Cousin's Reunion - Texas

Iconic Texas Scenes: Indian Blanket and Bluebonnet, windmill, longhorn, and cow skull.

A year ago when Lee and I were on our way to the Everglades we stopped near Cherokee Texas to see my cousin Doris. She and her husband Steve (aka “Speedy”) live there where they raise Texas longhorn cattle and trap a feral hog once in awhile. It’s a great place situated in what we call the Hill Country of Texas. Somehow, (the details are no longer clear,) the idea emerged that we should have a Crawford family reunion of all the cousins I grew up with (paternal side). In addition, we thought we should have it at their place.

Below Our hostess Doris and our host Speedy

The turnout was great. All the cousins attended as well as the two surviving aunts in the family. Some of us had not been together since we were in high school.

In addition it turned out to be a special year for the visit, since the grandest display of wildflowers in central Texas was at the peak of bloom. The area had been receiving steady rains since September, at the right times and the right amounts.

Flower shots:

Below: Texas bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas

Our branch of the family (Myself, Lee, my sister Kathy, my Mom, my brother Dennis and his wife Barbara) stayed at a ranch near Llano Texas that rented cabins and small houses to visitors. Our cabin was about 4 miles down a gravel road and we had to drive through a creek to get to the house. It is some distance from the owner’s house and the other rental cabin so we had a lot of privacy. This turned out to be a very good thing since the women stayed up late the first night while my brother and I went to bed. We won’t get into the details here, but if we had been in town I think the police would have shown up.

Right: Creek crossing to get to the cabin

Our cabin

Right: Unwelcome visitor

My Mom and Lee reading gravestones from the 1800's.

It was a great visit with the cousins, etc. with lots of laughs. My cousin Doris took care of all the food including things she cooked as well as takeout from a famous Texas Barbeque joint, Coopers in nearby Llano, Texas. We made several trips up the hill to their upper pasture to look at the longhorns, burros, and wildflowers. Most of the rest of the group saw a feral hog run by, but I missed it.

My cousin Doris and family (including 2nd and 3rd cousins)

Below: The Burros, Checking the cattle.

Below; Dennis helping cousin Sharon dig rocks for her garden, longhorn, cousin Kenneth and a longhorn.

Below: Herd ,cousins and aunts photo

The re-union broke up Sunday night but our immediate family stayed for a few more days to sit on the porch and take some side trips. Monday we went to Fredericksburg Texas, ate German food, and took a locally famous drive on nearby side roads to see more wildflowers.

On Tuesday we and headed for Lampasas Texas to see the area our maternal
Grand-parents had lived. We were traveling in two cars and I turned off to stop at a small cemetery to photograph flowers. I thought my brother’s car was behind me but he had fallen behind. We saw him shoot by so we hurriedly loaded up and drove back to the road and gave chase, since it was obvious he thought we were still in front of him. I knew he would speed up at some point to try and catch us making him hard to catch in turn.

Finally after about 15 miles we saw him ahead but when we came up he didn’t see us. Our rental was a light colored minivan but he was following a different light colored minivan with smoked glass so he couldn’t tell who the occupants were. We honked off and on but couldn’t get his attention. Finally the car he was following pulled off to see what was going on with all the honking and my brother followed suit. I went past a ways to park and Lee asked me why I didn’t stop. I said “that guy may have a gun, so I’m parking over here.” Dennis realized he had been chasing the wrong car, came over where we were parked, and we headed out. I’m sure that guy in the other van is still wondering what was going on, but we had a good laugh over it.

We went on to Lampasas to visit my grandparents’ old home site. We stopped in town to get more Texas Barbeque (We tend to stock up while we can when in Texas) then drove to the little town of Florence. After a bit of searching we found the house that belonged to my great grandmother, where my mother was born, and where she often spent her summers as a child.

Right : My sister Kathy and sister-in-law Barbara.

Cody the dog.

Cody enjoying the bluebonnets










Cousin Kent and his wife Kathleen

My sister Kathy shooting some Indian Paintbrush.

THE END

In March we traveled to the US Virgin Islands with our grandson Cameron. The primary focus of this trip was snorkeling, a pastime Cameron appears to be inordinately fond of. (Actually Lee and I are pretty fond of it too.) Unlike some of other snorkeling trips we have taken, we have no underwater photos of this one. The small throwaway waterproof cameras have been disappointing in their performance so we decided to skip them this time.

It’s a pretty long air trip from our home in Washington to Saint Thomas. We left early on a March morning from Seattle, and arrived after dark in the town of Charlotte Amalie. Our hotel for the night was the Galleon Inn, which is kind of perched on a steep slope above the town center. We negotiated our luggage up a maze of stairs and ramps to get to our room. There appears to be little order in the layout or design, it was apparently built in a random fashion probably to conform to the variations in the terrain.

In the morning we walked around the area near the hotel. There was a cluster of tents where the locals were selling to the tourists near the waterfront. Lee decided to have her hair braided into “corn-rows” by one of the ladies there while Cameron and I looked around. Lee asked the lady how they learn the art and she told her that little girls there get dolls with hair which they practice on, then graduate to doing their own. Later Lee said that she found the braided hair was perfect for a snorkeling trip since it kept her hair out of her face and was very low maintenance.

