Texas Bucket List

Texas Bucket List

The Texas Bucket List – 5 Cousins Strawberry Patch in Poteet

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Poteet – In the early spring here in the Lone Star State, there’s a cash crop that’s already blossoming in the fields of Poteet, and that is the Strawberry. Considering this section of our state is called the Strawberry Capital of Texas, you’d expect to see strawberry fields forever but if you want to pick your own, 5 Cousins Strawberries is a good place to pluck out of the crowd. “You want to come look at this situation right here,” said Will Bates. “You may not ever see another one just like it.”

Will and his wife Ann have lived in Poteet since 1972 and they own the Five Cousins Strawberry Patch. “We made a career teaching school here in Poteet, and we both retired here,” said Will. “I don’t know that we started out to stay here, but we just got stuck.”

When you plant roots, that’s usually what happens. For Will, the seeds he sowed weren’t just strawberries, but also a family that turned him into a grandfather. “We have five grandchildren, hence the name, five cousins,” said Will.

Turns out this name defines Will’s Strawberry patch to a T, because it’s his grandkids that run it. “My wife and I are the landlords, we’re the heavy equipment operators, we’re the managers, we’re the bankers, and we do this in order to encourage them to do some physical work and to take responsibility for what they do and make some decisions and stand by those decisions,” said Will.

Running this strawberry patch isn’t just a chore for his grandkids either, it’s much sweeter than that. “The money that’s generated from this patch goes into their college fund,” said Will. “That’s what we do with that money.”

“We love the fact that we have this opportunity,” said Josh Bates.

Josh is Will’s son, and all this started when his daughter Hallie joined 4-H. “The crazy story about that is my dad and her came together on that,” said Josh. “That’s the beauty behind it, is it’s not based upon, ‘Man, we got to make this amount of money.’ It’s nice that it pays for itself, but more than that, giving them the opportunity to learn what it’s like to work on something together and come together and opportunity for people to come out and experience this outdoors and be part of nature. It’s cool.”

And with a strawberry patch of this size, it’s no surprise that these kids are putting in some serious work. “When the plants come in, they get out here and they plant them, and they put 20,000 plants in the ground in three days,” said Will. “Old hardened field hands can do it pretty fast, but when you got a bunch of kids out here, they’re having a blast.”

The work doesn’t stop there. “Then comes picking time, at which point they’ll pick if we need them to pick and they take care of the barn, they fold the boxes,” said Will. “They’ll go out and take people out and direct them on how to cut the strawberries, what to look for, that type of thing. They do a lot of the work around here.”

Family is forever, and this family is putting together a whole lot of fond memories out here in the strawberry fields. “That’s the blessing of it all, and honestly, that’s the beauty of this whole thing is them getting to spend time with their grandfather and their grandmother and be out here together and it’s brought everybody together,” said Josh. “It’s built so much unity within our family. It’s just a complete blessing.”

As for the strawberries themselves, there as sweet as you can find. “These are a Ruby June variety,” explained Josh. “They’re characteristically a little smaller than other varieties, but they have a higher sugar content than probably any of the other varieties that we have out here. You pull it off and it’s ready to eat. We don’t have any pesticides or anything else that’s out here.”

Of course you could go into any grocery store and grab a box of berries, but there’s just something special about picking them for yourself. “The difference between our berries and the berries that you get at the store, the only difference is because the same varieties and everything like that, the difference is that these berries are really ripe,” said Will. “They’re vine ripe, which means that when you take them, you want to eat them or you want to process them, but don’t expect them to be around for very long.”

Having created a place where people want to come and pick is only part of this whole experience for the Bates. It’s creating joy and memories for them and for those who venture to this small strawberry patch in Poteet. “Never thought I’d be the guy growing strawberries in Poteet,” said Josh. “That’s not where I thought my life was headed, and I’m extremely thankful for it.”

“It means a lot to me,” said Will. “I think it means a lot to the kids too. They appreciate it, and at least they say they do.”

The Texas Bucket List – San Felipe de Austin

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San Felipe – Texas history is something we hold near and dear to our hearts. Sacred sites like the Alamo, San Jacinto, Gonzales and Washington on The Brazos all played major roles in Texas gaining its independence from Mexico, but none of it would have happened without San Felipe de Austin. “A lot of what triggers the Texas Revolution is involved in this story here,” said Jordan Anderson.

Jordan grew up in Austin, which has been the capital of Texas since 1839, but today he works at the San Felipe de Austin State Historic site, which happened to be the first capital of Austin’s Colony from 1823 to 1836. “I thoroughly enjoy being here because it’s a story that’s not as well known,” said Jordan.

Now before Texas was Texas, it was a part of Mexico, and in order to populate this part of the country, Stephen Fuller Austin was commissioned to colonize it. “Mexico is looking to populate Texas and rebuild the economy, so they do have some stipulations,” said Jordan. “They’re looking for people who are going to be industrious and they’re looking for people who are going to bring their families. Texas in general lost about half its population in the 20 years from 1800 to 1820. They’re looking for families, people who are willing to convert to the Catholic Church, because they are a Catholic nation. There’s this whole story out there that people had to learn how to read and write and speak Spanish. That’s absolutely not the case. They didn’t care what language you spoke in, as long as if you’re communicating with them, it was in Spanish. Stephen F. Austin did most of the communication for you as a colonist, so that was taken care of. And of course, you’re going to be a good Mexican citizen.”

