Huntsville 6-1-2008

Ah the month of June in all its warmness greeted us bright and early Sunday—thank God for Air Conditioning! There was a Texas Old Farts Sports Car Club trip to Huntsville to see the Prison Museum and the Sam Houston Memorial. We had a prior engagement and could not make the Museum visit, but we were able to meet up with the Old Farts at the Sam Houston Memorial. You can check out a prior trip to the Prison Museum here. This was my first trip to the Memorial and what a nice place it was.
Now don’t confuse the statue of Sam Houston up on I-45 North in Huntsville with the Memorial, as that is a separate place to visit with its own Visitors Center. I will give you some brief but interesting information. The giant Sam Houston stands 67 feet tall he was designed and constructed by David Adickes and it was dedicated in 1994. When you are driving north on I-45 you can see the giant Sam come into view. He appears to be walking right across the freeway, but the closer you get the road curves and he is actually standing beside it. We came across some of Adickes other statutes earlier this year you can read about it here if you like.
Back to our regularly programmed post… The grounds at the Memorial are beautiful, there are tons of photo opportunities, just ask some of the ladies with the cameras growing out of their hands. There are lots of homes and outbuildings to see on the grounds. Suring his lifetime Sam was a District attorney in Nashville, elected to Congress, Governor of Tennessee, married and divorced twice, Commanded the Texas army, 1st President of Texas, Senator, and Governor of Texas. Sam, thus far, is the only man to have been Governor of two states. He married for a third and final time to Margaret, 20 years younger than him. I highly recommend you to visit the Memorial and the statue when you are near, that means within 50 miles, of Huntsville. All Texans should take the time to learn a little bit of the great history that has helped to build this awesome place we call home.
Of course it goes without saying that we Old Farts like to eat and this outing was no exception. We loaded up and drove through the Sam Houston National Forest over the lovely Lake Conroe, to Montgomery (birth place of the Texas Flag) and onto highway 105 headed east to Vernon’s Kuntry Kitchen. They always treat us right. If you look at the photos over here, you will see the huge tray of drinks that our waitress, Brittney, carried to the table. Of course there are a few other photos there too. It was a good day and a great outing!For those of you Old Farts that didn’t make it… you really should have been there. We hope to see ya next time