Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: April 2015

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

San Antonio, Texas 4/26-28/2015

We stayed in a place just outside of San Antonio known as Lake Medena Texas. While the wildlife was very abundant here, the lake, that at one time was was over 150 feet deep, is now, due to the drought, only 3 percent full. This lake was once the site of record breaking fish catches but that is when the lake covered 5,500 acres. Today the lake is around 600 acres and most of that remaining area is not deep enough to sustain fish survival. The drought is very real here and the numerous people that had lake side beautiful homes are now looking at a huge hole in the ground.

While here we did a day trip into San Antonio, Texas. The San Antonio Missions National Historic Park has preserved four of the five Spanish Frontier Missions. We set off to San Antonio to visit two of these missions, Mission San Jose and Mission Concepcion.

Founded in 1720, Mission San Jose was built to serve the Coahuiltecan Indians. A heavy outer wall was built around the perimeter of the mission grounds and guardhouses armed with cannons and guns were situated in the four corners of the perimeter walls. Jacales, or rooms, a quanity that would house 350 Indians were built into these perimeter walls. The missionaries found the Coahuiltecan Indians difficult to conform to their ways. These Indians had lived by hunting and gathering. The ideas of planting and waiting to harvest and breeding animals and waiting to later slaughter was a difficult concept for them to grasp. And while they would attend the mandatory Christian Mass, they would also sneak off to perform their ceremonial rituals to their prior Gods. These Indians did desire to stay in the Missions, however, as it provided them safety from the Apache Indians. Members of the mission community each had their own jobs and they would be given weekly allotments of provisions for their family units. When looking at the pictures below, take note of some unusual things-Joseph holding baby Jesus (seldom seen, at least in the US) and also St. Francis of Assisi holding the skull. On further research we discovered that the skull is a common thing seen with St. Francis, even if we all envision him with the sweet little birds on his hand. The skull he carried it is said was his way of stressing that our time on this earth is very temporary.

Mission Concepcion was established in 1716 in East Texas and later moved to San Antonio in 1731. The Battle of Concepcion was fought here in 1835 between Mexican troops and Texas Insurgents. It was a 30 minute engagement in which the Mexican troops retreated. At one time colorful geometric designs covered the Mission's surfaces. But these frescos have long since faded away. Remnants of these frescos, however, can be seen on some of the interior walls of the mission. This Mission stands today as the oldest unrestored stone church in America.

We finished off our interesting day with a relaxing late lunch along on the San Antonio River Walk.

Deer in our Campsite

Rabbit in our Campsite, love those ears

Lake Medena...or rather the lake bottom with no water

Mission San Jose
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

Joseph holding Jesus, front side of
Mission San Jose
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

St. Francis of Assisi holding skull front side of
Mission San Jose
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

Side Entrance of
Mission San Jose
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

Mission San Jose
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

Corner Guard Houses: Note Cannon and Gun Barrel Holes
Mission San Jose
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

Mission Concepcion
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

Interior Frescos
Mission Concepcion
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

River Walk
San Antonio, Texas

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Fort Stockton, Texas 4/24-27/2015

Fort Stockton the weekend we were there was having the Big Bend Open Road Race.Big Bend Race The race is 59 miles each way, from Fort Stockton, TX to Sanderson, TX and back. It takeses place along US HWY 285. There are various classes including unlimited speeds and various touring speeds. Those in the various touring speed classes attempt to complete the course at an average speed, It seemed amazing to us that the completions for these were within hundreths of a second even in the 150 MPH class.

While in Fort Stockton we also visited the Historic Fort Stockton, the Annie Riggs Memorial Museum and various other sites along their driving tour.

Historic Fort Stockton was established as a fort in 1858. The post protected travelers heading west from San Antonio, Texas. The US Army withdrew from Fort Stockton during the Civil War and in 1861 the fort was abandoned. In 1867 the fort would be re-established with 4 companies of the 9th Cavalry. The post war fort would be occupied for 19 more years, with it being abandoned once more in 1886. Company punishment could be severe, as shown in the pictures below.

