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…
Tag: travel
Like many older graveyards, Aurora Cemetery has a Texas State Historical Marker. While pioneers, cattlemen, farmers and soldiers often figure prominently on such signs, what makes this historical marker so unusual is that it mentions a spaceship crash in 1897, and that this cemetery is where the alien’s body is buried!
Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center Have you ever been to a zoo where you could hunt? Me, neither! I did, however, recently visit an aquarium where you can fish: The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens, Texas. TFFC is actually much more than just a place to view fish. It’s a full production freshwater fish hatchery dedicated to the preservation of Texas wetlands. Aquariums and Exhibits If you’ve ever been curious about the ecology of freshwater lakes you can see it up close and personal at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. TFFC offers 300,000 gallons of freshwater fish exhibits, featuring…
Welcome to the June 25th, 2012 edition of Traveler’s Show and Tell. This edition of the Traveler’s Show and Tell blog carnival is a big one, featuring travel-related posts and photo essays from a whopping 23 travel bloggers. This month’s blog carnival is so jam-packed with travel posts that you may feel a little jet-lagged by the time you read them all! PLEASE NOTE: All the photos in this issue were taken by the talented Paula Puffer, so I’ve put her photo essay first. The pictures on her blog are higher quality that what you see here, plus there…
Last week, my husband and I explored Athens City Cemetery (400 Prairieville St) in Athens, Texas. It had been a full day, so we very nearly skipped the graveyard. We were both hot, sweaty and tired, having already spent the day at the nearby Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (photo essay forthcoming!) as well as poking around the town square looking for historical markers. An emergency stop at a Braum’s Ice Cream shop for a couple of hot fudge sundaes – strictly medicinal, mind you – gave us the second wind we both needed for further explorations. I’m glad we checked out Athens…
Differences Between the Neapolitan and American Card Deck Did you know that in Naples, Italy people play cards with a completely different deck than we do in the USA? Unlike the American 52 card deck, southern Italians use a 40 card deck. Also, Neapolitan cards are not numbered, so you need to count how many of that particular suit are on the card. The two of swords, for instance, has two swords drawn on it, but no numbers. This type of card goes up to seven. After that, for the eight, nine and ten, there are face cards. The entire…