Photo's of Baton Rouge

The stained glass dome of the Old Capital
 

The Old Capital's beautifully decorated balcony

Adele on the central spiral staircase

Nottoway Plantation  

Tom and two Southern Belles 

Wedding photo shot on the front lawn 

The Old Capital Building 

Baton Rouge

A city with an interesting name as Baton Rouge translates to Red Stick in English!

To begin our explorations we took a free tram ride around the center of town, mostly government buildings. We had a difficult time understanding the deep Southern accent of the driver, thankfully the trams security person translated for us which led to lot of laughs. When we got on at the Old Capital the driver wanted to know where we wanted to get off and we said right back here! That took a few minutes to explain.

Baton Rouge is the Capital of Louisiana and there are plenty of tourist attractions including the old Capital building - originally built in 1847 which is like an ancient Celtic Castle. We loved it with its towers and castellation, however Mark Twain considered it to be the ugliest building on the Mississippi; clearly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The entrance hall is imposing and leads to an impressive spiral staircase at its center; a stained glass dome filters soft and gentle light on the circular balconies where portraits of all past Governors and the current Governor adorn the surrounding walls. It houses a museum of Louisiana history, a movie one can watch in the Congress Chamber; the Senate Chamber has some beautiful antique furniture.

Adele was fascinated by former Governor Huey P Long Jr. (August 30, 1893 – September 10, 1935); whose motto was "Share the Wealth" he instituted free education, including textbooks and wanted the rich (who Long maintained made their money off the sweat of the poor) to pay more tax and share a portion of their wealth, so…it’s not a new idea by the current administration. He was shot in confusing circumstances at the early age of 42. Who shot him? Was it Dr. Weiss or a ricochet from one of his bodyguards’ shots?   

In the early afternoon we drove to one of the best preserved Plantations in the South called “Nottoway" a 53,000 sq. ft. Mansion which was built in 1859 for John Hampden Randolph, his wife and 11 children. We took a tour of the house led by a lady attired in period costume who was very informative. The mansion has a stunning, big white ballroom with a large semicircle recess overlooking the gardens; this is where Randolph’s daughters had their coming-out Balls and where some were married. Our guide told us that it took many years of soaking the wood in the Mississippi in order to bend it into a semicircle. The White Castle as it is known locally is well worth a visit.

Randolph was a sugar cane magnate who owned 150 slaves on “Nottoway"- he had another plantation nearby with a further 150 slaves. All the slaves were given their freedom after the Civil War; it speaks volumes for Randolph as both a man and “Master” that the vast majority remained working with him. The house now sits on the banks of the Mississippi, however when originally built it was a half mile from the river; the river changed course after an earthquake. Randolph spared no expense building the house as he wanted it to reflect his position and wealth. The inventor of many farm machines Randolph was a very clever man and astute businessman.

After the Civil War in order to hold on to their property all big Southern landowners had to go to Washington, personally apologize to the President, pay a fine of $20,000 and swear allegiance to the US. The alternative was that their land would be confiscated, they would be tried for Treason and if found guilty executed. Now we understand why so many plantation owners were forced to abandon their plantations. Randolph went to Washington paid his fine and held onto his plantation.

The Plantation is now a luxury hotel owned by an Australian magnate who has invested heavily in restoring the house to its original grandeur. Guests are now accommodated in either one of the historic bedroom or a luxury cottage. On our arrival we had our lunch in the restaurant overlooking the garden and its 200 year old oak trees, the food was delicious and the service excellent.

Houston-San Jacinto

Adele beside reflecting pool 

Tom on steps of monument 

View from the top towards Houston 

Fossils in the Cordova rock 

Car ferry crossing Houson's busy port

View over reflecting pool 

 

Houston

We saw so many birds as we meandered along the Gulf Coast that we wonder just where did birds “hang out” before there were electric wires. Birds gather in their thousand on the wires at sunset from which they have a wonderful view (bird’s eye view) of the surrounding area - not the same from a tree. There sure are a lot of birds and protected birding areas on the Gulf.

Our visit to Houston after Galveston was a short one. On inquiring about what to do and where to go in the Houston area we were provided a list of things to do and places to go in…Galveston! Researching the area ourselves we discovered that the San Jacinto Battle Monument was close by and we felt compelled to visit. This is where Sam Houston and his Texas army won freedom and independence as a Republic for Texas by defeating President/General Santa Anna who surrendered to Sam Houston after he was recaptured while trying to escape dressed as a foot soldier – his gait due to his wooden leg was what caused him to be recognized; so much for being a foot soldier.

