Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets » Texas Sightseeing

Shopping and Fun at Georgetown Market Days

Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:44:04 +0000

The hubster and I finally made it to the 2nd Saturday Market Days in Georgetown, Texas yesterday. Market Days takes place in the historic downtown square, and there’s “a whole lotta shoppin’ going on” at vendor booths and shops along the square.

Lots of Shopping Choices at Market Days

There was a variety of vendors selling everything from jewelery to rugs to honey. Here are some photos of some of the vendors.

Second Saturday Market Days in Historic Downtown Georgetown, Texas

Bubba of Bubba's Beez

Ron of Ron's Rag Rugs demonstrates how he weaves his rugs

Left: Doug Odle sews a heart on a handmade sock animal. Right: a very cute sock cat.

For the Kids

Tony Maxironi makes balloon animals. Hook 'em Horns. No Aggies here!

Children ride the Kids Express train around the square.

About Georgetown Trade Days

2nd Saturday Market Days and Concerts

True Women and Pecans in Seguin, Texas

Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:31:58 +0000

True Women Book Tour

If you are a fan of True Women, Janice Woods Windle’s 1994 bestselling novel about Texas women, war and adventure, then you know about Seguin, Texas.

If, however, you are not familiar with Seguin, you should definitely plan a visit. Located about 50 miles from Austin and 35 miles from San Antonio, it’s an easy day trip from either city.

Seguin is one of the oldest towns in Texas. Founded in 1838, it was named for Col. Juan N. Seguin, a Tejano who fought beside the Anglo settlers against the Mexican dictator Santa Anna.

Many places mentioned in Windle’s book can be seen as you drive around Seguin, such as the final resting place of Euphemia Texas Ashby King and the Male Academy where Euphemia and William’s sons attended school. Look for Book Tour signs or visit the True Women Virtual Tour web site to view an interactive map of book tour locations.

In 1997, the book was made into a movie starring Dana Delany and Angelina Jolie. I recently saw the movie for the first time and really enjoyed it. About the Movie: True Women on IMDb.com.

Rain Spouts

There are some really unusual rain spouts around town. The gargoyle spout is on the Texas Theatre building.

World’s Largest Pecan

As a tribute to the area’s important pecan industry, Seguin boasts that it is home to the world’s largest pecan. Well, I don’t know if that’s true, but the concrete pecan on the courthouse lawn is definitely big.

Seguin hosts an annual celebration called Pecan Fest Heritage Days, where “Seguin locals break out of their shells and throw one big party.” With heritage tours, arts and crafts, food, music, and more, it looks like lots of fun. For more information, visit the Pecan Fest web site.

Seguin is also home to Pape’s Nutcracker Museum, with “more than 8,000 examples from Germany, Austria, Italy, and India.”

I wonder if Pape’s has a nutcracker big enough to open the world’s largest pecan!

Around Town

Here is a small sampling of the many interesting places to see in Seguin.

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Sebastopol House State Historic Site: A 1856 Greek Revival-style house, Sebastopol is significant as one of the best surviving examples of early concrete building in the Southwest. It is listed as a Registered Texas Historic Landmark and is in the National Register of Historic Places as a result of its unusual limecrete construction and its architectural style.
Max Starcke Park/Guadalupe River: Built in 1937 on the banks of the Guadalupe River, this beautiful municipal park has small rolling hills, shady pecan trees, standard and miniature golf courses, playgrounds, picnic areas, volleyball and basketball. More information on TexasEscapes.com.
Saffold Dam: Located in Max Starcke Park, Saffold Dam was originally a natural rock outcropping, which was typical of dams built in the late nineteenth century.
Texas Theatre: Built in 1931, the building is now owned by the Seguin Preservation Society. It’s a beautiful building and renovation plans are underway. Texas Theatre page on Cinema Treasures.
Conservation Society Buildings: Lots to see — including the Campbell-Hoermann Log Cabin (1850); the oldest standing Protestant church in Texas (1849); Los Nogales Museum, a pioneer home constructed of sun-baked adobe in 1849; and a Victorian dollhouse, built by German cabinetmaker Louis Dietz for Alice O’Brien, who had come to Seguin from New York City as an orphan train child.

