What a lovely morning with a nice hot shower, I must say, that was a very nice way to start off the day.
The Mission was open this morning so we went inside, here are a few shots of that.
We saw an original wall from another Mission close by. The red and yellow colors were the result of pounding minerals from local rocks, the black was an ore that was traded for since there is no evidence of that kind of ore in these parts. The girls got to ring the church bell, it was harder than it looked.
Some more pictures of the outside.
Bunny and Mr. Otter got in a few pics too.
A little more information about the Mission: It was moved here, after trying to settle in three other areas, in 1749. The cattle operation reached about 40,000 head and the Mission became a very important settlement in Spanish Texas.
The friars and priests converted the Natives in order to proclaim the faith and to gather Spanish citizens. Eventually other tribes began to attack the Mission and the new converts left the fold to go with the tribes and fight against the Spanish. The Mission was granted extra time to prepare the Native flock for citizenship in the 1800′s, but they failed.
The Natives of the first Mission were the Karankawas, but by the time the Mission was located near Goliad the friars had the Aranama, the Tamiques, and Manos de Prieta tribes to convert. These hunter gatherers weren’t suited to life inside walls with farms and cattle to herd. They probably got bored and eventually went on their way leaving the Spanish behind.
On the way to Abilene we stopped in Fredericksburg to have lunch at Freidhelms and wander the main street shops.
I had zweibel schnitzel with sauerkraut, doesn’t that look yummy? I ate here with Joel after a camping trip to Enchanted rock about 14 years ago, it was a treat then and now.
We went from Spanish churches to German churches, this one is from the mid 1800′s.
Walking main street in Fredericksburg takes you back in time, I love that they kept most of the old buildings, it’s charming.
The sky was cloudy almost all the way, but the sun finally peeked through with sun rays bursting through the clouds.
We made it to our camping spot rather late, but we had fun wandering around.
I set up the tent and we went up the street to Denny’s because I had neglected to buy: hot dogs and fire wood. The gas stations around us apparently have no need for fire wood right now, so tomorrow it’s good that we are at a state park because they have fire wood for sale there. I think it was our cheapest trip to Denny’s yet (kids nite) $11.36, a new record!
Tomorrow it’s off to the Discovery museum, buffalo skull and then to Palo Duro canyon to spend the night in a 1930′s CCC stone cabin (with bunkbeds, the girls are excited.) Tonight we camped at SeaBee park just outside Abilene. It’s a city park with 4 camping spots, although the spot we were in looked like it was for an RV, but we managed to get the tent on a spot of dirt. It has flush toilets (yay!) and, of course, it was free. It’s near Lake Ft. Phantom Hill, but the water was down and we were at the end that had a river feeding into the lake, so we didn’t swim.
