“Amarillo by morning, Amarillo’s on my mind…”
I can’t say that I was entirely ready to leave Palo Duro Canyon (see last post), but I had far exceeded my 24 hour rule. It was time to move on to the neighboring city of Amarillo.
First stop – Historic Route 66.
Whew! What a crazy spring!!! From SXSW to Fort Hood to President Obama to NBA Playoffs, I’ve been photographing everything I can put my eyes on for two months. I’ve enjoyed it immensely, but it’s time I get back to traveling on my own terms.
First stop, Ennis – the bluebonnet capitol of Texas.
Bluebonnets are my all-time favorite flower. Every spring I get giddy when I see them pop up on the sides of the highway, and I thumb through the pages of the wildflower edition of Texas Highways like a little kid looking at a new comic book. I can’t help it, I’m a Texas girl.
So when deciding where I should go for my first trip back from a longer-than-expected hiatus, my first Google search was “bluebonnets.”
While looking for places to go during the winter months, I ran across San Angelo. The small west Texas town is known as a rugged place of history, out where the buffalo roam – literally.
But there’s another side to this town. The quirky, artsy side.
The Chicken Farm Art Center embodies that spirit perfectly.
Okay, I’ll admit it. Up until now, I’ve put a lot of thought in to where I travel for this project, but this time it snuck up on me. It was Sunday night and I realized I had nothing to post this week and no travel plans. Plus, the weather forecast predicted sleet and snow. Where was I supposed to go?
I needed some place that had indoor activities and that wasn’t too far away, just in case driving conditions got bad. Obviously I couldn’t camp.
Monday morning I woke up and started researching. I looked up the painted churches of Texas. Schulenburg? That’ll work! Read more
A few years back I almost got a job at the Waco Tribune-Herald. I went to Waco for an interview and Rod Aydelotte, the photo chief, showed me around and told me Waco is the smallest big city you’ll ever see.
That’s so true. Waco has a major university, multiple museums, a zoo, historic buildings, a sprawling park that lines the Brazos River, among other attractions, all inside of a 95 square mile town.
Waco is also home to a handful of B&Bs. I found the Spencer House, which is a bed & breakfast owned and operated by Dan and Viviann Capps.
Sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate.
Austin is an outdoors city. There are so many hike and bike trails, kayaking, boating, swimming, fishing; pretty much any outdoors activity you can think of is represented in the Austin area. But what do you do when it’s raining?
There was a 90 percent chance of rain in the forecast when I set out to answer that question.
First I stopped by the Bob Bullock State History Museum. This is a fabulous museum that chronicles the full history of Texas. It also has an IMAX theater and a beautiful terrazzo floor depicting a campfire scene in the entry way.
Marfa! What a quirky little town! I live near Austin and let me tell you, Marfa could show Austin a thing or two about being weird.
In fact, the majority of people I met in Marfa were from Austin. So much so that if you were from Austin, you didn’t need any further explanation about what brought you out west.
One of the main attractions in Marfa is art. Art galleries outnumber restaurants in this little town, and in the past few years Marfa has been known for it’s large, outdoor installments. The most famous of those is Prada Marfa, a “storefront” situated out of town in the middle of nowhere.
It was my first stop of many on my 24-hour trip, mostly because it was about a half hour out of town. Take Hwy 90 west from Marfa, through Valentine and it should be about 2 miles out, on your left. You can’t miss it. (The drive through the desert is worth it!) Read more
