Christmas at Old Fort Concho

One of the things on my "to-do" list is to really explore and learn about other areas of Tx. So, when one of my friends mentioned going on a girls trip to San Angelo, I was super excited. It's not a big city and doesn't really have a major attraction but that wasn't the point for me. I just want to learn and experience all the different aspects of this HUGE state. Last Friday we headed off to our San Angelo excursion.

We got to Lori's in-laws house and after checking out some Christmas lights, we pulled up to their house and I saw 5 deer on their lawn. Of course, I just assumed these were lawn ornaments.... since who actually gets deer that live on their property. But as we kept staring at them, we realized that they were REAL and had come in from the field at the end of the street. It was so awesome to see them. I didn't have my good camera so they are kind of hard to see but we had to take a picture because I just couldn't believe they had live deer on their front lawn in the middle of the city. So cool
On Saturday we decided to checkout Christmas at Old Fort Concho. Fort Concho used to be a military fort in the 1870's. It's a National Historic Landmark and was pretty fun to see. It's normally open just as a historic stop but this weekend they had shops, food and entertainment as well. We bought a few things and spent most of the day there. Afterward we headed to downtown San Angelo to their old general store. It was HUGE and had so much stuff in the one shop. That was a very fun place.
Old military barricks

They even shot the canon's at least once an hour (I swear it was more than that) Very loud and scared us every time. :}
Gingerbread display
This one was different because it wasn't make from candy or sugar like the rest but made from herbs.

Me hanging out with a Longhorn
An officers home
Lori and her daughter.

One of my favorite things that we learned was in this building above. This building housed a whole museum on the history of the telephone. (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it) but there was a lady there who used to actually own a switchboard company and she ran the whole telephone switchboard for her town or area. It was so interesting to see and I thought it was actually quite complicated. To see who was calling, flipping all the switches to hear and then connect them with another line. She had about a hundred different lines and she knew who everyone was. It was so interesting and I can't believe how far telephones have come. The sad thing is probably the most current phone they had on display there were the one I first remember. They have changed so much even since then.

I can't wait for the next girls trip!!!