Lost in Texas Pt II

I know I have not made a post in quite a few months. My only excuse is the lack of motivation. My photography hobby was put on hold due to life stuff.

But now I am back; so you all need not worry.

I "road-tripped" again and brought along my cameras. I packed a picnic lunch as well. I spent the day in my car with no particular destination in mind except to visit Mineral Wells again - on a day that some shops would be open.

Before I got into Mineral Wells "downtown", I noticed some signs for Clark Botanical Gardens. I decided to go eat a plum that I had packed in my lunch bag there. =D

Very nice garden. Lots of birds!

Also, a tunnel that reminded me a little of Salzburg (and you know how I like tunnels):

This is where I ate the plum (yes, that's me):

And I got a great addition to my "butts" photo collection:

And I thought this was humorous:

I left at about 11am and headed into the town.

The only store I went into was a coffee shop called Jitter Beans. You REALLY need to try the iced coffee. They make the ice cubes out of coffee as well so you dont have icky water at the end of the drink - but just more coffee. I hear they do the same with the lemonaide. the owner gave me a short history of the town and is VERY much active in getting the town behind rennovating the Baker Hotel. The hotel has a potential buyer group from Southlake, TX but the town is afraid of the hotel not profitable since HUD is also involved and the town doesnt want to be stuck with a bill if the hotel flops.

SO! Spread the word - if you ever get to Mineral Wells, stay at the Baker when it's back open. It was a grand hotel back in the 1930s - 1970s. Big names stayed there like James Stewart and Judy Garland.

Now, it's this huge monsterous shell of a building in the middle of this quaint little town.

Here are some more photos:

Here's a photo of the area on one side of the hotel. I like it because it seems to tell me the story of the hotel from grandness to delapidation (well it does to me, anyway):

 

Doorways:

         

After I went to the hotel, I ventured to the town's most famous little shop, The Famous Mineral Water Co... or something like that. The town was named after the mineral water well that was dug some time in the 1800s. The diggers (sorry, I think the name is Dismuke or something) noticed the water had a strange taste and later began to think the water was miracle water as it seems to "heal" people of ailments. Turns out the water contains high levels of natural lithium (an anti-psychotic). Anyway, this "healing" water is what brought about The Baker Hotel; which was built as a sort of sanitarium/spa. People bathed in and drank the water and were healed. =)

(yes, that is my car)

I bought a gallon of Crazy Water #3 (there are 4 different filtered strengths - #4 is my fav but is also the highest lithium content), a bottle of concentrated elderberry juice, some "texas trash" (chex mix), and some linen spray.

Random! I know.

After that, I went driving again. This time, I had NO clue where I was going and no destination in mind.

I ended up traveling further west and wound up in the hill country. I love Texas. The landscape here is so diverse. I come from the Gulf-Coastal area where the land is flat and lush vegetation (the humidity of Houston/Galveston makes things grow like crazy). Up here in North Texas, the trees are really over grown bushes and it's all very sparce and rough and dry.

I actually ended up at Possum Kingdom Lake. I'd heard about this town but had never thought of going. On my way into the lake area, I stopped off at the "welcome center" which is also a Re/Max realty place. i had to use the restroom. I got to talking with this older realtor lady and she was soooo funny and truely "Texan." Big hair and Big accent and Big jewelry that you can tell was bought at boutique-wanna-be place.

I asked her where I should go while in town. She asked me what I did for a living. I said "i'm an auditor" (didnt go into detail of what kind of auditing). She said, "Well! You need to go to Bonita Bay and have a few drinks, I am SURE!" HAHAHAHAAAAA!

Anyway, I didn't. I ended up going to the lake to have my lunch.

Then I remembered passing a sign on the way in saying "Observation Point" so when I was ready, I got into my car (again) and drove to see what could be observed.

The Brazos River:

A house on a cliff:

More cliffs:

Part of the lake (and lots of boats but I edited them out):

Then I had had enough of the 107F heat (although the breeze was nice up in the hills) and decided it was time to come home.

And that was my day.

Tomorrow, I might not be as adventurous but you never know!