Posts Tagged by Texas
The Rock
| April 27, 2009 | Filled under Photo Album, Shorts |
Remember my trip to Enchanted Rock? I finally wrote it up for the Houston Press travel series. Click the picture to see more.
Hunt, TX
| April 26, 2009 | Filled under Photo Album, Shorts |
Read about my trip to Stonehenge II (and the Texas moais) for the Houston Press. More pictures here.
Today, I
| April 25, 2009 | Filled under Shorts |
- Fed a baby alpaca
- Ate a really good hamburger
- Drank locally-brewed mint honeywine
- Rode through Sam Houston National Forest
- Got rained on
- Met a French blues musician
The Adelsverein
| April 23, 2009 | Filled under Internerd |
…was was a colonial attempt to establish a new Germany within the borders of Texas.
Stumbled across this while doing research for a story. Interesting. I’ve always wondered about the prevalence of German names, towns and culture in the Texas Hill Country. New Braunfels and Fredericksburg were the first cities to be established.
Mateys
| April 16, 2009 | Filled under Internerd |
Apparently there is a whole subculture of people who like to dress and act like pirates, for fun. They’re like furries, I guess. But with eye patches.
Galveston Island once had it’s own bona-fide pirate, pictured above. His name was Jean Lafitte.
Another day, another rally
| April 13, 2009 | Filled under Shorts, Video |
Are you a Mod? Or are you a Rocker?
The first Mod vs. Rockers rally to take place in Houston in many years has been scheduled for September. The site is short on details, but it’s gonna be organized by the same guys who put on the Dallas rally and it’s gonna be awesome.
God, I love summer.
Mexico, 1956
| April 10, 2009 | Filled under Photo Album |
We’ve Crossed the Zone Line – Tropic of Cancer – Mexico, 1956, originally uploaded by vieilles_annonces.
I want to go to Mexico so bad, but I’ve waited too long, and now it’s not safe. This collection of vintage vacation photos will tide me over for now. (Link via Wipe Your Feet.)
Rodeo Run 10K
| March 9, 2009 | Filled under Blog |
We got there super early, at C’s insistence, and ended up standing in the 20-30 MPH winds for about two hours. The day before, Friday, it had been 80 degrees outside. On the morning of the race the temperature was in the 30s.
The first hour I was okay — adrenaline was keeping me warm. But the Rodeo Run is a late race. By 9:30 we had stripped ourselves of and dropped off our warm-ups and were trying to figure out where to get in line, since C runs a good two minutes per mile faster than me.
At 9:40 a.m. the starting horn sounded, everyone let up a great cheer, and then? Nothing. We had to stand around for another five minutes, slowly shuffling forward with 10,000 other eager runners, until we got to the starting line. I knew this would happen, I just didn’t realize it really would take that long. The minute I lifted my foot over that starting line I clicked on my Forerunner and was on my way. (more…)
The Balinese Room
| February 24, 2009 | Filled under Blog |
Karen posted a picture of what remains of the Balinese Room on her blog Sunday — pretty much all that remains is the historical marker. We were thankfully gone, out of the country, when Ike hit, just like we were out of the country when Katrina hit, and I haven’t been down to Galveston since. I’ve seen pictures, and heard stories, and the pictures and the stories are too sad.
I have always been fond of The Balinese Room, from it’s tiki bar loungey-ness to it’s underworld beginnings. It represents to me decades of yore which seem far more colorful and interesting than the time in which I reside. More recently, it was the home to our Saturday night party at the first and second annual Sandblast Scooter Rally.
Galveston has often played final fiddle to other famous US cities — it’s smaller than New Orleans, less Victorian than Boston, the water is not so nice as it is in Tampa. But to this girl from Oklahoma, who saw the ocean for the very first time while driving past Crystal Beach, Galveston is home to endless corridors of mystery and fascination.
Karen has been blogging recently about recovery efforts in Galveston. Five months have passed. Pictures abound on Flickr of high water marks and rebuilding efforts. But the stories are the most interesting to me.
The Sandblast Rally has to be moved this year, thanks to Ike and other factors. And because it’s no longer on the beach (it’s in New Ulm, Texas) the name has to change to. Now it’s the Mudblast Rally. The first annual, I guess. The saddest thing about this is that there is no place in New Ulm like the Balinese Room. There is no place anywhere like the Balinese Room.
But today is Fat Tuesday, which means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the day for starting over. The day for cleansing. I wonder if that makes Galveston’s Mardi Gras celebrations more poignant this year — after all, starting over is what they need the most.
Bayou City History
| February 6, 2009 | Filled under Internerd |
I’m not a big fan of The Chronicle’s massive network of unemployed bloggers, but there is one blog I’ve found I can’t live without: Bayou City History. It’s well written, and uses a good mix of readers’ anecdotes as well as the newspaper’s archives, and vintage ephemeral photos. A good resource for anyone who disputes Houston’s coolness.
