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Trip Report: Witte Museum, San Antonio

People of the Pecos Gallery

Carrie L and Marilyn F escorted Mary Ann B, Janis K, and Cindy S to the Witte Museum in San Antonio to gain deeper knowledge of the prehistoric People of the Pecos River in Texas. This gallery is complete with collections of found objects, including picture stones, baskets, rabbit leather vests, musical instruments (like flutes made from the leg bones of cranes!), and life-size models of families living in rockshelters.

The draw for us TOWNies is our members’ explorations of the West Texas region around Del Rio and Comstock; there the Shumla Archaeological School provides research opportunities for scientists around the world who are piecing together the culture and belief systems of our ancient Texans.

Our June TOWN meeting speaker will be a board member of the Shumla School, and you will get a glimpse of their techniques and interpretive insights into the mysterious iconography found at Seminole, Devils River, and tens of other sites in the Lower Pecos region, sites that are rapidly deteriorating due to inundation and weathering. By scientific analysis of pigments, layers, and creation stories, the Shumla School and archaeologists are uncovering the lifestyles of Texas’ First Peoples.

The People of the Pecos Gallery has an innovative digital exhibit of 5 Texas rock art sites projected onto a stone-like wall, with the figures explained and revealed.

Our June TOWN speaker, Lacy Finley, arranged for the Curator of Anthropology, Dr. Bryan Bayles, to meet us at the Witte and tell us about the exhibit and deepen our understanding. He pointed us toward some additional resources, as well.

We don’t want to “scoop” Lacy’s talk, so we won’t tell everything in this exhibit, but, in a nutshell, it’s a model of the universal experience of humans explaining and passing on essential stories to their descendants (like us): Where did we come from? Where are we going? How do we get there? [credit: Dan Brown]

Outstanding Museum! Three hours was not near long enough, but almost long enough for the one Pecos gallery.

Marilyn and hubby ate at the restaurant at 4:15, hoping we could all group up there.

A potential new member came to the restaurant after we left for the roller rink.

Larry and I arrived right at doors-open, got hand stamps for our tickets, and went to the upstairs viewing

balcony. There was a line of chairs along the railing, so we took 2 of them.

Soon a text confirmed that potential member wasn’t coming on to the sports center, but Marie joined us

around 5:30pm, bringing two of her friends! They chose seats on the bleachers at the edge of the arena.

The bout itself was the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers vs The Hustlers. The goal of the game is for a team to

collect more points than the other, points earned as a skater circles the rink, breaking through blockers

of the other team’s skaters.

Halfway through the game I realized that I was out of my league, literally.

I had thought I was seeing the Texas Roller Derby, which is a separate league from Rollergirls. If you have

a chance to go to a roller derby bout, you might prefer the Roller Derby League’s Palmer venue and the

available parking and theater capacity.

Sixteen TOWNies gathered Sat. morning, March 10, to hike the 5.5 mile round trip Good Water Trail to Crockett Gardens and Falls.  The weather was sunny and warm. The trail was rocky and worn.  The hikers spirits were high and happy.  The scenery was beautiful as you looked across the lake to the bluffs.

Several ladies frolicked in and under the falls to cool off and take pictures. There was one iris in bloom at the spring and lots of greenery. We were kept company by a half a dozen or so Texas Longhorn Cattle in the corral!

Gloria took a picture that I have tried to include in this email, but have not been successful. Therefore, I will just forward her email.

Thanks ladies for making this a fun, accident free event!  Look forward to seeing you on another TOWN Austin hike soon!

The J Team

The good weather brought 19 members, 6 pets and 1 guest out to Lake Georgetown for a weekend of fun and food….or was it food and fun? We enjoyed a roaring fire every night in addition to happy hour including adult beverages. There were 24 in attendance for the delicious potluck on Sat.

Attendees also enjoyed hiking, kayaking, biking, birding, geocaching and some gaming, though less than usual. There was a lot of visiting and sharing, especially around the camp fire each evening.

Two new members were acquired over this campout.  The 1 weekend guest joined plus a lady traveling around the country joined so that she could participate in our outings during her time in Texas:)

As usual when TOWNies get together, there was event talking……about both past events and future events. It’s always fun to reminisce as well as look forward to new adventures.

Jan and I would like to thank you all for making this such a fun and successful outing and look forward to seeing you at another TOWN Austin outing soon.

Cheers,

The J Team

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The annual Leader Thank You Outing is an opportunity for the Board to show appreciation to the members of TOWN-Austin who have led at least 2 outings during the past year.

In 2017, we had 23 members who qualified to attend this outing and 15 members were able to attend.

Our event this year was a scavenger hunt organized by board members CarolynH and MarshaK.   All eligible members met at Brodie Oaks shopping center and teamed up to scavenge the shopping center for items on the list.  At the appropriate time all teams reported to Freebird’s and turned in their lists to the judges, Carolyn and Marsha. The judges declared teammates Janet FB, SandyO, and Kay the winners.

The entire group then enjoyed a meal at Freebird’s.  Lots of fun and a great time was had by all.

Lead two or more outings during 2018  and you can enjoy this free outing.

Susan

In anticipation of the annual TOWN Holiday Party on Saturday, about 15 TOWNies started arriving on Thursday for our annual Holiday Party weekend campout.  This campout is by far the closest site we meet as some only traveled 7 miles to reach the campground!

Friday night some of the campers ventured into downtown Austin to eat at Hut’s Hamburgers.  CarrieL told us the story of how her parents met at this restaurants many years ago.  She also took us by a grand old house near 6^th and Lamar where her grandparents once lived.  What wonderful memories for her from that area.

