Scary On

Founded in 1838 as Cole’s Settlement, Independence was once a thriving cultural and a major economic cross-road in Texas. But today it is more of a ghost town with tourists stopping for a quick course of history. In fact it was the richest town in the 1840’s. The Baylor University was started in 1840’s at Cole’s Settlement (Independence) as a co-ed school. A few years later, the school was divided by gender and the male’s Baylor moved to its current location in Waco, Texas and the female’s University of Mary Haldin-Baylor moved to Belton. This moved was one of the steps in transforming Independence into the ghost town it is today. The Independence Baptist Church dating to 1839 is the oldest Baptist congregation and still continues to hold services. Today, the small town is one of the often forgotten tourist destinations in Texas.

We have lived so close to the town and never made a trip there. There are quite a few must-see places and adding it along with a wildflower hunting trip was a good decision we made. The whole trip took us around 7 hours (including travel from College Station and back to Navasota) – perfect for a spring Saturday trip.

Driving towards Independence, the first stop was the Liberty Baptist Church. A small church established in the 1860’s as a “colored church”. Though the current building is not the one built in the 1800’s it still is a part of the history of Independence.

Our next stop was Independence Baptist Church. Located amongst old trees the 1873 built stone built church (built after a fire destroyed the older building) fills one with peace. This was the church Sam Houston (ofcourse a Texas household name) was baptized.

Our next destination was the Antique Rose Emporium. In today’s world of hybrids and cross-breeds Antique Rose Emproium showcases the best old garden roses. The emporium gardens are free and it was amazing roaming around them and smelling the roses. Roses I buy at the store don’t have the smell anymore. These roses smelt like roses.. the strong aroma! We just wished we had packed a picnic lunch to enjoy there. Wildflowers were also abundant in the gardens making it perfect for a lazy spring afternoon. On the other side, the garden sales area was crowded and quite noisy. The antique rose plants sell for around $20 each.

In a town with 140 people residing there are no Walmarts or Whole Foods not even a MacDonald’s. Lueckemeyer General Store is their all-in-all store. From deli meat to spa products the store carries them all. It is smaller than many
of the gas station stores in Houston and is served by a happy couple and their big shaggy dog. A happy Texan family dishing out everything from fresh pizzas to gas. We stopped for some icecream (yeah April is hot in Texas). I cannot imagine a life in such a small town. How different is it from Houston life!

Our next destination was the Baylor University ruins and on the way we passed through the Town Square, the old Sam Houston House (looks right at home in this ghost town…). The old Baylor park holds the 4 columns from the main building and some remains of the kitchen from those days. The university was established in 1845 and then separated in 1855 by President Graves. The male and female divisions operated in Independence for 20 more years before the male division moved to Waco and merged with the Waco University. The old Baylor park is now a picnic site and a park teaming with wildflowers during Spring. We missed the bluebonnet season but there was an abundance of Indian paint brushes and the yellow flowers making the sight worth remembering. Along the old Baylor park are few ruins from the good ole days of Independence…

The magnificent old oak trees, the ruins of an historic university, churches that have been around for centuries, roses that smell the way they ought to, a general store that spreads out cheer, friendliness that Southerners take pride in, oil rigs and ranches, great blue herons and blue bonnets, Independence offers them all.

Independence is indeed what the term “deep in the heart of Texas” means!

Our last day in Hawaii. Part of us wanting to stay in the Aloha State for ever while another side of us wanted to be home! We choose to carry our luggage out and not take part in the ship’s disembarkment schedule. We were off by 8am and on our Thrifty car rental pretty soon.

Our first stop was Honolulu’s famed Chinatown. Teaming with activity and exotic food and fruits this place was a treat. We treated ourselves to some Chinese pastries and Jackfruit smoothies.. yummy! V also got her much wanted floral lei… sweet smelling and really cheap in Chinatown!

We also visited the only royal palace in US. After visiting the pretty and grand ones in India and Europe this was a let down!

Off we went towards Oahu’s North Shore. A quick stop at the over-priced Dole Plantation ended up with a ultra-sized Pineapple Split and a walk through the world’s biggest maze! A fun place and more suited for kids in my opinion! But a sure tourist trap! We were lucky to watch a few minutes from the finals of the Billabong surf competition along the pipeline. The pipeline is the hollowest and biggest of its kind in the world and has surfers from all over trying their best to ride it. For people with no knowledge about surfing it was kind of strange to watch it. It was like watching a foreign movie with no sub-titles! Fun though!

We had to stop for shave ice at Haleiwa. Two of the best places for shave ice in Hawaii are right next to each other. Each with a big line! We stopped at Atikos just coz the line was smaller and it was amazing. The ice melts in your mouth, smooth as silk unlike anything else we had on our trip! For a bit of drama/adventure try adding beans at the bottom of your shave ice. It is just plain beans (like black beans) boiled and added. Yes it is strange to imagine boiled beans in shave ice but the contrast is amazing and yummy!

After a pit stop we were back on the road, a bit tired and ready to head back home! We drove along just oohing and aahing at the beauty! It was a nice drive and by 6pm we were back in Honolulu. We headed to the Ward Center Stores just to spend some time! Window shopping, net browsing and a sub later we were ready to return to the airport and catch our flight home.

Delta flight from Honolulu to LA was a breeze. We were asleep before takeoff! But arriving at LA we realized our Houston flight was delayed by over an hour and they were not able to fit us in an earlier flight! We waited in LA and then reached Houston only to realize, one of our suitcases was missing. Well it really just had dirty laundry and some memorabilia. Afterwards we realized our suitcase (just 1 of the 3) went to Salt Lake City from Honolulu! Don’t ask me how they did it! We got the baggage the next day. So it was fine!

And thus ended our trip. We nursed a fit of coughing and runny nose for nearly a week after that and slowly got into the Christmas and New Year celebrations!

And as they say, what happens in Hawaii stays with you forever! We’ll cherish this trip a lot and have memories and photos to last a lifetime and more!