After our meetings, we saw as much as possible of D.C. My first visit last summer was so quick I missed a lot of things and the 100-year flood kept us out of the National Archives. So this time I finally went to the archives and felt like I was in Disneyland–I know that sounds corny, but so be it. We just about mastered the D.C. subway system. We had a long visit at Arlington Cemetery and watched the changing of the guard. We attempted to see the national Christmas tree, but we were looking in the wrong place and a week early. We squeezed in the Holocaust Museum and it was unforgettable! We had warm sunny weather while the Panhandle was covered with ice and snow. But our last night was cold during our tour of the monuments.
One of the best parts of the grant is the travel and getting to know each other a little better. It’s a lot easier to relax with each other when we’re across the country. It was a great trip–except for several of us nearly getting bumped from the flight from Dallas to Amarillo!!

On our way to visit Washington on the Brazos, where the Texas Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written, we stopped in the middle of the street at Navasota to take pictures of the statue of Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle who was murdered by his own men somewhere near Navasota. Washington on the Brazos was so interesting. The last (and only other time) I had been there was on my family’s Texas Sesquicentennial trip in 1986.

The museum is quite interesting. It holds a lot of very interesting artifacts including items from the Belle (La Salle’s ship), Billy Dixon’s (Second Battle of Adobe Walls) six shooter, an actual letter from Sam Houston, and many other things important to early Texas history.

Then we went over to the Barrington farm. They had slave quarters, a barn, Anson Jones’ (the last president of the Republic of Texas) home and some of the livestock which early colonists raised. The people were dressed in the style of Texas right around our independence and gave us a lot of information on how people lived at the time. Rebecca even got to wield a scythe. The grim reaper had best watch out! The man hooked up the John Deere tractor of the time, a couple of oxen, and showed us how they worked.

We walked over to a replica of the building were the Declaration and Constitution were written and read all the historical markers. Us being so high and dry (that is until we could get to a convenience store) it was interesting to see the Brazos River which is right there at Washington on the Brazos.

I only got to attend the first day of the actual conference, but it was most educational. Dr. Crimm gave a really good lecture on some of the early Hispanic families that helped settle Texas. Stephen F. Austin showed up and told about his life. What I didn’t know was that the term the “father of Texas” came from none other than Sam Houston himself as he gave the eulogy at Austin’s funeral. After lunch I listened to a couple of War of Yankee Agression reenactors who described what it was like to have been in the war. They had replica muskets, uniforms, and all the equipment and were most informative. They also gave a live demonstration musket fire. The last thing I saw that day was a lecture on La Bahia at Goliad and all the stuff that had happened there.

As we were listening to Stephen F. Austin’s talk, I turned to Rebecca and said I would love to do something like that. She said who would you like to be, and I said, Charles Goodnight. About that time the actor said he portrayed Travis and Goodnight in addtion to Austin. There went my acting career. He will be in Claude in June at the theatre there to portray Charles Goodnight.

We visited Houston’s grave at Oakhill Cemetery and read some area historical markers as we traveled about the countryside. Grime County provided several companies of both cavalry and infantry to the Confederacy.

The grant has given me an opportunity to get to know a lot of great history teachers in the Panhandle and see a lot of sights I probably would never have gotten to see. It was particulary meaningful to visit Jamestown last summer since this will be the 400th anniversary of its founding this April.

Back at the service center in Huntsville we were treated to a visit from Sam Houston and Stephen F Austin via a re-enactor who delivered an excellent presentation. The other workshops were very beneficial… I have never found the quality of information about Texas at any other conference.

My latest informational conference was in Austin. It was presented by the State Bar’s Law Related Education. As always everything was first class. Our opening session speaker was the attorney (Doug Jones) who tried and secured guilty verdicts for 2 men involved in the Alabama 16th Street Church bombing.

I obtained several ready-to-use lessons on Political Parties and a lesson booklet that teaches law to students of all ages. The author of Words We Live By , Ms. Monk, delivered the key note address Saturday. She entertained us with an informative speech about early documents and their effects on the U S Constitution. Everyone at the conference received one of her books.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was getting to hear Doug Jones speak. He was a prosecutor for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings. I thought that he was informative and knowledgeable.

The breakout sessions were also enjoyable; each presenter had lots of ideas for presenting materials to students in fun and exciting ways.

It was nice to get to spend some time with other PACETAH grant members. As a “newbie” to the grant, I don’t know everyone very well yet, and it was good to get to know people better.