More information about Seguin:

Hollywood Stars and Smithville, Texas

Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:24:37 +0000

What do Hollywood stars Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick, Jr., Sean Penn, Ryan Reynolds, Brad Pitt and Jon Gries have in common? They’ve all filmed movies in Smithville, Texas—a small town of roughly 4,000 residents, located 29 miles southeast of Austin.

Smithville has plenty of sights for movie buffs. And with shopping, parks, and dining—it’s a great place to visit, even if you’ve never seen any of the movies filmed there.

The town was established by Thomas Gazeley, who in 1827 settled near the present site. Gazeley operated a store there until his death in 1853, and the community that sprang up around the store was named after another early settler, William Smith.

Hope Floats in Smithville

The 1998 film Hope Floats starred Sandra Bullock as Birdee Pruitt and Harry Connick, Jr. as Justin Matisse.

Birdee Pruitt's house in Hope Floats

The McCollum-Chapman-Trousdale House at 201 E. Eighth St. was used as Sandra Bullock’s home in Hope Floats. This large Neoclassical-style home was built for J.H. McColllum in 1908. McCollum was the local undertaker, buggy and carriage maker, and had a large store on Main Street. In 1917, Dr. Phillip Chapman and his wife, Mamie Trousdale Chapman, purchased the home. It was inherited by his nephew Gordon Trousdale, and is now the home of his son. The house has a swimming pool in the back yard that the movie crew covered up because they didn’t want a pool in the film.

Star Biscuits Ghost Sign on Main Street

This ghost sign at the northeast corner of 2nd and Main Streets was created for Hope Floats.

Tree of Life with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn

Filming Location for The Tree of Life, Starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn

The Tree of Life was filmed in Smithville. We were fortunate enough to meet some neighbors who walked us to the house they used for filming. The house is a different color in the film, but this is it!

The Tree of Life on imdb.com

Swimming Pool in Tree of Life

Someone below asked me about the filming location of the swimming pool in Tree of Life. I finally saw the movie today. The swimming pool is Barton Springs Pool in Austin.

Other Movies Filmed in Smithville

Zimmerhanzel’s Bar-B-Que

You definitely can’t go wrong with the barbeque at Zimmerhanzel’s. The brisket is moist and tender, and the tasty cole slaw, potato salad and beans are home-made daily.

Zimmerhanzel's Bar-B-Que

Other Smithville Sights

The Law – Texas Rangers, by Minnie Teichmueller

This mural in the Smithville post office was painted by WPA murialist Minnie Teichmueller in 1940. Learn more about post office murals.

Smithville Railroad Museum

The first railroad depot was built in Smithville in 1887 and burned a few years later. In 1893, the MKT completed its tracks linking Houston with Smithville. The second Smithville depot was built in 1895 at the “Y” in the tracks further west. The large Railroad YMCA building was on this site from 1899 to 1926. The Smithville Railroad Park was developed on land donated by the railroad and contains the Chamber of Commerce building, a gazebo and the Railroad Museum, a small depot moved from West Point, TX.

Honey's Diner and Pines Hotel, 113-117 E. Second Street

This large hotel building was built in 1910 by the Hill family to accommodate railroad workers and traveling salesmen. It included a 16-car garage on the first floor. On the west side of the building is a single-story cafe where Dan Rather spoke to the Lions Club in 1967. The hotel was in use until 1968.

Smithville Links

Sabine Pass, Texas – Hurricanes Rita and Ike

Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:32:29 +0000

Sabine Pass and Hurricane Ike – September 2008

The residents of Sabine Pass, Texas are all too familiar with hurricanes. After residents there spent years recovering from Hurricane Rita’s devastation, another hurricane, Ike, sent in another wave of destruction on Saturday, 13 September 2008.