With 1.5 million acres to hash out in Austin’s Colony, he had to set up a center of operations, so San Felipe was established. “San Felipe is the administrative center of Stephen F. Austin’s colony,” said Jordan. “So, any of the colonists or prospective colonists who want to receive land in Mexican Texas, they’ve got to come here and receive approval from Austin himself, or one of his secretaries. And then they start the process of working with the surveyors to issue them lands on behalf of the Mexican government.”

An acre of land cost around $1.25 in the United States back then but in Mexican Texas, it was much more affordable. “You, the colonists, just have to pay the surveyor, the paper, the seal to make it official, and the land commissioner’s time,” said Jordan. “So you’re paying about 47 cents an acre. It’s a really screamingly good deal here.”

Of course, the land was divided up according to what your trade was. “There are two different types of land allotments that you could receive,” said Jordan. “First is going to be a league. So, that’s 4,428 acres, and that’s if you’re going to be a livestock raiser. The other is a labor, 177 acres, and that’s if you’re a farmer. So, the question was pretty much up to you, what of these two things do you want to do? The fee’s dirt cheap, as I mentioned earlier. Most people said they’re going to raise livestock. Some people said, ‘Actually, I plan on doing both. Can I get both allotments of land?’ It’s one of those that never hurts to ask. Worse you can be told is no, because they were told yes.”

Over time, Austin settled over 1,200 families and San Felipe became one of the biggest towns in Texas. “In the run-up to the Texas Revolution, San Felipe grows to become the second largest town in Texas behind San Antonio de Béxar,” said Jordan. “It’s the political hub of Anglo Texas. So, whenever the Anglo colonists have an issue with the Mexican government, they’re gathering here to talk about those issues and sending petitions to the Mexican government. But most of the business that is here has to do with the land business associated with Stephen F. Austin’s empresario grants.”

As Texans started to gain their fierce independent spirit, several attempts to separate from Mexico fell flat here. “San Felipe is where we passed on declaring independence from Mexico,” said Jordan. “We were declaring support for the Mexican Constitution of 1824. We wanted Santa Anna and his friends out, which in 1832 and ’33, we were in support of Santa Anna at the time. So, we liked him for a period of time. There’s even a ball we know of that was thrown in honor of him being elected president here in San Felipe.”

In 1836 everything changed. Texas battled with Mexico and while the Alamo is under siege, San Felipe receives a letter declaring Victory or Death from William Barret Travis and promptly starts printing it. “There’s a printing press in San Felipe, which is printing up all the government documents for them,” said Jordan. “And then later when the government moves and declares independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos, that printing press here is still printing all those documents. So, the Travis letter calling for help from the Alamo, that comes here to San Felipe. It’s then forwarded to Washington-on-the-Brazos.”

At the historical site, there are artifacts that take you back to these historic days of Texas’ past.“This represents the print shop run by Godwin Cotten, who came here with this style press, the Ramage press,” said Jordan. “And he ran the first newspaper, the Texas Gazette, in San Felipe. We actually use everything in this shop. Mark and a number of other volunteers have created some of these form documents, letter by letter. And first, they have to create a mirror image.”

It was from here that the citizens of Texas spread the word about the siege that was already underway. A few days later, Texas declared its independence and the declaration was sent here to once again spread the word. “They declare independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos,” said Jordan. “They send the copy of it down to San Felipe to print overnight, and the printers worked overnight and prints 1,000 copies.”

That same month, San Felipe burned to the ground in the Runaway Scrape as General Sam Houston pushed his forces back to San Jacinto. “It’s a strategic choice, which oftentimes is not a popular choice,” said Jordan.

According to Texas lore, Austin’s nephew, Moses Austin Bryan, refused to start the fire. “So, there’s stories of Moses Austin Bryan having split feelings about what they’re doing to their town, their friends’ businesses, their own homes,” said Jordan. “Moses Austin Bryan actually asked to be excused from service saying, ‘I refuse to burn the town that my uncle first laid off in the wilds of Texas.’”

On April 21st, 1836 Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto and Texas became a country. Stephen F. Austin would pass away in December of that same year from pneumonia. “When Stephen F. Austin dies, Sam Houston even writes in his letters, ‘The Father of Texas has died,’ because Stephen F. Austin spends a lot of his effort trying to guide Texas and the people living here in a positive direction,” said Jordan.

While San Felipe de Austin wasn’t a pivotal point in Texas’ Battle of Independence, it was crucial to the story of Texas, making it well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “To fully understand the story of the Texas Revolution, this place is important and its stories, that aren’t as well-known at the moment, give you the full picture,” said Jordan.

The Texas Bucket List – Fort Lancaster in Sheffield

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Sheffield – Traveling west in Texas, it doesn’t take long for things to start getting desolate. Just 240 miles from the Alamo City, you’ll find Fort Lancaster. Here, the wind whips between the plateaus while every little thing fights for survival. That includes the westward travelers who established this fort situated between the Texas Hill Country and the Chihuahuan Desert back in 1855. “There’s so many stories to tell of Fort Lancaster,” said David Martinez. “I think that’s one of the best parts about it.”

David is the Educator Interpreter for Fort Lancaster. Originally from the Rio Grande Valley, David is adjusting to life out on the frontier. “In a way, it was sort of a fulfilling of some of my childhood dreams, living out west,” said David. “Living in Texas, the American Cowboys, perhaps one of the most idolized figures. And out here, that’s as close as I can get right now.”

