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Tag: Tui Snider

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…

Row80: Focused, not Fuzzy for Round 3

ROW80 Round 2: Fun, but Fuzzy As some of you may recall, I ended round 2 of ROW80 realizing that I need clarity. Don’t get me wrong, round 2 was inspiring, but that inspiration sent my creative self spinning off into many different directions. My creativity got fuzzy and frayed. I ended ROW80 Round 2 with the realization that – while it’s nice to be full of ideas – I need to set clear, concise goals so that I can conquer my writing projects one at a time. My ROW80 Round 3 Goals: ROW80 Check-ins: I will do one ROW80…