Autumn hike at Hamilton Pool grotto
December 14, 2019 Hamilton Pool called my name last month, and I answered by scheduling a visit through the state’s reservation page. Yes, Hamilton Pool Preserve is so heavily visited nowadays that the county park system requires a reservation to visit on weekends, and every day in warmer months. Is ...
Otherworldly Creek Show lights up Waller Creek through Nov. 17
November 08, 2019 Despite a blue norther that dropped temps from the 80s to the 40s and ushered in a chilly rain, we trekked downtown yesterday evening for the opening night of Creek Show, an annual light-art installation along Waller Creek, which is being developed as a chain of parks ...
November walk at Lady Bird Lake
November 06, 2019 A perfect fall day calls for a walk around Lady Bird Lake, so on Sunday there I was, at Lou Neff Point, viewing Austin’s mushrooming skyline and the towering Jenga building. Taking the U-turn trail around Barton Creek, I paused to admire the green spring water and ...
A city park floating on air: Klyde Warren Park in Dallas
November 03, 2019 A remarkable green space floats overhead, literally flashing before your eyes as you commute or pass through downtown Dallas. Built above 3 blocks of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway, Klyde Warren Park is a remarkable green roof that has become a beloved public park. Traffic flows beneath the ...
Welcome to Colorado and High Plains Environmental Center: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
June 23, 2019 Just two hours away by plane but a mile high in altitude, Denver is a world away from subtropical Austin thanks to its short growing season (freezes can occur as late as June and as early as September), low humidity (ahhh!), and aridity (just 15 inches of ...
Wild for wildflowers at Mueller’s Southwest Greenway
June 10, 2019 A week ago I buzzed around Mueller, a sustainable, mixed-use neighborhood built on the site of Austin’s old Mueller Airport. When the concrete runways and asphalt parking lots were jackhammered out, acres of blackland prairie soil saw the sun for the first time in decades. What an ...
Palo verde path at new Mueller neighborhood park
May 29, 2019 Branch Park, the newest public park in the Mueller neighborhood, opened recently, and I swung by one afternoon to take a look. The play spaces (including a waterscape “river”, play airplane, and conical climbing obstacles) and round playing field are terrific additions to the other parks at ...
Hamilton Pool swimming hole, a Hill Country blue lagoon
March 11, 2019 One of the most beautiful spots in the Hill Country west of Austin is Hamilton Pool, a turquoise swimming hole half tucked under a massive limestone ledge, from which a 50-foot waterfall sheets onto a water-smoothed boulder and into the pool. In the wet season, veil-like columns ...
Winter hike at Pedernales Falls
January 21, 2019 A cloudless blue sky overhead, white rock and clear pools of water to explore, and evergreen trees all around. This is winter in central Texas. The family and I recently drove out to Pedernales Falls State Park, about an hour west of Austin, to scramble among the ...
Paperwhites and palmettos at Lady Bird Lake
January 09, 2019 A post-holiday hoof around Lady Bird Lake reveals some beautiful surprises, like a spring-fresh cluster of paperwhites in bloom. Inside the Pfluger Bridge Circle, designed by Christine Ten Eyck (my next Garden Spark speaker!)*… …I smiled to see this native palmetto playing a piano. What? Nah, it’s ...
Dog playtime at Red Bud Isle
December 18, 2018 Playing among cypress knees and gnarled roots at Red Bud Isle? Yep, it’s a dog’s life. Our good boy Cosmo enjoys off-leash playtime at Red Bud Isle in West Austin, cavorting at this beautiful point along Lady Bird Lake where a bald cypress clings to shore ...
Pennybacker Bridge overlook above Lake Austin
November 26, 2018 I’ve lived in Austin for 24 years and yet somehow, until recently, had never seen the city from its most famous overlook along Capital of Texas Highway on the north side of Lake Austin, where a limestone cliff offers a postcard-worthy view of iconic Pennybacker Bridge (aka ...
On the trail in Eldorado Canyon near Boulder, Colorado
September 01, 2018 Two weeks ago, my youngest left for college. Three weeks ago we spontaneously took a Great American West road trip up through Colorado, South Dakota, and Wyoming, seeking out lonely but epic scenery. For me it was also, of course, about putting off the blues of her ...
Houston, capital of Southern-cool art?
August 24, 2018 Detail of Dixie Friend Gay’s mosaic Wild Wonderland in Houston’s Midtown Park Speeding away from the sleepy South Carolina town I grew up in, I rolled into megatropolis Houston at the nadir of the mid-1980s oil crash. Local shops were shuttered, regional banks were going out of ...
Old school sightseeing in Oxford, England
July 16, 2018 English longhorns at Christ Church Meadow in Oxford Last month, after two nights in London, we rented a car and drove to Oxford, our home base for several day trips we’d planned for the remainder of our vacation. Oxford is a lovely old city, and we enjoyed ...
Roses, swans, and ravens: Rambling in London’s parks and Tower of London
July 08, 2018 We arrived in London in mid-June, where we stayed two nights and spent our days eating fish and chips and Indian food, sightseeing, and rambling in London’s excellent parks. (We also visited the magnificent Kew Gardens, which I’ll share in my next post.) London’s public parks made ...
