Fort Worth Stockyards, TX - 3/11-13/2005

Being from California, I had no idea what Texas had in store for me. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I loved it! My friend and I wandered the Fort Worth Stockyards at night on Friday, March 11th. We felt out of place. Everyone there seemed really into cowboy culture. We quickly got adjusted to it, and checked out Maverick fine western wear store. Very beautiful clothes, I even bought myself a shirt that I wore into the office a few days later. Half the stuff in the store I could never get away with wearing on the West Coast though, but I wish I could. That $300 brown leather jacket on the other hand… I almost did some major damage to my bank account but resisted the temptation. Need I say more? My friend Marc bought cool looking $85 piece of art for his home and to irritate his wife. If I had room for more luggage, I would have bought one myself. Near the entrance of the store, the book rack had a selection of David Stoecklein books. I’ve been a fan of his work for quite some time. He has some amazing shots of cowboy and cowgirl culture that would make any American proud. Check out his Spirit of the West book sometime. He has a million different books out there but I think this is the best overall representation of his work.

After Maverick, we headed over to Stockyards Coliseum or Cowtown Coliseum- whatever the exact name is to see the weekly rodeo. We caught the last 15 minutes of it, so we ended up coming back the next night to see the whole thing. It was great. The action was incredible and everyone was really into it. Being the oldest indoor rodeo arena in the world, it had a cozy feel to it. At least in the spring time. When summer comes around all bets are off.

The next day we came back in the afternoon after not seeing any Bluebonnets in Ennis. We caught the cattle drive. It wasn’t too impressive. The longhorns were, but there weren’t as many as I thought there would be. Cowboy museum was nice too. The Stockyards Station reminded me of a Texan version of Pier 39 though. The lamest part of the Stockyards by far.

On a plus side, some of the most beautiful women in the world inhabit Texas. And a lot of them were roaming the stockyards on the weekend alone or with female companions. I now see the inspiration Mr. Stoecklein probably felt when he produced his book and calendars on cowgirls.

The world’s largest honkytonk is in the stockyards so I’ll be sure to check that out next time.

Edgewood County Park 3-23-05

A wild season: a wild week in the Bay Area. A tornado hit near my neighborhood, and rain, rain and more rain. On the first break in weather in over a week, yesterday I headed to Edgewood County Park in Redwood City to look for wildflowers. I hiked the Serpentine Trail Loop and then the Edgewood Trail from the parking lot to Canada Rd. The flowers appear to have recently started blooming. Two weeks sounds like a good time to check back.

There were patches of small yellow flowers on the ridge of the Serpentine Trail. Then on the Edgewood Trail near the 280 Freeway, there were more of the same flowers mixed in with owl’s clover and golden poppies. On a hillside on the way back down the Edgewood Trail, there were a bunch of bush lupine and a tree of lupine growing along a deer path.