Palo Alto: History Comes Alive

Brownsville was never on my list of “Places to Visit.” I mostly landed there because it was near South Padre Island and I found a nice, inexpensive place to stay. Sometimes that’s all you need.

While the majority of my week in Brownsville consisted of hanging out at the amazing retirement community and getting a lot of work done, I did have the opportunity stop at the Palo Alto Battlefield National Park and take a ride on the associated trail.

The trail was something I just stumbled upon while exploring on my bike. I had searched for some points of interest in town and found several within biking distance. My GPS (being evil as usual) tried to convince me the longer, busy road was the best option. No longer willing to blindly trust it, I explored other route options. Because why would a bike trail be my GPS’s initial suggestion for a bike ride? As a whole, the trail took me through a wide range of the city, eventually dropping me off at the Mitte Cultural District where the zoo, art museum, and history museum resided. I had a strange interaction with a woman at the history museum (she didn’t speak English, and I failed Spanish in a fairly spectacular manner). I thought she wanted to show her friend my bike, but I think it was that her co-worker had a bike like mine? I’m still not sure, but she was very sweet.

In addition to taking me around the city, the trail also passed close to Mr. Taco, a place my brother-in-law raved about (okay, so it was not that close, but food it always worth a detour). I arrived just after they opened, but as soon as I entered the lady told me they’d received a large order so weren’t able to fill any other orders. I think my disappointment showed (even though only my eyes could be seen because of my mask), either that or I just looked pathetic. Whatever the reason, she took pity on me and put in my order for 2 little street tacos, one brisket and one el pastor (I would have ordered more but thought that might make her say no!). I truly have no idea what were in my tacos, but they were tasty! I took them to a little park and savored my hard-won prize, refusing to share with a duck who somehow managed to look beseeching (no idea that was possible).

Palo Alto Battlefield was on my way out of town, so I figured I might as well check it out. It was a battle I was unfamiliar with, as the Mexican-American War was just a blip on my radar during American History. With no preconceived ideas of what I would find, I grabbed a map at the ranger station and headed out.

What I found impressed me. The presentation of the historical event that had occurred there was interesting and engaging. Along the paths (on which we were told to stay so as not to be attacked by snakes) were details of the battle from both sides, as well as quotes from men who had been there. They even had a GPS connected audio guide you could access by going to a website (though it was clearly a relation of my GPS because it sometimes couldn’t make up its mind where I was standing and offered multiple points of interest simultaneously).

I especially found it fascinating to read the words of the men from both sides of the battle; the fancy words of high ranking officers reports alongside those of the common soldiers, who told of the nitty-gritty reality. The way they presented the information and connected it to the land itself made the battle come alive. There is something powerful about standing on the land where history was made.

It was well worth the stop (one I encourage others to experience) before I headed north, driving along the very border that had been drawn because of the events of which I had just explored. While it was not a stop I had originally planned, taking time to learn about America’s history added a another dimension to my journey.