Tag: TX

A Trip to Justin, Texas

We visited Justin, Texas. What a cool town!

What do you think about, when you hear Justin, Texas??? I always think about Justin Boots. That must be where they originally made the boots, right? Nope. Think again. Did they name the town after the boot company? Nopity Nope.

Justin, Texas was actually named in honor of Justin Sherman, a chief engineer with the Santa Fe Railroad. Justin was once a center of salvage companies. After Western wear became very popular, in the 1970’s, the Wallace family started focusing on Western wear. The three major salvage companies closed and the salvage industry disappeared.

Justin is a town of about 4,500 people, close to Denton, Texas. It is really close to the Texas Speedway. In fact, years ago, the town almost bought the Texas Motor Speedway, but didn’t have enough money to run and maintain it. So the Speedway ended up with a Ft. Worth address.

We decided to visit Justin, on Saturday. It’s a nice town, with that down home feel. There is a pretty park, on the south side of town, that has a veteran’s memorial. I had my veteran stand by the memorial. The lighting wasn’t very good, but I’m so proud of him! On the west side of town, there is a Municipal building and another municipal park. The Municipal complex was really nice.

We stopped at an Antique store. There was a fun Halloween display, right outside of the store. We found lots of treasures within, but, alas, no heads! Next door was a Mexican restaurant, and there was another restaurant that was close to that one.

We decided to look inside the Justin Discount Boots & Cowboy Outfitters. Oh my gosh! There were rows and rows of boots. They actually have three buildings, with over 90,000 square feet of displays. WOW! I fell in love with a pair of toddler boots. So, SEE??? They DO have a ton of Justin Boots in this town!

Before we left town, we decided to get something to eat. We found the The Mule Barn. It was a sports bar and restaurant. What a fun place! The food was delicious, a band was setting up, and the place was huge. This was where you saw people coming in, and waving to others, because everyone knows each other. I love that kind of atmosphere.

Where have you been lately? Any fun, little towns? I like to explore the little towns around my area. I’m thinking a day trip to Hico will be in our future. Every time we go through there, it appears to be a happening town.

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Grandma Sherry

Isaac and I visit the Bob Jones Nature Center

 

Recently, my 20 month old grandson, Isaac, and I attended the “Mommy and Me” class at the Bob Jones Nature Center (BJNC).  The BJNC is a beautiful place in Southlake, Texas.  Bob Jones was a slave that was set free after the Civil War, along with his brother and mother.  They bought the 60 acre farm and over the years, Bob, his wife and their ten children expanded the farm until the owned almost 2,000 acres.  The BJNC is located on part of that land.

At the BJNC, they have summer camps for kids, Mommy & Me classes, a Preschool,  Home Away from Home classes,  Camera Club meetings, Master Gardeners meetings, and they encourage membership and volunteering to keep their preserve beautiful.   Lots of weddings are held there, and tons of visitors come each year to visit.  It’s a great place to experience nature!

At the “Mommy and Me” class, there were about 12 little ones with their mommies, grandmas, and nannies.  They ranged from one year old to three years old.  This class lasted an hour.  The theme was Earth Day.

Before we got out of our car, Isaac refused to give up the little ambulance that he was holding.  So we took it with us.  That might not have been the best idea!   We sat down to hear the story.  Little ones were doing fine with their mommies.  Isaac decided that was a great place to roll his ambulance, and he rolled it out to the middle of the circle.  Other children’s eyes lit up, some reached for it, and their mommies restrained them.  After retrieving the ambulance,  we moved to a bench, outside the circle, so Isaac could roll his ambulance around without disturbing the group.

The story led into the next activity, which was painting.  That was a fun activity, which included painting the earth…a blue circle of construction paper.  We left the paintings to dry, and then took a nature walk.

Along the nature walk,  there were a bunch of ant hills.  After we looked at them, we tried to avoid them.  It was a nice walk.  At one point we stopped and the leader gave all children a little tiny plant to throw in the wind, so there would be new flowers next time they visited.  Trudging on, we were pretty far behind the group.  Isaac was fascinated with the gravel on the path, and wanted to scoop up every rock and throw it.  We eventually caught up.

The group stopped to hear another story and sing some songs.  Then there was free play.  Ahhhh…finally…Isaac got to play with the ambulance and other kids shared with him.  Eventually, we picked up our paintings and made our way back to our car.  Within three minutes, Isaac was asleep for the long drive home.

This was a fun experience.  I’d highly recommend the Bob Jones Nature Center. There’s so much nature to explore!  The leader was great and had a lot of patience when the little ones started wandering off during the last story.  The only problem I had was the time…it took me an hour to get there, and an hour to get back.  I’ll find somewhere closer next time.   But the best part of the day was spending time with my little guy!

What fun things do you do with your children or grandchildren?

 

A Road Trip to Abbott, Texas

         
I like to take small road trips to towns in my area. On Palm Sunday, my husband, Dick, and I went to Abbott, Texas. Abbott is a very small town, but has a lot of history. A number of businesses have been closed up, but they have a police department, fire department, city hall, several churches and a big school. Abbott is the childhood home of Willy Nelson.

We first went to Abbott when we moved to Ft. Worth in 2003. My dad’s cousin, Stubby, lived in Hillsboro. Hillsboro is just a hop, skip and a jump from Abbott. We called Stubby and said we wanted to see a cotton field…could he take us to one? Sure. So he took us to a field, and then on to Abbott. He had spent a lot of time there, when he was growing up. He described how it had been a pretty hopping town, when he was young, due to being a stop on the railroad. Then I-35 was built, and Abbott gradually got smaller. Currently, Abbott has a population of about 375 people. I looked up the statistics, and it said that about 75% of the population is between 30 and 55 years of age. That makes it a nice place to live, and drivable to Hillsboro, Ft. Worth and Waco for jobs. The homes were well-kept. Continue reading “A Road Trip to Abbott, Texas”