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Month: July 2012

Traveler’s Show & Tell: Dracula, Hogwarts & Cozumel

Welcome to the July 30th, 2012 edition of Traveler’s Show and Tell. This edition of the Traveler’s Show and Tell blog carnival is another big one, featuring travel-related posts and photo essays from a whopping 24 travel bloggers. I hope you enjoy this vicarious trip around the world. This Week’s Travelers   Violeta Matei presents Searching for Dracula: Bucharest to Bran and Return posted at Violeta Matei, saying, “If you come to Romania to search for Dracula, you might find awesome mountain landscapes, old fortresses, ostrich farms and reasons to visit again.” Tui Snider presents Historic Petrified Wood Gas Station…

ROW80 Check-in: Pleasure Reading & Handwritten Journals

What is ROW80? ROW80 is kinda like an online weight loss support group for writers, except that rather than losing anything, we’re here to support each other in gaining more and more words. For a more coherent explanation check out the official ROW80 website. My ROW80 Round 3 Goals: Post a ROW80 Check-in each Wednesday: I got sick, missed a few days of work, and got behind on everything last week. Oh well! I’m here now, aren’t I? Two blog posts per week: See above… Keep up with Candace Havens Fast Draft group: I’m happy with my progress in this…

Historic Petrified Wood Tourist Camp & Gas Station in Decatur, Texas

Texas Tourist Camp In 1927, E.F. Boydston bought a feed lot in Decatur, Texas and turned it into the Texas Tourist Camp. As grand as that sounds, in the beginning, it was merely a gas station that offered campsites. Next came a restaurant, which started as the Texas Lunchroom, but soon became known as the Texas Cafe. Petrified Wood & Infamous Guests In the 1930’s, Mr. Boydston added several cabins with attached garages, thereby creating a rustic motel for tourists passing through town on the new highway. In 1935, he spruced things up by covering all the buildings in petrified…

iPhone Photo Essay: Chandor Gardens, the Secret Gardens of Weatherford, Texas

Best Kept Secret in Weatherford, Texas Twenty-five miles west of Fort Worth lies a beautifully landscaped garden in the Historic District of Weatherford, Texas. This lush oasis was created by the internationally renowned portrait artist, Douglas Chandor, and his wife, Ina. Chandor Gardens is such an unspoiled treasure that, I must confess, part of me selfishly wanted to keep it as my own little secret garden rather than write up this iPhone photo essay. At any rate, while researching this article, I discovered that the historical romance author, Caroline Clemmons, recently blogged about this site, too. Check out her post…

The Fort Worth Texas Stockyards: Where the West Begins

The Fort Worth Stockyards: Where the West Begins For those craving a wild west experience in north Texas, the Fort Worth Stockyards is the place to go. This is where you can ride a mechanical bull, watch a gunfight reenactment, buy custom-made cowboy boots, hang out in a honkytonk, see the opry, witness a cattledrive, rent a horse, or head to the rodeo. Fort Worth is often referred to as, “Where the West begins,” and not simply because it sits a good 35 miles west of Dallas. Unlike the Big D, Fort Worth unabashedly embraces its cowboy roots, carrying its…

It’s Wednesday, so it must be Row80

My ROW80 Check in If it were Thursday, I’d say that it must be Belgium, but since it’s Wednesday, all of us folks afflicted with writerly obsessions know that it is, in fact, time for a #ROW80 check-in! I got sick and missed my day job yesterday. As a result, my recollections of yesterday are a blurry mixture of, “Yippee! I’m home writing,” and “Ugh, I need to run to the bathroom – again!” Even so, yesterday was fun, aside from all the reminders of my corporeal existence. Anyway, here’s how my week went from a Row80 perspective. My ROW80…