Page 3:Ernst General Store
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Ang took this from our campsite the last night. You can see the Chisos Mountains through the haze behind me. Just to my right down the hill is what's left of Ernst's General Store... |
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| ...while the desert is slowly decaying it's remains. This appears to have been someone's sink from the small settlement. This Ernst guy was the storeowner and justice of the piece for the area, who ended up getting shot while on his way to investigate a mail fraud case. |
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In the middle of the Chisos Mountains, there is a basin that is shielded from the desert dryness and heat. Inside is the recommended summer campground, and the local vegetation actually includes pine trees. We stopped at the park village there, but didn't take any good pictures because we were too busy stuffing our faces at an actual restaurant. |
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| We woke up the next morning to this. And the discovery that the spare tire's pressure didn't even register on my gauge. Pavement was six miles away on the roughest road I've ever been on. |
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But we managed to make it back to civilization. These houses are in the King William District in San Antonio. |
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| The immigrant Germans named their neighborhood after their former king. |
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King William Street itself is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful streets in Texas. |
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| This is the chapel inside Mission San Jose, the biggest and most fully restored of the missions in the San Antonio area. The trail of missions ends in downtown San Antonio, with the Alamo. |
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This was displayed just behind the altar inside. Can anyone explain this to me? A couple of people have suggested it as an image of St. George slaying a dragon or St. Michael expelling Satan. However, it appear to me to be a woman angel stabbing a baby! |
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| This is an area just off the chapel that is one of the last remaining original structures at the mission. |
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The chapel is just at the end of this row of arches, left from an ancient reconstruction project. |
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| And an outside view of the arches. |
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This is near a mission to the south of San Jose, San Conception. It is the oldest aqueduct in North America, used by the missionaries and converted Indians to irrigate their crops. |
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| This would have been an amazing find in the middle of the desert... ...were it not in a garden right next to the Jersey Lily Saloon, which was on our way out of Texas. |
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Jersey Lily was the name the owner, Judge Roy Bean, gave it, in honor of a famous stage actress of the time (1880's), Lillie Langtry He was "the law west of the Pecos". |
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| "No shooting, cutting, fighting, or loud cussing allowed. And absolutely no spitting on floor." |
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