Room To Run At Camp Barkeley

If you’re a dog owner, you and your four-legged friend are in for a treat at Camp Barkeley! Abilene’s first dog park opened over the weekend and to rave reviews! Shelby and I got a sneak peak on Friday and we both loved it!

Dog parks are aplenty in Denver, where we lived before moving to Abilene and we made frequent visits so Shelby could run, frolic and meet up with friends. She didn’t get to do a lot of that in our townhome with no yard!

What’s great about Camp Barkeley is it’s size. Two whole acres are fenced off for large breed dogs. Another acre is next door for smaller pooches. Shelby’s about 30 pounds, so she could probably visit both. We’ll have to see which one fits us best.

There are benches for humans to lounge while the dogs run free, a water fountain for people and the canines and plastic bags and trash cans for easy cleanup.

Another great thing about dog parks is getting to meet other animal lovers. It’s fun to get to know the owners and their dogs and the pooches really seem to enjoy making friends.

Shelby and I are already set to meet up with friends at Camp Barkeley. I think we’ll visit a lot. Hope to see you and your pooch there!

Fall Fun In the Big Country

I love the fall. It's one of my favorite times of year. I love feeling a chill in the air, the scent of a fireplace wafting through the neighborhood. I love the rich colors that come with fall. Shades of brown, red, orange and dark yellows.

I've had a ball so far this fall in the big country. It started with a visit to Disability Resources Inc.'s Pumpkin Patch. I've never seen so many pumpkins! And they come in so many shades! Not just orange. I saw green, yellow, red, white, even pink pumpkins! I filled up a cart with about 10. I just couldn't help myself. I put a few of them on the porch with some mums, some smaller ones on the mantle and then a friend and I carved four of them. We used one of those pumpkin carving kits and made some really cool designs! It was a fun night!

Boo at the Zoo is another fun Big Country tradition that I experienced for the first time this year. I was a little worried it would be canceled because of weather, but it cleared up just in time. And what a turn out! The place was packed with all kinds of ghosts and goblins. My favorite costume was a young man who used purple balloons to dress as a slice of blueberry pie. I also met a couple of toddlers who came as Pebbles and Bam Bam.

Fall to me also means football. I'm a huge football fan and the Crosstown Showdown lived up to all the hype! We did our 5pm and 6pm shows from Shotwell Stadium. It felt more like a small college game than a high school game - folks tailgating in the parking lot, students painted up in their school colors. Such a fun atmosphere!

I love fall. Definitely one of my favorite times of year. But my absolute favorite is just around the corner - Christmas! I can't wait to see what the Big Country has in store for the holidays!

European Vacation

It's no surprise to the people I grew up with that I'm a journalist. I've always been curious, inquisitive and eager to explore. It's served me well over the years and now it's leading me in an exciting new direction. I'm obsessed with traveling! I want to see the world!

I'll have to do it a little at a time, though. Seeing the world isn't cheap. I just got back from a two-week European vacation that took me more than a year to save up for. But it was worth it!

I went to Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a group of friends who also have a passion for travel. We've sort of formed a little travel club. Over the last year we met several times for "planning sessions" to discuss our trip, book hotels, decide what tours we wanted to do and how much luggage we'd allow ourselves to take (I'm known as an over-packer, but I'm getting better!).

The first stop on our journey took us to Munich, Germany, where they were celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest. I'm from Louisiana, a state known for excessive celebration. I've survived several Mardi Gras weekends and Tiger Stadium on Saturday nights after big wins. But I've never seen anything quite like Oktoberfest!

To mark the occasion my friend Mike and I decided to dress in traditional German attire. We had so much fun shopping for his lederhosen and my dirndl. I think we looked great!

We mingled with locals and other tourists on the grounds of Oktoberfest. Huge wooden structures they call "Beer Tents" are assembled just for the occasion each year. They are packed and you have to get an early start if you want to get a table. Bands continuously play German folk songs. By the end of the day we'd either learned the words to most of them, or made up our own. They only serve beer and just one kind. For food, it's pretzels and wiener schnitzel. But the cuisine isn't really the attraction here.

We spent three nights in Munich. We also toured Nymphenburg Palace and spent at least an hour roaming the beautiful grounds. We made stops at Olympic Park and outside BMW Headquarters. The building is shaped like a 4-cylinder engine!

While in Germany we also toured the concentration camp Dachau. It was a somber experience to say the least, but well worth the trip. It gives you a better idea of the atrocities that happened there, a lesson you can’t learn in a history book.

From Germany we made our way to Austria. First stop Vienna. Our hotel was right on the Danube River, which is wide and blue.

One of my favorite stops in Vienna was St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It’s in the heart of the city and a truly spectacular piece of architecture, both inside and out.

