Where in the World Isn't Bob Saget?

[Songbird76]

Speaking of Texas…
I was on another site a coupla’ days ago and someone was sayin’ how flat and boring the drive through the Texas panhandle was, on their way to the west coast, and saying how much they’d hate to live in Texas.
Yes, you drove through the uppermost part of our pretty big state, which is pretty much a part of the Great Plains…!!!!!
I didn’t even engage with that person, but I should have posted the below…!!!!!

Hey, Texas Panhandle Traveller, the pics (all from the internet) below are of the main highway I used to drive to and from work on every weekday, here in Central Texas…

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Enchanted Rock is also in the Central Texas hill country near Fredericksburg…

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The highest peak in Texas is Guadalupe Peak in West Texas at 8,751 ft….

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Then, there’s the piney woods of East Texas…

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Not to mention, Palo Duro Canyon is actually in the Texas Panhandle, not too far from Amarillo…granted, it ain’t no Grand Canyon, but it definitely ain’t flatland-fugly…!!!!!

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And, I didn’t even cover the vast Texas Coast.
Bottom line, Texas ain’t as big as Alaska, but it’s definitely one darn big, geographically diverse state…!!!

Oh boy....that person should never ever under any circumstances drive through Nebraska. That is the flattest, most boring state to drive through with nothing to see except corn fields. We usually avoided it and drove North through South Dakota instead.

I've never been to Texas, but it can't be as bad as Nebraska. I can't handle the heat though, so I really haven't ever wanted to go to Texas.

 

[MinnieM123]

 

[donaldtoo]

 

[donaldtoo]

 

[donaldtoo]

Oh boy....that person should never ever under any circumstances drive through Nebraska. That is the flattest, most boring state to drive through with nothing to see except corn fields. We usually avoided it and drove North through South Dakota instead.

I've never been to Texas, but it can't be as bad as Nebraska. I can't handle the heat though, so I really haven't ever wanted to go to Texas.

Back in the mid 80’s, Carolyn and I were friends with a couple here in Austin that were from Iowa.
They moved back to Iowa before they got married, and Carolyn and I flew up there for their wedding.
At the time, there were no direct flights to Sioux City, IA where they were getting married, so we had to fly into Omaha, NE, and then take a short hop flight to Sioux City.
I remember both places being flat as a pancake.
The only other place I’ve been to further north, in the Midwest, than that is a place called Warroad, MN, to visit the Marvin window factory, completely paid for by Marvin. It’s about 5 miles south of the Canadian border on Lake of the Woods. There’s the lake and wooded areas, but other than that it’s flatsville, as well.
Also though, as a general rule, airports aren’t really a great way to judge an areas overall geography, as they are most always put in the flattest area that is a reasonable distance from a city.
If you’re flying into ABIA (Austin’s airport), especially from the south, you’re gonna’ see flat land. If you come in from the north, and are looking out the window (and paying attention), you should get a better idea of the thousands of square miles of Texas Hill Country that lies just to the west.
So yea, driving across the 180-ish miles of Texas Panhandle on I-40 isn’t gonna’ give anybody a good idea of the diverse geography of the state as driving across the 880-ish miles of Texas on I-10…!!!

As far as the heat goes, just don’t come here from about mid May through mid September…!!!

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

 

[donaldtoo]

So, it was 41F here this morning, and now we’re back up to tropical island temps…!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

There was a Round Rock bunny in our garden when I got back from droppin’ Matthew off at work early this afternoon…!!!

 

[PUSH]

The Northern Lights are showing in my part of the world tonight! Everyone is posting pictures. Here's my best one.