The Annie Riggs Memorial museum we visited is housed in what was originally a hotel and boarding house, run by a woman of the same name. The museum with its 13 rooms included a recreated parlor, kitchen and other artifacts from the area.

We finished our visit with the Fort Stockton Driving Tour. Included along the tour are 17 local sites and buildings. We show you the Episcopal Church and the Courthouse.

A Big Bend Open Road Contestant

Historic Fort Stockton

Barracks
Historic Fort Stockton

1957 Working Coca-Cola Machine
Annie Riggs Memorial Museum

Note the knob in the middle that is slid to the right
to expose the real key hole
Annie Riggs Memorial Museum

Large Fan for the Ladies Made of Feathers
Annie Riggs Memorial Museum

St. Stephens Episcopal Church established 1896
Fort Stockton Driving Tour

Pecos County Courthouse established 1875

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Deming, New Mexico 4/23-24/2015

After several months in Mesa, AZ we are on the road again, headed to a June wedding in Vermont. Our first stop on the way was Deming, New Mexico. We were here a short time but there was still much to see. The courthouse was a beautiful structure and the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum was quite impressive. We were at the museum a couple of hours and due to them closing, we did a real rush visit through the second floor. The Mimbre pottery from 950-1200 A.D. housed in this museum was impressive in regards to beauty, quantity and condition. The museum housed many other unusual collections. There was entire room devoted to liquor bottles, another room with old vehicles including a 1909 Model T Ford, various artifacts from years gone by throughout and an entire room devoted to dolls from around the world. Included in the doll room was a doll Suzy from Hiroshima. Museum website

In the Deming area we also visited City of Rocks State Park City of Rocks SP The park is located at an elevation of 5259 feet and is home to some very beautiful volcanic rock formations. Some are as tall as 40 feet and the formations are almost 35 million years old.

Before leaving Deming, we drove down to Columbus, NM and walked across the boarder to Puerto Palomas, Mexico where we had a nice lunch and did some very minor local shopping.

Deming, NM Courthouse

Mimbre Pottery
Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

Liquor Bottles
Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

1909 Model T Ford
Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

Need a perm?
Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

Doll Room
Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

City of Rocks State Park, NM

Bob makes peace with the locals
Puerto Palomas, Mexico

Enjoying the Locals
Puerto Palomas, Mexico

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Hawaii The Big Island 4/6-13/2015 and Molokai 4/13-21/2015

We stayed in Kailua Kona on the Big island and the first picture below is taken from our balcony where we would enjoy our morning coffee while listening to the crashing waves. We stayed in a great location, quiet yet within walking distance to all the shops and restaurants. The Big Island is called that for a reason. We made 2 trips to the east side of the island while we were there and these trip were a couple of hours in one direction. Our first trip to the east side of the island was to visit Volcano National Park.

The Kilauea caldera, located in Volcano National Park, has traditionally been considered the sacred home of the volcano goddess Pele. Hawaiians would visit this area to offer gifts to this Goddess. In 1790 a group of Hawaiians visited this area with their gifts and were caught off guard with a sudden eruption. The foot prints of those Hawaiians can still be seen in the lava surrounding. Kilauea has been fairly active since 1790 and has been experiencing one of the longest volcano eruptions on earth, the latest one having begun in January 1983. While we did not view any lava flows, the steam vents throughout the park are plentiful. Our hike through the lava tunnel was impressive as well.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Park , located just south of Kailua Kona, is the site of the Royal grounds of past chiefs and also the pu'uhonua or place of refuge for those who violated kapu. In ancient times Hawaiians lived under some very strict laws known as kapu. Violating a kapu was most often punishable by death. One example of a kapu was one letting their shadow fall on the royal grounds. Some other examples include: men and women were not allowed to eat together; women were forbidden from eating certain foods; and among other things, sandal wood trees were not allowed to be cut down. If you violated a kapu, you could escape death if you were able to make it across the water to the pu'uhonua. Making it to the pu'uhonua, you would be absolved of your crime in a ceremony and could return home. This system was respected by all. This system was the law of the land until 1819 when Kamehameha II abolished these religious practices. The grounds include various ki'i (wooden statues that guard the royal grounds and temple), as well as ancient walls that surrounded the royal grounds and animal enclosures of the settlement.

