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Hi everybody!! I'm Flat Stanley, and you can read about me over here. (link) I'm starting my travels and I have gotten to my first stop in La Crosse Wisconsin. I'm staying with a really nice guy called Bicycle Bill, and he's promised me that we're going to have a really good time for the next few days.

La Crosse is a medium-sized city on the Mississippi River, right close to where the bottom of Minnesota touches the top of Iowa. It's got about as many people as Cherry Hill, but they don't have a big town like Philadelphia close by, so it doesn't seem so big all by itself. The first person to settle here came back in the 1840s and started a trading post. Back then the area was wide open and it was a big prairie or open field, and the native people used to play a game with a ball and a stick with a basket on it. The first settlers were French people and it looked to them like the game they knew as 'lacrosse', so they called the area 'Prairie LaCrosse'. Later on they stopped saying 'prairie' and just called it "La Crosse". Bill said they don't play lacrosse here now, except maybe in college gym classes.

There is a really big hill on the outside of town and if you go to the top of it and look in just the right direction, you can see all the way to Iowa!

Bicycle Bill took me up there last night but it was too dark to see too much, but you are looking down over the town and the lights were really pretty.

We also went over to look at the Mississippi River. It's really neat. There's lots of boats and people fish in it and swim in it and everything. Every once in a while a really big boat comes by and takes up a lot of room.

Bicycle Bill said they were called "river barges" and that they aren't all one boat. There's a bunch of things that don't move by themselves, they just float and hold stuff — they're the 'barges' — and they get all tied up together really tight and pushed up and down the river by the boat with the engines called the 'towboat'. They carry things like coal and oil and grain and other things. I asked Bill why they were called 'towboats' when they're really 'pushboats', and he said that in the old days they really did tow the barges just like a car tows a trailer, and when they started doing it different and pushed them instead they just kept calling the boats 'towboats' anyway.

Bill also said that the river up in the north part of the USA is broken up into sections by dams that the government built to make sure the water stays deep enough. He said there's a really neat way they get the barges past the dams, and we're going to go see that later tonight.

I'll try to tell you more later, if I'm not too tired when I get back.

Stanley

Hi Stanley,

I'm really happy your trip is going so well. I am sure Mrs. Schafle's 4th grade class is going to enjoy reading about your adventures over the next few weeks and months.

For those who don't know what's going on, They should see this thread....viewtopic.php?f=31&t=69753 and keep in mind that this "Travels of Flat Stanley" thread will be shared in a 4th grade classroom.

If there any pholks that would like to help you be the first Stanley in Katherine's class to reach 50 States, They should PM me and I'll see that they are put on Stanley's itinerary.

Be a good kid Stanley and use all your manners and don't forget to get in all the photos!!!

MK

Hi everybody!

It's Stanley again. I was telling you about the river barges Bicycle Bill and I saw the other day and how we were going to go see the neat way they have to get them past the dams they have on the river. We went to see them yesterday afternoon, but Bill had to go to a meeting after we got done so it was really late when we got back and he made me go to bed right away, so I couldn't tell you about it until now.



They have one of the dams for the river right here by La Crosse, so yesterday Bicycle Bill and I went over there to see it close up. The d*m holds the water back to make sure the river stays deep enough to let the river barges run, so the water is higher on one side of the d*m than it is on the other. So they figured out a way to get the boats past the d*m, and if you look at the picture you can see what looks almost like a little lane of water on the far right side of the d*m. This is something called a "lock", and the way it works is really neat. There are big doors called "gates" at each end of it and they can open and close. So if a boat wants to go from one side to the other, they open up one of the big gates and let the boat come into the lock, then they close the gate behind the boat. Then they can either pump water into the lock like turning on the faucet to put water into your bathroom sink, or let water out like pulling the plug. The boats float on the water and that means that when the water goes up or down, so does the boat! Then, when the water inside the lock is at the same level as the rest of the water on the side of the d*m they want to go to, they open up the big gate at the other end and the boat goes out.

