The Terrible Catsafterme

We awoke on the morning of Sunday, March 30 in our little room at the Lighthouse B&B in McGregor, Texas ready to embark on another fun-filled day of historical traveling arcross the huge and great state of Texas. Our hosts Jerry and Jan Walters had prepared a scrumptous homemade breakfast of eggs, sausage, and waffles. Bob and I were the only guests in the inn other than Jerry’s in-laws. We had a nice breakfast with these overt Republicans whom Bob almost kicked under the table when they began their Clinton-bashing. But they were still nice folk and the breakfast was delicious and filling.

 One of those cool antique double-sided chairs in the living room of our B&B

A hearty breakfast at the Lighthouse

We stopped briefly back in downtown Crawford in the hopes that some of the gift shops would be opened. I had only found one magnet from the restaurant the previous night and had hoped to find some more mementos of the President’s hometown, but alas the main shop wasn’t open yet. (Bob did find a few items in another store that I didn’t visit). Originally we had intended to attend chuch services in George W. Bush’s church, but since we were able to see it the day before, we decided to blow out of the little one-horse town.

Disappointment in Crawford. Read into that what you will.

From Crawford, we headed east a little ways into Waco, home of the David Koresh massacre. I had actually toyed with the idea of finding this area, but deemed it not historically interesting enough. Instead we planned to see the Dr. Pepper Museum and the Texas Rangers Museum, but not until Thursday when we were back in the area. But since the George Bush Presidential Library didn’t open until noon, we found time to go ahead and hit the Texas Rangers Museum.

 Outside the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame

 Somehow I’m even less threatening with a gun

 I really don’t look good in any hats do I?

The Texas Rangers Museum and the six flags over Texas

This was a huge and fascinating museum detailing the long and prestigious history of the Texas Rangers. The place was loaded with displays and artifacts and we spent about a half-hour browsing the place. In searching for an exit out of the parking lot, Bob drove the car up into the grass, much to the chagrin of Judy Garmin and probably God.

Our next stop was in College Station at the Texas A&M University, site of the George Bush Library, the fifth Presidential Library I had visited up to that point – and one I enjoyed greatly. In fact, we spent well over two hours there. I was disappointed to learn that Dan Quayle would be at the Library two days from then – appropriately on April 1 – but we wouldn’t still be in the area to see him. I will detail my visit to the Bush Library further in my upcoming “George Bush and Me” posting.

 Bob and me at the George Bush Library, my fifth Presidential Library

 The little engine that could

 Bob chats with a Bush statue

Little did I know that Bob and I would be sitting in the actual Presidential Astros seats the next morning

A little over an hour later it was 4:00pm and we were in Huntsville, Texas – home of Sam Houston (as illustrated in the top photo). Houston had an interesting role in both Texas and United States History. As a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836 and as Commandor of the Texas Revolutionary Army, he was twice elected to President of the state of Texas and then became a United States Senator once Texas joined the Union in 1845. By 1861, he had become the Governor of Texas and he tried to dissuade the state from joining the Confederacy. Ultimately, Texas voted to secede and Houston was forced out of office when he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy.

As often is the case, I knew little if anything about Houston going into this trip, so this was a case of actually learning about history rather than just visiting things I was familiar with – of which I am always indebted to Bob for dragging me along to.

We started off at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and then visited the other historic buildings on the grounds. The home on the grounds so named “Woodland” was the home of Sam Houston and his family from 1847-1859 during the time period he served as a United States Senator. He lived elsewhere in Huntsville in the “Steamboat House” during his term as Governor. This house was also moved to the Memorial Museum Grounds. After being ejected from his Governorship in 1861, he returned to this home and was where he passed away.

 At the Sam Houston Memorial Museum

 Inside the museum…more Presidential history, so to speak

 Outside the Woodland home

On the balcony of the Steamboat house. Sam Houston died in the room right behind me, which was restored to look as it did when he passed away.

In all it took us just 25 minutes to explore the entire Museum and grounds. We were dejected because their gift shop closed earlier than they were supposed to after we had hurredly walked across the entire grounds. From there we headed to the nearby Oakbrook Cemetery where we found Houston’s grave.

At Sam Houston’s grave

We were ready to eat by then so we stopped by a place that Bob had found on the internet and had his mouth all upset for: the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church BBQ. He was simply crestfallen to find that they were closed on Sundays.

More disappointment on Sunday. Closed.

On the way out of town, we stopped by the world’s largest statue of an American hero – that of Sam Houston. At 69 feet tall, it can be easily seen from Interstate 45. As we were taking photos, we saw that some scofflaw had somehow climbed up onto the base of the statue to get his photo under it. I took this as my cue to do the same. So risking life and limb, and ending with an eventual finger injury, I pulled my fat ass up onto the base as well, posing for a most unique photo. Well worth it.

 It was worth the risk, embarrassment, and injury

A final shot in Huntsville, before we headed to Houston. That’s all I nose.

Bob and I had hoped to maybe see the Texas Prison Museum in the area, but they were closed by the time we had done everything else. Bob seemed satisfied to just take a picture of a billboard that was advertising it.

It was nearly 6pm when we finally stopped to eat. Since the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church BBQ was closed, Bob settled for his obligatory eastern visit to the Cracker Barrel. We then headed toward Houston and stopped at the Guesthouse Inn & Suites just on the northern outskirts of the city. It was a nice place, but none of their internet access worked. It was my only chance of the week to actually get on the net…and it was broken. We truly were roughing it.  

Our trip will continue in Houston…

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 6:25 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Famous Graves, Historical Locations, US Presidents, Vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.