David has a master’s degree in history and his passion for this place is as expansive as the landscape. “Fort Lancaster is a very essential component of Texas history,” said David. “I liken it to sort of an intersection of many avenues of history. This was a federal army installation at one point. The Camel Corps passed through here at one point. It was a former Confederate army installation maintained by Confederate Texans. The Buffalo Soldiers were here, and it’s the only site within the state of Texas that’s a fort and simultaneously a battleground.”

Expansion to the west came fast and furious for Texas prior to the Civil War, and that’s how Fort Lancaster got its start. “Fort Lancaster was established in 1855 to protect the San Antonio-San Diego Trail and mail coaches ran by through here,” explained David. “And it was also a military garrison to protect against the Native Americans in the region. There’s a lot of evidence of native habitation out here in Pecos River Valley. When the US Army was surveying Fort Lancaster in 1849, they noted that there was evidence of Native Americans out here, and especially along the Live Oak Creek, which is the water source of Fort Lancaster. So because of that, Fort Lancaster was established right here because of the freshwater source.”

Around 1858, two companies of the First Infantry Regiment Garrison with over 160 men were stationed here. “There are two sets of barracks here on site,” said David. “There were the company K Barracks, and the company H Barracks. And it’s a mixture of limestone brick and adobe. So that reflects in its condition today. And something that aided in its longevity is the fact that it was made out of limestone and not Adobe. Had it been made out of Adobe, like most of this building, it would’ve all been weathered away.”

The fort was functioning just fine until a little skirmish between the north and the south took place in our country leaving US forces scrambling. “So in 1861, Texas joins the Confederacy and Fort Lancaster receives their orders to evacuate,” said David. “So March 20th is the official last day that US troops are here at Fort Lancaster, and they actually marched on foot to the coast of Texas to Indianola, hoping to make their escape. After 1861, Fort Lancaster never really achieves that same status of being a fully operational fort.”

After the end of the Civil War, the fort would return to the hands of the Union, who were trying to reunify the country after several highly divisive years. “Fort Lancaster had been abandoned in 1862 by Confederate Texans, and as an effort to reestablish the US government’s presence in the southwest in Texas, the Buffalo Soldiers were part of that mission to sort of bring the US government back to West Texas,” said David. “They had the odds stacked against them. However, it speaks to their tenacity, to the fact that they did so well in their mission and they succeeded, especially with the Battle of Fort Lancaster and defending their post and surviving such inconvenient odds for them.”

The only known attack on Fort Lancaster took place during the Buffalo Soldiers’ time here, and they were greatly outnumbered. “It was two years after the Civil War ended in 1867 and a garrison of about 40 Buffalo soldiers held their ground against a force of about 900 Kickapoo Indians,” said David. “As you can imagine, it was quite the spectacle for the Buffalo soldiers and often in that time period, enlisted men, it was very typical for soldiers to enlist and throughout their entire enlistment period, never see any forms of combat or engagement. It varied, of course, from post to post, but that battle really must’ve been something else for the gentlemen who were here during that time.”

The corral that came under attack that day still stands. “The primary reason that the Kickapoo Indians attacked Fort Lancaster was actually for the horses that the Buffalo soldiers, the Cavalrymen had brought with them,” said David. “You can imagine there’s gunfire coming from the company H Barracks. There’s gunfire coming here from the corral, and as the Buffalo soldiers were trying to maintain and get control of the situation, the horses stampeded out that way, and the Kickapoo Indians gave chase. And that was perhaps a saving grace here at Fort Lancaster.”

In a world much different from the one we have today, just simply traveling west was a harrowing experience for families and for soldiers. “Fort Lancaster is also, in a way, hallowed ground because we have a cemetery here on post,” said David. “We don’t know the identities of all of these graves, but it’s evidence that traveling out west and living on the western frontier was no walk in the park. Child mortality was high. People often got sick of pneumonia and perished. And here at Fort Lancaster, we try our best to preserve this site and not just keep the memory of the soldiers who worked here alive, but also to maintain the memory of the people who are buried here at Fort Lancaster.”

Taking some time to explore Fort Lancaster and trying to comprehend what life was like for those who defended it and those who traveled through it make this historical stop that’s well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “The forts were a pretty important component of not just the United States history, but Texas as well, as Americans traveled and settled out west,” said David. “And Fort Lancaster being a battleground, it shouldn’t be forgotten. Fort Lancaster sort of is a remnant of this interesting period of American history, makes it very much worth the visit.”

The Texas Bucket List – San Antonio Zoo Train

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San Antonio – Breckenridge Park is one of San Antonio’s most sought after stops in the state.  Since 1899, this 343-acre park has been the place to get back to nature, and over the years it’s added a zoo, a Japanese tea garden, and a train that’s particularly popular with pint-size people.

Nick Lopez is the lead train mechanic for the San Antonio Zoo Train. Nick says that it takes a lot of work to keep the trains operational, and that there’s a lot of hands involved that help give the satisfaction of these rides to riders every day and all year.

Formerly known as the Brackenridge Eagle, the train has been a part of the park for a long time. It started in 1956, and there were over a million riders over the first two years of operation. Everyday, 365 days a year, even on Christmas and Easter, this train takes to the tracks around Breckenridge Park providing riders with a 20-minute escape around the 2-mile track.

