Thursday, March 13th
I read an article in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine about a steam train from Palestine to Rusk Texas and decided to arrange a weekend trip during the daycare's spring break. Marilou has been asking about visiting some folks in the Dallas Area so I used some United Card points to book a room in Corsicana Texas for the weekend. She had an eye doctor appointment for 2:45 on Thursday so we planned to leave from there and get to the hotel around 9pm. She took longer than expected so we couldn't leave until 4:30 and arrived around 10:30. I wasn't too concerned on the late arrival because I was planning on watching the total lunar eclipse that starts at midnight, but as we were nearing Corsicana, I noted the thick clouds and suspected the viewing would not be good.
After checking in, I kept checking on the progress of the eclipse. Early on the clouds would clear enough to see the shadow on the moon, but the clouds made my getting photos not so good. At the full eclipse, around 2am, you could faintly see the blood color of the total eclipse but the clouds made focusing the camera too difficult.
Friday, March 14th
Plan A was to do a fishing trip on the lake this day, but when I called to get a confirmation, I was told the high wind prediction made him cancel the trips. He also said the fish hadn't returned from their spawning trips to the streams so the fishing wasn't good. Therefore, I went to plan B: a trip to the East Texas Arboretum and short hikes.
After having a sumptuous breakfast at the Best Western which included a Texas molded waffle maker. We then took highway 31 to Athens Texas and the East Texas Arboretum.
The receptionist there convinced us to get the annual membership since it would get us into the Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens as well as some in Califiornia that Marilou visits.
We did the Hickory trail walk. Spring had not sprung here yet so the flora was limited to some small daffodils and some small flowers. The trees were only starting to generate green. Even the arbor area was fairly bare though it had some hyacinths in bloom and some regular sized daffodils. I chose that trail because of the Texas Arboretum Interpretive document on their web site.
Marilou was hungry but they have no food options there. I didn't want to eat to save room for the restaurant I had planned for the evening. the receptionist directed us to a nearby restaurant, Munchies Mexican Treats. I got the Three Berry Smoothy. It was made with ice instead of yogurt so it was quite cold, brain freeze risk. Marilou got the Mangonada which had a lot of pineapple on top and some mango underneath. She also got some cookies.
That evening we ate at Napoli's Restaurant. I got the eggplant rollotini. It was good. Marilou got the Mozzarella Al Caprese which was tomato, cheese, black and green olives, etc. She liked it.
Saturday, March 15th It was quite windy in the area around Dallas so the dust became severe so that visibility became limited. That evening it was supposed to have light rain. What we got was limited moisture that brought down mud onto the car. I had to clear the windows for the drive to Athens for the train ride. Our trip was a little early for the dogwood blossom tour so I had to settle for the Piney Tour on The Texas State Railroad. The tour was to be an hour and half ride through pine forest to Rusk Texas. It crosses several bridges but you couldn't really see them from the train since you were on top of them. For some unexplained reason the train stopped at Maydelle for about 45 minutes while the engineers were in the engine room doing something. Maydelle is the hometown of our waitress. She said there were more churches than people there. Our compartment, car 40, was freezing so we eventually snuck into the next car until the train started again when we were told to return to our ticketed seats. After the return to Palisades Station, we drove back to the hotel and ate at the Across the Street Diner which turned out to be a relatively fancy bistro restaurant instead of a diner. I had my lamb chops which were good. Marilou had a Burrata Caprese Salad
Sunday, March 16th
Our plan for today was to attend the 8am Mass at Immaculate Conception Church about 15 minutes from the hotel, but after eating breakfast Marilou was having stomach issues so we waited for the 9:30 Mass. I brought the luggage and ice chest down to the car and waited for 9:00 to start to the church. I dropped the keys in the box and started to the church. When we were almost there, she thought she left her phone on the charger in the room. So, I headed back to the hotel and stopped for gas near the hotel. She found her phone while I was gassing up. Since I was already close to I45, so I decided to continue back to Corpus Christi. We then attended an evening Mass at St. Phillip's Church.
Links:
East Texas Arboretum & Botanical Garden
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