Sometimes, though, the river barges are too big to fit in the lock all at once, so then they have to unfasten some of the barges and let them go through first. Because the barges can't move without a boat or something, they have a thing called a "mule" which is like a little railroad engine on a track. They tie the barges to that, and it pulls them into the lock and then pulls them out again on the other side. Then the rest of the river barge goes through, and when they get out on the other side they put all the barges back together again and sail away until they come to the next lock. Bill said that there's a total of almost thirty of these between Saint Paul Minnesota and Saint Louis Missouri and they are about thirty miles apart.

And Bill told me one more interesting thing about the locks. He said that the big river barges have to pay to use them, but people with their own small boats can go through them for free!

Later today, we are going to go down to the Oktoberfest celebration because it starts today.



La Crosse was originally settled by French traders, but once the town got started a lot of people who came from Germany also settled here. Bicycle Bill's great-grandpa was one of them! So when they decided they wanted to have a fun party at the end of summer they decided to make it like one they have in Germany, but they wanted everybody to have fun too so you don't have to be German to come and listen to the music or watch the parades. It runs for almost nine days, and Bill says they have all kinds of music too. They have German music like polkas, but they also have country music, and rock, and school kids like in "High School Musical" all doing things too.

Then, after we get done there, Bill has to go to another part of Wisconsin for the weekend so he is going to take me with him to Superior, Wisconsin. That's another bigger city up at the very top of Wisconsin. It's also has lots of boats and water there because it used to be a really big port on a great big lake called Lake Superior. Bill says boats come there from different places all over the world, but because it is almost the end of September there might not be too many there now. It gets so cold up there in the winter that he says sometimes the great big lake freezes solid and the boats can't go, so then they would have to stay there until after winter and the ice melts so they can go again.

In case you're wondering why I'm not in any of the pictures yet, it's because Bicycle Bill doesn't have a digital camera. He still uses film and has to get them developed first. But he's promised that he will get them done as soon as he can and you should be able to see some pictures of Bill, me, and some of the neat places I've already been to by Monday!

Stanley

OK so I'm reading along and all of a sudden it hits me. BAM!
This is educational.

I guess you're never too young to learn.

bump

Hi again!! Stanley here, and it's been a very busy week or so with Bicycle Bill. We did a lot of things, and we had to do some of them twice because Bill had some problems with his camera and the pictures didn't turn out. He said a couple of naughty words when he found out, but then he said he was sorry and we'd have to have more adventures and trips. So we went back to some of the places and saw things again, and took more pictures. This time they turned out!

The last time I wrote (on Friday the 25th) I told you that we went down to the Oktoberfest celebration. They had a small parade that went through the downtown area to the festival grounds. There were some bands and some floats, and there was an old-time wagon pulled by horses that was carrying a barrel of beer painted gold. When they got to the festival grounds they carried the barrel into the big hall and set it up on stage. There were some men, called "Festmasters", wearing German shorts and jackets. Bicycle Bill said these guys are selected ahead of time to be like the King of the festival; they pick a new one every year, but the old ones still have so much fun that they still take part too. They made some speeches and everybody sang some German songs. Bill knew all the words, too! Then they started pouring the beer out of the barrel and giving it away. Bill explained that this is called "Tapping the Golden Keg" and it is the official start of the festival.

We had to leave after that because Bill had to go way up north to Superior Wisconsin, for a conference. He took me along and I napped in the car while Bill drove. We stayed in a hotel and I made a lot of new friends in Bill's group called the Eagles Club. We were there all weekend and took a lot of pictures, but like I said before, they didn't turn out.

After we got done with the meetings on Sunday the 27th, we went to see Lake Superior. This is one of five big lakes called the Great Lakes, and even though they go all the way in the middle of the United States ships can come into them from all over the world, because they connect up with the Atlantic Ocean! We crossed over a big high bridge to a city called Duluth. This is in Minnesota, right next to Superior. These two cities made up one great big port city where the ships come. We saw some of the ships and Bill took my picture by one of them.

