Washington, Texas - Sunday, April 19, 2015

Because I was so wrapped up in completing the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge in April, I neglected my regular blog. So I am going back to share more of what we were doing during the rest of April.

On Sunday, April 19, we drove from San Antonio to Brenham, Texas, where we stayed in Artesian RV Park. I had requested a pull through. When we arrived, the manager asked Bob led us the back-in site. Umm, nope, no way were we getting into that narrow site. We would have had to back the 5th wheel up a little hill and squeeze it between the concrete picnic table pad and the guy next door's big black pickup truck parked as close as possible to the site we would have had to back into. We flagged down the manager and told him we needed a pull-through. He took us to one. Whew. Relief. We got into that with minimal effort.

As soon as we were set up and the cats fed, we headed out to look for lunch. First choice was Southern Flyer at Brenham Airport. As we pulled into the airport drive, we could see an antique car club had pretty much taken over the parking lot. We parked down the hill. Bob walked in to see what the wait time would be...1-1/2 hours!! Definitely coming back tomorrow. But we did see some cool cars.

Brenham Airport

View of pond from Southern Flyer patio.

Next choice for a restaurant was a long shot, R Place at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Our brochure said it was open on weekends only. Worth a shot since it was Sunday and we were headed that way anyway.

As we drove up to the old H. A. Stolz Grocery store, we could see that R Place located inside was open. You can read more about it and see photos in my Parallels and Pelted blog.

Inside  R Place Restaurant

A side room in R Place Restaurant has an art gallery. The local artist from Brenham highlighted the weekend we were there was Ray.

Rabbit by Ray

After lunch, we were able to walk in a back gate to Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park. Independence Hall was the first building we saw. It looked very interesting so we went to the Visitor Center. A tour was going to depart for Independence Hall in five minutes to give the history of Texas signing a formal declaration of independence from Mexico. The delegates wrote a constitution and created a government, the Republic of Texas, which lasted from 1836 to 1846.

After the history lesson at Independence Hall, we walked through the area where the town used to be. History markers lined the path explaining what buildings had populated the area. We walked down to the Brazos River where the ferry used to operate. Ominous dark gray clouds were piling up in the sky and we could see the leading edge of a front. I told Bob we needed to head back to the truck because big rain was coming. We started to feel a light mist.

We made a quick stop at the Visitor Center before heading back to the car. I had a plastic bag with brochures in it. Good thing. As we exited the back door of the Visitor Center, the rain started. By the time we were halfway back to the truck, pelting rain started. I put the plastic back on top of my head. By the time we made it to the truck, we had a huge rainstorm and we were getting wet. It felt good to take refuge in the truck.

Leading edge of the front

Info plaque on La Bahia Pecan

La Bahia Pecan tree - 179 years old

After we made it back to the truck, we headed back to Brenham. That's where we ran into the downpour and then hailstorm from my blog post link above.

Back at Artesian RV Park, there was no evidence of a hailstorm and we had a gorgeous afternoon. For dinner, Bob wanted to go somewhere he could watch playoff basketball. We chose Applebees. They had many, many TV screens and lots of channels. After we ordered our water, Bob asked the waiter if they could change a channel to playoff NBA basketball. We were told by the waiter they did not have that channel. The waiter asked the bartender who told him the same thing. Whaaatttt? No NBA playoff basketball. We thanked our served but told him we came there to eat and watch basketball. Out the door we went, drove 1/4 mile down the street to Chili's and watched the NBA playoff game while we ordered and ate. Sorry, Applebees, we tried. Hard to believe you didn't have the NBA playoff game, it was on a major network.

My knowledge of Texas history grew exponentially today. We both recommend visiting Washington-on-the-Brazos. Tomorrow we will go back to see the Star Museum and Barrington Farm, also in Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park.

Travel Bug out.