Attractions

The Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. Around 1.5 million bats live underneath the bridge and on evenings from March to November, they all seem to emerge at once, covering the sky in a pulsating black cloud.

Coming to see the emergence of the bats is a popular activity in Austin. Shortly before the sun begins to set, crowds gather on the grass on the banks of the river and along the Congress Avenue Bridge. Just as the sky starts to darken, they emerge. First it’s just a few black specks and then more and more until it seems like the whole colony has taken to the skies. They move according to hidden instructions or maybe instincts, heading off in the same direction as the crowd points and cheers.

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The Riverwalk in San Antonio is the center of the city’s action. From the road, you barely know it’s there, but descend one story down from street-level and you’ll find yourself along the banks of a winding river, lined with overhanging trees, kitschy souvenir shops and Tex-Mex restaurants.

Riverwalk

After you’ve checked out the Alamo(and realized just how small the remaining structure really is), head down to the picturesque Riverwalk. In addition to a string of restaurants, – each with brightly colored umbrellas on their outdoor patios – bars, hotels, art galleries, museums, and shops, the Riverwalk is also home to several special events throughout the year, like craft fairs, holiday festivals, and wine-tastings.

For the full scoop on the history of the San Antonio River and the creation of the Riverwalk, hop a ride on a Rio San Antonio River Cruise. The cruises are 35-40 minutes long and cover two and a half miles of the Riverwalk. Fees are $8.50 for adults and $2 for children under 5 years old. The cruises depart regularly between 9am and 9pm. Dinner cruises, cocktail cruises, and charters for large groups are also available.

If you plan on hitting several stops along the Riverwalk, it makes sense to buy a day pass on the Riverwalk river taxi. A one-way pass is $5, a 24-hour pass is $10 and a three-day pass is $25. Each pass is good for unlimited rides on the water taxi.

Photo credit: Katie Hammel

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is an amazing place to spend time with your family while enjoying a scenic drive in an African-like setting with wild animals galore.  They are an endangered species research and conservation center in Glen Rose, Texas with over 1000 animals from 50 different species.

Fossil Rim

You have the choices of exploring on your own, taking a guided tour or even spending the night on site. They have a lodge that operates as a bed & breakfast and tent cabins for more rustic camping.

The guided tours available consist of behind-the-scenes tours, adventure tours, family tours, after dark tours, accompany the feeders tour & bike tours.  These usually need to be booked in advance.

Fossil Rim

Giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, five kinds of deer & rhinos are among many of the unique animals on site.  You can buy a bag of food to feed the animals for $7.95.  Imagine the photo opportunities of animals coming right up to your car!

Fossil Rim

Fossil Rim is located about one hour southwest of Fort Worth, and around an hour and a half from Dallas. Wednesdays are discounted, and they have different off-seasons and peak-season pricing.

My 7-year-old received a trip here as a gift for his birthday from his grandparents.  He hasn’t stopped talking about it since!

Photos curtesy of Carlock Family

Moody Gardens is a huge tourist attraction in Galveston, Texas with three main features: The Aquarium Pyramid, The Rainforest Pyramid & The Discovery Pyramid.

Moody Gardens

The Aquarium Pyramid currently features a shark exhibit & offers an opportunity to meet a live penguin.  In addition to these new attractions, they also have eels, sea turtles, and thousands of tropical fish in the Caribbean exhibit.  The Antarctic South Atlantic Exhibit has at least five different kinds of penguins. The North Pacific Exhibit focuses on seals and sea lions, while the South Pacific Exhibit takes you into the world of the Great Barrier Reef and tide pools.

Penguins

The Rainforest Pyramid is ten stories tall with over 1000 species of exotic plants from all over the world.  Amid the lush flora you will find beautiful macaws, an anaconda, turtles and fish.  The Asian, African and American Rainforests are all considered the most complete reproduction of actual rainforest available.

Macaws

The Discovery Pyramid allows visitors to explore the world of science.  Currently they are hosting a bones exhibit called Bones: An Exhibit Inside of You,  where you can learn how modern technology helps us keep our bones healthy, as well as how bones have found their way into art, music and literature.  Other traveling exhibits from around the world provide interactive ways to learn and have fun learning more about the world around us.

Bones

Moody Gardens also has a golf course, a 4D theater, an IMAX theater, Ridefilm, Palm Beach and a bayou paddle wheel boat tour. It’s open 365 days a year and is one of those places that you need to spend several days exploring.

Photos curtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Kerrville Folk Festival is from May21st through June 7th this year in Kerrville, Texas on Quiet Valley Ranch. It’s the longest continuously-running music festival in North America as it has been held yearly since 1972.

Texas Hill Country

Over 100 artists will perform with daily evening concerts and there is on-site camping and arts & crafts booths. You can also expect to find song writing, blues guitar and harmonica workshops as well as programs for music teachers and kids.

Kerrville Folk Festival

The Kerrville Folk Festival is known as a mecca for singer songwriters.

Tickets are from $20 & up, with a $3 daily parking fee.

I grew up in Kerrville, Texas, on a ranch nearby…and every year around this time, we could hear the music drifting over the hills from this festival.  The Texas Hill Country is a beautiful and peaceful place to go for music and fun.

When my boys were younger, they liked to try and draw on the walls in our home.

It’s just not acceptable to do that sort of thing…in private or public.

In fact, in public, it’s called graffiti.

