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Bluebonnets are probably the most common popular wildflower in Texas. They are extremely popular with a deep rich blue color and wonderfully fragrant. However, bluebonnets are not the only wildflower that is much loved deep in the heart of Texas. The state is home to more than 5000 species of wildflowers that bloom from March through October. During those months brilliant colors form carpets of blooms from the bluebonnets in the Hill Country region, bluebells quilts the prairies and the heliotrope dotting the landscapes of west Texas.
The colors of blooms range from white-green, yellow-orange, red-pink, and blue to purple. No matter what your favorite color or shade one can find a wildflower to match.
The bluebonnets may be the number one flower, and come in 6 different varieties but only two of those varieties are endemic to Texas. The Texas bluebonnet and the Sandyland Bluebonnet are the only one that is native to the state. The other 4 varieties should up in limited areas and are not as colorful or as plentiful.
Another really popular wildflower is the Texas or Indian paintbrush. This beautiful plant gets its name from its resemblance to a ragged paintbrush dipped in red paint. It is a bright, showy and spiky plant. The Texas paintbrush is often seen growing along roadsides intermingled with bluebonnets.
The blanket flower is also a gorgeous plant that can be seen growing along the roadsides. It is a one to 2 foot high plant that has wide spreading disk flowers that have red petals with tips in yellow.
One truly gorgeous plant seen growing along the roadside is the Texas Thistle. It is a tall plant, which grows 2 to 5 feet tall and has a large, bright, showing, bristly ball of purple flower at its top. The flower is so large and colorful that it stands out as one drives along the country roads of Texas.
One of the nicest yellow flowers is the large buttercup. This plant is Texas largest flowered native buttercup. The flowers are large, showy and fragrant. When handling these flowers however, one must be careful as the juice in the plant can cause blisters on the skin. Another pretty yellow flower is the Warty Caltrop, which is bright and showy with yellow-orange leaves. When this plant turns to seed the birds, especially the quail and dove, are extremely happy as these seeds are some of their favorite foods.
Come to Texas, from spring through fall, and watch the fields and enjoy the ever changing colors of the wildflowers. They truly are a gift from Mother Nature!
For people who are interested about learning about the past and enjoying what the present offers; San Antonio, Texas is the place to be. Texas can trace its foundation as a state to this town. Whether you choose to be adventurous and do the exploring on your own or go for a guided tour there will always be things to experience and enjoy. If you are fond of watching movies, the big screen has produce movies that takes advantage of the retelling about the famous Battle of Alamo where the defenders of that time took a chance to fight so that Texas can be free and independent as a state of America. Just this February 2011, the 175th the battle of Alamo celebration took place where it was met with much fanfare by locals as well as tourists alike.
The River Walk is one of the famous sites for tourist to visit, where the natives live and work. It is where people from different cultures meet to admire the art scene. San Antonio, Texas can be considered as one of the top cities that promote art. Whether you would like to see art galleries and little shops, it is so fun to explore the world of possibilities that you can find in San Antonio. If you are dabbling into art you would be glad to know that San Antonio is ardent in its desire to promote art education to the community and the rest of the world.
The River Walk is also lined with restaurants that offer contemporary American cuisine, Mexican dishes, and a lot more such as Bigas, Las Canarias and La Margaritas. If you love barbecues then you got to take advantage of what Texas has to offer, There are places there that offer family friendly barbecue joint, like the one founded by Tony Talanco. For those who would like to take part of the party scene you would be glad to know that San Antonio has its fair share of local bars. Those who are longing to be entertained can have their choice among wine bars, disco clubs, adult bars and other music venues. If you want to hang around in a neighborhood type of bar where you and your friends can chat, drink and dine at the same time San Antonio has a lot of these to offer. It is said that Texas produces the top premium wines in the country.
Still if you are one of those people who love extreme adventures, San Antonio, Texas has them too. You can ask for a tour of the city through the helicopter or by parachuting. San Antonio also has its trails and waterways that are safe and yet perfect enough for an adventure ride. If you want to impress your partner you can hire a horse drawn carriage to ride around the park. As for accommodations San Antonio has its fair share of hotels, vacation homes, cabins and other types of accommodations. If you are on a budget San Antonio has offers hotel packages where you got to save some money that you can use to buy souvenirs to take home with you as an evidence of your enjoyable and adventurous moments with friends or love ones in this historical city in Texas.
Mountain Cedar trees create allergy problems for thousands of people each winter. However, there are some things one can do to help eliminate the symptoms and keep reactions to a minimum.
Some of the normal symptoms of mountain cedar allergies are an itchy, runny nose, sneezing, nasal blockage, excess tearing and itchy eyes. There also may be an irritating cough and headache. The allergy is at its peak from December through March when the male cedar tree is producing pollen and it is dispersed in the air. It is only the male tree that causes the problem as they female tree produces berries and not the reddish brown cones that disperse the pollen.
Those living near mountain cedar trees will often say that you can tell when cedar's reach their peak for exposure as a white smoke can be seen in the air much like a morning fog. This smoke happens when the cedar cones distribute the pollen. If one listens and watches closely there is a popping sound heard followed quickly by a puff of smoke rising from the tree. In areas of heavy cedar concentration the mountains look they are engulfed in a white smokey haze.
The most practical thing for sufferers to do is to avoid exposure to pollen as much possible like staying indoors when the pollen is at its peak, washing exposed clothing, and pets and showering before bed to reduce time exposure to the pollen. Other suggested ideas to help reduce exposure is to install a quality HEPA filter in your home, to cover vents with cheese cloths to trap the dust, to use a vacuum with a HEPA filter and to dust regularly with a damp cloth to pick up any mountain cedar residue.
