Texas

Tuesday 30th November

Allen's brother Tony was stationed in Galveston during his years in the Merchant Navy so we decided to take a trip down memory lane on his behalf.




 Quite honestly we wished we hadn't.  It was not the most inviting place.  Nowhere in town to park the RV, then there was a charge of $12 per person to walk on the Pier (what!), Moody Gardens ( Theme Park ) cost $47 per person, Schlitterbahn Waterpark cost $38 per person and so it went on.  I'm sure it was different 50 years ago and I can just picture the beach without all the commercialism.







Sadly Hurricane Ike flattened everything 2 years ago so maybe the town was trying to recoup some extra dollars.  We visited Galveston Island State Park with the intention of staying overnight but again it was way too expensive and nothing to write home about. ( No Facilities ).

Spent the night at Katy Mills Shopping Centre carpark.  Found a magic Bass Pro Store and took pics of the gorgeous Christmas Tree and Santa's Cove.



















The next day we arrived at the tiny historic town of Reagan.  Took photographs of the Methodist Church and their quaint Post Office.  Even somewhere to tie up your horse.

Arrived at Fort Worth but unfortunately there's no Fort.  Once Allen got over his disappointment we walked around the Stockyards Station and soon realised something was missing - our Stetsons?  Fort Worth is awesome, everyone rides into town on horseback and the smell of long horns, short horns and curly horns is pretty powerful.








   Had my photograph taken with Wild Bill who let me hold his double barrel. ( Bit of education needed here. It was a handgun!! ).

Went into a wild west shop called Maverick and we were blown away by the variety of hats, shirts, leather jackets, boots....actually everything for the fashion conscious cowboy/girl.   They even had a saloon bar in the store so you can drink and shop at the same time.  Heaven.  (I could live here. Al)

Friday 3 December

Walked to the Cultural Centre of Fort Worth and was quite disappointed there was very little to see, most things close up for winter.   Although we did enjoy the Amon Carter Museum, a huge collection of paintings and statues.  It was all free and the building was ultra modern, we spent a couple of hours browsing and enjoying the Western art scene.

That evening we treated ourselves to dinner at the Cattlemen's Steak House - it was a fantastic restaurant.  Our lovely cowgirl waitress sat us in a private booth and the meal had our taste buds jumping. ( That wasn't all that was jumping.)

Bought tickets for the Stockyards Championship Rodeo! 


  Every Friday and Saturday night the cow-cockies come together for a bit of raucous fun.  Those huge bucking bulls had attitude!!  The team roping competition was wonderful and the quarter horses doing their routine was fantastic.  Heaps of yahoo-ing and rowdy cheering from the audience.  During the intermission children aged under 10 were invited to the arena to try and catch a calf........absolute chaos!   

6 December - Amarillo
Here is a photograph of Randy our chauffeur for the night.  Ooops wrong photo!

He drove us in his Stretch Cadillac Limo complete with authentic steer horns on the hood (bonnet).   He took us to the famous "Big Texan Steak Ranch" on Route 66.

  The challenge goes something like this:- if you can eat a 72oz steak and all the side dishes in one hour, it's free - otherwise you pay $72.   Strangely enough we didn't attempt it.   The Steak Ranch was great, we were serenaded by 3 cowboy troubadours who asked for a request.  Allen asked for a chorus of Waltzing Matilda unfortunately (or fortunately) they didn't know the words and moved on.  YES!

Palo Duro Canyon State Park drove through 16 miles of magnificent rock formations and breathtaking scenery.   Very green Cypress pines give a bit of colour to the barren land.

While driving away from the Park we just had to stop at a stable.  The horses were absolutely gorgeous!!   They immediately came to the fence to get a cuddle - love at first sight.