The Monument which is on the battle ground is reputed to be the tallest monumental column in the world; it has a reflection pool out front and a 34ft (10m) star on the top. We took the elevator to the viewing platform on the top and Texas being so flat we could see in all directions for miles and miles. The entire monument structure is constructed with a stone called Cordova - a rock that has so many visible fossils it’s hard to believe it’s not man made (photo to follow). The monument's interior houses a good museum with mementos and histories of the leading Generals, of both sides in the battle, we also saw an excellent a movie of the battle. The Mexican army suffered 630 fatalities, 208 wounded and 730 captured; while the Texans had only 9 killed and 20 wounded.  
After the Alamo we were very surprised that there were so few people visiting, after all this is where Texans won. We met an interesting, friendly couple from Costa Rica with whom we had a lovely chat. The luck of the Irish rubbed once more when we met the curator of the museum we spent about 30 minutes talking with him, and of course, he was a mine of information. Their annual fund raiser was being held the night we were visiting – cost was $1,000 a plate.

The weather remained cold both day and night, it was about 61f (16c) by day and 42f (7c) at night - this is Texas winter. On the next day we finally drove to another State, Louisiana. RamblingRover had been in Texas a long time, since the beginning of September.

Galveston, TX

Rough seas along the seawall

The Star Drug Store where teenagers met in the 60's 

One of the many lovely downtown buildings  

Shops along Strand Street

We wonder will it float in a Tsunami

Our flag is torn and faded after 2 years on the road 

Corpus Christi and Galveston

Well to be honest...we parked RamblingRover in Port Aransas on the Padre Islands in a lovely RV Park with just dunes between us and the beach. The weather was perfect and the beach seemingly endless in both directions; we were advised to walk to the beach only on the footbridges as there are snakes and other vermin in the tall grass of the dunes, signs of rabbits in the area was all we saw. We walked the beach each day, we were a little too late one day and ended up searching for the footbridge off the beach in the dark, eventually we found it – phew! We did not swim in the sea as there was ample evidence of Man of War jelly fish on the beach. The beach is wide and is used as a road by locals and fishermen; parking is allowed by permit (costs $12 for a year) on the beach; all the fishermen use big trucks. The RV Park had a nice pool allowing Adele to have her daily swim. We were so happy to be at the beach we didn't leave it for the 3 days we were there. Still wonder why we’ve rented a townhouse on the beach in Saint Augustine?

From there we took a ferry ride of maybe 300 yards on our way to Galveston, what a difference we encountered in the weather - it was cold, windy and stormy. The nighttime temperature was a low 40F (11C); as you can imagine we had to get up and find blankets to cover us on the first night so next day we decided to put on our winter duvet and electric blanket and this is Texas! It does heat up during the day but we still need to wear warm cloths during the day. First thing we did was head for the Visitors Center which is housed in an old historic home, from there we crossed the road to the Rosenberg Library where there’s an eclectic collection of items from peoples attics plus a history of Galveston. Rosenberg donated the library and other places (at least one church) to the town; he was a big benefactor to Galveston.

Galveston turned out to be a delightful surprise there’s so much to do and see; the sea wall which is miles long is exhilarating to walk with lots to see – the sea wall was erected and the Gulf side of the island was heightened by 15 feet after the disastrous storm of September 8th 1900, one of the "must do" things is to see the film of the disaster – a collage of old photos with an informative narration. There were 6,000 people killed in Galveston alone and over 8,000 in all. Having watched the movie it is amazing to us that so few where killed in the recent storm that hit the Eastern seaboard, most notably New Jersey and New York.

We had lunch in an old Diner called The Star Drug Store which brought back fond childhood memories for Adele – when her parents toured the US by Greyhound Bus in 1950 her mother was enthralled by the Diner/Drug Stores and on her return converted part of their Galway family Hotel into a Diner which was a huge success for many years and a very popular place for school kids to meet in the afternoon and with late night revelers.