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, located in the Northwestern portion of the island has preserved the ancient Ai'opio (fish trap) and Kaloko, fish pond. The constructed fish ponds were an area to cultivate algea and also contain certain fish. The porous nature of the lava rock would allow sea water to flow in and out, yet contain the various fish, that would later be food for the people.

Puako Petroglyphs is home to Hawaii's second largest location of petroglyphs. More than 3,000 images in stone have been identified at this site. The true meaning of the images found are unknown, they are thought to be a record of significant events in the lives of ancient Hawaiians. Here we hiked the 3 mile round trip to get to where over 1,200 petroglyphs are located in one large area.

Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site is located on the Northwestern end of the Island. At this location preserved are the ruins of the last ancient Hawaiian temple. It is here that a respected Kahuna named Kapoukahi suggested to Kamehameha I that he build a luakani heiau (sacrificial temple) in order to gain favor with the war God Kuka'ilimoku. Red stones were transported by a human chain that was 14 miles long. Thousands of workers were involved in the construction that took just one year to complete, with completion being the summer of 1791. The temple was approximately 224 X 100 feet. In 1791, this temple became an important battle site in Hawaiian history, the point in which Kamehameha I would rise to power. He would later come to unify Maui in 1794, Oahu in 1795 and Kaua'i in 1810.

Mokuaikaua Church , located in Kailua Kona, is the oldest Christian church in the state of Hawaii. It was established in 1820 as a wooden structure that later fell victim to fire. The current stone structure was completed in 1837. The church interior is full of Koa wood and all the pews are solid Koa wood as well. We learned from the docent how the missionaries here first introduced clothing to the locals and also that this is the site where the first bible was translated into Hawaiian for Queen Ka'humanu.

Flowers, flowers everywhere. We love the Hawaiian flowers and just had to include some pictures within.

While on the big island there were two very special scuba dives that we wanted to experience. One was the Manta Ray night dive and the other was the Pelagic Night dive.

The Manta Ray night dive began with an afternoon dive where we were not only treated to many ocean species but also some Manta Rays swimming along side of us. Here is a short clip of Bob, swimming with the Manta Rays. Bob swims with Manta Rays Our second dive was the night dive. On the night dive many divers and snorkelers too gather at a known Manta Ray feeding spot. The snorkelers lay on the top of the water shinning their lights down and the divers sit on the ocean floor shining their lights up. The plankton are attracted to the dive lights and the Manta Rays eat the Plankton. Wow what a treat! This is on our list of one of our best dives and we will return to do it again one day. There were well over 10 manta rays swimming right over our heads, Occasionally we had to duck a bit to avoid them. What beautiful huge creatures and to see them this up close was incredible!

Our other special dive was a night Pelagic dive. Six divers are taken to an area where the ocean water is about 3000 foot. The sides of the boat have 6 tethers that descend to a depth of 40 feet. Each diver clips onto his tether with an 8 foot drop line and then the magic begins. Over an area this deep many small ocean creatures come up at night to feed. They are small yet amazing and unusual. It was another incredible dive and one we would do once again as well.

Molokai, Hawaii was Teri's next destination, while Bob flew home to rescue our kitty from boarding. Teri went there mainly to visit with a good friend, Barbara who lives in Kaunakakai town. Barbara has a beautiful view of the ocean from her house and the two of them visited and drank coffee each morning enjoying this beauty. Barbara toured Teri around the island which has various eco systems. It is a quiet place with few tourists and everyone seems to know each other on the island. Teri snorkeled and beach combed near Kaunala Bay, they visited the mountains in Palaau State park, the rain forests near Halawa Beach Park and strolled along the harbor boats. They toured the few local shops in town, and enjoyed some great local meals and music. Teri so enjoyed being with Barbara and also fell in love with the peaceful, remoteness of Molokai.