Well, there’s some graffiti that’s famous…and worthy of a tourist attraction.

It’s really old grafiti in Hueco Tanks State Park in El Paso, Texas.

Pictolyphs at Hueco Tanks

For thousands of years, Native Americans have left figures and designs painted on the rocks in this area.

The area gets its name from the large natural rock basins (called huecos) that trapped rain water which supplied water to people who lived or traveled through the region.

Northern Mountain at Hueco Tanks by Trina Ortega

These “tanks” were blank canvases for thousands of years worth of artists.

Starry Eyed Mask - Hueco Tanks pictograph

Nowadays you can pay a fee to enter the Hueco Tanks State Park and go on a free tour of the pictographs.

Rock climbing is supposed to be pretty awesome there also.

I’m so tempted to go find a cave, paint some wild stuff, then leave it to my children…so they can leave it to their children…who will leave it to their children…and so on. So that one day, my descendents can “discover” the cave art…and make a fortune.

I think it’s a great idea.

Pittsburg, Texas is home of the Ezekiel Airship, something I had never heard of before in my life.

What is it?

I’ll tell you.

It’s an airship supposedly built in 1902 by a Baptist minister who believed a passage in the Book of Ezekiel in the Bible contained the secret of flying.

Ezekiel Airship

Admit it, you’re intrigued.

The story goes that this minister, Rev. Burrell Cannon, got neighbors to contribute money and had it built.

Ezekiel Airship Document

And then someone decided to try and fly it.

Supposedly it made it into the air…maybe 15 feet, for about 50 yards.

No eye witness accounts…no proof of this flight…no evidence left…

so what’s remarkable about this?

If it DID occur, it happened one year before the Wright Brothers did their thing in 1903.

So, whether this story is full of hot air or not…a full-sized replica of this unique contraption hangs in Pittsburg, Texas in their Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Depot and Museum.

Ezekiel Plaque

Check it out, y’all.

photos curtesy of Roadside America

The United States is home to millions of sculptures and art, including car art. And, today I’m going to share three unique car sculptures that are worth checking out.

The first is the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, which was built in 1974 along the historic Route 66, by Stanley Marsh, a helium billionaire, who wanted them to represent the golden age of American automobiles.

The ten Cadillacs, ranging from 1949 to 1963 models, are half-buried, nose-down, facing the west, same as the Egyptian pyramids.

Cadillac Ranch

They are often painted different colors or graffitied on.  They were all painted pink in 2005 as a tribute to breast cancer.  Visitors are encouraged 24/7, and spray-painting welcomed.

Cadillac Ranch

The second unique car sculpture is Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska.

In 1967 Carhenge was founded, as a replica of England’s Stonehenge, and made from vintage American automobiles.

Carhenge

Three cars are also buried here, with their headstone being another car that reads:

“Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America’s great!”

Carhenge

The third and final amazing car sculpture is Spindle in Berwyn, Illinois.

Spindle is a 50-foot spike with eight cars impaled on it.

It was created in 1989 and dismantled in 2008.

A new spindle may be in the works if the funds can be raised.

Spindle Car Sculpture

Have you thought about what kind of car sculpture you’d like to make?

Me personally, I’d love to see a Hummer giving birth to a Prius.

Or see a “house” made out cars…

the ideas are endless.

Cadillac photos a curtesy of Longhorn Dave

&

Spindle photo curtesy of Sailor Bill

Where the heck is Katy, Texas and why does it have Forbidden Gardens?

Good Question!

Katy, Texas is just outside Houston, Texas, and the spot where Hong Kong real estate mogul Ira P.H. Poon built a slightly smaller-sized replica of the ancient Chinese attraction.  He wanted to share his country’s history and culture here in the United States.

The United States’ Forbidden Gardens cover over 40 acres, cost around $20 million, and covers 2000 years of Chinese history.

The 6,000 figure terra-cotta army is 1/3 the size of the originals in China.

Terra Cotta Army

The ones in China were originally unearthed in 1974 with the first emperor of China, Quin Shihauangdi’s tomb.

Emperor Quin became a ruler of China at age 13, although not assuming total power until age 21. During his reign, he united all the warring states of China into one nation. He standardized laws and currency, bringing together a divided country. He built roadways and a canal system. He also started the Great Wall of China.

Also on site are a shaded courtyard, a koi fish pond, incense and Chinese  music coming from hidden speakers.

Guided tours are mandatory and included in the price of admission, which is $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and $3 for children under 5. The attraction is open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 5pm.

Want a little glimpse of China without traveling across the world?

Founded in 1982, the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center is home to public gardens, woodlands and meadows display and provide research for native Texas plants in their natural setting.

LadyBird Johnson, one of our former First Ladies, came up with the idea to introduce people to the beauty and diversity of wildflowers and other native plants.

Lady Bird Johnson

The Center’s Mission is to:

Increase the sustainable use and conservation of native flowers, plants and landscapes.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

The Wildflower Center has an online database gallery with over 23,700 plant images.

Conservation and Education are the impetus for several big programs and projects at the Center. Landscape restoration and a consulting operation to builders are important ecological missions actively pursued.

Lady Bird Johnson Aquaduct

It’s a great place to explore, take photos or rent out for a wedding reception or other event!

I’ve seen beautiful bridal portraits taken there.

And they have an online shop with unique gifts to celebrate Native Texas plants and flowers.