Trip #2 Cowboys, Indians, Princesses and Queens
Just a few miles southeast of Las Cruces is the Texas border and El Paso. After El Paso is Fort Stockton, then the little community of Ozona, Texas, which bills itself as “The Biggest Little Town in the World” I’m not sure about that... and I’m sure Reno would have something to say about it, but on the main square they have a statue to Davie Crockett. The inscription at the bottom of the statue has a quote
from Davie... “Be sure you are right, then
go ahead.” I like that idea.
San Antonio is the seventh largest city in the United States and the second largest in Texas. Two of its most visited tourist areas are the Riverwalk and the Alamo. More than 2.5 million people visit the Alamo each year, and it’s only a few blocks from the famous Riverwalk, full of shops and restaurants, with hotels overlooking the passing riverboats full of visitors. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo, at one end of the Riverwalk, away from the noise of the central tourist area but still well within walking distance of it.
Since it was too hot to leave Bailey in the car we walked him to the Alamo and took turns watching him while we explored the grounds separately. Bailey never did get the historical significance of the place but I think there are a couple of Blogs about the experience that might be worth a read.
Our route from San Antonio to Lafayette was mostly on I-10, however, it was only about 4:00 in the afternoon so we stopped at the Louisiana Visitor Center just across the border (picture- left) and asked if there was a more picturesque route to Lafayette that we could take instead of the freeway. The map above shows the way we went... into Cajun Country and the gulf coast by Cameron, Louisiana. There’s a small car ferry and the Sabine National Wildlife Reserve on the route.
We had a full day in
Lafayette- our first of the
trip. We decided to head
south, to Avery Island, home of Tabasco. Did you know that all the pepper seeds for Tabasco are grown on Avery Island, then shipped to Latin America where they grow into pepper plants? When the peppers are harvested they’re then shipped back to Avery Island for processing. There’s also a beautiful 250 acre Jungle Gardens to visit, complete with a Bird City, native turtles and alligators.