 

[Songbird76]

Back in the mid 80’s, Carolyn and I were friends with a couple here in Austin that were from Iowa.
They moved back to Iowa before they got married, and Carolyn and I flew up there for their wedding.
At the time, there were no direct flights to Sioux City, IA where they were getting married, so we had to fly into Omaha, NE, and then take a short hop flight to Sioux City.
I remember both places being flat as a pancake.
The only other place I’ve been to further north, in the Midwest, than that is a place called Warroad, MN, to visit the Marvin window factory, completely paid for by Marvin. It’s about 5 miles south of the Canadian border on Lake of the Woods. There’s the lake and wooded areas, but other than that it’s flatsville, as well.
Also though, as a general rule, airports aren’t really a great way to judge an areas overall geography, as they are most always put in the flattest area that is a reasonable distance from a city.
If you’re flying into ABIA (Austin’s airport), especially from the south, you’re gonna’ see flat land. If you come in from the north, and are looking out the window (and paying attention), you should get a better idea of the thousands of square miles of Texas Hill Country that lies just to the west.
So yea, driving across the 180-ish miles of Texas Panhandle on I-40 isn’t gonna’ give anybody a good idea of the diverse geography of the state as driving across the 880-ish miles of Texas on I-10…!!!

As far as the heat goes, just don’t come here from about mid May through mid September…!!!

Yes, Iowa is pretty flat and boring, too. That's one thing I can say for Wyoming....it's very diverse. Parts of it are very flat, like where I come from, but there are mountains pretty much in every direction, and on a clear day, you can see 100 miles across the flat land to those mountains.

When my in-laws came to our wedding, we don't have an international airport, so you have to fly into Denver, Colorado and drive up into Wyoming. My in-laws came in at night, after it was already dark, and it's all highway driving after you get out of the city. So they couldn't see anything....no lights, no mountains, no nothing. They couldn't understand why my husband said it was so beautiful. There was nothing there! But then when they were traveling home, they actually got to see everything in the daylight and then they understood.

 

[donaldtoo]

Yes, Iowa is pretty flat and boring, too. That's one thing I can say for Wyoming....it's very diverse. Parts of it are very flat, like where I come from, but there are mountains pretty much in every direction, and on a clear day, you can see 100 miles across the flat land to those mountains.

When my in-laws came to our wedding, we don't have an international airport, so you have to fly into Denver, Colorado and drive up into Wyoming. My in-laws came in at night, after it was already dark, and it's all highway driving after you get out of the city. So they couldn't see anything....no lights, no mountains, no nothing. They couldn't understand why my husband said it was so beautiful. There was nothing there! But then when they were traveling home, they actually got to see everything in the daylight and then they understood.

The story of the “reveal” for your in-laws reminds me of a similar experience I had back in high school.
One of my buddies was heavily into the outdoors (camping, hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, rappelling, etc.) and got me into it as well.
He asked if I had ever been to Enchanted Rock. Nope, and I had never even heard of it before.
This woulda’ been about 1978, so no internet to pull up pics on either.
We packed all our gear into his ‘75 Chevy Impala one Friday evening, and headed for the middle of the Texas Hill Country, almost 2 hours away.
By the time we got there, it was pitch dark with no moon. You could kinda’ see a bit of a looming shadow, but that was it. Really no clue. We slept in sleeping bags on 2 picnic tables only about a hundred yards from the base of the main dome.
When I woke up at dawn the next morning and rolled over to see it I was stunned…HOLY CARP…!!!!!
2 pink granite monoliths looming over us. Never seen anything like it before, by itself, out in the middle of nowhere…!!!!!
The pic below was obviously taken from quite a distance away, but it’ll give you an idea of its massiveness, in relation to its surroundings…!!!



On a side note…
It was given the name “Enchanted Rock” because it’s said the local Native Americans sometimes heard strange sounds coming from the rock at night and saw “ghost fires” at the top.
As a result, it’s said that settlers traveling through the area would sometimes seek refuge on the rock because the Native Americans would not follow them.
Of course, geologists say the noises are from the rock cooling at night after baking in the hot Texas sun all day, and the “ghost fires” are actually the granite glittering on a clear, moonlit night after a rain.

Anyway, we used to do our climbing and rappelling on the back side of the domes, where there are drop-offs.
Also, we took our kids there a few times, but Emmy and Audrey have never been, so it may be time for a family day trip soon…!!!

 

[donaldtoo]