During the ride you get to see the parks, the zoo, and the nature of the river. Through trees, tunnels, and past golfers who are trying to concentrate on their game, there are all sorts of sights to see while riding the rails. This simple but satisfying train ride has stood the test of time, creating memories for generations.

Making sure the train is in tip top shape takes place in a shop surrounded by trees deep in the park. Known as the San Antonio Zoo Roadhouse, this is where Nick can get away and concentrate on making sure these little locomotives are ready for a long day of chugging along the tracks. Here’s a certain kind of heartbreak you experience whenever the train isn’t up and running for little riders, so Nick and the rest of the team make sure to take care of issues as quickly as possible.

The memories of the train don’t just sit in the hearts and minds of the kids and families that ride it. They also find a place to pull into the hearts of those who work on it. From the conductors to the ticket takers and the mechanics, this train is special to them too. So for a stop that brings joy to everyone its path crosses, hop on at this stop on The Texas Bucket List.

 

 

 

The Texas Bucket List – Tyler State Park

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Tyler – Texans are used to open spaces. But as the population of the big towns in Texas continue to grow, getting away from the concrete jungles of the Space City or Big D is something the souls of the Lone Star State need once in a while. Fortunately, you can find your own Fortress of Solitude just a few hours away from town, where lanes of traffic get replaced with serene lakes that are surrounded by the sounds of native birds. “It’s very calm out here,” said Boyd Sanders. “You can hear lizards rustling in the leaves. Claws of woodpecker going up a tree. It’s very, very peaceful. It’s really nice.”

Boyd has been a Park Ranger at Tyler State Park since 2007. “My primary job is to explain why these places are so special, why we need places like state parks,” said Boyd. “And I get to show them from the littlest critters to the grandest trees out here and enhance their experience in the park.”

The son of a sailor, Boyd was born in Tyler but moved around the country with his Navy dad until one day, he got to come home. “The day after I graduated, my truck was pointed to Texas,” said Boyd. “It was time to get home.”

While getting back home to the Lone Star State was high on his list, being a park ranger wasn’t.  That is, until he got the job. “I don’t know, I never really thought about being a park ranger, but got the job here and wished, ‘man, I should have been a ranger a long time ago,’” said Boyd.

With a workplace like this, who can blame him? “I tell people I have a room with a computer, but all this out here, this is my office,” said Boyd.

Tyler State Park sits on 935 acres directly north of Tyler. “We have tremendously huge parks and we have little tiny parks,” said Boyd. “This fits right nicely in the middle.”

While most Texans know the topography of our state includes pretty much every sort of landscape, this is all foreign to foreign visitors. “We have people coming from all over the world here and don’t realize Texas has trees,” said Boyd.

What some Texans don’t realize is that these trees actually provide a plethora of seasonal colors. The elusive fall foliage that folks in our part of the world don’t get to see too often. “We all enjoy it, even the staff does, because of how pretty it is,” said Boyd. “We just drive around the park, look at trees. It’s just that expectation of what’s coming. You know it’s going to be beautiful. And then when it starts to turn, there’s a bit of an excitement for that.”

As the crisp fall air cuts through the colorful leaves, you can’t help but stare at the sensational colors and wonder if it’s the serene saturation that’s mesmerizing you, or the complete sense of peace and quiet in these parts. “We’re going to get a beautiful change that really, to me, rivals the stuff that you see up in the northeast on the Appalachian Trail and all those places,” said Boyd.

With hues of gold, red, maroon, or just a random tree changing colors in a sea of green, there’s beauty everywhere you look. “One day it seems like a tree is green. The next day it seems like it’s bright gold. And the next day the leaves are gone,” explained Boyd. “Kind of what it seems like, but it’s a slower process than that. It all kind of depends on how many hours of daylight we have and how cold the temperatures get as to how the trees react. Some of the sweetgums turn a real deep maroon. This is absolutely gorgeous, but the black tupelo trees just turned fire red, and that’s probably some of my favorites.”

Besides the beautiful landscape, the buildings also bring out sightseers. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 40’s, they look nothing like you’d usually see in a state park. “It is more modern,” said Boyd. “Sort of toward the end of the Civilian Conservation Corps time or later in it, some of the young architects were kind of getting tired of the national park rustic. That’s that real pretty log cabin look or stone cabin look. Something that the buildings were made out of the natural resources around the area and looked like they grew out of the natural resources from the area. These are more inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School, so it’s a more modern style. It’s made to complement the landscape and not hide in the landscape.”

While unique and historic, it’s safe to say the natural beauty here steals the show. But you do have to be there on time to catch it. “Starts kind of the end of October,” said Boyd. “Our peak is typically right around Thanksgiving, and then it still has color usually in the first week or so of December. Once these trees are kind of done, it’s time for Christmas.”

So enjoy an early gift before the holiday season and unwrap yourself in the East Texas beauty of Tyler State Park. “To see the beautiful views and to get off the concrete and asphalt, they need to explore,” said Boyd. “They need to get out in the woods, they need to get out in the trees. We were made for this. We weren’t made for high rises and concrete. We were made for woods and being outdoors.”