(there will be a picture or two here later)

We also went to a neat little park alongside the lake. There is a canal for boats there to go from the lake into the harbor, but normally there is a bridge in the way. So they made it so the bridge will go up and down to let the boats through, and they opened it up to let boats go through while we were there.

(there will be some pictures here later, too)

After we looked around a little bit we had to come back to La Crosse, so Bicycle Bill turned on the radio and played Jimmy Buffett songs on the CD player and sang along with them while we drove back. He sings pretty good, but I like Jimmy Buffett better!!! We got back kinda late, after dark, so we went back to Bill's trailer and went to bed, because the next day we were going to go to the Oktoberfest again with Bill's mother and see a fun band.

Stanley

Hi, it's me, Stanley!!

On Monday (the 28th) we got up early. Bicycle Bill had taken the day off of work so we could go to the festival for something called the "Lederhosen Lunch". Bill explained that "lederhosen" (pronounced LEE-der-hoe-zen) is the German word for the short leather pants the men wear at this festival. Back in the old days, German men used to wear these pants and held them up with suspenders and it became a custom -- kind of the same way the men in Scotland wear kilts. We ate traditional German food like bratwurst and potato salad and chocolate cake. The band, called "The New Odyssey" (link) played while we ate. They were really good, and during the show they played every one of the musical instruments you see in the picture!!!



Bicycle Bill knew the guys in the band and introduced me to them. They let me come up on stage with them while they played for a while and Bill tried to take some pictures, but these were still some of the ones that didn't turn out. He did get a picture of me with the band after they were done, though.

(picture will be here)

I also got my picture taken with some of the people at the Oktoberfest.

(picture will be here)

They have the Festmaster, who is kind of like the Oktoberfest King. They also pick a woman like your Mom or Grandma to be Mrs. Oktoberfest, and lastly they pick a pretty girl to be Miss Oktoberfest, the Oktoberfest Princess. The Festmaster gave me a button that said I was an "Honorary Festmaster", and Miss Oktoberfest gave me a kiss and a button with her picture on it too!

Ms. Schafle, I'm not spelling Oktoberfest wrong, either. Bicycle Bill says that 'Oktober', with the "k" instead of the "c", is how the Germans spell October. Bill is mostly German too, so he knows!

Bicycle Bill had to go back to work on Tuesday during the day, but he said we still had a lot of adventures to go one. I stayed at the trailer while he went to work, watching Nickelodeon and waiting for Bill to come back.

Stanley

Bicycle Bill checking in here. In the earlier posts, you might notice a couple of places where it says "pictures will be here". The first batch of pictures were badly underexposed and did not turn out, so Stanley and I revisited a couple of stops and did reshoot some of them. The ones I retook did, in fact, turn out and are currently on a photo CD. They will be inserted into the posts at a later date after I have had someone help me learn how to convert them to an image format that I can upload to this board.

If anybody knows how to do this, and would be willing to PM me with the info, I'd really appreciate it!

-"BB"-

Hello, everybody!! It's Stanley again, and I figured I had better tell you about the rest of my adventures with Bicycle Bill up in Wisconsin.

Bill had to work during the daytime during the week so we couldn't do too much for adventures and trips. The weather got cold and rainy, too, so we stayed close to La Crosse even though I had my neat clear raincoat. Bill said it wasn't because he was afraid I'd get wet, but because it got kind of dark so quick and it wouldn't be easy to take pictures. We did go back up to the big hill and see the city in the daytime and we were going to watch a night time parade that they had during the Oktoberfest but it rained so bad that they decided not to do the parade. Darn it!