To reduce exposure it is also suggested that one remove the male trees from their surroundings and replace them with other less harmful species such as hemlocks, elm or ash.
If you consider trimming down these trees to somehow reduce the branches it is not a wise move. The shape of this tree changes and it can no longer return to its majestic look. If you prune the mountain cedar trees they become weaker at the top most portions so they become susceptible to pest infestations. These infestations can come in the form of web worms that can feed on the leaves making it collect dust so that the tree looks dirty. This can cause hazard to your property aside from the cedar fever. The good news is that nature has a balancing act by allowing the rains to wash it out so be sure to look forward to the rains as your greatest weapon against the effect of mountain cedar pollens.
Mountain cedar allergies are at their worst for only one season of the year, winter. However during that time cedars cause extreme discomfort from those suffering from the allergy and end up sending many people to their physician for their yearly check up.
Big Bend Hiking Trail
Big Bend National Park is a great place to take a hiking vacation. This national park located in south west Texas offers hiking trails for every level of hiker. The park is home to massive cliffs and mountains, gigantic canyons, peaceful meadows and dry, barren deserts. Each of these regions of the park has numerous trails that traverse the park settings.
For the novice hiker or one that just wants to enjoy beautiful scenery and settings the place to start in the park is the Chisos Basin. Here one can walk the Window View Trail, a very short easy trail with benches and sit and enjoy the sun setting through the window carved from two mountains. It is a majestic spot within the park that people return to again and again
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The history, romance and struggle of the Spanish Missions in the Southwest have always been of great interest to the residents and visitors to the remains of the missions. One cannot help but wonder why they were built, moved, abandoned, rebuilt and reestablished time and time again. It seems to the casual observer that so much time and effort and manpower went into building the missions only to have the Indians leave, or the mission be moved or abandoned and that is appears to have been a never ending struggle that was doomed to failure.
Take for instance the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion built in East Texas in 1716. The missionaries traveled a great distance, over 400 miles, from their headquarters along the Rio Grande to set up this mission to serve the Haisain Indian tribe. The missionaries tried to establish this mission in East Texas only to learn that the Indians did not want to move to the mission. The Haisain tribes lived in small bands in small communities in the region. They did not want to abandon their community and move into a centrally located mission and as a result the missionaries found it extremely difficult to find Indians would accept the lifestyle that was needed to make the mission a success
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Christmas is fast approaching and each year during the holiday season families like to get the perfect family photo to capture the memories of the season. Often times this means taking the kids to the mall for the photo with Santa. It also means standing in lines, lots of noise distractions, screaming kids as they are sat upon the Jolly Old Mans knee and a quick snap of both the camera and the wallet.
This year why not take a different approach? One great idea for holiday photos are taking the kids to your local botanical gardens and taking some photos amongst all the Christmas greenery. There are no long lines, no screaming kids and lots of time to take some great photos. True, there is usually a fee to tour the gardens but often children, especially the young ones are admitted free
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Spains colonization plan for the New World consisted of building missions, populating those missions with Native Americans and turning those Native Americans into proper Spanish citizens. One of the routes that they explored was coming up from Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande and heading into the interior of the Spanish province of Texas.
In the process missionaries built 5 missions around the San Antonio including the most famous of the five, the Mission San Antonio de Valero. Little is known however that there was one other mission that was to be established in the San Antonio area that was to be a sub mission of San Antonio. This mission was named Mission San Francisco Xavier de Najera and it was to be a way station between Mission San Antonio and Mission San Jose. This mission was to be built at the request of the Chief of the Native American Sanas tribe. He and his 600 followers requested a mission be built for them as they did not want to be a part of either the San Antonio Mission or the San Jose Mission as they were in disputes with the tribes living at the those two missions
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If you love hiking, you will love Gorges State Park in North Carolina. Gorges State Park is located about 45 miles southwest of Asheville and offers hikers 24 miles of trails rated anywhere from easy to strenuous so no matter what your fitness and experience level you can find the perfect back to nature hike just for you. Also if the 24 miles are not enough, please note that the 76 mile long Foothill Trail which runs from Table Rock State Park to Oconee State Park in South Carolina and passes into Gorges State Park. So come, hike and enjoy the mountain region at its best.
Gorges State Park is located along the Blue Ridge Escarpment, an area where five streams carry water to the ocean from the divide between the Tennessee Valley drainage and the Atlantic drainage. The upper reaches of the escarpment mountain streams gradually descend, but near the state line the water plunges over waterfalls and rushes through steep-walled gorges. With Gorges having such dramatic and rugged terrain secluded back country hiking is recommended for experience hikers only. For those who are into more casual hiking stretches of the Foothill Trail is much more to their liking and is a great way to get out and enjoy the Blue Ridge Escarpment and get up to and close with nature
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This year why nothing enjoy a truly unique Halloween Haunting experience and visit your local state park during one of their many Halloween events? State parks offer Halloween events for every age and every style of every family member.
For the littlest ones there are cute lighted pumpkin walks and decorations and for the more adventurous they offer everything from twisted and terrifying hikes through haunted forests to spooky canoe rides down haunted rivers
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September 16th 2011 00:09
Come to the Upper Peninsula and experience the finest of Mother Natures offering in fall colors. Every year during the months of September and October the many forests come alive with a spectacular array of colors from the palest of oranges, to the deepest of golds, reds and bronzes. The Upper Peninsula is home to thousands and thousands of acres of forests and they are just waiting for you to visit and enjoy their beauty.
All across the peninsula from the east to the west there is a never ending rainbow of autumn colors on display and visitors can pick any spot on the peninsula and enjoy the view. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is surrounded by three of the Great Lakes; Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior and has many bluffs, out cropping and dramatic shorelines that all come into play to highlight the beauty of the fall colors.
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