The Texas Bucket List – Peter Pan Mini-Golf in Austin

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Austin – The ever-changing skyline of Austin is unrecognizable from the college town feel of the 80s.  Watching fireworks from Auditorium Shores was always a highlight of any childhood summer in the state capitol but sitting in that park, you always knew that Peter Pan Mini-Golf was nearby and well worth a visit. “We’re just simple,” said Margaret Dismukes Massas. “Old-school nostalgia is our calling card.”

Margaret grew up in this area and she has seen lots of change. “Things were a lot slower in the ’60s and ’70s, and a lot weirder,” said Margaret. “It’s hard to explain when you drive by these old… Even my old street where I grew up. And it’s like, ‘I don’t recognize this anymore.’”

But there’s been one constant in her life, the putt putt course that was started by her family. “It was started by my dad and his brothers,” said Margaret. “My dad, Glenn Dismukes, two brothers, Jack and Clifford Dismukes, opened operations here in 1948. At the time, it was called Varsity Links. Didn’t look like it does today. Didn’t have all the sculptures, but it was a simple golf course. And over the years, it evolved.”

With the city exploding around it, Peter Pan Mini-Golf gives folks the old school Austin feel. It’s quirky, weird, and a staple that doesn’t change. “There’s an emotional part of ‘This is old Austin,’” said Margaret. “This is the old Keep Austin Weird right here. And people that have been around any length of time, this is what they connect with old Austin. And they’re desperately wanting us not to become another cookie cutter city where everything gets raised and we just build condo buildings, but to keep these things that make it special. By and large, 99% of the comments are, ‘Don’t ever change. Keep it, keep it, keep it.’ So that’s our desire, to keep that for… It’s part of the culture of Austin.”

There aren’t any neon lights, loud music, or animatronic animals blocking your ball from making it in the hole. This is a simple course with a few fun figures that have stood the test of time. “We do have Peter Pan. We do have a couple of pirates,” explained Margaret. “We have Captain Hook and we have Tinkerbell, but then we have a whole bunch of other stuff that’s very eclectic and doesn’t have anything to do with Peter Pan. It was just whatever struck his fancy.”

You see, it was Margaret’s Dad, Glenn, who made all these crazy characters. Each and every one was handcrafted by Glenn over the 60’s and 70’s, and each of them found a place to perch on the hill at Peter Pan Mini-Golf. “My dad is the original artist,” said Margaret. “He did it just as a hobby. Wasn’t his primary occupation, but out in the backyard and in our garage, he was always carving and making new things. He created the Peter Pan, the T-Rex, a whole bunch of the original characters all scattered throughout the golf course, most of them just modeled after a ceramic piggy bank, or Peter Pan was modeled after the Jolly Green Giant on the green bean can. And T-Rex was just… He loved dinosaurs. He had a thing about dinosaurs, so he created the T-Rex. So it’s very eclectic, and we do have an artist now that keeps things painted and maintained.”

While the characters might have a fresh new paint job that’s a funky reimagining on the outside, the spirit of these statues hasn’t changed, and neither has their positions on the putt putt course. That’s especially important for two pieces in particular. “That is the most iconic image that you see all over,” said Margaret. “It’s been used on souvenirs in Austin-centric shops. So that is the most iconic shot, and that’s probably the most sentimental to me, is just standing below and looking up and seeing Peter Pan with the T-Rex towering over.”

With nearly 80 years of history on this hill, the fate of Peter Pan Mini-Golf is the true hazard on this golf course, considering they still have to lease out the land on which the 36 holes sit. “The gentleman that owned the land back in the ’50s, when he died, he left it,” said Margaret. “He didn’t have heirs, and he left it to be used for the benefit of the orphans of Texas. It went into a trust that went to the Texas Youth Commission that has now become the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. So all the monies raised off this property and others that are in the trust all go towards youth programs. We have every confidence that we’ll be able to work with the Juvenile Justice Department and sign another long-term lease like we have in the past.”

So, folks keep putting away and pulling for Peter Pan Mini-Golf to continue its iconic run in Austin. “Well, this is old school mini-golf,” said Margaret. “The people of Austin are really desperate to keep not just ours, but other older businesses like ours. People don’t want Austin to just look like another rubber stamp city, but these are the things that made Austin unique.”

 

 

The Texas Bucket List – Chapel on the Dunes in Port Aransas

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Port Aransas – The sound of waves crashing on the shores of the Lone Star State is a sound that always puts the mind at ease. Feeling the warm sun on your face while smelling the salty sea air calms the senses, and it’s really the perfect place to find some peace of mind. And if you need to add a little divine guidance to this reflection, there’s a Chapel on the Dunes down here that can serve that purpose. “I don’t think you walk through that door and leave untouched,” said JB Smith.

Smith is a docent for the Chapel on the Dunes, and this gig is a great joy compared to her day job. “A distraction from my life as an attorney,” said Smith. “This is just a little bit more of an opportunity to bring humor and joy than I typically get to show in court.”

This small white chapel literally sitting on the dunes of Port A has been watching the sunrise over the gulf since 1937. “It did really well in Hurricane Harvey,” said Smith. “I remember one of the old windows behind me had a pane of glass missing. That’s about it.”

This small space that so many are sentimental about was the idea of Texas poet Aline Carter. “I love a hero’s story, and I can’t believe that I just stumbled into being able to share the mission of, I call her a Renaissance chick,” said Smith. “I do the Renaissance chick tour of the chapel. And I can’t believe that I’ve had the opportunity to share her passion for life. She was a truly amazing woman, one of those unsung heroes who gets a little lost in the hands of time.”

