Texas Ostelli

I lived in Austin for nine years. Austin is very cool, except that it's so darned hot in the summer. Check out Barton Springs pool in Zilker park, an enormous spring-fed pool, always seventy degrees, perfect for a scorching day. A music reviewer for the Austin paper once wrote "Who's playing this weekend? Ho, hum, the usual embarassment of riches." No kidding. You can find live music any night of the week. Halloween in Austin is a sight to behold, thousands of people partying downtown.

I spent five of the best years of my life in tiny Tehuacana, Texas, as a student at Westminster College and Bible Institute! I remember many happy afternoons spent stretched out on a concrete picnic table on top of the hill next to a couple of Mesquite trees and a patch of prickly pear cactus. Almost forty years later I live in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee but have a poster print of a painting by Robert Woods of Tehuacana Hill hanging over my fireplace where I can see it and smile at those memories. If the old "Ad" (administration) Building is "haunted" it is filled with only happy spirits who have returned to a beloved place! I hope to return there this coming (2007) spring during bluebonnet season to photograph and reminisce!

I have lived in Tehuacana since I was a little girl and it is peaceful and a beautiful little town. I had the best years of my life there -- made the best of friends there and I wouldn't change any of my childhood. It is full of trees and at spring there are bluebonnets everywhere. It is a pretty place.

Every March, Austin hosts South by Southwest ("SXSW"), one of the largest music festivals world. The music passes are very expensive, but there are enough free music shows going on every day to keep you busy, so it's worth coming even if you don't get a music pass. Just don't expect to be able to book a hostel or hotel unless you book your room maybe about a year in advance.

Be sure to visit Kemah -- off Highway 146 midway between Galveston and Houston -- for great on-the-water dining and peoplewatching. If you love boating, you'll love the parade of boats of all kinds heading out into the bay.

I lived in Fort Stockton for six years. It's not a very nice place to live, but there are some interesting things to visit. The "world's largest roadrunner" welcomes you to town. Be sure and stop by the Comanche Springs pool. (It's much nicer than the regular city pool.) Also, if you are looking for great authentic Mexican food, try a little place called Mi Casita. Bienvenidos is another good one, more on the main road, but not nearly as good as Mi Casita. There are also several nice parks in town, as well as an historic fort, and several small museums.