North of Broadway which is the dividing line between the rich and poor areas there are many old elegant mansions. One we visited was the Bishops Palace originally built by the Gresham family as their home. Needless to say it was opulent and ornate with chandeliers, a stunning staircase, hardwood floors, a Chapel and servants quarters; the design of the stone work on the outside was striking and it had the prettiest chimneys we have ever seen. The Cathedral just across the road was locked, however we were not perturbed as we knew we could go to Mass on Sunday to view its splendor. After Mass went to an old hotel on the seafront called Hotel Galvez to Facetime our English Grandchildren and check the brunch. A lady was playing the grand piano in the large foyer; brunch was $35 per person so we decided that as we were not that hungry we would take another walk on the seawall. We had an excellent lunch in a restaurant called Fish Tails that cost $35 dollars for the two of us. On our way back to the RV Park we visited Moody Gardens which has three large glass pyramids of different colors and discovered that it is an amusement theme park, very Disneyworld and decided to give it a miss. There were plenty of tourists around the town and on the beach even though the weather was quite cold and the sea angry and rough. Many surfers were in the water but the waves are nothing as compared to those we’re used to in Santa Cruz. Along the roadway between Galveston and the RV Park there are many big holiday homes built up on 12ft stilts - we think it’s a case of which would one prefer to have your house swept by a hurricane or washed away by a tidal wave!

Now for a little bit of a history lesson Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1490-c.1560) was born in Jeréz de la Frontera, Spain to a noble family. In 1527 he joined an expedition to explore the Gulf of Mexico during which three boats were lost with significant loss of life including the expedition leader Narváez. Others who landed died of starvation or Indian attack however, Cabeza de Vaca and a few companions survived. They landed finally at a place thought to be Galveston Island, Texas which they named the Island of Misfortune. From 1529 to 1534 Cabeza de Vaca and these others lived a meager life with the Karankawa Indians in a state of semi-slavery and often separated from each other. During this time Cabeza de Vaca took advantage of his slight medical skills and remade himself as a healer. He explored this small section of the East Texas coast in hopes of finding a way to Mexico and its Spanish colonies. In 1534 he and the other Spanish survivors started west across Texas for Mexico. With the help of many Native Americans along the way, they crossed the Pecos and Colorado rivers and made their way towards Spanish outposts. Despite the arduous trip, Cabeza de Vaca continued to note the wonders of the American west and the inhabitants’ impressive survival skills. Finally they turned south, moving inland. In April 1536 a Spanish slaving party found the four Spaniards. In all, it took nine years from the start of the expedition for Cabeza de Vaca to arrive in Mexico City.

A couple of hundred years later it was Jean Lafayette (Lafitte) the prince of pirates who swashbuckled his way around Galveston island where he set up his headquarters camp which he called Campeche. Merchant ships wisely avoided this area.

San Antonio,TX

The Alamo

The Church at the Alamo 

River Walk

Checking out a menu

A beautiful home in the King William area

The altar in San Fernando Cathedral on the plaza  

The still active church at Mission San Jose;
remains of the Abbey are behind the church 

Indian quarters...part of the mission/village wall facing inwards

California visit

Tennis party at Loreta's

Cearull, Adele and Sairsha

Tom and Sairsha

Cian, Granny and Caleb..quack, quack!

Caleb enjoying "horsey" with Granny

Kilian and Tom

A seasonal latte

San Antonio

Boerne (pronounced Burney) a little town about 25 miles outside San Antonio was our location for this stop as this was where we could store the RV while visiting California and Vancouver. Our first visit was, of course, to the Alamo which is in the center of San Antonio and reputed to be the biggest tourist attraction in Texas. Some of the main historical Mission San Antonio de Valero (now known as the Alamo) buildings remain standing with about half of the original defensive walls also evident. This is history! So much so that one can almost sense the presence of the heroes. We spent several hours browsing the various artifacts and information boards; we also listened to a guide relate the history of the battle of the Alamo; he was excellent, made it easy to picture where and why it happened and piqued our interest to learn more.

The short version: Mexico fought a war with Spain to gain its independence and become a democracy, when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was elected President of Mexico he declared himself a Dictator and ruled as such. At that time Texas (a province of Mexico known as Tejas) was populated by democracy loving Mexicans and numerous immigrants from Germany, France, Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland and American who had moved to Tejas to live their “dream” clearly, they did not want to live under a Dictator. To understand the battle at Alamo one must appreciate its strategic context in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835 a Federalist army of Texan (or Texian as they were called) immigrants, American volunteers and their Tejano allies had captured the town from the Mexican Centralist force during the siege of Bexar. In response Santa Anna raised an army of over 7,000 men with the objective of retaking Bexar and crushing the “rebels” in San Antonio. There were about 250 brave men in Mission San Antonio de Valero who were vastly outnumbered. After days of pounding the Mission with cannon fire, on Sunday March 6 at around 5:00 A.M. Santa Anna hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter. Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks; there some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. The chapel fell last. By dawn the Centralists had overcome the mission defenders. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes. As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna showing no mercy ordered their summary execution. The rest of the story is that a now emboldened Santa Anna decided to chase all rebels, led by Colonel Sam Huston, out of Tejas however at the battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was soundly defeated by Huston’s forces and Texas declared itself an independent country. Texas remained an independent country for 10 years and remains very proud of this time in its history.