Born in San Antonio back in 1892, Aline was appointed poet laureate of the State of Texas in 1947. Her work required a quiet place to reflect, so in the 1930’s she commissioned the Chapel on the Dunes as part of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA. “She built this chapel and invited the children of the island to come for Bible stories,” said Smith. “And if you came, she served you ice cream and cake, at a time in the late ’30s through World War II when those supplies were difficult to come by and this would not have been an island where the families typically would’ve enjoyed the refrigeration to have ice cream on a regular basis. So she was doing something pretty special for the kids.”

Back in those days, the chapel looked a little bit different. “She painted a white chapel and that was what she wanted in the ’30s,” said Smith. “But I think that she would have just loved what her chapel has become.”

The frescos you’ll find here were painted by John Patrick Cobb back in 1978. “When he started this work. He described himself as a crummy guy, a guy full of dark spirits, and I sense the connection in these frescos is one of spirit,” recalled Smith. “When you look at the spirit in Daniel and the scales of justice and his dreams and Job over here beseeching his maker to explain his trials, I think very much the spirit is the connection with most of these works that he chose to put up here.”

Cobb’s work in the chapel serves as a representation of his own spiritual journey. “He had a spiritual conversion. He describes the Bible verse straight ahead as the verse that really commanded him in his work,” said Smith. “The verse is one that the world probably needs more today than ever, which is that ‘When we love one another, God lives in us and His love is complete in us.’ And Aline would’ve believed the exact same thing.”

Every part of the walls and ceiling has some sort of art on them, and most of them have a religious connection. “It starts with the Old Testament, a creation story over there,” explained Smith. “The Carters asked John to please leaf up Adam and make Eve a little less obvious. And then this is the father being commanded to sacrifice his son. And at different times of the day, the angel who’s holding dad’s arm with her right hand is more or less obvious. And then we come around to the New Testament here, and in the back it’s Revelations.”

But John did take a few liberties. “He’s got the Bay of Corpus Christi with an alligator, so it wasn’t strictly a religious presentation,” said Smith. “Over the altar is the apostles and they’re on the Bay of Corpus Christi. So he wasn’t strictly holding himself to a religious story.”

While not everything sticks to the scripture, people still come to this place for peace and Smith has had several instances of sort of divine guidance as when to go open the gates. “Somehow knowing people who need to come in the chapel,” said Smith. “I’ve probably just randomly greeted two or three people over the last two years who just needed a space. They just needed to be here. So I’ll just let them in and let them spend some time here. And to a person, they’ve said that that experience was just what they needed.”

While this chapel on the dune doesn’t dominate the seaside landscape of Port A, it still provides the perfect place to center oneself and apricate a little art. “I think it shows us all how we can do small things with great love,” said Smith. “Not many of us consider what will be our legacy other than the kids we raised and their families. But to me, this is such an amazing legacy that Aline Carter and her family share with everyone who comes here.”

 

The Texas Bucket List – Flying Horses Carousel in Brenham

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When it comes to springtime in Brenham, baseball is usually the first thing on folk’s minds. But through the sounds of the game, you’ll hear another distinct tone that’s been coming from Fireman’s Park for nearly 100 years. “The carousel is a staple in Fireman’s Park,” said Crystal Locke, the Recreation Specialist for the carousel. “Here, you’re able to ride a piece of history. It is a fun job,” said Crystal.

And that fun includes promoting Brenham’s historic carousel, which is an easy sell. “The golden ages of carousels were back from 1880 to 1930. And almost 4,000 carousels existed in the United States. And that number has dwindled to about 150,” explained Crystal. “We are one of five classic wooden carousels in the state of Texas, and the oldest.”

“Just part of growing up. I did it when I was a little kid, and it was obviously a big thrill. There was a pavilion here, and the baseball game was always going on. But to ride the horses was a big, big treat,” said Atwood Kenjura, a 4th generation Brenham resident.

“You don’t see these operating hardly anywhere anymore. And to find one in this good a condition and just to do what it is, it’s part of Brenham,” said resident Kyle Branham.

Since 1932, kids and kids at heart have been saddling up at this colorful carousel that was once put out to pasture.  At least that’s where it was found a few years earlier. “So in 1930, a gentleman by the name of Hugh Durden discovered our carousel in a pasture down the road in Clay, Texas, about 20 miles down the road,” said Crystal. “Just came upon it, sitting in a pasture. The carousel was part of a traveling carnival. And the traveling carnival, mind you, this is 1930s, so around the time of the Depression, and this traveling carnival couldn’t afford rent at the pasture. And so the carousel was abandoned in the field. Mr. Durden had this vision of how this carousel could serve our community and brought that back to board members for the Washington County Fair Association,” said Crystal.  “They had purchased the carousel for somewhere around $30, which is great, because he also mentioned how expensive it was to restore the horses.”

These carved caballos were originally created sometime between 1867 and 1901.  They’ve been galloping through time ever since.  Creating memories for kids throughout the generations. “Had a conversation with my grandma who was talking about how she rode the carousel as a little girl, and she was able to take her daughter and her granddaughter, and now great-granddaughter to ride the carousel,” said Crystal.

“To know that they’re riding some of these same horses that I’ve rode on my entire life, and even sitting on the bench with them when they’re little infants to now riding on the horses, you couldn’t ask for nothing better,” said resident Kyle Branham.