We also visited two palaces in Vienna. The Belvedere and the Schoenbrunn. I love palaces. I love touring them thinking about the royalty that used to gather there. I also love exploring the meticulous grounds, their flower beds exploding with color.

Dining in this part of the world is always interesting. One night at dinner I told the waiter I wanted a traditional Austrian entree’. He brought me a huge slab of some kind of fried meat. We think it was pork. It was good, but I barely finished a fifth of it.

On the way back to our hotel one night, we stumbled across the carnival at Prator Park. On a whim, we popped in. We ended up taking a ride on the bumper cars and a spin on one of the tallest swing rides in the world. It took us up 300 feet. It was windy and cold, but probably the best view of the city we could have asked for!

From Vienna, we headed to Salzburg, perhaps my favorite stop on the trip! It's a beautiful city. I could get lost in "Old Town" for days with its cobblestone streets, cafes and endless shops. The Salzach River runs through town and is the most beautiful turquoise color I've ever seen.

Highlights in Salzburg included the Mirabella Gardens, Fortress Festung Hohensalzburg and another Oktoberfest Celebration! But the Sound of Music bus tour was the best way to see the area. Not only did it take us to several of the sites used for filming in the movie, it also took us to the Lake Region just outside of Salzburg. Stunning doesn't even begin to describe it.

But for fans of the movie, this was an exciting and informative adventure. We saw the lake where Julie Andrews and the children fell in and we learned the child who played Gretl couldn't swim! She nearly drowned while filming! We also saw the gazebo where Liesl and Rolf did "I am 16 Going on 17". They had to lock the doors to it, though, because so many people were trying to reenact the scene and kept falling and getting hurt.

We wrapped up our trip in Lucerne, Switzerland. We'd had perfect weather up until this point, so we were due for rain. And we got it. It rained most of the time we were there. Lucerne is still beautiful, even in a fog. The Chapel Bridge connects "Old Town" and "New Town". It's a beautiful, old, wooden pedestrian bridge flanked in colorful plants. White swans crowd around it hoping the tourists will toss them a treat.

We took a cog train up to the top of Mt. Pilatus, which we're told offers a breathtaking view of the city on a clear day. On the way up we saw lots of cows and goats with big bells around their necks. By the time we made it to the top, the rain had turned to snow and we were not dressed for that!

I can't say enough about this trip. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I love seeing other parts of this beautiful planet and can't wait to start planning for my next adventure!

A Few Thoughts On Katrina

If you’ve never been to New Orleans, I hope one day you’ll go. There really isn’t another place on earth like it. Along with a heavy layer of humidity, there’s something in the air there that gives you a sense of hope and pride. You breath it in and for the moment all is right with the world. Anything is possible.

A strange feeling seeing that five years ago this weekend very little was right there. But a lot has changed in five years.

As I reflect on one of the biggest news stories of my generation and certainly of my career, I don’t want to spend a lot of time dwelling on the things I saw the night mighty Katrina blew into town or the days and weeks after. It’s still a lot to take in. It’s still difficult to process.

The staggering loss of life haunts me to this day. The official death toll from the storm is 1,836. The majority of those deaths can be blamed on the catastrophic failure of a weak and neglected levee system. It’s hard not to be angry about that.

I spent the hours before Katrina made landfall outside the Louisiana Superdome. I had done the same thing a year earlier when Hurricane Ivan seemed to be on a direct path to New Orleans. Once again I found myself interviewing residents who’d come seeking shelter.

Like the year before, I met a lot of people in the line waiting to get inside. An elderly grandmother with her two young grandchildren in tow. A single mother holding tightly to her baby. A woman who helped her father push her handicapped mother up the wheelchair ramp. As I was talking to these people, it never dawned on me that some of them wouldn’t make it through the next few days.

I saw a lot in the wake of the storm. But that’s what I remember the most. The people I met that night who’d innocently come looking for shelter only to be lining up for what would become a nightmare.

Some of my dearest friends live in New Orleans and I’ve made several trips back to the city since Katrina. The recovery has been slow, but steady.

Many homes have been renovated or reconstructed, but they sit next to the shells of homes whose owners aren’t as fortunate or determined.

Many businesses have reopened but their customer base isn’t what it used to be. Thousands of their patrons never came home, opting or forced to start over somewhere else.

But there are people in New Orleans who are determined to see their great city rise again. They overcome obstacles and hardships everyday. They press on, though. And if they are scared or overwhelmed or feel defeated, they don’t let it show.

They are the ones who fill the air with hope and pride. They are the ones who make it seem like anything is possible. Like even in a place that has seen pain and suffering of the greatest proportion, all can be right with the world - even if just for a moment.

Something New Around Every Corner

I haven’t moved around a lot, but I have lived in a few different places and certainly, there’s always a period of adjustment that comes with moving. Especially if you move to a town you’re unfamiliar with and don’t know a lot of people. It can be a little frightening. But it’s also a lot of fun!

