Independence Day, Homestead Heritage, and More!

I'm settling back to my normal routine in Thailand now, but I thought I'd write one big post catching up on the fun summer that I had back in my home state of Texas.

Downtown Arlington is pretty cool! I haven't been over that way in probably ten years. It's completely different from how it used to be. It's developing a real small town feel with a cool new library, lots of great local restaurants, and all sorts of interesting community events such as a series of free concerts held outdoors during the summer. We went to a few of these concerts while I was home!

On the 4th I woke up early to attend the famous Downtown Arlington Parade! It's the largest "small town" parade in the USA. How they can call a city of 400,000 people small, I don't know! The parade is super impressive! All of Arlington's high school marching bands performed, and there was a great turnout.

The weather in the early summer was especially mild. We spent a few evenings sitting out by the fire pit. It was fun, but it's even better during the winter.

I spent some time in Waco to visit my brother, and got to see the brand new Elliston Chapel at Baylor University.

The chapel is part of the university's new expansion, and has a beautiful stained glass window depicting the Tree of Life. You can read my write-up about it on my other blog, Stained Glass Travel.

One afternoon, my dad and I went walking down at the Trinity Trails in Fort Worth. It was hot, but luckily there were water misters set up along the trail to help cool us off.

The week before I flew back to Bangkok, my family and I paid a visit to Homestead Heritage, a farming community located outside of Waco. The community is affiliated with the Anabaptists, and they are well known for their homemade goods and handicrafts. They produce most of their goods in a very traditional way, and the community has a blacksmith and a water mill!

The water mill at Homestead Heritage grinds wheat to produce flour.

My favorite part of the homestead was the brand-new cheese cave! We got to sample several amazing types of cheeses at the cheese shop, then we climbed down into the cheese cave itself. We were just a few feet below ground, but it was cool!

Thousands of wheels of cheese sit in the cave for months to age. 

Meadow's Chapel: The Vacation That Wasn't

I was GOING to have a great trip to Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota to share with you, my dear readers, but that, sadly, was not meant to be.

Meadow's Chapel, DFW Airport

My brother and I were planning an awesome road trip, which involved flying into Denver, Colorado and driving up to Mt. Rushmore. After four - yes, FOUR - cancelled flights, we finally gave up. On the final attempt, we were already at our gate at DFW Airport when our flight was cancelled for the forth and final time. We were annoyed and very upset, but we decided to make the most of our time in the airport. While we were already in Terminal D, we decided to pay a visit to the Meadow's Interfaith Chapel. After all, we had the time.

various holy texts inside the chapel

The Meadow's Chapel is the newest of DFW's airport chapels. I believe there's one in each terminal, but this chapel in Terminal D is the newest and biggest. The chapel is interfaith, and is for people of any faith. The small library inside the chapel held copies of the Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon, Buddhist scriptures, and more.

the interfaith chapel

A few rows of chairs face the beautiful modern stained glass window. The chapel is dimly lit, quiet, and incredibly peaceful. It's a good place to take a moment to breathe in the midst of the stress and chaos that is international travel.

neat modern stained glass

The chapel serves travelers, military, and airport staff. While there are several scheduled services throughout the week (of a variety of religious traditions), anyone is welcome to visit the chapel at any time.

the pulpit in the Meadow's Chapel, DFW Airport

The chapel is tucked away at the far end of Terminal D, in a quiet hallway just past the airport's yoga studio. Did you know that DFW had a yoga studio?? I sure didn't!

stained glass

In the end, while our vacation wasn't meant to be, at least I did get to see something new. Usually I'm so rushed at an airport that I never would have taken the time to stop by and visit some places inside the airport itself. I'm glad for the chance to stop by the chapel, even if it was because our flight was cancelled.

I recommend a visit to the airport chapels if you have the chance.

Balcones

A couple of weeks ago, I took a trip down to Waco with my family. The town's changed a lot since I lived there! Downtown has been revitalized, and it's becoming a really cool college town with lots of great restaurants and cafes.

While there, we stopped by the Balcones Distillery for a very new experience!

distillery in downtown Waco

I'm no whiskey expert, but I was very excited for a brand-new experience. I had never toured a distillery before!

Balcones whiskey

We were shown the workings of the distillery and the process of how a bottle of whiskey is made, from the arrival of the local Texas blue corn to the bottling and labeling line. Balcones is a distillery in the Scottish tradition, but uses local Texas ingredients. The distillery has won several awards, and is seen as one of the better Texas whiskeys.

Baby Blue

After the tour, we were taken to a tasting room, where we got a tiny souvenir tasting glass. We were served a taste of six different products; a few single malt whiskeys, a rye, and a Texas rum.

tasting set

I may not quite have the nose or tasting skills to pick up the individual tastes, but it was fun to try.

learning how to taste whiskey

we got to keep the tasting glass

San Marcos

I've always come home for a visit in early spring, when it's cool and damp. This year, now that I'm working online, I have more freedom in when and how long to visit! I came for Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, but this June was the first time for me to be back in Texas for the summer.

Summer in Texas is fun! I had forgotten what it's like.

Last week, my buddy James and I decided to take a day trip to go tubing on the San Marcos River.

time for kolaches!

We left Dallas early, and started off down I-35. We stopped in West for a kolache from the famous Czech Stop. I mean, you can't just drive directly through West without stopping!

the San Marcos River

Shortly after that, we made another quick stop in Waco for a coffee at Common Grounds before continuing on the way to San Marcos, which is just outside of Austin.

the water was clear, clean, and cold

After renting tubes from the Lion's Club, we took a few minutes struggling to tie our floating cooler and our inner tubes together, then began floating down the icy cold but crystal clear slow-moving San Marcos River.

trying to point ourselves the right direction

It's summer, which means that Texas State is closed for the season. Most of the college students were gone, and it was kind of quiet on the river! There were some families and a few groups of friends floating the river, but it wasn't crowded at all. At times, it felt like we were the only ones out on the water. The water was also really cold, so that definitely helped keep the crowds away too!

tubing down the river

We had picked up a beer at the HEB in San Marcos, the brand-new Shiner Cerveza de Verano, a Mexican-style lager brewed by Texas' most popular local brewery. You have to enjoy a cold beer while floating on the river!

enjoying the day

The section of the river that is best for tubing is fairly short; it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to float from the entry point at the Lion's Club to the exit point, where a shuttle bus waits to take tubers back to the front. Once you rent a tube, it's yours for the day. We ended up floating the river twice.

It was a great day, but it did start raining on us for a while in the afternoon.

it started raining...

After that, we really did have the river to ourselves!

very comfortable!

A Summer in Texas

I love seeing the mountains out of my window.

flying over California

 It means that I'm almost home!

a clear day! 

After a long night of flying over the Pacific, I touched down at LAX. I was stiff and tired, but hardly had any time to stretch or move around before running to my next flight. The great thing was that after flying six hours and nine hours on the first and second legs of my flight respectively, the three hours from Los Angeles to Dallas felt like nothing.

back in the USA 

And now I'm back home in Texas for the summer! It's my first summer at home since moving to Thailand, and will be my first time to celebrate Independence Day in the USA in six years! I'm really excited to be spending time with my family.

While everyone else around me in Texas is complaining about the weather, I actually think it feels really nice! Thanks Bangkok, for putting heat and humidity into perspective for me!

enjoying a warm Texas evening outside