Dinosaur Footprints? Pie? Movies? Storms! Day 2

If history repeats itself, 

I am so getting a dinosaur! 

~ anonymous 

From the 1964 New York World's Fair* in Flushing Meadow, may I present T-Rex and Dino the Brontosaurus (yes, he had a name). DH saw them in NY when he was a child. MS and JS are one generation away - their Dad saw them in Flushing Meadow too.

A turtle was crossing the road leading up to Dinosaur Valley State Park.** It was moving at a smart pace, but we couldn't be sure it would make it safely across the road. We pulled over and the shelled creature was escorted to the other side of the roadway before we headed out in search of prehistoric footprints on the bottom of the Paluxy River. 

Texas Cooter or River Cooter - I'll know soon enough from curators on iNaturalist.

We tried the main track site, but recent rains had raised the level of the river and the water was moving swiftly. Cool heads concluded a visit to this particular viewing area should be left to the early fall. So a trip around the area gave us all a good view of the park.

The rocks immediately in front of the guys are often above the surface and useful as stepping stones.

Finally, tracks were found by wading at the "ballroom" site.

As disclosed by responses on the park's Facebook page, the park is not accessible except for the paved areas. Still, a visit to the dinosaur statues and the museum in the Office/Visitor Center building would be instructive if one is in the area. [If you REALLY want to closely examine the footprints, wait until the river is low - usually at the end of the summer.]

Now, why else might one want to travel to this part of Texas? One word - PIE!

Just south of Glen Rose is Hico. This sleepy little town was a perfect stop for lunch and PIE! The Koffee Kup (right across the road from the Exxon Station) and near downtown serves 16 varieties of pie. So we ate lunch (hamburger, BLT, beef tips, chicken fried steak) and pie. Okay, DH and I had cake served with our lunch specials so we didn't get pie, but the young 'uns did. There you have another best - best dessert of the trip!

Blueberry and banana pie!

Apple pie!

Hico has a neat downtown and we could have stayed longer, but we needed to get back on the road. Still, we saw a little of it and will want to come back when we have a little more time to explore.

Some rules are easy to follow.

What is going on in there?

The Wiseman  House Chocolate factory was busy...but the workers took time to give us a quick wave before getting after it. No, there was no "I Love Lucy" ***moment.

We then traveled down narrow roads and through small towns we had never seen. Fairy, Texas (population 31) has an interesting history**** and, basically, two buildings. Nary a fairy was seen as we moved along to Cranfills Gap. We took a small detour in Cranfills Gap to see St. Olaf's Church,***** a 100 year old structure where services were held in Norwegian until 1927.

We could tag this shot with almost any location. Traveling in the summer in Texas always means you will be dealing with road repairs.

We finally reached Gatesville and our hotel. Well, the place where we stayed. It was pretty basic, but there was a pool. Okay, it turned out there was a dead bird in the pool...but we would discover that later.

We ate Italian food for supper. MS probably made the best choice...and had leftovers for a midnight snack.

That evening we headed to the "last drive in" or so they call it. We got settled and watched as others pulled out yard furniture and adjusted their pickup trucks. Aladdin (the new one) started. And, soon enough, a front blew through with blinding rain and wild lightning. We were in a tornado watch, but not a warning and we continued to watch the movie as our weather-exposed neighbors packed and left.

Just driving in and looking at the sign made me smile.

The weather was threatening.

Just a little bit of the lightning we watched.

I sat in the car and watched the radar, debating whether we should take shelter somewhere.

 The weather was bad. The movie was pretty good. And we had a good night's sleep.


NOTES:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abYJ3MjQpm8

**https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/dinosaur-valley

***https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbNcQlzV-4
****https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32656096/fairy-fort 
        https://likethedew.com/2009/04/16/a-fairy-texas-tale/#.XTUTqFB7lE4
*****http://saintolaflutheran.org/