I don't suffer from insanity,

I had an awesome weekend. It started out with our World of Darkness "Girls' Game," run by my friend and co-worker Anne, with finari, lolafae, tempest_sky and myself playing. It's always a hoot, even though I suck at puzzles. I need to type up my notes for our LJ community, heh. I'll also likely cross-post them to Matt's wolfhound website just for posterity. I dunno why I like taking notes, other than the fact that I usually forget what's going on, so they're a great reminder....

finari crashed over at our place Friday night, since we were planning on leaving for Goliad at 6am, which we did. We left at 6am, with Matt and I doing roughly two-hour driving shifts, with finari providing both navigation and extra conversation.

We arrived at Goliad State Park and the Mission Espíritu Santo at around noon. It is one of the oldest missions in the US (I think the one in New Orleans is a good 50 years older). It was established in the early 1700s by a bunch of Franciscan monks who strove to convert the local natives, and served the area for a good 100 years, teaching agriculture, crafts and medicine.

From the Mission we went to the Fannin Memorial monument, which was about one mile away, very close to the Presidio La Bahìa, which was the Spanish military outpost that protected the Mission Espíritu Santo.

The weather was absolutely beautiful for such a solemn memorial. The emerald grass in front of the monument was made greener by the pale gray of the clouds, and a soft drizzling rain fell on the random blue bonnets newly popping up. As we walked up to the monument, I remembered the heroes at the Alamo, and briefly compared them to the martyrs there at Goliad. I could not help but contrast my respect for the bravery of the men who died at the Alamo to my feeling of melancholy as I read the inscription on the pink granite.

ERECTED BY THE STATE OF TEXAS IN HONOR OF THE TEXAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE BATTLE OF COLETO MARCH NINETHEENTH 1836 UNDER COLONEL JAMES WALKER FANNIN WHO WERE BURIED ON THE BATTLEFIELD AND OF COLONEL FANNIN AND HIS MEN EXECUTED MARCH TWENTY SEVENTH 1836 BY ORDER OF GENERAL SANTA ANNA AND THEIR BODIES BURNED. BENEATH THIS MONUMENT REPOSE THEIR CHARRED REMAINS.
REMEMBER GOLIAD.

We stood there for a while, reading the names of the soldiers who served under Fannin whose death the monument was created to remember. After we were done, we drove over to the Presidio, which was about half a mile away, in clear view of the monument. The Presidio La Bahìa is still a part of the Catholic diocese, and we paid the small fee to enter the museum and walk around the site. The walls of the Presidio still stand, and although most of the structures inside have long since gone, a few structures do remain - the chapel and some buildings along two of the walls. The museum was in one of these structures, and had all kinds of interesting artifacts and information about the history of the Presidio, including of course information on the execution of Fannin and his men.

We left the Presidio and Goliad around 4pm, and arrived in San Antonio that evening. On the reference of the man at the front desk of our hotel, we ate at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. Mmm. In spite of the drizzling rain, we ate outdoors under an umbrella. The food was excellent and service good. We went back to our hotel and slept until the morning.

We got up at 5am and walked to the Alamo for their Dawn at the Alamo ceremony. It was still raining, and yet the ceremony was as beautiful as it was last year. Afterward, we went back to our hotel and took a nap. We got up around 9am, had breakfast and went back to the Alamo, which opened at 10am. We walked through the grounds, and the chapel, which has been reconstructed and dedicated to the men who died there, with all the known names listed.

After we finished there, we hit the road, arriving back home at around 5pm. We had a nice relaxed dinner with finari and narkeys, then went to the kennel to pick up Taltos. We spent the rest of the evening watching the 2004 version of The Alamo, which was an ok movie that made too many compromises to the politically correct. Ah, well. I enjoyed it in spite of its wishy-washiness.

In all, an excellent, memorable weekend.

( Some Texas history... )

On March 6, we went to San Antonio for the dawn memorial ceremony for the anniversary of its fall. It was an awesome experience.

During the week after that, Matt spent hours researching Texas folk songs. He discovered Brian Burns, who has a selection of Texas ballads, some written by himself, and others old traditional folk songs. Not only does he perform in normal musical venues all over the state, Brian Burns takes special time to perform in schools to help educate and excite children about their state's history.

He quotes Travis' letter as a part of that program.

( Travis' Letter )