“I always wanted to go faster, of course. Luckily, they hadn’t done that,” said resident Atwood Kenjura.  “It’s the same speed, I think, today as it was back when 1950s.”

The best part about this piece of history is the price! It’ll only set you back one whole dollar to take a ride. “You can ride all you want for a dollar,” said Crystal. “I can’t tell you the last time the prices went up.”

“It’s a heck of a deal in this day and time,” said resident Atwood Kenjura.

“It might’ve always been a dollar. I don’t really know. Sometimes I feel like we snuck on, but it was whatever horse was open, you just jumped on it and then you stayed on as long as you could,” said resident Kyle Branham.

The memories this merry go round makes are cherished by all including my family. My oldest still savors spending time on this timeless attraction, as does my boy. But my youngest, she’ll never get off her high horse because to her this is pure joy. “To see the smile on the kids’ faces, I think that’s what it’s all about,” said resident Atwood Kenjura.

So, if life’s got you spinning your wheels, take a ride on the oldest carousel in the Lone Star State.  It’ll put you in a great place on The Texas Bucket List.

The Texas Bucket List – Mission-Aransas Reserve in Port Aransas

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Port Aransas – If you’ve never stood on the shores of the coastal bend, you’ve never experienced one of the most serene places in the Lone Star State.  The smell of the salty sea filling your sinuses, the wind’s steady breeze keeping birds aloft, and the sounds of massive ships sailing out of the gulf are just some of the everyday occurrences that can transfix your inner sailor’s soul.

The Mission Aransas Reserve in Port Aransas is great place to start your ocean adventure because here, they’re doing their best to keep the coast as clean as can be. “We concentrate a lot of our work up in the bays and estuaries,” said Jace Tunnell, a marine biologist and Reserve Director at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute. “We look from everything from water quality to habitat assessments, to looking at sea level rise and erosion of land, things like that. And we look long-term.”

Tunnell was born down the road in Taft and spent his youth on these very waters. “Always grew up surfing at the beach,” said Tunnell. “And even today I spend a lot of my time at the beach.”

That’s because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. “My father was a marine scientist and he was at Texas A&M Corpus Christi for over 40 years, and he used to take us to the beach all the time, but it wasn’t the typical, ‘We’re going to go play in the sand, build sandcastles,’” said Tunnell. “It was like, ‘We’re collecting data. We’re driving down the national seashore, 60 miles, we’re counting every bird that’s down there. We’re counting how much tar is on the beach.’ It was always science driven.”

Tunnell does much of the same at the Mission Aransas reserve.  Here it’s all about protecting the Texas coast and that includes taking care of a few turtles at the Amos Rehabilitation Keep, or ARK for short. “So we’ve got three different species of sea turtles in here,” said Tunnell. “These right here we call our floaters, they’re green sea turtles, and they’ve all been hit by a boat.”

Even coastal birds are brought back to health at this center. “Our laughing gulls are very vocal,” said Tunnell. “You see why they get their name.”

But what really peaks people’s interest in this place is the trash. “So over this last year we’ve been collecting stuff off the beach from our beach surveys in preparation for an auction that we have once a year,” said Tunnell. “Tony Amos started doing trash about 25 years ago. He would drive along on Mustang Island, and every other day he was doing a survey. So he would count the trash, the types of trash that are out there. He’d also count the number of people, number of cars, dogs, helicopters, boats, anything on the beach he would count. But trash is one of the most important things he was collecting because you could see how trash changed over time.”

Tunnell’s research today seeks to accomplish the same goals that Amos was pursuing all those years ago. “We’ve done a lot of research looking at where is this coming from?” said Tunnell. “Is it people leaving all this trash out here? And it turns out that a lot of it is from the loop current that goes around Mexico, goes into the Gulf Stream around Florida, and then it creates these eddies that push anything in that current up towards the Texas coast.”

It makes sense that spending your days sorting through beached trash would lead to some interesting discoveries, and a washed up leg certainly counts as a fascinating find. “We found a leg. Yeah, I think the funny thing about this is that this was sort of partly buried in the sand when we found it,” sad Tunnell. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a body over there.’ And I walked up and when I pulled it out I was like, ‘Oh, thank God it’s just a leg.’”

Finding a presumably prosthetic leg isn’t the craziest thing that Jace and his team have come across.  The trash treasure that gets the town talking are the dolls. “We find probably one or two dolls a month, but you put that over a five-year period, we’re finding hundreds of dolls,” said Tunnell. “I mean, some of them, you probably would have a hard time sleeping at night after you see pictures of them.”

Initially, they didn’t think anything about the terrifying toy trash but after seeing the response people had to the decimated dolls, things changed. “When we were doing our surveys, we would start taking pictures of the things that we were finding,” said Tunnell. “And so one time we found this head that was about this big, like a mannequin head, and we took a photo of that, and that was the first photo that we put in a long string of natural stuff that we’re finding. And I mean, people went crazy over this on our social media. They shared it and it might’ve been liked 600 times or something, which was a lot for us on our social media site. So we said, ‘You know what? We’re finding these things, people are obviously interested on them.’”

