Hockey isn’t normally on my radar, but I became a fan for an evening at a recent Texas Stars game at Cedar Park Center. The Stars went stick-to-stick with the Hamilton (Ontario) Bulldogs, but the experience went beyond the swift-paced, puck-whacking, Plexiglas-pounding action of the game. Booming music, the jumbotron’s frequent fan footage (showing lots of happy kids and the kiss-cam), a roving burger-shaped blimp dropping coupons, the Chuck-a-Puck competition, a T-shirt cannon—all further amped the excitement.

Find ticket prices and details on special deals at www.cedarparkcenter.com (remember, there’s also a parking fee). And go, Stars!

As if the gorgeous autumn weather isn’t excuse enough to cruise the Hill Country … the 20^th annual Fredericksburg Food & Wine Festival takes place this Saturday on the town’s Marktplatz (on the 100 block of West Main St.). Some 50 food and arts vendors and more than 20 Texas wineries—including Val Verde Winery, Fall Creek Vineyard, and Messina Hof—will be on hand, along with the sweet sounds of Texas musicians like Jeff Lofton. So listen, sip, and sample to your heart’s content!

Texas Highways staffers will be there, too, sharing copies of the magazine and selling some of our favorite TH products. And our own Lois Rodriguez will present her delectable Tres Leches Cake in a Grape Expectations Cooking School session at 1:15. Warning: Side effects of the spongy-creamy concoction may include prolonged euphoria. Delicioso!

Find ticket information and more fest details at www.fbgfoodandwinefest.com.

Texas Highways’ exhibit of vibrant wildflower photographs from the April issue is up and ready for enjoyment in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s McDermott Learning Center. Cosponsored by TH, the Wildflower Center, and Canon, The Serendipity of Wildflowers 2010 features 20-plus bloom close-ups and spring scenes by such notable photographers as Richard Reynolds, Joe Lowery, and Wyman Meinzer, and coincides with the Center’s celebration of National Wildflower Week (May 3-9). In addition to the gorgeous gardens, other Center highlights this month include a show of Shou Ping’s paper sculpture and a display of Texas-native bonsai trees.

TH reader “Steve” from Liberty Hill just emailed us about Melissa Gaskill’s “Trips to Bountiful” in the new April issue (available on newsstands): “This is regarding a special wildflower located on the drive route within Melissa’s very nice Wildflower Drives story,” Steve says. “She mentions Park Road 4 off Texas 29 west of Inks lake. Tell readers to be on the lookout for a special variety of Indian blanket that are all red; their ray flowers are not tipped with yellow. There are very few patches of these in western Burnet County. One spectacular patch is located on Texas 29 between the Inks Dam and Park Road 4 to Inks Lake. Look for the big patch located near two small roadside ponds; it is quite dramatic.”

 The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s plant database lists the red Indian blanket (Gaillardia amblyodon), also known as maroon blanketflower and red gaillardia.

 Tell us about your favorite wildflower finds!

Winter wonderlands are hardly cliché in Texas.

Snow-covered steps to the Texas Travel Information Center in Denison. Submitted by Center Supervisor Robbie Dudley.

That’s why drivers freak out when the flurries start to fall. We don’t know how to drive (or walk!) in icy or snowy conditions. Northerners like to laugh when us southerners become incapacitated by the weather, but that’s like a teen laughing at a baby for not walking more gracefully. They get a LOT more practice with it than we do, so for us, it’s still new.

But despite all that taunting, we have something they don’t when it comes to snow –– a child-like awe when even the slightest flake falls. It’s still magical to us. Or at least more magical.

This week, friends across the state had the chance to experience the snow. Texas Department of Transportation’s Travel Services Section has 12 travel information centers at various entry points across the state. Our friends at the Texarkana, Waskom and Denison travel information centers shared some of their snow photos and stories, so I thought I’d share.

Chilly day at the Texas Travel Information Center in Texarkana. Submitted by Linda Vaughan.

Waskom travel counselors made use of the ice melt they had on hand and made their own shovels (not like snow shovels are easy to find in Texas!).

“Most travelers enjoyed the snow and someone made a snowman on our grounds,” says Waskom travel counselor Donna Watson.

Even in our glee, we understand that snow comes with some inconveniences, too.

Waskom Travel Information Center Supervisor Melissa Wilson says, “Some of my employees didn’t have electricity at their homes. They had to fix their ‘Texas hair’ at the center.”

Wilson added, “We’ve had several Winter Texans say they left their homes, up north, to come to Texas, so they could get away from the snow.” One Winter Texan said, “It must have followed them from Pennsylvania.”

For that, we’re (sort of) grateful.

Snowy day at the Texas Travel Information Center in Waskom. Photo by Melissa Wilson.

By the way, if you have not visited a Texas Travel Information Center, please make a point to stop by. They are informational havens –– with sophisticated, and locally-inspired architectural designs –– that serve the traveling public. The travel information centers also just happen to be staffed by some of Texas’ best ambassadors.

You can find a list of Texas Travel Information Centers here.

