Park 192- Gulf Islands National Seashore-

Date of visit-  Thursday, March 8 2012

I combined this visit with a tour of the Mississippi Gulf Coast NHA locations-  got to the main visitor center for the Mississippi portion of the park-

The boat which runs out to Fort Massachusetts won't be running until the end of the month, so didn't get to that part-  I did get to the Davis Bayou Visitor Center, and got three stamps, including the 25th- and a pin and hiking staff medallion.

Park 191- Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Louisiana

This park has multiple locations spread out over the state of Louisiana.  There is a Visitors Center in Eunice, number 2 on the map above, but that location was closed on the Monday we were in the area- so next time for that one.  We did visit the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette, number 3 on the map, and got a stamp and a pin there.

Monument at Chalmette Battlefield

Today, March 6th, we drove over to Metro New Orleans, and got to two more locations, Barataria Preserve, and Chalmette Battlefield.  Barataria is just what it says, a large preserve of swamp land...  The Chalmette location was the site of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.  Very cool. 

Chalmette Visitor Center



Barataria Visitor Center

Tomorrow we will head into Downtown New Orleans for the last site here in town. 



Park 190 Big Thicket National Preserve, Kountz, Texas

This was a stamp and run, based on the fact that the park is over several locations, and we were in a hurry-  The Visitors Center is located about 30 miles above I-10 that we were traveling on, so I unhooked and ran up and got the park stamp.  Also got a pin. 

Park 189 San Antonio Missions National Park, San Antonio Texas

Date of visit:  Sunday, March 4, 2012

Drove up to San Antonio today from Corpus Christi, about a two hour drive- 
There are four locations to this park, one of them was closed. 

They also count the Alamo as a part of the park, even though it doesn't officially count. I started at Mission San Jose, which is the main visitors center, and saw a 24 minute movie-  then, I was told that the ranger at Misson Conception was going to be out to lunch from 12-1.  I went there next anyway, and actually watched an actual Mass being held in the church, complete with mariachi players singing beautiful music.  I waited until 1:30 for the Ranger to show up, then said the heck with it and headed down to Mission Espada, since I was told that the Visitors Center for Mission San Juan was closed, but I could get the stamp for there at Espada.  I also tried to get 4 stamps for the Rio Grande de los Tejas trail, but only got one of them, as two of them were "broken" and San Juan was closed.  Wound up getting a total of 8 stamps, including 4 bonus stamps, and got a pin and a hiking medallion also.

Even though I had been to San Antonio probably 20 times before when I was in retail, I never before visited these sites-  Very impressive.  This essentially is a continuation of the El Camino Real Story, the story of the Spanish Mission influence in the great Southwest-  California has the 21 missions, and these were part of the South Texas Story.  Today also happened to be the best weather day we've had on the trip so far.  Temps today were 73- no wind, no humidity-  just a perfect day!!!

Park 187- Padre Island National Seashore Corpus Christi Texas

Sorry about the picture quality-  drove up here from Brownsville, took about 2 hours, and then after we parked at Wal Mart, about a 32 mile drive over to the Malaquite Visitor Center-   Got 2 of 3 stamps here, the 25th wasn't out-  Also got a park pin and a hiking staff medallion.   This park is actually almost a hundred miles long, so I guess you call this a stamp and run.  Parts of it are very remote-  Lots of Border Patrol presence here, and one thing I did not like, they took you picture coming in and out of the park, as well as your car license- no signs explaining what was going on. 

Park 186 Palo Alto Battlefield National Park Brownsville, Texas

Date of Visit  Saturday, March 3, 2012

Had to struggle to visit this park, had issues with the GPS-  actually passed by it, then had to follow the brown signs to find the VC-  The day I was here, there were several reenactors about firing weapons, a little drummer boy, etc etc.  Saw the movie, which told the story of the park, this was the site of one of the key battles in the Mexican War, back in 1846.  The Americans scored a decisive victory here, but it took another year to defeat the determined Mexican bunch- As a result, our National boundary was set at the Rio Grande vs the Nieuces River, and part or all of 7 states was ceeded to the US, which about doubled our country's siza, and sort of completed the manifest destiny idea. 

Got two stamps here, but missed two, since I didn't print the list out.  My bad- did get a park pin. 

Park 185- A drive by- stamp and run Amistad National Recreation Area, Del Rio Texas

We sort of stamped and ran this park, since it is a Recreation Area, and we weren't recreating.  Almost missed the Visitors Center, I had the wrong address in the GPS -  Did stop and got one stamp, the 25th was "in the archives". 

The trip was about 228 miles, over total desolation and we paid 4.37 for diesel in Marathon, Texas!  

Park 184- Big Bend National Park, Texas

This place in a word, is huge.  Incredible vistas of mountains, deserts, and in addition, it is bordered by the Rio Grande River.  Took 2 days to take it all in, first day was a visit to Castolon VC, then today, we did 3 other visitors centers. 

If you were a hiker, you can get totally lost here, in fact, several have died trying to be "alone."  We stayed overnight in Terlingua, which is at the Northwest Entrance to the park-  and tomorrow, we will drive through the park again on our way to Marathon and Del Rio for Amistad. 

Again, this park is all about the vistas of the West Texas area.   Awesome!!!  When all said and done, I will add 12 stamps I beleive, and a pin and hiking staff medallion as well. 

Park 183 Rio Grande National Scenic River- Big Bend Park

This is actually part of the Big Bend National Park, but counts as a visit- 

Here is the description from the website:

A River Wilderness

The Rio Grande flows from its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado for 1,865 miles to the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville, Texas. For 1,250 miles, the Rio Grande is the boundary between the United States and Mexico. In a remote stretch in west Texas, the river makes a curve to the northeast to form the “big bend.” It is here that the wild character of the river lives on.

There are three stamps at various locations in the park, I got one on the first visit at the Castolon VC:

Park 182- Ft Davis NHS- Ft Davis, Texas

Stopped in here on our way down from El Paso-  This is the site of a historic old Army fort that was an outpost for the "Apache Problem" in the last 50 years from 1850-1900 or so. 

It became a National Historic Site in 1961, and they have done a super job of restoring much of the fort-

This is Officer's Quarters Row-  There is a 2 story building at the right of the flag-  it is not fully restored-  Watched a movie- which was narrated by Kareem Abdul Jabar! 

Got 2 stamps that were here, and a park pin also.