Fun, because it’s a time for discovery. When you’re new in town, you never know what you’re going to find just around the corner. Everything is an adventure and so far in my short time in the Big Country it’s been an exciting one.

A couple of weeks ago some friends at work asked if I wanted to go see a movie. We all work the evening shift, so it had to be a late one. When I checked listings online, I stumbled across the website for the Town and Country Drive-In. Who knew? So we piled in my car after work and headed for the 11p.m. show. None of us had ever been to a drive-in. In fact, my only experience with it was the scene in Grease where John Travolta sings “Stranded At the Drive-In”.

Since it was our first time there, it took us a few minutes to figure out the best place to park. First we were too far away, then a little too close, then just right. Then we had to angle the car a little so our friend in the back could see better. Once we were parked and the previews started, I realized I should have cleaned the windshield. That’s not something you have to think about normally before a movie!

What a fun experience, though! I can’t wait to do it again.

Another event I’m looking forward to attending again, Art Walk. My friend Laura and I went to the last one in Downtown Abilene. We strolled around enjoying the live music from the small bands set up along the sidewalks. It was so much fun browsing all the vendors’ tables checking out their handmade wares.

It was hot out that day, so we popped into Cypress Street Station to cool off and have some dinner. That’s one of the first places I visited in Abilene when I was here on my job interview. It was as good as I remembered!

Speaking of dining, I got a special treat last week when I met up with Katherine Lane in Albany for lunch. We went to Sander’s Drug Store. What a great place! I had a southwest chicken salad sandwich and some creole soup (it was like they knew I was coming!). So yummy! And what a neat place. The tables were filled with locals, all chatting away. It reminded me of the snack shop in the little town where I grew up.

I’ve got a lot more exploring to do. But I think I’m off to a pretty good start. Who knows what I’ll find around the next corner. I can’t wait to find out!

I Think My Dog Has Roid Rage!

I’ve been in Abilene a little more than two months now and things are going great. I’ve made some wonderful new friends. After a rather daunting move, I’m finally getting settled in to my new home. I’m even able to get around town without having to constantly check the GPS, although, I’m not about to leave home without it! I’m settling in just fine.

My dog Shelby, on the other hand, is having a little trouble. Shelby came into my life unexpectedly about a year ago. She belonged to my best friend who lives in Shreveport, LA. Shelby is allergic to fleas! To her, one flea bite is the equivalent of 100! You can imagine the flea problem in Louisiana. My best friend had been working hard to keep Shelby flea free, but it was a challenge, especially with a toddler and another baby on the way. So we decided Shelby should come live with me in Colorado. Fleas don’t flourish in the high altitude!

Shelby and I immediately bonded. She’s such a sweet girl. And so far, fleas haven’t been a problem for us here in Abilene. I’m very focused when it comes to giving her the flea control each month!

But after a few weeks here, Shelby developed a cough and was constantly licking and gnawing on her feet. It turns out she has allergies! Hopefully, they are seasonal. But for now, she’s on a steroid and it’s making her a little testy! She even growled and barked at one of the cats the other day. She’s never done that!

She’s not coughing or chewing on her feet anymore, though, so the medicine seems to be working.

In the meantime, we’re adjusting things at my house. Shelby gets her own room for now, so the cats won’t bother her. The steroids make her very thirsty, so she gets lots of water and lots of “outside” breaks! Her favorite activity is riding in the car, so we’re doing more of that, too!

Hopefully she won’t have to be on the medicine too much longer. It’s sad to see her fidgety and nervous. But underneath it, she’s still the sweet girl she’s always been, although my cats might not agree!

On The Road Wraps Up In Anson

I can't believe our On The Road Tour has come to an end. What a great week we have had. And what a great send off the town of Anson gave us Friday night.

We set things up at Anson City Park in front of the new playground. We had a huge crowd. Lots of folks who live nearby walked over.

The police chief was there with his new cruiser. It's got all the bells and whistles. We also got a visit from some of the organizers of the Anson Cowboy Christmas. They even wore their beautiful costumes.

My Anson Amazing Race Team was a good one. We won the Road Block and gave Manny (who was filling in for David) the yield. We found every item on the scavenger hunt list, but so did Bob's and Sam's. We ended up winning, though, because my team screamed the loudest!

Kaitlin Sprayberry took the stage first. She has a beautiful voice.

We finished off the entertainment part of the night with all the KTAB staff singing along up front with Zach Harmon!

Our On The Road 2010 Tour was a huge success. It took a lot of work, though. So a big thanks to our KTAB crew that put it all together. They were amazing!!!

I really enjoyed learning more about all the communities we visited and meeting the nice folks of the Big Country.