For my son’s seventh birthday, we forewent Chuck E  Cheese, and packed up the car for a San Antonio daytrip. Our main destination—the San Antonio Zoo, which we had only half-explored when he was three. I visited the zoo many times as a child on summer stays with my grandmother, who, in the interest of preserving my good time, gracefully masked her sadness over the pacing cats and other creatures in tight enclosures.

Fast forward to last Saturday, one of those rare, rain-free days of late—contented grizzlies snoozed in the sunshine, Lucky the elephant trumpeted (loudly), brilliant lorikeets sucked nectar, then flitted from branch to branch, and blubbery hippos balletically swam in the new Africa Live exhibit. Is it the Alaskan Peninsula? The African savanna? The Australian rainforest? Lake Malawi? None of the above, but the zoo has come a long way. Grandma would be glad.

Check out the March issue of TH, which includes a Speaking of Texas piece on adventurer Frank Buck, for whom Gainesville’s zoo is named. 

While children get to have special mail that’s postmarked from the North Pole, lovers can look forward to sending their sweetheart a valentine postmarked and stamped from Valentine (Texas, that is)? More than a dozen post offices across the United States –– including Valentine, Texas –– offer special postmarks for the lovely occasion, to help impress your loved ones. This special touch is easy as pie to achieve, and the effort could yield priceless benefits.

Simply place your pre-stamped and addressed valentine(s) in a Priority or Express Mail envelope or box and mail it to:

Postmaster: Maria Carrasco

Valentine Re-mailing

Valentine, TX 79854

Once received, each outgoing letter/package will receive a special Valentine cancellation stamp and will be mailed off to recipients. High school students compete each year in a contest to determine the year’s cancellation stamp.

Sending it off sooner is better, of course, but it is suggested that the package to be re-mailed should be received in Valentine by Feb. 10 to help ensure a Feb. 14 delivery. If you’re a procrastinator, take note that you might be in the last-minute bag with other procrastinators. According to the USPS, Valentine’s Love Station hand-stamped a record 39,000 pieces of mail from across the globe with the Valentine postmark in 1994. On average, the postmaster handles approximately 100 cards and letters a day. Two weeks before Valentine’s Day, that number jumps to as much as 2,000 a day.

Visit www.usps.com to get ZIP codes for other cities offering a special postmarking, such as Heart Butte, Mont.; Loveland, Colo.; Loveville, Md.; Loving, N. Mex.; Romance, Ariz.; Romeo, Mich.; Juliet, Ga.; Bliss, N.Y.; Sugar City, Colo.; and Valentine in Nebraska or Virginia.

Everything’s big in Texas, in fact, Texas is so big, it’s gone global  Or so it’s been pointed out in a Facebook thread that started with “Good morning, Texas!”

New Mexico and Australia chimed in – “What about us?!” To which we replied with the simple truth: “If you love Texas, you ARE Texas.”  That good morning goes a long way. That’s how Texas rolls.:)

So now, I’m curious where, in the world, are you if you’re not living in Texas now?  Did you use to live here? Just wish you could live here? What is it you love so much about it?

Share, please.

Winter in Texas is a very good time to chase birds. And, if expanding your bird life list is your goal or you just like seeing unusual birds, this winter is shaping up to be an interesting season, particularly in south Texas. So far there have been great opportunities to see birds like the Bare-throated Tiger Heron has been lurking in Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, a Northern Jacana has been making itself at home in Choke Canyon State Park, a Northern Wheatear is lingering at a private property near Beeville, and now an Amazon Kingfisher has been discovered in the Laredo area. Besides the great-sounding names, these birds have wandered way out of their normal range into our neck of the woods. Birders are flocking to these locations to get a look–sometimes just a glimpse–at these rare visitors to the lower 48 states.
To keep up with rare bird sightings across Texas, check out the Texas Rare Bird Alert link or try subscribing to the Texbirds listserv.

Sunday I decided to bird around La Grange. The Travis Audubon Society is offering a series of monthly field trips called the Outer Limits Bird Survey. It’s a chance to explore some of the less-well-traveled counties around Austin. This weekend’s survey was in Fayette County, so it became my excuse to check out some parks I’d never visited. The group spent most of the day around Lake Fayette at the two LCRA parks on its north shores—Oak Thicket and Park Prairie (www.lcra.org). While these parks are very popular with fishermen, I really enjoyed the hiking trails along the lake. They traverse a mix of habitats—woods, water and prairie, which makes for more diverse (and interesting) birding. I’d like to come back during migration—who knows what may show up here. I was also curious about the cabins at Oak Thicket and plan to check those out some day for a longer weekend trip.

By lunchtime Sunday this group was ready for a break (some had been at it since early Saturday). We stopped at Las Fuentes in La Grange for a Mexican food fix and to compare notes. The species total came to 90. Not too shabby for a weekend’s work!

Before heading home I decided to check out Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Site (www.tpwd.state.tx.us). It’s a scenic little park on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River and La Grange. And though I’ve seen pictures of the monument, I didn’t realize that the environment is kind of unusual for this area, it’s a small outcrop of Hill Country. The canyon trail around the ruins of the old brewery and along the little creek felt like I was west of Austin. It was a very relaxing way to end the day.