A Quick Trip To East Texas

Pam decided that for our 35th anniversary she wanted to go to East Texas.  Specifically to Nacogdoches.  Not finding reservations in a hotel that I felt comfortable staying at we ended up expanding it to Lufkin and Nacogdoches.  We left on Friday at noon.  Pam took half a day off and we headed out.  Nice drive and by the time we got to Corrsicana we were heading into the Piney Woods.

Most people don't associate Texas with forest but we have a number of state forests and four national forests and a large lumber industry.  It was a pleasant trip for the most part but we did have one moment of un- wished for excitement.  Coming through Alto just outside of Lufkin a large (very large) tree fell right in front of us.  Just missing the car in front of us (he was on the other side of the falling tree and us.  We have had a lot of wind lately and this was a windy day 30-40 MPH gusts.  It was kind of strange to watch it fall in what seemed like slow motion.  When we were able to get around it we notice the driver ahead of us had pulled over.  Seemed like he was waiting for his nerves to return to normal before moving on.  My copilot was amazing calm though it did merit stopping at the Dairy Queen a few blocks away and getting a rare treat.  We both got small Blizzards.  Something that has not been seen in our diets for years.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and the Marriott we stayed at was new and very nice.  We tried an award winning bar b que place that night.  Not sure why they had won all the awards.  The food was average at best.  Saturday morning we headed out for Nacogdoches and their trades day.  Small but Pam bought a few plants and I bought a few knives.  We then went to Stephen F. Austin University where they were having an Earth Day event and a native plant sale.  Very interesting.  We left with an unusual Greek Thyme plant.  Then it was off to downtown where we visited a few stores and found lunch again highly recommended but nothing special as far as we were concerned.  Lufkin was having their hoedown days downtown as well on Saturday so we headed back to see what that was about.  I don't know that I could tell you even after attending.  They did have one very energetic Elvis impersonator.  We spent the rest of the afternoon looking through some antique stores and driving through the countryside.

We decided that on our return home we would go through Tyler and see about finding some Tyler roses.  We made our way back and stopped at several places to look for roses.  We ended up with about 6 mostly one gallon roses.  Three from an Nursery that specializes in roses and three from a roadside vendor.  About half are now planted.  I am still working on the last three.  After a stop in Canton for lunch we arrived back home and our cats were excited to see us after properly showing their disdain that we would leave them for two nights.

Below are some pictures that were taken outside of Jacksonville which is north on 69 from Lufkin.  Most people also don't realize that Texas has hills.  This was at a scenic overlook.

All in all a good trip.  Now we just have to figure out where we will go for our 40th.

More Later

Bruce