Mary moved with us, rain and all, to Goliad State Park.  I wondered why the map showed the campground as a rectangle but upon arriving to our parking lot campsite, I understood.

Good thing this is only a two day stop! Day one, visit the onsite mission and walk to another mission nearby and birthplace of General Zaragoza. His feats in battle are commemorated by the Cinco de Mayo celebration. So, in May when you are drinking a margarita or having a cervesa, send a silent thank you to General Zaragoza.

 

On the walk back, we ran across this little fixer

 upper.

Since we had exhausted this little park, the next day we took a day trip to San Antonio. There we experienced the river walk, had lunch at a little Mexican riverside café and visited the Alamo. Denny and I were last here in the early 80s and oh my, has it changed!

 Listening intently to Mary and looking like my mother!

The Alamo

The Alamo Courtyard

Mary moved with us again to Brazos State Park, a lovely park with lots of water birds, black vultures, and lots of alligators! You are supposed to stay 30 feet from them but when they are laying on the side of a path that's only 20 feet wide and the other side is a swamp, it's hard. We just hurried by quickly and nonchalantly. It must have worked because all of our limbs are intact!

Black vultures on a fishing pier

A BIG alligator on the side of the lake

A rare American Bittern, they stand like this to hide. Silly birds!

Lunch time at the dam

Mary is sporting a new knee and we gave it a good workout with nine miles of hiking!

We were happy to see that the black vultures continue to roost each night in the same group of trees as they did 4 years ago.  There must have been a couple of hundred. Impressive!

Mary had to return to the north but Denny and I continue on with our journey. We will soon be leaving Texas for the gulf coast.