We contracted a taxi driver to take us to a grocery store and to the Red Hook ferry landing for the trip over to St. John Island. We stocked up on groceries for the week at what was reportedly one of the better groceries on the island. We focused on easy camping menu items but we did stop to salivate over the huge spiny lobsters in their tank. Alas, we had no way to keep one alive nor a pot big enough to cook in.

At Red Hook Landing we arrived as the ferry was loading so we experienced a bit of stress hurrying with our baggage, getting our tickets, and negotiating the unfamiliar loading process. There were a number of pleasure craft wandering around and about a third of the way over the crossing we saw a sailboat race in progress with all the boats with their spinnakers out.

At the landing in the town of Cruz Bay we contracted a St John taxi to carry us to the campground at Cinnamon Bay. A Saint John Taxi is almost invariably a modified pickup truck with seats in the bed and a canopy top. The roads are twisty, precipitous and narrow. In addition they drive on the left side of the road there , a custom apparently left over from when Denmark possessed the islands. It is debatable whether it is scarier to ride in a speeding taxi with the horn blowing frequently or to drive yourself.

My sister and I camped at the National Park campground at Cinnamon Bay in 1973. About 60 % of the island is US National Park land so it is far better protected from development than the other islands. I found on this trip that there is a lot more development now, more upscale housing, and more touristy stuff like restaurants and shopping. All in all it is better than St Thomas though, at least for us.

We checked in and got our cabin assignment, then moved in. In 1973 we brought a tent, but the prohibitive fees for baggage on airlines makes the cabins a better option these days. OK, they are a little more comfortable than the tent approach, too. The accommodations are basic, two screened walls, two masonry walls, four beds and a cooking/eating area. The propane cooking stove is outside and there is an outside eating area too. It was about 30 yards to the shower/bathroom area. The birds are noisy, and much to Cameron’s delight the place was overrun with lizards and a few iguanas. I immediately noted the absence of mongoose which were prolific here in 1973. We later saw mongoose in the forest at Waterlemon Bay as well as wild donkeys. Below is a cabin, the huge tree by the restaurant on the grounds, and a typical view of palms.

Snorkeling was our main focus most days. Areas we went to included the following:

Cinnamon bay; 50-60 yards from our font door. This was a shock and disappointment to me. In 1973 there was a least an acre, maybe two, of solid staghorn/elkhorn/brain coral around Cinnamon key in this bay. There were also multitudes of fish some in schools so thick you couldn’t see through the school. Now it looks like it was carpet bombed. A few very small clumps of coral remain; the rest is gone along with 90% of the fish we saw. Instead of the fantastic forest of golden brown coral there are the littered remains of gray, lifeless rubble. Later we found out the reef here was a victim of coral bleaching, which is occurring at different places throughout the tropics.

Two views of Cinnamon Bay below. The water is still fantastic!

Francis Bay. This is primarily eel grass habitat as well as a long rocky section flanking the north shore. The big thrill here was sea turtles of which Cameron found three. One had remoras attached to its back. When I dove down to see them better they detached from the turtles back, swam under him and re-attached to his bottom shell to hide from me. There were a lot of small colored fish on the rock margin.

Majo Bay. This bay has a very pretty beach because of the coconut palms. Murky water was in this bay, maybe from all the boats that moor here. Stingrays were the featured find here.

Majo Bay-Right

Levango Cay. We took a guided sailboat tour to this little island north of Cruz Bay. This was probably the best snorkel of the trip. The skipper dropped us in water 20-25 ft deep which reminded me of the Galapagos. After dropping in, we swam up into shallower water where we could see better. We went with two other people. The lady in the other party had only snorkeled once, and had a momentary bad experience here till she got used to it. This place had lot of soft coral, a good amount of hard coral and plentiful fish. Our skipper was quite a character. He has spent a lot of his life diving and sailing. He had a house on Levango.

Waterlemon Cay. You have to walk in on a trail to get to this place then swim a ways. Usually that combo would weed out most of the tourists but this place had a surprising number of people. There was a strong tidal current flowing between St. John and the cay and out into the straits between St. John and the British Virgins, but we got through without much stress. We even saw a turtle give up and swim back. We watched some other people that didn’t compensate for the flow and got swept out a ways. They turned back and eventually landed back on the St John shorebut further out. Cameron liked the trip along the shore better than the coral beds around the cay since he has more of a focus on fish. A new find here was a flounder with iridescent blue spots.

At one point we returned to town and picked up a rental jeep. This got us to the some of the places described above. We also went out to Coral Bay and the East end. The sailboat captain had recommended snorkeling the mangrove bays in the East end but we didn’t have time. Maybe some day.

Above and right: Our ride and East End/Coral Bay scenes. It is drier on the back side and there is more cactus there.

Cruz Bay Scenes Below



Cameron on the beach

A featured scene in Cruz Bay is chickens. There were hens with little chicks everywhere, in the road, in the park, in the shrubs, and once, under our table. I thought I had some pictures of them but couldn't find them

We had about a day in Saint Thomas again before we left the USVI. The taxi driver who picked us up at the Red Hook ferry landing picked some others up a t the same time. He took the scenic tour over the crest of the mountain above Charlotte Amalie which gives one a totally different perspective of the island. We based in the Galleon hotel again, dragging our luggage up and down the confusing stairs. On our last day we checked out the local sights including the 99 steps (see picture) and Blackbeards castle. We sat on our veranda looking at the flowers, tropical foliage and the “resident iguana.” Lee and Cameron spent most of the afternoon in the pool while I explored the older part of town and the waterfront.