One thing they do have up in Wisconsin are all kinds of birds and other animals. You can see deer and raccoons, rabbits, skunks, and woodchucks. There are even real live bald eagles that live near the river and sometimes you can see them flying up way high in the sky or sitting in trees by the river, watching for fish to eat. The eagle is the symbol of the United States and you can find pictures of it on things like stamps and on our money. On Friday, Bill said he had a surprise for me. We got into his car and drove a little ways into Minnesota until we got to a town called Wabasha. The town is named after an Native American chief who used to live near here back in the old days, but the really neat thing they have there is a building called the National Eagle Center.



This is a place where people can come and learn all kinds of things about the bald eagles and other kinds of eagles, like what they eat and how they live. You can also learn the history about how the eagle became the national symbol. According to what they told us, back when the United States was just becoming a country they couldn't make up their mind what to use for a emblem of the country. Some people wanted it to be a dove because it would mean we were peaceful people. Some other people wanted to use the eagle because it was a big and strong bird. Benjamin Franklin said he thought the national bird should be the wild turkey! Everybody laughed when the person said that.

During the daytime you can stand inside and look out the glass walls and see wild eagles and other birds near the river. But the neatest thing is that they have four or five real live eagles right inside the building! These eagles got hurt some way or another, like with a broken wing. People found them and brought them to places where doctors and other people helped the eagles get better. Usually if they can they will let the eagles go free, but sometimes the eagles are hurt so bad that even when they get better they still wouldn't be able to live if they went free. When that happens the eagles are taken care of in places like this. They're not really tame but they are used to people close to them. The people who work here take care of them and feed them, and they use the eagles to go to schools and places so that people can get to see a real live eagle really close up. Bill had got his camera fixed by now, and he took a couple of pictures of the eagles. Then one of the people who work there took one of the eagles and held it on her arm, while Bicycle Bill took some pictures of me next to the eagle.

(pictures will be here)

On Saturday the weather was kind of rainy but it wasn't too bad. Bicycle Bill said it was time to see something really old, so we got out one of Bill's bicycles and went for a bicycle ride. Bill rides on the street a lot, and he always wears his helmet, but we didn't ride on the street this time because he lives right alongside a bicycle trail. The trails used to be an old railroad track, but when the trains stopped using it the people bought it from the railroad. They took out all the rails and gravel and stuff, but left the bridges. Then they put floors on the bridges, and made the trail real smooth so that you could walk on it or ride bicycles. They don't let cars use this at all, so it is really a neat place to ride your bicycle. It goes from one town to another, just like the trains used to. When you're in between the towns it's like being out in the country far away from other people and cars. The trees come up close to the trail, and sometimes it's like you're in a tunnel of trees.



Bill said that if we were to go all the way to the end of this trail we would end up almost a hundred miles away from La Crosse, but he said we weren't going to go that far. He also told me that even though the trail is on land that used to all be the same railroad, they couldn't build it all at once so they had to do it a little bit at a time. Each section got a special name as they built it. The section that Bill lives near is called the La Crosse River Trail, because the La Crosse River runs near it. There is another section that runs along the Mississippi River and it is called the Great River Trail. These two trails join up with each other right near where Bill lives.

We rode along for a while until we came to a town called Sparta. They old depot is still there and they use it for a place where people on their bicycles can stop and get something to drink, or get information about the trail, or just take a rest before they keep going.

(pictures, with Stanley, will go here)

Bill said this section of the trail is called the Elroy-Sparta Trail and it is the very first section of the trail that they built, back in the 1960s. It is also one of the first trails in the country built on an old railroad track, and people come from all over to ride on this during the summer. He also said that there was a surprise on this trail and that it was something that makes this trail really different from almost every other trail anywhere else in the country! But he wouldn't tell me right away, he said we'd have to keep on riding.

So we kept on riding and went past farms and pastures with cows and crossed over old railroad bridges that they fixed up so you can ride on them.



Then, all of a sudden, I noticed that there was water running alongside the trail, just like in the curbing back in the city. We kept on riding and came around a bend in the trail and there it was. A TUNNEL, dug right through the hill!! We stopped and Bill took some pictures.

