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Unexpected Texas: Building Made of Salt

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming quirky travel book, Unexpected Texas:

Salt Palace in Grand Saline

While the French equivalent of “window shopping” translates as “window licking” this is something that literally occurs every day at the Salt Palace in Grand Saline, Texas. The unusual building, which houses a visitor center and museum for the town and the nearby Morton Salt Company mine, is built entirely out of salt crystal bricks held together by a salt/mortar mixture. This strange combination proves tempting to many visitors who satisfy their curiosity by taking a tiny lick of its walls.

The building now standing is the third incarnation of this salty enterprise. The first “Salt Palace” (shack, would be a more accurate moniker) was a mock-up of The Alamo created for the 1936 Texas Centennial Celebration. Texas weather being what it is, the building eventually eroded. Another Salt Palace was built in 1975 by local citizens who also created the first annual Salt Festival which continues to be held every year on the second weekend of June.

Heavy rain took its toll on Salt Palace number two, so in 1993 a third version was erected. This time, an aluminum overhang was added to protect it from the elements. While it’s an impressive site, the name, “Salt Palace” is a bit grandiose for the little one-story building that bears the name.

Salt Palace Museum

Grand Saline has had a salt factory since 1839 and during the Civil War the factory supplied the Confederacy with 500 pounds of salt per day. Around 1920, Morton Salt stepped in and the little girl with the yellow umbrella took over. Minors harvest salt from 750 feet below ground, remnants of an ancient sea that covered east Texas 250 million years ago. Grand Saline’s mines contain a large and high quality salt deposit. It’s been estimated to contain enough salt to supply the entire world for the next 20,000 years.

Tours of the nearby Morton Salt mines are no longer available due to safety regulations enacted in the 1960’s, but the Salt Palace houses a museum which offers a movie showing mining production, mining artifacts and other historic memorabilia.

Plan your trip to the Salt Palace:

Address: 100 W Garland St, Grand Saline, TX 75140

2014 A to Z Blog Challenge Theme Reveal

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What is the April A to Z Blog Challenge?

Each April, people from all over the world participate in the April A to Z blog challenge, and you can too. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a great way to meet other bloggers.

To play along, all you do is make a blog post for each letter of the alphabet during April, then use the blog hop linky to visit as many other bloggers as you can. Last year for instance, my post for the letter A was “Alien Grave in Aurora, Texas.”

Last Year’s Theme Inspired me…

My theme last year was “Texcentricity” (And, yeah, I made up that word!) Basically, my Texcentricity posts covered quirky, offbeat, and overlooked history, trivia, and travel destinations in Texas.

…to Write an Amazon Best-Selling Book!

I had such a great response to those posts that I wrote a whole book about offbeat and overlooked travel destinations in the Dallas – Fort Worth region of North Texas. The book is called Unexpected Texas. I released it on March 2, 2014 as a paperback and eBook, and it has since become an Amazon Best Seller!

This Year’s A to Z Theme

The theme I’ve chosen for the 2014 A to Z blog challenge is *drum roll please* Instagram Travel Photos. This seemed like fun, because I’ve gone from turning up my nose at the idea of cell phone pictures, to being an avid iPhone photographer. I even collaborated with Morgan Dragonwillow to create a poetry book featuring photos I’ve taken with my iPhone. It’s called Wild Woman Waking and it’s getting some great reviews on Amazon, too. Check it out!

It’s good for A to Z posts to be short, so I will post brief photo essays each day, and let my photos do the talking. Many will showcase Texas, since that’s where I currently live, but I will also feature photo essays from many other places around the world. For instance, the palm tree photo at the top of this post was taken in Arizona. Stay tuned!

Follow me on Instagram

I love sharing photos on Instagram. In fact, if you click here to find me on Instagram, I’ll follow you back!. (You can also find me from my profile name, which is simply @tuisnider.)

What will other A to Z Challenge bloggers write about?

So there you have it! That was my big theme reveal. If you want to find out what other bloggers will be posting about, check out the list below:

Cowtown’s Rooftop Jackalope

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Rooftop Jackalope in Fort Worth, TX (photo by Tui Snider)

What is a Jackalope?

Jackalopes are mythical rabbit/antelope hybrids that frequently appear in folk tales from the southwestern United States.

Why is there a Jackalope in Fort Worth, Texas?

In the 1980’s, Fort Worth artist Nancy Lamb was commissioned to create an eight foot tall jackalope sculpture for a garden and pottery shop.

Rooftop Jackalope Address

Although the Jackalope Store has since gone under, its unique mascot remains on the roof of what is now a car dealership. I always keep an eye out for it when driving through town. If you’re ever in north Texas and would like to see the Rooftop Jackalope, set your GPS for: 5925 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107.

Mary Martin: The Original Peter Pan from Weatherford, Texas

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Statue of Mary Martin as Peter Pan in Weatherford, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)

Talented Texan Makes it Big on Broadway

Mary Martin, the performer most strongly identified with role of Peter Pan, was born in Weatherford, Texas. This talented singer and actress was also the first to play Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music, as well as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.

