Southeast Texas

Strange Places

When a person isn't feeling well, they want to go back to what is familiar. While we were sick, I wanted to cancel our eastward plans and just go back west. But we would have later wondered why we turned around when we got back to Colorado.

Our short day of driving ended in La Grange, TX. We needed to get some exercise. So we checked out what La Grange had to offer.

La Grange, Texas

La Grange Quilt Museum

Old City Hall from 1800s

 Monument Hill and Kriesche Brewery

The Monument Hill is hallowed ground with the remains of men that perished is the struggle of Texas's independence from Mexico.

During the Mexican War, the "Black Bean Death Lottery" resulted when the spiteful General Santa Ana was enraged by an escape of captured Texans as they were being marched to Mexico City.

Some 176 of the men were recaptured. A decree that all who participated in the break were to be executed was later changed to kill every tenth man. The victims were chosen by lottery, each

man drawing a bean from an jar containing 176 beans, seventeen black beans being the tokens signifying death. Some of the men left messages and letters for their families with their companions.

The doomed men were shot at dusk in 1843. 

Mural of Death Lottery

 The Kriesche Brewery on the hill overlooking La Grange. Not only were there some nice hiking trails, We learned a thing or two.

Overlooking the brewery

 In 1849, a German immigrant Kreische purchased 172 acres of land with the Monument on it and built a house for his family and the first commercial breweries in Texas. When a new batch of beer was ready, Kreische would raise a banner with the German phrase "Frisch Auf" or Freshen up.
We could imagined local citizens enjoying a pint of Kreische’s Bluff Beer while looking out at the Texas landscape.

He used the natural springs to make and move the beer.

 Buescher State Park

 The 12 mile County Road C1 connecting Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park is a route many local cyclists liked to ride. There were lots of cyclists of all ages in the parking lot when we arrived. The ride was nice for a few miles along the ridge of the hills before the hills kicked in. The hills were steeper than those we had been riding in Stonewall. After four steep climbs and at least two more ahead, I called it. This was our first ride after being sick and I was getting jelly legs. We had to ride those four hills on the way back too.

 A steep downhill before the up.

Houston on a Sunday morning

Texas has a lot of churches and dancehalls which makes driving through large cities on Sunday morning much less stressful. I guess everyone was in church or sleeping off the effects of last night.

Big Thicket National Preserve

Big Thicket National Preserve protects the incredible diversity of life found where multiple habitats converge in southeast Texas. Hiking trails and waterways meander through nine different ecosystems, from longleaf pine forests to cypress-lined bayous. 

The rangers and campground owners filled us in on how hurricanes have affected the area. 

I am not sure why I had to make this stop other than it was in the area where we needed to end our day of driving.

 Hiking in the preserve is eerie in a creepy kind of way. The sign at the trailhead made me wonder what we were getting into. Other than the slick boardwalk after the rain and a few mosquitos, it was a pleasant walk.
But my eyes were on alert for critters.

One trail lead us to the carnivorous sundew and pitcher plants that eat insects to get the nitrogen that the soil lacks.

We saw lots of chimneys that Crawdads create in the swampland when they carry mud up from their burrows.

The trail was a noisy place that sounded like a jungle with all of the frogs and different birds even though we were the only people out there. The little tree frogs get pretty loud.

Bald cypress trees love water but need their fluted trunks and knees (all those protrusions) to anchor them. Water moccasins also like the warm swampy areas so we stayed on the trail.

Actually, it was a good stop. 

Driving into La Grange, I asked Mike what he though of a change of plans. He smiled and said he was thinking the same thing.We cancelled most of our Texas reservations and figured out a new plan of action. I often talk about the currency of time and didn't feel like more of the same was a good investment. Even though Texas has some very nice state parks, Louisiana was calling. We were excited to see what was next.