Exotic Resort Zoo Johnson City

... and I had a good night because we both knew it would be our last night in Fredericksburg because we were to leave straight from camp on Friday to go to the airport to go to MIAMI BABY!!!!

Ryan had been kind enough to invite me to join him and another cardiff lad "Adam" in Miami, so I said "why not".

On the Friday we finished up camp with a pizza party and we signed t-shirts and soccer balls and took photo's but we were pretty much ...

Okay, enough driving! It’s time for a hike, so off to Enchanted Rock. The largest exposed granite mound in the US, the climb is 6/10 mile long with a 425 foot elevation gain. Not so hard to go up, but extremely challenging to come down - at least for someone leery of heights. But I did it! A guy I met described it as walking off a basketball, and that’s just about right. Once I videoed the view from the top (watch ...

... powered gates, while the older ones are often fence woven with wood sticks, with chained gates and a topper of some sort. The driveways just disappear behind trees or a hill, so any home is out of site. I’ve also noticed that most of the fencing in northeast Texas was metal pipe, even on a long stretch of land, and there was very little barbed wire and no wire fencing at all. As I’ve traveled west, the pipe disappeared and wire fencing took over. And ...

Voted one of the best small towns in the U.S. by Southern Living magaine, Fredericksburg certainly has the tourists to show for it. It's visually charming, filled with a wide variety of shops and restaurants, and surrounded by beautiful country and terrific day trips. With lots of parking and good sidewalks, it's also easy to get around. But Fredericksburg has a dirty underbelly: with few exceptions, the people just aren't ...

For months, we've been thinking about what to take on this trip. Now, it's getting down to the wire. The problem is CLIMATE. We'll be leaving Texas and treking through other southern states with warm climates before reaching the cooler northern parts. On our previous trip, we truly did not take enough warm clothing and, personally, I got tired of wearing the ...

... town with angle parking along the 5 or 6 central blocks of its main street. There are all kinds of shops and restaurants, some paying homage to the region's German heritage. We had lunch in a brew pub, stopped at the PeachHaus for some peach honey and a look at the orchards, and then drove towards Boerne, another German town in the area. Our main reason ...

Close to the little town of Fredericksburg, there lies a wonderful park called Enchanted Rock. The park is named after a large pink, granite dome that stands 425 ft tall. The park has mostly trad routes but we found few really fun climb ...

Okay we are off to the heartland of Texas. Keith's idea of adventure again. Why Kingsland, in the middle of nowhere? Texas Chain Saw Massacre is why. He is wanting to go to that house in the film turned into restaurant (junction-house.com), which has been moved from Georgetown a few miles north of Austin to its current location - one hour west. Driving west on Texas highway 71 is easy enough. It sure will take us there. As we get further into Texas Hill Country. Land becomes ...

... is undoubtedly the Falls themselves. It was an overwhelmingly hot day when we visited but it was definately worth venturing out of the air conditioning for. Although wading or swimming in the water at the Falls was not permitted we did climb down and walked on the rocks that crossed below the Falls. Pedernales Falls is definitely a highlight on my tour of Texas so far!

... was the paintings of one of my favorite singer-song writers, Tom Russell. We followed the crow out the back door where they had a big tent and stage set up in a small parking lot. As we found a place to stand, Bobby Bare Jr. was nearing the end of his set. He mentioned that his dad was there and then invited him onstage. Bobby Sr. asked the crowd what they wanted to hear and someone yelled Dee-troit City. He joked that he was saving that for last and then we heard those familiar ...