Saturday was spent hiking, playing games in the dining hall, visitation with out of town members and preparing for our evening festivities which included a potluck dinner and a rousing White Elephant gift exchange.

Sunday morning a group of ladies went for breakfast at Denny’s before packing up and heading home wishing for more time for visiting and camping.  Be sure to reserve a campsite or a cabin if you would like to camp during the Annual Holiday Party weekend.  This park is very popular and has been totally booked the last two years.

Looking forward to next year.  Susan

What a wonderful day for a Holiday Party at McKinney Falls State Park Dining Hall!

The Dining Hall doors were opened at 9:00 am and TOWNies and guests started arriving soon after bringing all sorts of food, snacks, desserts, drinks and of course the all-important White Elephant gift.

By 10:00 am, hiking leader Jenny Falkenburg was ready to lead 23 women into the wilds of McKinney Falls.  Check out her trip report on our website for all the details.

As the day progressed, members and guests came and went from the dining hall.  Some came to play games and others left to prepare their dish for the potluck dinner.  At 6:00 PM we all gathered to enjoy the sumptuous and plentiful offerings of all who contributed to the dinner.  By 7:00 pm we were ready to start the highly anticipated gift exchange. Thirty-eight gifts of all shapes and sizes waited to be carefully chosen by 38 participants.  Some gifts were popular and stolen often.  A good time was had by all and soon the fun ended but not before everyone pitched and assisted with the cleanup.  Until next year…..Susan

What a great outing with great women!  Palmetto is such a quiet and beautiful park that we always have a good experience regardless of changing weather patterns. We had cold, rain, humidity and even occasion to use the a/c but the sunshine seemed to grace us when most needed!

We made our yearly trek to the Gonzales Historical Jail, Gonzales Museum (to see the “Come and Take It” cannon), did lots of hiking, visited some pottery shops and chowed down on some awesome food for our Saturday evening potluck.

Camping included JudyD, SharonR, GailW, GloriaB, SusanW, JudyL, MarilynF, BeverlyT, SandyO, JoanC, SuzanneH and KarenV.  SandyB, CarolC and NancyL stayed at the only cabin and JuneA and DonnaB joined us for the day Saturday.

There were so very many laughs and stories around the fire and on the trails!  We missed SandyS and her rum cake, but Gloria picked up the slack by providing the libations!

As always I remain humbly grateful that TOWN-Austin is such a wonderful organization. My thanks to the Board (past and present) for keeping us rolling and to all the attendees at Palmetto.

See you outdoors soon!
LindaBW

Thirteen Townies and three guests ventured out for camping at Colorado Bend State Park just west of Lampasas, one of the most primitive of our state parks with no hookups. It was no big deal, hey our tenters always boondock! What a beautiful weekend – Texas winter weather – chill at night, warm sunshine, only a smattering of rain drops, big sky full of stars followed by a big bright moon.

Some of us arrived Thursday to a very quiet camp. Five TOWNIES took advantage of the early start and hiked to Gorman Falls on Friday. It’s beautiful as always, even with dry conditions throughout the area. Prescribed burns were evident. The falls were green and lush and we could see huge fish in the crystal clear bluegreen river.

More campers trickled in and by Friday evening gathered for the pot luck meal. Never a shortage of food with Townies. The burn ban – no campfires due to continuing lack of rainfall – didn’t stop the nightly gathering under the “hobbit hole” around the propane “bonfire.” Most called it a night early and were up and ready to go caving Saturday morning.

The Discovery Cave Tour took our group of nine up the road and on a short hike to a hole in the ground. Our guide from Nichols Outdoor Adventures was knowledgeable and fun. Once over the initial “We’re climbing down there?” hesitations, several of our more nimble members, took to their knees (bellies!) and crawled further back in. What a neat experience.

Same day, was that just yesterday? After a lunch break, nine of us headed out to hike Spicewood Canyon meeting up with Spicewood Springs trail for a nice loop, about 4 miles. The Canyon trail was up, not too challenging, just up. But what goes up, must come down. The Spicewood Springs trail to bring us back was a bit more challenging (understatement), requiring us to slide down a cliff on our butts, and navigate water crossings back and forth across the stream with slick rocks and more up and slides down. Gravity took it’s toll, but we still won out and made it back with everyone intact. Consensus: Spicewood Springs Trail earns its difficult rating!

Sunday morning dawned with warmth and sunshine, enough that four TOWNIES and a guest launched their kayaks for paddling on that beautiful river. Three of us took our sweet time packing up and made a stop at Storm’s Burgers on the way back home. The entire weekend was an adventure and we have 2 new members! I call that a success. Thank you soooo much to all the wonderful amazing Townies who help with everything and make hosting an outing easy.  xocheryl

Fourteen TOWNIES gathered together for game night on our pretend red carpet.  SandyO  brought her newest gift which was a battery operated microphone.  We tried our best to announce and interview guests as they arrived.  After catching up with one another, eating pizza, cookies, and Susan’s peach cobbler, we decided to let the games begin. One group played Mexican Train and another group played a new card game called Wacky Tricks.

I forgot to mention the healthy food we had at the game night.  LindaBW brought a big tray of vegetables and lots of popcorn. Thanks to the dog whisperers – Lynne, Jacque, and groomer Sheila, my foster dog Twitter (also called Tippy Toes) had a good time too.

We had lots of laughs and TOWNIES donated too much money for pizza so we will have to do it again and the food will be on me.  Until next time….

June