(pictures of tunnel with Stanley will go here)

Then we walked through the tunnel to the other side. There are no lights in the tunnel so they don't want you to ride your bicycles through them. It's really dark and it's just like being in a cave, but Bicycle Bill had a flashlight so we could see where we were going. There is water that runs down the side of the tunnel and goes out through the opening and this is the water that I saw as we rode up to it. We walked for a long way to get to the other side, and Bill said that this tunnel is almost three-fourths of a mile long. It was dug out back in 1873 by men using horses, dynamite, and hand tools. When they dug it, they started at each end and went until they met in the middle. The doors are there so they can close the tunnels in the wintertime so the water inside doesn't freeze. If the water did freeze, it could make the tunnel collapse after a while. When the trains ran here, there used to be people who worked at the tunnels in the wintertime. They were here all day and all night, and their job was to open the doors so the trains could go through and then close them up again afterwards.

There are two other tunnels on this trail, but we didn't go to them. They are shorter than this one, too. Instead, we had to go back to La Crosse and Bill's house. He said we had one more adventure to go on, so I'll tell you about that one next.

Stanley

HI!! It's Stanley, and this will probably be the last time I write to you from Wisconsin.

On Sunday, Bicycle Bill and I went on our last adventure. We had seen so many things I didn't know where else we were going to go, but Bill said that there was one more place that he wanted me to see. We had seen a lot of stuff, but he said that this was going to be the oldest thing I had seen yet. So we got back into Bill's care and drove down to Iowa. Hooray! Another state I get to be in!

We drove down a winding country road until we got to a place called Effigy Mounds.

(pictures go here)

This is located by a town called Marquette Iowa. Bill picked up a map and got a backpack and hiking stick, and we went for a walk up the hills. We finally came to an open area with some smaller hills in the middle.



Bill said that these were mounds that had been made over 1000 years ago by the native people who had lived in the area back then. These are what they call "effigy" mounds (pronounced EFF-ih-jee) and were where the native people would bury important people like their chiefs and heroes. Then they would build a mound over the place and make it in the shape of an animal like a bear or a bird or a snake because these animals were very special to these people. Many of the chiefs would use a drawing or a carving of these animals as a personal symbol, or maybe even a charm to keep bad things away, so when they died the other people would make a mound in that shape too to keep on protecting the chief. It's kind of hard to see them up close and recognize them, so Bill helped me find these pictures that someone else had taken from up in an airplane so you can see what they look like. In some places they have used white chalk powder to outline the mounds to make it easier to tell what they are.


                 Snake mound (head and mouth, top right)


                                Bird mounds


                String of "marching bear" mounds

We then came back down the hill and visited the ranger station. I met some new friends!

(picture here)

After we got done there Bill said that the idea of the animal symbols protecting the chiefs made him remember a story about how elephants were supposed to be lucky, too. He said that if someone ever sees an elephant and the elephant has his trunk held up in the air, it is supposed to be a sign that the person who sees it will have good luck. So Bill said that we were going to go see an elephant, and said that this was going to be so I would have good luck for the rest of my travels. We then drove a little more and sure enough, there was a pink elephant standing by the side of the road. And he had his trunk up in the air!

(pictures of Stanley with "Pinky")

Well, after that we came back to Bicycle Bill's house and waited until he could get the pictures developed. The elephant must have been good luck for Bill, too, because all the rest of the pictures turned out. Once he learns how to put them into my messages they will be here for all the rest of you to see, too.

So those were some of my adventures with Bicycle Bill up in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.
I'm on my way now to Texas, and I hope I get to meet some cowboys. Maybe I'll even get to see the Alamo!

Stanley

This post in the thread is being saved/held open for misc pictures of Stanley and his travels that didn't fit into the other posts. Pictures will be added as soon as I learn how to do it!

-"BB"-

HOWDY FROM TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!

