We clean up and head to the lobby for the hot breakfast that's supposed to await us. Only problem is that a bunch of adults and children apparently associated with a softball team (pre-middle-school aged girls) dominate the area, and the children have scarfed up most of the food.
While waiting for more eats to arrive, one of the moms notices us standing and decides we have to take her group's table. We protest, mostly because another seating area is available upstairs, but she insists. So we take our seats and the real horror begins -- we have to listen to the adults natter on about the tournament and how bad the umps are.
They tell the girls how they should be playing while also urging them to listen to what their coach says. And the woman who yielded her table is a parrot, repeating almost everything another adult says. Going deaf looks pretty good.
But we reap the benefit of freshly prepared food and prepared for the day's adventures.
While driving to Goliad, we encounter our first GPS anomaly of the trip. The road's been widened and moved a bit from whatever map that formed the basis for my unit. We are treated to the screen showing us driving through a river. Who knew a cube was an amphibian?
The first stop is the Fannin Battleground Historic Site. An obelisk dominates the center of the circular site and marks the spot where Fannin and his men surrendered and received a promise they would only be imprisoned. They were transported to the nearby Presidio La Bahia, and the cur Santa Anna would ignore the promise and order their deaths.
The rest of the site is basically a giant picnic ground, with lots of tables, a couple of large charcoal grills and a playground. Seems like an odd way to honor the valiant fallen, but this is Texas, and we'll celebrate anything with a barbecue.
Next on the list is Goliad and the Presidio, which is the dominant part of an area that include the Fannin Memorial, which marks the burial site for Fannin and his men; a monument to the Angel of Goliad, Francisca Alvarez, who helped some of the wounded and escapees at the time of the massacre and other Texians during the war; and a monument to Ignacio Zaragoza, the general who commanded the forces that defeated the French and whose victory is marked by Cinco de Mayo. Along with a statue, they've a replica of the house he was born in, but it's locked, so I've no idea what the interior looks like.
Zaragoza's statue is about life-sized, and Sharon comments, "He's shorter than Sam Houston." It takes me a minute to realize the reference to the 60 foot statue of Houston on I-45. I groan but really wish I'd made the comment.
The fort is impressive, but the walls aren't as tall as I thought they'd be. They stand taller than I do, but if the average height was significantly shorter then, the walls would have been plenty tall enough. The corners have watchtowers, with long, narrow entrances. Even after turning my newly skinny self sideways, the entrance is a close fit.
You can see the last site of the trip, the Mision Espiritu Santo, from the walls of the Presidio, and we head over to see what's there.
The mission is part of a state park, and one of the rangers tells us they'll give a lecture at 2 p.m., almost two hours away. We'd seen a Whataburger in Goliad, so we buzz the short miles back to town and scarf down a burger. With time to spare, we spend some time taking photos of the DeWitt County Courthouse.
We return to the mission and wander about the grounds reading the signs, which will tell us most of the information we'll receive in the lecture. The lecture does answer one key question we have -- why is a skull and crossbones carved above the door that exits to the plaza. That, the ranger tell us, is the door caskets were brought out of after a funeral.
We're exhausted and ready to return to Victoria, so we drive "over the river" and head for the hotel.
The plan is to find something to do that evening, but our best laid plan is dashed because this is Sunday night on Memorial Day weekend, and there ain't nothin' to do but have supper and watch Kung Fu Panda.
Monday we'll head for Gonzales, the Lexington of the Texas Revolution.
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