Serendipity at Goliad

Location: Goliad State Park; Goliad, Texas

This is Stop #8

Yep, you read that right, I'm back at Goliad. I'm here for a couple reasons besides it being conveniently located. I was looking for a place to rest up a little and do laundry. I originally planned to be here only two days but changed that to three so I would leave on a Monday. My next campground is a Passport America campground and the half price is for Monday thru Wednesday. So, Goliad fit the bill.

This was the last drive on the beach at Mustang Island. It's definitely in my top 10 places. Good vibs.

A serendipitous find before leaving Mustang Island State Park. This is the Chapel on the Dune in Port Aransas, Texas. It's been there for awhile and it's history, although hard to find, is available online.

The chapel wasn't open when I dropped by but I was able to get a decent picture through the window. It's a nice stop along the way.

Serendipity? I first ran across that word back in the early 70's when it was part of the name for a folk band, The Serendipity Singers. I was curious at the time and looked the word up and found it to mean "something good that happens by accident". The important word in that definition is "good". Something that is serendipitous can not be a bad, only good. 

As I was checking in to the campground here, I was told about a ranger led guided tour on Saturday of the Mission Espiritu Santo. It is the Spanish church-house/fort located on the grounds of the State Park. The church and the real fort located about a mile away, were built to show the French that this was Spanish territory. The history of this area if very interesting but I won't go into it here. But it is well worth a read on the internet on a rainy day. I didn't know about the tour before deciding to come here so it was a serendipitous event.

The old Spanish Church on the ground of the State Park. The stone wall is the remnants of the original wall that stood 10 feet high.

The main entrance to the sanctuary.

I found a thinking bench and it was very comfortable. 

There are three entrances to the church. The main entrance which I showed in the picture above. This entrance is the "door of death". Notice the skull and cross-bones over the door. This was the entrance for funeral, etc. Highly symbolic.

On the opposite side of the church is the "door of life". Notice the cross over the door symbolizing eternal life through Christ. 

The altar

The window at the top allows direct sunlight to shine on the altar. There is also a place for the choir in the loft above the door and a small confessional on the left. 

The view from the main entrance to the altar. The "door of death" is on the left and the "door of life" on the right. It was nice and interesting to this old Baptist Boy, but I'm sure Catholics would have enjoyed it more. 

The name of the Greyhound is Menlo. I asked if it was from Menlo Park where Edison did his inventing and she said she didn't know. Menlo used to race at a Greyhound Race Track before she was rescued by the lady. I asked if she liked to run when off-leash and the lady said only when other dogs are around. They live on a large plot of land and when other dogs come to visit Menlo likes to run around real fast then come back to the visiting dogs and stop,,,, as if to say, "what do you think of that?". It was a nice serendipitous short visit.

While on the tour, I overheard a couple of the other tour members discussing the Goliad Trade-days in town. I didn't know about that either before showing up here. Apparently it is a very big thing in these parts with lots and lots of vendors. I'm not big on buying things while traveling so I usually avoid places like trade-days. But, I figured I didn't have anything else planned and it would at least be good for people watching and maybe there would be a good food truck. So, after the tour, I headed to downtown Goliad. The trade-days surround the courthouse which is another typical of Texas, architecturally over-the-top courthouse building. Another serendipitous event.

That's the top of the Goliad County Courthouse in the background. Impressive uh?

The entire courthouse square was lined with vendor tents selling anything and everything. 

This was taken from near the courthouse building looking out over the vendors and people.

I serendipitously found one thing to buy. It is a knife for my son, Brandon. Since he lost the use of his right arm with the stroke, he can't cut up food, like steaks, with only one hand. This knife allows him to cut it up with one hand. He bought something similar a year or so ago but his didn't have a sheath. I've been on the look-out for a sheath for his ever since. They wouldn't sell only the sheath, so I bought the whole thing. Great find.  

And some people say I plan too much and should just let things happen. I think I'll stick with the planning and accept serendipity when it shows its beautiful head.

I'm off to do laundry today or maybe something else will show up. I need to go before these storm roll in so I'll proof read this later, but posting now. 

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be heading to the coast again. This time it will be Matagorda Beach. Thunderstorms are predicted for tonight through tomorrow evening. I feel like I'm an old hand at dodging storms while towing but we will see tomorrow if my luck still holds true. I'll be taking some farm to market roads so I'm hoping for some serendipitous pictures opportunities along the way. Ok, Ok, I won't use the "S" word again.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.