Remember the Alamo! Remember the Goliad!
In the 1700’s, Spain established mission throughout the “new world”, including in what is now known as Texas. Possession of this land changed hands several times, from the Spanish, to the Mexicans, and eventually to the new country of Texas. Two of these missions – Mission Spiritu Santo and the Presidio La Bahia near Goliad on the San Antonio river, were to play a vital role in Texas independence. A short version:
The missions, and the nearby Alamo, were captured from Mexico by the new Anglo settlers from the east. Goliad was the scene of the Signing of the Texan Declaration of Independence, essentially creating the new country of Texas. Santa Anna, now dictator of Mexico, was determined to recapture the land and laid siege and eventually defeated the Alamo. Certainly one of the most famous battles in Texas history. He also was determined to re-take the Goliad and sent General Urrea to capture the fort. He issued the Tornel Decree, which simply stated take no prisoners.
After a prolonged battle at Coleto Creek, the Texians, under James W. Fannin, surrendered. Urrea followed Santa Anna’s order and marched the 400 surviving Texians out of the Goliad and into the woods. There, he shot and killed all, although a few survived to tell the tale.
This act so outraged the Texians that the Goliad became a rallying cry in their battles with Santa Anna. In 1836, Sam Houston and his troops defeated him at San Jacinto with cries of “Remember the Alamo! Remember the Goliad!”.
A view of the bastion La Bahia
Inside the Chapel at La Bahia
One of the canons at La Bahia
A view of the Mission Spiritu Santo
Courtyard in the mission
Inside the sacristy
The area of the battle of Coleto Creek
The flag Fannin’s men adopted: “I’d sooner give my right arm”
Cruise pictures
Completed a early January cruise to the Caribbean (Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica). Didn’t bother to take my big camera, just my new Panasonic LX-7. Easy to carry, easy to hold, and with a fast (f1.4) lens suitable for use in doors. I am pleased with the camera and the images I got. Below are some that I particularly liked.
Coffee bar on the Promenade deck
Colorful designs on the pool deck
Early morning on the pool deck.
Water lilly (Jamaica)
Orchid (Jamaica)
One of the many restaurants
Chihuly Exhibit in Dallas
Dale Chihuly is an internationally know artist whose medium is glass. Al sizes, all colors, all shapes. Some subtle, some even bizarre. Currently, there is an exhibit of his work in the Dallas Arboretum. Here, hundreds of his glass “shapes” are installed as a complement (and sometimes as a contrast) to the plants. His works are scattered throughout the 66 acre arboretum.
The exhibit is immensely popular. Even though the dates have been extended twice, it is always busy. And the night time exhibits — when the glass is lit up — has been sold out every evening. No matter when you go, you’ll find it busy — and many people carry some pretty darn impressive photo gear!
We managed to get in one night, and in the daytime twice. I took different cameras just to compare them, it is a great place to take pictures. Below is an album of some of the images I took, ending with some flowers… after all, it is an arboretum!
Chinese Lantern Festival
Some pictures taken at our family visit to the Chinese Lantern Festival near downtown Dallas. It is spectacular; it takes over three months to make the exhibits. Just imagine all the steel wire and colored fabric used!
A visit to downtown Dallas
The weather was good, and we’ve never taken the train to Dallas, so this was a good time to try it out. Not quite as smooth a ride as the European trains, but plenty good enough. We made it downtown, walked some of the major buildings, and took some pictures.
The purpose of these pictures is just to play with light, colors and angles. So these are just fun pictures, not a travelogue.
Special shape balloons
One of the most exciting aspects of the Balloon Fiesta are the special shapes. A lot of design work, and assembly time, has gone into these special shapes. There are so many, here are the ones that caught my eye.
Raising Humpty Dumpty
One of the main events at the Balloon Fiesta is Evening Glow. This is when balloonists raise their balloons at dusk, and then light them up with their burners. Quite a sight when several hundred balloons light up the evening sky!
We happened on the Humpty Dumpty balloon just as it was being unpacked. So we stayed and watched (and photographed) the whole process of getting Humpty back on his feet. Or, on his wall, to be more accurate.
First, the balloon is unpacked and lain on the ground. Lines are straightened and checked.
A closeup of the burner. That packs a lot of heat!
The balloon is spread on the ground.
A fan is used to blow cold air into the balloon. This gives it the beginning of the final shape.
Then, the burner is used to get hot air into the envelope. This lifts the balloon off the ground.
The final amount of burning finishes the shape.
And voila, there is Humpty, all ready to meet and greet. The burner provides the light from inside the balloon.
And here is a view showing just some of the balloons lit up.
A day at Arches National Park
A visit to Arches NP is highly recommended. There are some fantastic geological formations, and they change their appearance depending on time of day. The morning light just makes for a different appearance than an evening image. So I have listed below an album taken over two days, but listed as if they were taken on one day.
A truly wonderful place to visit, but allow more than 2 days!
La Sal Mountain colors
We wanted to get some pictures of fall colors, after all, this is the peak time. However, we found that most of the colors have come and gone on this side of the mountains. We did find that there were colors on the other side of La Sal mountain.
So we drove over, much of it on gravel roads. We even had to ford a creek! We went all the way up to the 10,000 foot level at which point the “road” turned into a jeep trail. Not for my little Honda! But there was still lots of gold and yellow, but little reds. But there were some nice spots.
Getting closer to the mountain
Aha! Colors are in sight!
The road takes you right through the aspen stands
Had to ford a small creek to get there
Even the leaf-less trees are attractive
More attractive stands
The “road” is getting smaller
And this is pretty well the end.
Canyonlands National Park
Although we’ve been to Moab before, we’ve never been to Canyonlands NP so it was high time we went. We left mid afternoon so we could get late light, especially because I hoped to get some sunset pictures. We took our sunset pictures at the Green River overlook, and although the sunset was not the most spectacular, we got some nice pictures.
We started at Grand View, aptly named because the view is just spectacular. You look down into the valley below, and further into the canyons carved by the Colorado and Green rivers. We stopped and hiked at several locations to get as much in as we could.
Another short hike took us to Arch View. Pictures of this Arch are some of the popular sunrise photographs that you will see all over Moab. Although not as spectacular in the afternoon, it still was quite a site to see this arch, perched right at the edge of a 1,000 ft. drop off.
But I think for us the most spectacular view was of Upheaval Dome. To get there, you have to traverse a short but steep climb, at which you are greeted with an unusual sight. Inside a huge crater is a strange upthrust of greenish rock. In fact, popular theory has it that this was a meteor, hence the crater and the strange colored rock found nowhere else.
Anyway, if you have a chance to visit Canyonlands, do it. It’s worth the trip.
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- Finally, the sunset is painting the sky
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- Dramatic monument, sunset, and shadows
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- Every view seem better than the one before
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- The sunset is beginning to color the cliffs
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- The strange upthrust in the middle of the Dome
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- Upheaval Dome from the rim
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- Looking through Arch View to the cliffs beyond
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- Arch view
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- A view of the Grand View wall
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- Different shape rocks make every view unique
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- And, here Romola is viewing the grand vistas
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- Romola is peeping through a gap in some huge rocks
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- I like the look of this solitary tree against the enormous background
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- Another look into the canyons
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- A closer look at the formations in the canyons
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- Looking down from Grand View into the canyons
Our visit to Canyonlands NP was spectacular.
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