I arrived in College Station, TX yesterday and boy was it hot! I have always heard that the weather can be a little crazy in Texas. It was sunny and 92 when I got to Dr. J's house yesterday and today it is raining and 60 degrees. It is suppose to be in the 50s by the time we go home from work. I really hope that I don't get sick from this!

College Station is the home of Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). College Station, together with the adjacent city of Bryan, has about 120,000 people and is located about 100 miles northwest of Houston, 120 miles northeast of Austin and 200 miles south of Dallas. Texas A&M is the state’s first public institution of higher learning and offers degrees in more than 170 fields. It is also home to the George Bush Presidental Library (I was told I was going to get to see it!).

Dr. J has told me we are going to get to explore A LOT of Texas in the next couple of weeks. Tommorrow I get to go to a Fightin' Texas Aggie football game! WHOOP! I've never been to a college football game and she tells me there will be close to 80,000 people there! I'll make sure to post pictures!

Next week I get to visit Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Austin. She has told me I will get to see the beach, the Alamo and the state capital!

Dr. J won't tell me EVERYTHING that I will do while I am in Texas but she promises it will be a lot of fun! I can't wait!

BTW - all I did on Friday was sit at her computer and play games

Texas Journal #2

Saturday was a lot of fun! I attended my first Texas Aggie football game! Here I am waiting in my seat for the game to start!




Texas A&M has a lot of cool traditions! The student body is called the 12th Man. The tradition of the Twelfth Man was born on the second of January 1922, when an underdog Aggie team was playing Centre College, then the nation's top ranked team. As the hard fought game wore on, and the Aggies dug deeply into their limited reserves, Coach Dana X. Bible remembered a squad man who was not in uniform. He had been up in the press box helping reporters identify players. His name was E. King Gill, and was a former football player who was only playing basketball. Gill was called from the stands, suited up, and stood ready throughout the rest of the game, which A&M finally won 22-14. When the game ended, E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies. Gill later said, "I wish I could say that I went in and ran for the winning touchdown, but I did not. I simply stood by in case my team needed me." This gesture was more than enough for the Aggie Team. Although Gill did not play in the game, he had accepted the call to help his team. He came to be thought of as the Twelfth Man because he stood ready for duty in the event that the eleven men on the gridiron needed assistance. That spirit of readiness for service, desire to support, and enthusiasm helped kindle a flame of devotion among the entire student body; a spirit that has grown vigorously throughout the years. The entire student body at A&M is the Twelfth Man, and they stand during the entire game to show their support. The 12th Man is always in the stands waiting to be called upon if they are needed.

Here they are ready for action!



and look! You can see me in this picture!



My buddy Andrew was a lot of help at the game. He taught me how to do the Aggie Yells and how to Gig'em!



He even helped me "Saw Varsity's horns off" during the Aggie War Hymn! That is Andrew's Mom and Dad in the picture. They are good friends of Dr. J's.



One of my favorite parts of the game was the halftime show and the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band!



The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band is the largest military marching band in the United States. The band is famous for it's unique style of military precision drill and performs at each Aggie home football game in front of crowds exceeding 86,000. The band also travels and performs drills at many of the Big 12 conference away games. The band also participates in special events including the Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington D.C., Corps Trip Parades, and other various dedications, and ceremonies. There are 303 members of this year's band. All of the members are part of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M - http://www.aggiecorps.org/.

Texas A&M didn't win the game. It was a close one!

After the game, we went to a tailgate hosted by one of Dr. J's friends. This is Margaret. She works at the new Texas A&M University - San Antonio and helps train new teachers just like Dr. J!



We didn't do much on Sunday because it was cold and raining. We leave Wednesday for Corpus Christi. I can't wait to visit the beach!

Texas Journal #3

What a whirlwind trip we had yesterday and today to Corpus Christi! Find me on the map!

We left College Station yesterday at noon. Here are the nice TSA agents that helped us go through security! They told me about their job and why we had to take our shoes off to go through the x-ray machine. Sometimes people hide things in their shoes and with the x-ray machine, they can find the hidden items.



