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

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Vicksburg, Mississippi 5/3-5/2015

May 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant with his armies converged on Vicksburg, MS, entrapping a Confederate Army, under the direction of Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg would surrender, the Confederacy would be split in half, marking this as one of the more brilliant military campaigns of the Civil war. More on this campaign can be read at: Starve Them To Death

In 1899 the Secretary of War was directed to mark the battle lines and allow states to erect monuments within Vicksburg National Military Park. The park at 116 acres is huge and contains over 1300 monuments or markers. Not all states are represented, however. Sadly during World War II, the demand for resources was at an all time high. At this time, 145 of the largest cast iron tablets were removed and melted down to support the construction of military supplies and equipment. As time progressed, the cost to replace these items became very expensive. Today, private funded efforts have only been successful at replacing 22 of the 145 tablets that were melted. Also within the Military park is the Vicksburg National Cemetery that holds the remains of 17,000 Civil War Union Soldiers.

The USS Cairo was the first ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo. December 12, 1862, the USS Cairo was trying to clear the channel of torpedoes and destroy Confederate Batteries. When it reached approximately 7 miles north of Vicksburg, it came under enemy fire and sustained major damage to her hull. Within 12 minutes she sank to 36 feet below the surface. No lives wee lost. Over the years she was covered with silt and sand and it was not until 1965 when she was located and pulled up from the channel. In 1972 the National Parks Service obtained title and began the restoration process. We viewed the restored ship and many of it artifacts and found the restoration effort to be quite a feat. More information on this gunboat can be read at:USS Cairo

The old Vicksburg Courthouse was built in 1858. Greats such as Ulysses Grant, Jefferson Davis, and Booker T. Washington have spoke from this building. The museum which is located within the courthouse contains many artifacts from the area. Upstairs the interior of the courtroom was a real gem to see. The jury chairs, the judges stand and the area for attorneys are all well preserved. Doors were opened to get cross ventilation when it was hot and wood was burned in the fireplaces when it was cold.

Last, we drove around the downtown area. Many beautiful old buildings line the downtown streets. There was even an old River boat there on the Mississippi river near downtown.

Illinois Monument
Vicksburg National Military Park

Illinois Monument Interior
Vicksburg National Military Park

View from Illinois Monument
Vicksburg National Military Park

We thought this was a creative way to Mow a hill
Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg National Cemetery
Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg National Military Park

Restoration of the USS Cairo
Vicksburg, MS

USS Cairo Bell
Vicksburg, MS

Vicksburg Old Court House

Judge's stand
Vicksburg Old Court House

Jury Area
Vicksburg Old Court House

Vicksburg Old Train Station

Vicksburg, MS

Mississippi River

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Vicksburg, MS

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Lake Charles, Louisiana 4/28/15 - 5/3/15

Lake Charles, Louisiana was home to us for over five years. We detoured through the area to see our son Ryan who still lives and works there. We spent the time visiting and crabbing with him, seeing old friends and touring the area. We were quite impressed with the direction that the city has taken. There is now a beautiful dock down at the boardwalk and the downtown area has many new shops and restaurants. There are a couple of new casinos and we enjoyed being treated to dinner at the L'auberge casino by the family Ryan is working with. The L'auberge is a beautiful casino and we felt that it fit into the local flavor much better than the Golden Nugget which is next door. L'auberge has even built a beach area and lazy river for those warm 'Lazyana' days.We had alligator sausages downtown one day while there and our good friend Trudy treated us to a good o'le fashioned craw fish boil too. Lake Charles holds good memories for us and we enjoyed our short time there.

Alligator Etouffee Sausage

An Evening stroll near the Boardwalk
Lake Charles, Louisiana

Our Blue Crab Catch
Lake Charles, Louisiana

Trudy and Ryan Are Getting Ready
To Put In The Craw Fish
Lake Charles, Louisiana

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.