1. EW!!! This is a Vinegaroon. Before Lantry was called "Langtry" it was called Vinegaroon. Is this bug CREEPY or what? WE did not see this bug....I pulled the picture off the internet. Did you know that Langtry was NOT named after Lilly Langtry?
We stopped in Langtry about 45 miles out of Del Rio. It's a mile off the highway and I bet only about two dozen folks live there.
2. Judge Roy Bean-1825-1903 was an eccentric saloon keeper and Justice of the Peace. He called himself "the Law West of the Pecos"....thus every other visitor to OUR museum here in town would ask me all about him. I got really tired of it. But after all....the city of Pecos IS just a mile from the Pecos river and we DO have an exact replica of Judge Roy Bean's saloon.
Folks called him "the hangin' judge" but there is no evidence that he ever hung anyone. Tourists always ask to see the hangin' tree. Langtry had no jail so the Judge always just fined the hell out of vermin and violators and told 'em to git. Later in life he always gave to the poor and made sure that the schoolhouse had plenty of firewood in the winter. He died in his billiard hall in 1903 after some hard drinkin' in San Antonio. It's SO desolate there and easy to imagine what it must have been like over 100 years ago with no amenities. But at least train would go by there and brought supplies.
3. This museum is funded by Texas Dept. of Transportation and is free. I wonder how that works...our West of the Pecos Museum has to struggle with private donations and charges a small fee. The building is wonderful and has a small "cactus trail" out back.
4. The Judge died in his billard room that is attached to the saloon...I could almost feel him in there.
5. The legs from his pool table...hey....what happened to the 4th leg? I bet the lady who is inside the museum gets tired of people asking. Aren't they COOL?
6. Inside the original saloon.
7.The original saloon and billiard hall.
8. Inside the museum they have some display cases with Judge Roy Bean's walking stick (which has amazing teeny, tiny carvings all over it) and gun etc. In this picture Gene is looking at one of about six of these cool little windows that tell a story. See the little old fashioned phone ear piece? You listen to that and there is 3 D action in the window.
9. Really nice picnic area out fron of the museum. Wish it was in my backyard!
Read more about Roy Bean and his infatuation with Lilly Langtry etc. online....like Wikipedia or just google.
4 comments:
I've always wanted to see Langtry but never got that way. Gene says to ask you whose idea was it to go to Langtry.
I loved the movie with Paul Newman and the bear.
We have Pecos cantaloupes at our house now. They have been selling them in the stores in Austin. They are very nice. I guess we are the lucku few. I had no idea the Pecos river could be that big in Texas, since New Mexico damed it up and kept all the water. It is very nice.
Ciao, k
wow! i thought you had really touched this scary looking scorpion or whatever this bug is..! :D
I went to school in langtry back in the 1960s. At that time there was a man hanging out in front of the saloon, dressed up in mexican outfit, complete with sombrero. That has gone the way of political correctness.
randy
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