Sabine Pass High School after Hurricane Ike. Photo by Beaumont Enterprise.

Sabine Pass Fire Station after Hurricane Ike. Photo from Beaumont Enterprise.

Sabine Pass and Extreme Home Makeover – March 2006

Hurricane Rita made landfall on 24 September 2005, between Sabine Pass and Johnsons Bayou, Louisiana, as a Category 3 hurricane.

In March of 2006, ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition team went to help the Sabine Pass community. But, which family should it help? All the families were devastated by Rita. They decided to help in ways to benefit the whole community by rebuilding the Firehouse and the High School Auditorium. We just happened to be on our way to Louisiana that day and volunteered to help out.

Sabine Pass High School. Photo by blue eyes and bluebonnets.

Located 30 miles southeast of Beaumont, Texas, the Sabine Pass Fire Station No. 4 was severely damaged when Hurricane Rita made landfall just east of the town in September 2005.

After securing the township and ensuring the safe evacuation of the citizens of Sabine Pass, the men of fire House # 4 joined forces with the rest of the Port Arthur Fire Department in the final frantic hours of Hurricane Rita evacuation operations. After working over 30 hours straight and successfully air lifting nearly 10,000 infirmed and elderly citizens, the firemen then evacuated themselves to higher ground to wait out the storm’s fury.

After reuniting with their families and returning to Sabine Pass, many of these heroes found their homes destroyed and were forced to make do as best they could, relying on church groups, friends, family, and federal aid.

The fire station had been out of operation for five months after Rita, forcing its firefighters to work out of a trailer at a local U.S. Coast Guard station.

03 March 2006. Extreme Makeover was working on the Firehouse while we were there that day. A school group of teachers and students was waiting to get inside.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition rebuilds fire station. Photo by blue eyes and bluebonnets.

More of my photos from March 6, 2006 on flickr

Photos taken one week after Rita

Beauty, Peace and Enlightenment at Shangri La Gardens in Orange, Texas (Part 3)

Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:56:06 +0000

Flowers, Wildlife and Lunch at Shangri La

Flowers

Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center boasts more than 300 plant species. Walkways flow through beautifully manicured multi-color flower beds. By visiting Shangri La in April, we missed the azaleas. I had read that the sight is not one to be missed, so we will return to Shangri La next year in March when they are in full bloom.

Iris

Shangri-La features beautifully manicured lawns and flowerbeds.

Wildlife

With an abundance of wildlife at Shangri La, we saw something different around every corner.

We saw three brown rabbits near the boat house.

This "small" 5-7 foot alligator was sunning on a boat ramp of a home along Adam's Bayou

Lots of flowers at Shangri La Gardens attract lots of bees.

Turtles enjoy the sun in every source of water.

Lunch at the Star and Crescent Moon Cafe

After the sunny cruise down Adams Bayou, we were thirsty and hungry. Fortunately, there is a cafe on site. The innovative and healthy vegetarian-friendly menu at the Star and Crescent Moon Cafe was a wonderful surprise. The menu features a variety of soups, salads and sandwiches. The hubster ordered a Reuben sandwich with turkey pastrami, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. Mom had the veggie quesadillas (pictured below) — grilled portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers, avocado, cheddar and mozzarella in a flour tortilla — served with a spicy sour cream sauce. I thoroughly enjoyed the vegetarian salad (pictured below) — grilled portabella mushroom, avocado, feta, parmesan and candied walnuts on a bed of baby field greens with a creamy balsamic dressing. Yummy!

Veggie Quesadilla

Vegetarian Salad

Next Year

As I said above, we plan to visit Shangri La Gardens next year in March so that we can see the azaleas in bloom. There are also other areas of the Gardens that we did not see this visit, such as the Frog Ponds, the Pond of the Blue Moon, the Water Wall and the Hanging Garden. We are really looking forward to next year!

Entrance to Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center

Visit the Shangri La Botanical Gardens web site to plan your visit.