October-December 2016 Issue

The Back Porch café is just like the back porch you always wanted. It has a simple beauty with its wooden tables and benches, floors and back wall. It gives you the option of dining under a roof or on the creek bank. Both areas are open and overlook one of the most scenic areas of Cypress Creek where people now often float, paddle, fish or swim.

It must have been a strange – and possibly unsettling – sight for pre-Civil War Texans to encounter camels tromping through the Hill Country and points westward. Historical accounts say the creatures from the Middle East did indeed cause havoc, especially among horses and mules that didn’t like the way the newcomers looked or smelled.

Christmas Events: BROWNWOOD: Christmas Under the Stars, Dec 1-3, Depot Complex and Lehnis Railroad Museum. www.brownwoodchristmas.com SAN SABA – Christmas Spectacular, Mill Pond Lighted Christmas Park, Christmas On the Square, Sip N Stroll Wine Event and Lighted Christmas Parade. www.sansabatexas.com BRADY – Christmas in the Heart, Dec. 5, Courthouse Square www.bradytx.com HONDO – Christmas in God’s Country, Nov.

Excitement is still buzzing both locally and across the country nearly five months after country music artist Jon Pardi filmed a music video at the Twin Sisters Dance Hall south of Blanco. Pardi, 31, filmed the video for “Head Over Boots” at the old dance hall, which was constructed in the 1870s, on March 2.

Heres a pop quiz question.  Can you finish this advertising slogan?  “Double your pleasure, double your fun, with . . .“   If you came of age in the 1950s or ‘60s, you know exactly how that slogan goes—(we’ll get to that in a minute).  And I’ll bet you remember Chuck Berry.

Fall Events: BLANCO – Texas Guitar Quartet, Blanco Performing Arts, Uptown Blanco, 503 3rd Street, Banco. www.blancoperformingarts.com LLANO – Wild West Weekend, O ...

Oftentimes, we address those that we love with an endearing nickname, made special because it is unique to them, whether it describes their personality, or some physical trait, or something that they’ve done. The same is often true for our towns and communities. Throughout the ages, towns have been given nicknames, usually reflecting what they are known for, such as industry or crops or location. Most nicknames for towns become their slogans, and for som ...

Fort Davis is one cool place. It’s nearly a mile high, making it the highest city in Texas and a great place to take a break from the desert heat that surrounds it in the Big Bend area. And for such a small village, it’s also pretty cool in other respects with two renowned parks, one of the best astronomical observatories in the world, historic lodging in town and in the middle of a state park, a courthouse and churches more than 100 years old, museums and art galleries, a natu ...

For many sportsmen and women, the culmination of a truly successful hunt comes only after the acquisition of an attractive display featuring their prized “trophy.” As a result, myriad head, horn and other taxidermic exhibitions, found across the globe and popular for millennia, currently adorn countless homes and workspaces, each one recounting a special, unique experience.

I’ve always wanted to fly. Not on some sort of aircraft or balloon, or hanging from a kite or parachute. Just me, floating above the earth. So I did. You can, too. Just drop in to iFLY in Austin and in no time you will be ascending aloft. “It was designed by skydivers for skydivers,” says Robert Holmes, operations manager at the Austin facility.