In 1976, the artist Ronald Thomason created a life-sized bronze of Mary Martin as Peter Pan. The sculpture still stands in front of the Weatherford Public Library, and the photos you see in this post are ones I snapped when I visited town.

I must also say that, to me, while the sculpture is good, it doesn’t quite convey how stinking cute Mary Martin is. Check out some photos of her online and you will see what I mean.

Larry Hagman’s Mom

I found it interesting to learn that Larry Hagman was Mary Martin’s son. He, too, became a famous actor, known especially for his roles on television as the astronaut Major Anthony Nelson in the 1960’s comedy “I Dream of Jeannie” and J.R. Ewing in the 1980’s nighttime soap opera “Dallas.”

Doss Heritage & Culture Center

To find out more about Mary Martin, Larry Hagman, and more Weatherford lore, spend an afternoon at the Doss Heritage and Culture Center. What started as a local library exhibit has expanded into a full museum that’s well worth visiting.

Photo Bombed by a Nude Dude

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For today’s Friday Photo, I’ve decided to post the most popular photo from my 2013 Instagr.am feed. (If you’re on Instagr.am follow me, @TuiSnider, and say hi. I will definitely follow you back!)

Here’s the story behind the picture: My husband and I were on a tour of the Caribbean island, St. Maarten, when our group decided to stop by the seaside. As we stepped out of the van, the driver warned us that part of the area was clothing optional, so if we were offended by this, we should pay close attention to the signs.

Nude beach sign on the island of St Maarten (photo by Larry Snider) — Nude beach sign on the island of St Maarten (photo by Tui Snider)

I’d never been to a nude beach before, and didn’t really care. I love water, and it was so beautiful and clear on St. Maarten that I made a beeline for an unoccupied stretch of beach, kicked off my shoes and waded in. As it turns out, I was exactly on the border between the regular beach and the clothing optional side.

Wading on the beach in St Maarten (photo by Larry Snider) — Wading on the beach in St Maarten (photo by Tui Snider)

After posing for a few photos, I splashed around in the sea and had a good time. What I didn’t realize is that in a handful of photos, a nude dude wandered right behind me as my husband continued to snap away. (In retrospect, this explains the huge grin on my husband’s face.)

Another surprise was how our little beach jaunt triggered a marital squabble. One man’s wife got so irritated by the fact that he’d “taken a good long peek at the nasty side of the beach” that she had the van driver drop her off in town so she could walk back to the cruise ship without him. Poor guy!

What about you? Have you ever been to a nude beach? Have you ever had a funny photo bomb while traveling?

Turning Basin Riverboat Tour in Jefferson, Texas

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Beautiful Reflections along the Bayou

Today’s photo essay features shots I took with my iPhone while floating down the Big Cypress Bayou in Jefferson, Texas. It was hard to restrain myself to only sharing six pictures with you because I could not stop taking photos. It was that beautiful! If, like me, you enjoy dreamy reflections, then a cruise with Turning Basin Riverboat Tours is made for you.

East Texas History & Lore

Our boat was captained by John Nance, who kept us entertained with a mixture of historical information, local lore and facts about nature. After showing us a photo of a huge snapping turtle, John told us how a high school buddy of his earned the name “Stumpy” after having several fingers bitten off by just such a creature while noodling for catfish. (In case you don’t know, “noodling” is the term for catching fish by hand. Pretty crazy activity to do in snapping turtle country!)

Informative, but Spontaneous

One thing I love about the bayou tour by Mr. Nance is how spontaneous he is. You know how some tour guides read a script, and you get the feeling that their mind is off planning their grocery list as they drive their route? With John Nance, you can tell that no two tours are alike. He just starts talking, and sure, he probably shows the same photos each time, but the information he relayed was in direct response to our reactions. You could just tell that he is full of stories.

Cypress Knees

In some places along the bayou, the gnarly tree roots stick upright, in rows. These are called “cypress knees,” but to me they look more like curious prairie dogs watching from the shoreline. Oddly enough, scientists don’t really know what function these unusual root structures serve. There’s an interesting blog post all about cypress knees at this link: Cypress Knees, What Are They Good For? (absolutely nothin’?)

Snakes on the Water

One thing that freaked me out as we cruised down the Big Cypress Bayou was seeing my first water moccasin. I don’t have a snake phobia, but what made me shudder in this case is that the snake swam across the bayou! I’m from Washington State, and while we do have rattlesnakes up there, they don’t make a habit of swimming. On fishing trips as a kid, I always took comfort in knowing that I wasn’t likely to encounter a venomous creature while wading or swimming.

Turning Basin Riverboat Tours = Money Well Spent

At $8 a piece, I thought the hour-long riverboat cruise down Big Cypress Bayou in Jefferson, Texas was well worth it. The boat captain is entertaining, the setting is beautiful, and shutterbugs will be in photo-heaven. (Speaking of, there is a gorgeous photo essay about this same bayou tour over at Debbi Robertson’s blog entitled The REAL La Salle’s Riverboat Expedition. Check it out!) If you ever take a jaunt to east Texas, I highly recommend checking out the Turning Basin Riverboat Tours website and booking a trip for yourself.