After our visit to the Alamo we took a walk along The Riverwalk which lives up its reputation of a great tourist attraction, it is a lovely place to while away several hours along its picturesque banks. We think that Oklahoma City copied the idea for its redevelopment of their Bricktown district in their city center. Strolling along the walk we came across an Irish Pub and had lunch of smoked salmon and brown bread, then after lunch we took a boat tour and did some shopping. We interrupted our visit to San Antonio to head for California and Vancouver BC. 0n our return we spent another day in San Antonio and walked along the river to the historic King William Area and had lunch at Guenther House Museum the former home of the Guenther Family whose mill is still in operation next door. Afterwards we drove south to Mission San Jose which was a big surprise; the church remains in daily use, the surrounding village compound is intact and provides a view of just how large these missions were with large gates on two sides, almost like an ancient city with a few industries and farming outside the walls. Native Americans were housed along the inside wall in two roomed homes, with beehive ovens outside their doors. Dotted throughout the compound were wells for water, farrier and carpenter shops; we were enthralled by it all.

One night Adele decided to upgrade her iPad and it crashed; so we had to search for an Apple Store and found one in the fantastic La Cantera Shopping Center; we ended up spending a wonderful evening there - it is an outdoor shopping center with very elaborate, tall shelters providing daytime shade, there were fountains and water features all beautifully done. And, yes the iPad problem was resolved.

The town of Boerne was very busy at weekends, once again we saw antique cars, the shops sold antiques and there were many restaurants and a lovely old hotels which Adele managed to get a tour upstairs and downstairs.

Our visit to California and Vancouver, BC

Two weeks after we returned from England we were back in the air, this time flying to California principally to meet Sairsha Alice the latest addition to our family as well as to see as many of our Los Gatos and Saratoga friends as possible. In Los Gatos we stayed with Anjali and Amit who recently joined the club of empty nesters - one close by and one very far away. The tennis group had a party for Adele and it was nice for her to see all the familiar faces and catch up on news and events. That same afternoon Adele had a Doctor’s visit, of course her cholesterol was high and so was her blood pressure!

We spent a long weekend with Cearull, Leslie and Sairsha Alice. Sairsha was born 10 weeks early in July her due date was September 30^th we were all worried when she was born so early weighing only two lbs but since then she has never looked back; from the minute she was born she was feeding and fighting (Fighting Irish!) she is a lovely little girl who cries little and feeds well. We baby sat while Leslie and Cearull had a meal out; Tom who is very good with babies held Sairsha every opportunity he got and loved it. It was lovely to stay and dote on Sairsha day after day.

From there we returned to Los Gatos for a few more days and once again it was a whirlwind of activities with friends. Adele managed to fit in a bridge day and see all her bridge friends. We took a stroll down Santa Cruz Avenue to where the Butter Paddle Shop had moved from Saratoga and while passing by Adele met one of her former co-volunteers – in she went - it was party day so quite a few volunteers were there so Adele saw many of her friends. We had dinner engagements most nights in friend’s homes – the Romans, Variots and Johnsons - where we were wined and dined in style. On our last night Anjali made a delicious authentic Indian meal for us.

Vancouver, Canada was our next destination to visit Adele's three brothers. We have certainly experienced several different climates in the last few two months with Vancouver adding its rainy season. We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves, had one beautiful day when four of us, Adele, Tom, John and Tom took a walk along the estuary from Kitsilano to the Olympic Village via Granville Island and then returned on a little ferry boat. Most days we ignored the weather and exercised at the Arbutus Club where Adele’s brother Larry had signed us in as his guests. While there we celebrated the fact that all the Cheevers siblings are now in their 60s - the question is will they all make it into their 70s?

On November 1^st we flew back to Dallas, our flight arrived in the late evening and as our RV was in San Antonio we stayed the night in a hotel. The RV has been in Texas since August 30^th; this is a big state and we need to get moving.

Austin, Texas

Dome of State Capitol

State emblem depicting heritage of Texas

Painting in State Senate Chamber by Irishman Henry Arthur McArdle

Austin mansion

On a Duck Tour