Skip to main content

Raindrops on roses

Did you know the Rose Capital of the World is a smallish city in Texas?  Nope, us neither.  Until we took a trip to Tyler, that is.
 

We were one weekend shy of the annual rose festival, which meant we got all the roses with none of the crowds.  In the early morning sunshine, the Rose Gardens unfolded quietly and beautifully before us.  Paths curled around small splashing fountains and stretched luxuriously through lines of scented petals.  There were roses of every size and colour, from delicate lilac to candy-striped pink and white, and plenty of other plants as well.







 

From nature to science: we spent the afternoon at the Discovery Science Center, equally marvellous in its own way.  No sweeps of plate glass and polished steel, no 3D interactive computer displays here.  The building was unassuming brick and most of the exhibits looked like they had been put together on a shoe-string - a pile of bolts and washers there, a line of golf balls and a stack of dominoes - and yet it had all been done with so much thought and imagination.  We rolled balls down slopes, explored a cave and dug for fossils in a heap of shredded tyres, presented a cooking show, and went shopping in a mini grocery store.
 




 


Reluctantly we dragged ourselves and Toby away when they closed at 5, and consoled ourselves with a sweet treat at Andy's Frozen Custard.


 Tyler town square is pretty typical of its kind, although with fountains and roses in the centre instead of a turreted courthouse.  We can recommend the Mexican food at Don Juan's on the Square, and the decor will certainly wake you up!



On our final day we returned to nature with a visit to Tyler State Park.  The day didn't start well, as we tried to drag a hungry cranky kid in a pushchair over a steep bumpy path, but peace was restored with a picnic and a playground.  Then we had the inspired idea of renting a pedal boat.  At first we weren't at all sure whether Toby would a) wear a life jacket and b) stay in the boat, but he proved amazingly amenable to both.  We had a very pleasant pedal round the lake.






And we finished the trip with a stop at Fuzzy's Taco Shop.  Fork fight!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Greece is the word! Part 1: Athens

The last few times we have been on holiday, my family has asked, "Mum, are you going to blog about this one?" It's felt like an overwhelming task. For a start, we now have FOUR phones with photos on, rather than one digital camera. Also, I regularly write quite long blog posts about three-hour walks. How on earth will I summarise a full week's holiday? But this time, I thought I should try. It's one of the most enjoyable holidays we've had in a while, and I've definitely done too many Peak District posts recently. Everyone needs a change of scenery. So here we go, jetting off to Athens. Day 1 We landed at Athens airport in a looming thunderstorm, but the worst of the rain held off until we'd made it safely to our apartment. Graham had earmarked a nice little restaurant called Lolos for dinner - eating shell-on prawns in tomato sauce was a deliciously messy experience - and we went to bed early after our 3am start. Day 2 Next day we climbed Philopappos ...

Greece is the word! Part 2: Epidaurus

For the first part of our Greek holiday, see here . Day 4 - continued After much waiting around, we acquired a hire car and set off for the second part of our holiday. I am so glad that Graham can get into a strange car in a foreign country and drive away with no problems. I would be a nervous wreck. Even Graham was a little spooked by the Athens traffic - very narrow lanes crowded with cars and buses, and mopeds zipping in and out of every available gap. I had left Google Maps set to "avoid tolls", which meant that we stayed off the fancy new highway and took the old road towards Corinth instead. There was practically no traffic, so although it was slower, it felt very relaxed. We passed hills, hotels and oil refineries. Along the way, we stopped at a supermarket for supplies and drank Green Cola at the beach over the road. Crossing the Corinth Canal at Isthmia, we started heading south through the mountains of the Peloponnese. The sky had been growing darker and darker, and...

Derwent Valley: Derby City and the Derwent Pilgrimage

It was 8 am and I was already hayfeverish, headachey and hot. Why on earth was I setting out to walk through the middle of Derby, when I could be up in the hills of the Peak District? No one was forcing me to do this section. I could skip it entirely. But I knew I wouldn't, because this was the next part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way. And besides, I had a suspicion that it would be better than it looked. Alvaston Park was certainly a good start. It's a wide sweep of green grass and mature trees. I used to come here quite often when the boys were small. I was glad to see some of the planets were still there - although Mars has had a lot of feet standing on it, I think. Here's a tiny Toby in 2013 with Mars... ... and a more battered Mars today. Alvaston Park I kept off the roads for a while by following a cycle route. Even when I joined the traffic, it wasn't bad. The factories and office blocks had roses outside. This road, now the A5194, used to be the A6 coming in...