Goliad State Park

Goliad State Park has been a nice place to stay, we've gotten a few things accomplished and unwound after the last week of craziness, between the crazy driving conditions and the almost constant moving we needed a break. With full hookups we settled right in, the temps have been great with the days ranging from the 50's to the 70's and the nights staying above freezing. Our internet and satellite are working well so we got caught up with everyone.

At Goliad State Park is the restored Spanish Colonial Era Mission of Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zuñiga, reconstructed by the CCC.

There is a take out for the Goliad Paddling Trail and the park is part of the Texas Coastal Birding Trail. We've enjoyed watching the cardinals every morning as the flit around the rv and trucks.

Friday we headed to Victoria TX to find a Walmart, the Ridgeline needed new shoes, an hour later we were a little poorer but good to go for the next couple of years. Later a bike ride into Goliad for a look around the town, Goliad has a courthouse square with lots of little shops and a few restaurants surrounding it. There is a bike trail from the campground leading right into the center of Goliad's historical downtown, we have taken to riding the trail everyday if you take it through the park to the other historical places it is 2.5 miles so we usually get at least 5 miles of riding in a day. It's a lot easier than riding 5 miles in VT where there are lots of hills and skinny roads, here things are flat with wide roads or real bike trails.

On the weekends during the holiday season Goliad State Park has the Mission History in Lights, telling the history of the mission in lights and shadows.

On the second Saturday of the month there is a market on the courthouse square, of course we had to go. We spent an enjoyable hour wandering around, we found a few good things to eat but the majority of the vendors were selling stuff. We enjoyed looking but there was nothing we had to have. Of course we had to check out Faye's Naturals, lots of interesting Texan condiments, jams and such.

In the afternoon we decided to take walk, I had found there was a geocache placed by the Texas State Parks (seems they have one at most parks-wish I had looked into this earlier) so off we went to find it. Our site is just off of the River Trail and the cache was just a quarter mile away, well we found our first geocache and will look into doing this when we are in other areas. Another way to get us moving and seeing the area.

Saturday evening we took a ride into Goliad to see the Christmas lights, one thing we've missed this year is enjoying the lights everyone puts up to decorate their homes. The courthouse square along with the surrounding businesses were decorated, saw we got a small fix of holiday lights, looking forward to seeing all the lights when we get to Port Aransas. 

Over the last few days we've made some new friends, David & Jan who are from Corpus Christi and were on their maiden voyage with their Rpod, Pat & Sally who stopped in overnight from Nebraska on their way to Rockport. We hope to catch up with both couples over the next few weeks. After saying our goodbyes Sunday, took 2 hours to do that, we had lunch took a short bike ride, did some chores and then Dave wasn't feeling too good so we spent the rest of the day sitting with our computers and the television. Thankfully he is feeling much better this morning.

We've really enjoyed this stay, another place we would be glad to come back too. Goliad is a large enough town to have a small market, a few restaurants and there are larger towns with in 1/2 hour away. Next stop the Gulf of Mexico :)

Until next time...