This is my first time to blog! I have been trying to think of all the things I should say but I keep hitting the delete button repeatedly. Theresa and Julie (along with Bob, Katy, Wanda, Deniece and Greg) are trying to help me finish something that I started with my Mom and Dad years ago. I am trying to visit all 254 counties in the great state of Texas. You are joining us about halfway through with this task. At first we simply drove into the county (sometimes just for a few minutes) and then Wanda said "You know. You really need proof that you have been to all these places." So I started going back and taking a picture of something in the county. It started with courthouses but then I rediscovered something I had already known for a long time. TEXAS IS A UNIQUE STATE!!!! Now I try to find something unique in each county. But before you panic, I won't be blogging about all 254 counties just the ones we have visited since we started this blog.
I got the end of the day blog. It took me a while to download some the photos and I realized that is why my favorite younger sister and my favorite middle daughter left that task to me. They are both sound asleep.
We left Tarrant County and headed to Denton. Denton has a beautiful courthouse but because we had already been there we stopped by the Bayless-Shelby House. It is located at 317 W. Mulberry. Our next stop was the "Little-Chapel-in-the-Woods" on the Campus of TWU (corner Bell and University). The chapel was built in 1938. There was no charge to go into the chapel. We enjoyed visiting the chapel while the students walked by going to class. The stain glass windows were beautiful.
After a brief stop at the courthouse and fueling Julie and Theresa with some fried pies we headed to Lindsay to visit St. Peter's Catholic Church (1918). We were told that the church had been restored over a two year period. Julie and I had been to the church before but it was even more beautiful this time. I enjoy visiting painted churches. On our road trips Catholic churches are usually unlocked and welcome visitors. I wish I could add more pictures!
We like to add quirky things to our list so we headed to Saint Jo (Montague County) to check on the Lady Bug VW's on the Running N Ranch (located on Hwy 677, south off US 82 about 1.5 miles). Julie climbed over the fence to help support this very large piece of artwork.
Please feel free to tell us what it is!
We headed through Henrietta (Clay County) to check out their courthouse and some murals before we headed to Wichita Falls (Wichita County). We won't even talk about their courthouse. But we headed to Lucy Park to find a suspension bridge and "The Falls". Julie did whine a little about having to walk .43 miles to the Falls and .43 miles back but Theresa and I had a good laugh when we saw the first shirtless man of the trip. We tried to warn Julie but she didn't have her cell phone on. lol
Next we headed for "The World's Smallest Skyscraper". This building originally called "The McMahon Building was completed in 1919. The outside dimensions are 40' high, 18' deep and 10' wide. The rest of the history made it very interesting as we climbed the steps (too small for an elevator) to the top floor of the building. Julie loved it! It was like a math problem to her.
Theresa and Julie both thought they could live here.
We headed out to Electra to check on a post office mural and the Grand Theater. This historical landmark opened in 1920.
We searched 287 between Electra and Oklaunion (Wilbarger County) for the Convertible Mannequins but it wasn't meant to be, so we headed to Vernon for a look at the county courthouse. As we left Vernon and headed to Quanah (Hardeman County) we read information about the Medicine Mounds which are visible from 287 and stopped long enough to take a picture. They look like giant fire ant mounds. Quanah has a beautiful mural on the inside of their post office (219 W. Third). We had to take the picture through the glass because it was after 5:00.
Theresa and Julie were starting to get hungry but we couldn't find anywhere we wanted to eat in Quanah so we headed down the road to Crowell (Foard County) and Benjamin (Knox County) to see their courthouses before we had to put the growling stomachs at ease by stopping in Knox City for a burger at the Rockin Grill Steakhouse. After Julie and Theresa decided on a burger I decided to try their Fire Burger. I only took two bites before my mouth was on fire. I started coughing and had to leave the restaurant while Julie and Theresa laughed the whole time. I came back in and drank about a gallon of water before my lips quit burning. It warned me on the description but I really wanted to try something different. But what we really came to Knox City for was the tractor art!
It was time to find a place to stay for the night and there was no place to stay. So we drove a quick tour of Goree (a very quick tour) and then stopped in Bomarton (Baylor County) to check out St. John's Catholic Church, a historical landmark that is just a shell of a building. We went in to look around at the bear walls of a once active church.
It was a beautiful sunset. We headed to Seymour to see their courthouse and to find a Dairy Queen so Julie could get a Brown Derby (item #28 on the Texas Bucket List). We found a hotel and headed back to Wichita Falls.
We had a great day. We laughed a lot, we sang a lot and we learned about blogging. I promise we will get better at this. I am not going to be the last blogger tomorrow!
Thanks for traveling with us.
Lynda
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