Tag: hiking

Not Just A Name On The Map

(San Angelo Trip Part II)

Last month I shared my trip to San Angelo State Park with you. It had been the sole reason for our trip out there…well, I did tell my husband about the historic fort we could visit as a way to get him even more interested in the road trip. I ended up finding the town itself pretty neat and thought I would share more of our trip.

“a West Texas oasis” is the description of San Angelo in the Texas State Travel Guide, a wonderful free publication put out by Texas Highways Magazine (www.texashighways.com).

Where history meets geography meets art is how I would describe the town.

Here is a multiple choice quiz:

Which of these three things can be found in San Angelo?

  1. Statues of painted sheep
  2. International water lily collection
  3. Air Force Base

I you guessed “all 3”, you are correct!

According to Wikipedia a Spanish mission was founded here in 1632 to convert the native peoples (Wikipedia say “to serve the native people”). As the years went by the area was under the rule of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the U. S. The city itself began in 1867.

Today there are at least 99,853 people in the town and at least 121,516 if you include the area surrounding the town (2020 U.S. Census). Goodfellow Air Force Base is here, as is the historic Fort Concho (1867). There is a growing art and music community, Angelo State University, and several reservoirs based on the damming of the Concho river. The surrounding area includes farming, agriculture, an oil and gas industry, and the wonderful state park we visited. Here are some of the things we saw:

Historic Fort Concho

Buffalo Soldier Exhibit In Fort Concho Museum

Old Barracks In Fort Concho Museum

Ground Squirrel Near The Fort

Flowers On Fort Grounds

Pond At International Water Lily Collection

More Water Lilies

Mural Of Willie Nelson

One of Many Decorated Sheep Statues In Town.

This one is on the grounds of a mortuary. We shopped at a grocery (HEB) that had one in its parking lot.

The train museum was closed the day we were there. And we also didn’t visit the downtown Concho River Walk. Maybe some day I will go back and explore more.

Lastly, I want mention that San Angelo was one of many smaller cities that had it’s own nice turnout of folks on the recent No Kings Saturday protest.

For more info: discoversanangelo.com

Photos by B. McCreary

Hello To A River And More

(original photo by Jerry Larson and used with permission of Jerry Larson and the Waco Tribune-Herald)

Who is this sun glassed adventurer?

He is my baby brother, Robert Richard Downes, kayaking on the Brazos River. The photo also adorns the cover of one of Robert’s books entitled Hello to a River, which chronicles his canoe and kayaking trips.

Texas is home to some wonderful rivers that have inspired many adventurers. My brother is one of those. He drew inspiration from several generations of outdoorsmen and women in our family. I remember canoe trips we took in my father’s canoe starting when I was 5 and my brother was 4. That canoe was inherited from my dad’s grandfather and currently sits on saw horses in my back yard. Robert tells of his journeys on Texas waterways (and a few others). His book includes the writings of our father, John Richard Downes, who kept notes about the canoe trips he took on the Texas Colorado river. I contributed one short piece about me meeting my father at the end of his last canoe trip to bring him and canoe home.

Each trip down a river will be different. The traveler might encounter sudden storms, miserable heat, mosquitos and unexpected currents. But, along with the unpleasant, there is the pleasant: the helpful people met along the way; the sightings of birds and other creatures; the time spent with one’s own thoughts. The lone traveler becomes the philosopher.

This book is a fun and readable true story that will fit nicely on the bookshelf next to Robert Graves classic Goodbye To A River. And this is a good gift for lovers of Texas rivers and nature.

Here are Robert’s Other Books:

A collection of essays about the author’s adventures in Texas, Mexico and other Latin American countries. Gift this to anyone with an interest in foreign travel and Texas.

This is a true crime mystery about a case my brother worked on when he was employed by the U. S. State Department in Mexico. It is about the disappearance of American professor Nicholas Schrock while he was traveling to a summer teaching job in Guadalajara. Great details about the investigation and a good look inside of the everyday work of our government employees.

This latest book is a departure from Robert’s past work and is a fictional spy tale. Here is the opening line: “It all started innocently enough, at least to an outside observer, but appearances can be deceiving.”

These books are available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. (search for his full name “Robert Richard Downes” because there is another author with a similar name)

Here is the “About The Author” bio at the back of his latest book:

Robert Richard Downes is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer with over 37 years of federal service, the majority served overseas with the U. S. State Department. He lived and worked in Australia, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Venezuela as well as studying in Austria, Germany, and Hungary. After leaving the State Department, he returned to his native Texas where he fills his time reading, writing, kayaking, and volunteering for local charities and international organizations.

He can be reached at Longhornbarbooks@gmail.com.

Gift a book to someone you love!