The dolls really get people talking due to the mystery surrounding them, and everyone seems to have their own theories. “People have a lot of theories about where these dolls have come from,” said Tunnell. “Some people think that they are haunted, and so if dolls come up, don’t touch them. Somebody’s throwing them out there with some kind of crazy spells on them. Some people think that there’s a 4,000-year-old girl who’s throwing these dolls out there, but I have my own theory about where they’re coming from. We know that a lot of countries don’t have good systems for where to put their waste. A lot of people are living on rivers. So some countries are just pushing their trash right out into the ocean or into a river that leads to the ocean, and so we’re probably just getting a lot of people’s trash.”

The reserve has capitalized on the loot and now raises funds from the crazy things they find on the shores of Texas through an auction called Trash to Treasure. “We do host an annual auction where all this stuff we find, we’re trying to raise money for the sea turtles,” said Tunnell. “In total, and this is all year long, we will collect a bunch of stuff, items go for $5, $10, for all this effort we make about $2,000.”

Now that the dolls have a following, they are the big-ticket items when it comes to the auction. “We would usually sell a couple of dolls at a time for… The bidding starts at $5 and they usually sold for $10,” said Tunnell. “But now that these dolls have been sold for the amount of money they have, we just sold one in the fall at an auction for a different organization that we donated a doll to for $250.”

While the figurines are an overboard oddity of the ocean, the awareness these diabolic dolls are bringing to the reserve is priceless and will help continue their mission of protecting a priceless piece of the Lone Star State. “Making sure that we’re doing everything that we can so that the next generation can enjoy the same nature that we did growing up is important, and everyone has a part in that,” said Tunnell.

 

 

The Texas Bucket List – Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West in Amarillo

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Amarillo – If you’ve never seen the Panhandle Plains of Texas, you really are missing out on some of the most serene scenery in the Lone Star State. Palo Duro Canyon alone is worth the drive to this part of Texas. But right on the edge of the second largest canyon system in the United States, you’ll find Los Cedros Ranch, Home to some beautiful horses. “All of our horses, we let them free-range, so this is their ranch,” said Phyllis Nickum Golden. “We just get to come visit.”

Phyllis owns this 1000-acre ranch that happens to be her happy place. “Oh, it’s heaven,” said Phyllis. “It’s my ranch, my rules.”

Phyllis didn’t grow up on this piece of property, nor is she a native Texan. She made her way to Amarillo through her former career in the hospitality industry. “A man who I used to work for asked me if I’d come to Amarillo to take over four hotels that he bought,” said Phyllis. “And I said, ‘Where?’”

When she arrived, she found out ranching is such a way of life you can’t help but get a whiff of it in the whipping winds of the panhandle. “That’s the smell of money around here,” said Phyllis.

Now Phyllis has always had a love for horses and would always talk about her passion to people at the hotel.  Eventually, it took a Beatle to make her saddle up on this adventure. “Matter of fact, Paul McCartney gave me the idea for this,” said Phyllis. “Yeah, our hotel was the only one with private concierge. It was one of the top 100 in the nation for seven years. And Paul McCartney came through here and he was going down Route 66 with his then girlfriend, now wife, and he was coming out to the ranch to ride and he said, ‘You need to start a business like that.’ And that was 2008. And I sat on it for three years, just the thought.”

In 2011, she created Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West, a riding outfit that takes folks from all over the world through some of the most majestic Texas scenery you’ll find. “You talk about the Texas bucket list,” said Phyllis. “This is the world’s bucket list is to ride a horse in Texas.”

These incredible animals traverse the Texas terrain with ease. “Our horses are incredible,” said Phyllis. “They are sons and grandsons of American quarter horses. They’re working cattle horses. This is a cattle ranch, and we allow guests to come out here and experience what it’s like to ride a horse in Texas, but also experience the western way of life.”

But it’s not just the horses that deserve the credit for this incredibly relaxing and easy experience, it’s also the cowgirls leading the way. “Our horses are incredible, but the cowgirls make them feel so, so comfortable, and they take care of them too,” said Phyllis.

You won’t find one cowboy taking lead on this little adventure because, well… “Because girls rock,” said Phyllis. “Most of my wranglers are students at West Texas A&M University. And the deal is they can work here while they’re going to school. I will let them work so many hours, but not enough to get into their studies, so it doesn’t compromise their education at all. When they graduate, they’re expected to go get a big girl job. And it’s kind of sad because I love them. They’re like second daughters to me.”

These ladies in denim and leather aren’t all full-time cowgirls, in fact they come from all sorts of incredible backgrounds with a few common characteristics. “I have girls who are dancers, who are actors, who are veterinarians, who are dentists, who are business owners, who are accountants, who just do so many things, but the common thread that they have is that they love horses, and they love people, and they love the western way of life,” said Phyllis.

Phyllis cuts right to the chase as to why cowgirls are in charge at her ranch. “They’re very hospitable, number one,” said Phyllis. “They’re good eye candy, but they’re more tender with the horses. I notice the different nuances with male and female, and all of our horses are boys, so they’re Goldings. But women are just more gentle and tender. And when you’re riding a horse, you want to make sure that a horse does not have any kind of traumatic imprint.”

Of course, one has to point out that cowboys still make an appearance on her riding outfit’s name. “We had some guys who had to come out and do some heavy lifting, so I thought to honor them, we needed to put their name in there,” said Phyllis.

Whether you’re a cowboy or cowgirl or don’t consider yourself a cow person at all, getting to ride these magnificent horses is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “We love what we do,” said Phyllis. “We don’t need to do this business. We have others, but we just love showing people our home, our culture, our horses, and the west.”