Once we got to Corpus, we checked into our hotel room. This is the view from the room!



We went down to the beach to get a couple of more shots.




It was 93 degrees when we landed in Corpus and the wind was really blowing! At one point in time, it carried me down the sea wall! Dr. J had to run to catch me! I finally talked Dr. J into posing with me in a picture. Here we are at the beach. She is all dressed up for the teacher training she had to do last night.



Before we went to campus, we made a stop at a friend's house. They had the house all decorated for halloween with a lot of witches! Here is me with my favorite one!



Once we got the the Texas A&M Corpus Christi campus (http://www.tamucc.edu), we had to get ready for the training. While Dr. J was getting things organized, one of the teachers showed me their mascot Izzy the Islander. Here we are with a picture of Izzy.



Dr. J let me help with the training. Here I am introducing the website!



This website is a place that new teachers can go for resources, lesson ideas and support from experienced teachers. It is a pretty cool place.

At the end of the presentation, the new teachers got together for a group picture. I told them all about the project and some of them were going to do the same thing with their classroom! I told them I would love to go to college at TAMU-CC because it is right across from the beach!



After the training, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our early flight back to College Station. Tomorrow we head to San Antonio and Austin! I can't wait to see the Alamo and the state capitol! More Texas adventures later!

Texas Journal #4

Greetings from Texas! Yes I am still in the Lone Star State! It is a big state so I want to make sure I see as much of it as possible. The last few days I have been traveling with Dr. J to Austin and San Antonio. If you find a map of Texas, you can see the route we took from College Station to Austin. We took Highway 21 west to Highway 71. We went north on Highway 71 to Dripping Springs, TX. One of the funniest town names I saw was Old Dime Box. Can you find it on the map?

We left for Austin (Dripping Springs) on Friday. Dr. J left me at her sister's house to hang out with Dr. J's cat Boo while she went down to San Antonio for a quick meeting. Boo is a pretty cool cat. She likes to chase her toys around the house and sleep. I thought it was funny when Boo would run across the room and then hop on a rug, causing it to slide across the floor. The one thing that struck me strange was that Boo likes water. She would hop in the shower with you and try to drink water from the toilet! Here is a picture of Boo doing that!



On Saturday, we went to downtown Austin. Austin is the state capitol of Texas. It is also known as the "live music capitol in the world". If you are a runner, you would like to live in Austin. There is ALWAYS a race going on during a weekend. When we got downtown, there was the "Heart Walk" going on. You can see the finish line right in front of the state capitol.



There were so many people downtown Saturday morning that we couldn't get much closer to the capitol. You can read about the history of the capitol here - http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/spb/capitol ... istory.htm

When we were going back to Dr. J's truck (she said she is going to let me drive it tomorrow), I saw this sign.



The name on the sign was really familiar to me but I just couldn't place it. Dr. J told me that was Lance Armstrong, the man who won the Tour de France 7 times! He lives in Austin and is a supporter of many events in town. His Livestrong foundation raises money for cancer research. Lance himself is a cancer survivor! Dr. J said she met him one time at a restaurant in Austin and he was a really nice guy.

On Sunday, we loaded up the truck and went to San Antonio. Dr. J had a conference to attend in San Antonio. We drove south on Interstate 35 from Austin. Looking on the map, it seemed like a pretty straight shot but Dr. J surprised me when we turned off on another road. She was taking me to Gruene, TX - it is pronounced "Green". Here is a picture of the water tower in Gruene.



Gruene is home to Gruene Hall - the oldest dance hall in Texas. http://www.gruenehall.com/ Here I am by the historical marker!




Many famous singers have played in this little dance hall: Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, George Straight, Robert Earl Keen, Asleep at the Wheel and many more! Here is what it looks like from the outside!



I really wanted to go inside but they were getting ready for an event and wouldn't let me in, It is ok, Dr. J said I could come back in December with her!

