there were sections with rock layers that were thrust into vertical layers known as the Ouachita rock belt that are very unusual.
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| This area of Texas was once covered by ocean resulting in these limestone rock layers |
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| Ouachita Rock layer |
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| Roadside sign offers an explanation |
I then come upon the very scenic high bridge over the Pecos River where I pulled into the adjacent rest area and explored the views. The river view from the bridge is great, but I then spotted a way to get down under the bridge for even a better view. This took me to the old road built prior to route 90 with beautiful stone curbing and a far superior view.
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| Big rigs over the Pecos River |
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| Impressive bridge |
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| View from old closed highway under bridge |
Next was Comstock, Texas which has a cafe and a few old buildings along route 90 and a small residential area with virtually nothing interesting to see except for a few old houses, now vacant and overgrown with trees and vines. It has a wild west history, like every town in this area, including a train robbery.
I was hoping to stay overnight at Comstock but saw nothing of interest, so I returned to the Pecos River Bridge highway rest area for night. The overnight at the Bridge rest stop was a little spooky as no one else was there and it was pitch dark. Also the truck traffic noise over the bridge was fairly loud.
I leave the the Bridge Tuesday mourning and go directly to the nearby Seminole Canyon State Park visitors center. I had hoped to do their guided petroglyph hike, but I’m a day early, they only do the guided hike from Wednesday to Saturday and you’re not allowed to hike there on your own. The museum at the visitors center was excellent however and I was then able to do a 2-3 mile hike on the Canyon Rim Trail hike with great views and interesting rocks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Canyon_State_Park_and_Historic_Site
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| This site is one of the most significant rock art sites in the country |
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| The man like figures are really unique |
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| These rock panels are pretty extensive |
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| The Spanish were all over this area |
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| The coming of the railroad opened this area to western expansion |
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| The history of the Seminole Indian scouts is both incredible and sad |
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| The Canyons here are filled with sea fossils |
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| View from the museum to the river gorge |
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| Trail views along the canyon rim |
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| Fossils along the trail are numerous |
Next stop was Del Rio, Texas where I walked around the downtown area talking photos of buildings, signs and murals. Many of the buildings from the early 1900’s remain but are now vacant, but still interesting. Del Rio is a border town with a high percentage of Hispanic residents and culture. I then drive to the Barrio San Felipe area around the Brown Plaza that is quite historic with many interesting hispanic buildings and murals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Rio,_Texas
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| He was playing the cowboy card to the hilt |
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| Sadly looks to be closed |
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| Great sign |
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| Colorful mural |
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| Court House |
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| Beautiful church |
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| Historic Spanish area was full of great murals |
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| This mural really has a message for many of our current politicians |
Afterwards, it’s time to find a laundromat as I’m running out of clothes. I luck out with one with fairly new machines, is very clean, everything works, has plenty of carts and is empty and no customers. I have the whole place to myself which is very strange ? It’s then to Walmart to overnight.
On Wednesday morning, I leave Del Rio then continue on route 90 east stopping at the towns of Brackettville, Uvalde, Sabinal, D'Hanis, Hondo and Castroville.
Bracketville, Texas:
Just off the highway, I pulled into Bracketville to take a look around, there were several old stone buildings in the central downtown area that seemed strange. There was a Court House with a fairly full parking lot, lots of police vehicles, not very welcoming to me. It had a large military fort during the Indian wars with many Seminole-African Buffalo soldiers. It seems that much of the military action in the west was performed by the buffalo soldiers who in this area were members of the Seminole Indian tribe removed from Florida, so weird !
I had a bad vibe, took a few photos and left. The country outside of town, was fairly unattractive rough looking scrub range land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brackettville,_Texas
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| Many old stone buildings deteriorating along the main road ? |
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| Built to last |
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| The Court House that seems very busy |
Uvalde, Texas:
I stopped in the downtown area, parked and walked around as usual taking photos and almost immediately noted lots of large murals of very cute attractive children. I initially thought it was weird, but then connected it with the horrible school shootings of a few months ago that made national headlines. The murals are done so well and really make a point, I can see people walking around this downtown with tears in their eyes!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvalde,_Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvalde_school_shooting
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| Closeup view of the Opera House facade |
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| The Grand Opera House is beautiful |
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| Would not have expected that here |
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| The Court House |
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| Memorial tributes in the central park area |
Sabinal, Texas:
It was a very brief stop, sorry to say, I found little of note here.
https://www.backroadstexas.net/sabinal/
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| Welcome mural |
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| Just another unknown interesting building |
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| Probably some German heritage here |
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| Interesting Railroad waiting Sation |
D'Hanis, Texas:
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-dhanis/
I didn't explore much except the area adjacent to the railroad tracks where I found several attractions as shown below. Further investigation finds an amazing French historical connection. Henri Castro settled this area with a large land grant and brought an amazing number of people from France to settle this area. Must read the details above in the link !
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| Buck Hoen Saloon cowboy church |
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| Interesting market with an outside beer garden |
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| Looks to be closed at present |
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| Liked the Rainbow Bread signs |
Hondo, Texas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hondo,_Texas
Hondo, Texas is famous for its sign: This is God's country' don't drive through it like Hell. I admit, I sort of did that, I took a few photos, nothing of note.
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| Hondo sign |
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| Nice downtown theater |
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| Nice sign, but a rather industrial building |
Castroville, Texas:
I found Castroville very interesting mainly due to its history. It was established in 1844 by Henri Castro, who also established nearby D'Hanis, Texas. He started four colonies in Texas and brought thousands of European settlers to this area. He seems to have been a very opportunistic developer ?
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| The history |
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| Historic Museum |
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| Beautiful Court House |
In mid afternoon, I arrive at my daughter Miranda house in San Antonio, Texas. Miranda is at work today as an Amtrak train conductor but will be home around 10 PM. Miranda's partner, Beth is there and the plan is to pick up their son Tristen from school and take him to his violin practice at the local college. It was very interesting to watch the college students conducting these practice sessions. It was a bit strange as the student teachers were all whispering instructions throughout this session, I could barely hear them. I was impressed with Tristen, he’s a really smart child who hopefully will stick with the violin. Miranda gets home at about 10:30 PM and it's near midnight by the time we all go off to sleep.
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| Tristen on Violin |
San Antonio to be continued in the next blog.
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