After we left Gruene, we headed back to Interstate 35 and on to San Antonio! I was really excited because we were going to go see the Alamo! http://www.thealamo.org/main.html It was crazy! Here is this historic building in the middle of a city!



Originally named Misión San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years. In the early 1800s, the Spanish military stationed a cavalry unit at the former mission. The soldiers referred to the old mission as the Alamo (the Spanish word for "cottonwood") in honor of their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila.

San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835, Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano volunteers against Mexican troops quartered in the city. After five days of house-to-house fighting, they forced General Marín Perfecto de Cós and his soldiers to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo — already fortified prior to the battle by Cós' men — and strengthened its defenses.

On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.

The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness and headed for the Alamo's walls. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks. Regrouping, the Mexicans scaled the walls and rushed into the compound. Once inside, they turned a captured cannon on the Long Barrack and church, blasting open the barricaded doors. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise, the battle had ended and Santa Anna entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of his victory.

While the facts surrounding the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt about what the battle has come to symbolize. People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against impossible odds — a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason, the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

You can find a list of all the defenders at the Alamo here: http://www.thealamo.org/defend.html. Some names you may recognize are: Davy Crockett, James Bowie, and William B. Travis.

Today, the Alamo is cared for by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Because of the material found inside the walls of the Alamo, we couldn't take pictures.



That was OK because there were some neat things outside:





Once we finished at the Alamo, we headed to Dr. J's conference. It was really boring for me but Dr. J seemed like she was having a good time.

Texas Journal #5

Today we came back from San Antonio. It was a long drive! Remember how I told you it was in the 90s last week? Well, today, it was sunny and 75 degrees! I really like Texas when it is cool like this!

After we unpacked at Dr. J's house, we went to the George Bush Presidential Library. He was the 41st president of the United States between 1989 -1993.





Here are some highlights from his official white house biography - http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/preside ... rgehwbush/
George Bush brought to the White House a dedication to traditional American values and a determination to direct them toward making the United States "a kinder and gentler nation." In his Inaugural Address he pledged in "a moment rich with promise" to use American strength as "a force for good."

On his 18th birthday he enlisted in the armed forces. The youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings, he flew 58 combat missions during World War II. In January 1945 he married Barbara Pierce. They had six children-- George, Robin (who died as a child), John (known as Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy.

In 1980 Bush campaigned for the Republican nomination for President. He lost, but was chosen as a running mate by Ronald Reagan. As Vice President, Bush had responsibility in several domestic areas, including Federal deregulation and anti-drug programs, and visited scores of foreign countries. In 1988 Bush won the Republican nomination for President and, with Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate, he defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the general election.

Bush faced a dramatically changing world, as the Cold War ended after 40 bitter years, the Communist empire broke up, and the Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union ceased to exist; and reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Bush had supported, resigned. While Bush hailed the march of democracy, he insisted on restraint in U. S. policy toward the group of new nations.

Here is a picture from the library of the Berlin Wall.



Here is the marker that goes with the Wall.


It was a really cool place to visit! Texas actually has two Presidential libraries: Lyndon Baines Johnson's (It is in Austin - http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/) and President Bush's library - http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Texas before I leave for Canada. Dr. J has promised me a couple of surprises! I can't wait to share with you!

SMLCHNG wrote:

I'm glad you are enjoying my travels Penny!

NJFlatStanley wrote:

SMLCHNG wrote:

I'm glad you are enjoying my travels Penny!

We are loving them back here at home

We got your post card and it was a real hit in the classroom today.

Have a fun last day in Texas!

Love,

Mom

Hey Stanley,

Mrs. Schafle is not able to open Buffettnews.com on the School's website. (Something about chat sites being banned...Adult stuff, you'll understand when you get older...)

Anyway, Would you ask your host to send me your photos via e-mail so I can print them out for Katherine to bring into school?

Thanks Buddy!!

Have fun in Canada!!!