The Circle of Life

Yesterday, I learned that the tiny town of Mountain City, TX has quite the tarantula population.  But I also learned that tarantulas have a bizarre natural enemy called a Tarantula Hawk.  No, it's not a bird.  It's a crazy wasp with "the most painful of any insect, though the intense pain only lasts for about 3 minutes." 

It gets weirder.  Here's what happens to the poor tarantulas: The Tarantula Hawks "captures, stings, and paralyzes the spider, then either drags the spider back into her own burrow or transports her prey to a specially prepared nest where a single egg is laid on the spider’s body, and the entrance is covered. When the wasp larva hatches, it rips a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then plunges into the spider's belly and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it fresh. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult, and tears open the spider's belly to get out. The wasp emerges from the nest to continue the life cycle."   

Very frightening stuff.

Hotel Blazimar

I'm not sure if Taylor, TX counts as a small town or if it's just another suburb of Austin thanks to sprawl.  But it's got one of those dilapidated downtowns, so I'll go ahead and count it as a small town for now.  My ward's group home is in Taylor, so I'll poke around when I visit him on the weekends until my job sends me out to true small towns.  

This abandoned hotel used to be the center of town.  I can't find anything about any ghosts, but how could it not be haunted? 

This is how it looked in its heyday. 

Click here to read a history of the property.

And...

Click here to see what the hotel that originally stood in this spot looked like.

My Commute

I drive past this memorial (located on the pillars that support the train tracks at 5th and Lamar) every day I have to make the commute to the office.  I never thought much about it until the other day when I looked it up.

It says "Fair Sailing Tall Boy...Ivan Garth Johnson, Not Forgotten, 1971-1989...Don't Drink and Drive, You Might Kill Someone's Kid."  Click here to see Ivan's mom's story.

BM Buffet?

When I'm working, which is most of the time, BM only means one thing.  But in Austin, during weekend brunch, it can also mean Bloody Marys.  

Damn Straight

"Play nice or you will be sold to Gypsies."

Hiatus

I'm stuck in my office in Austin for the next couple of weeks.  So the posts until I venture out again will be strange and wonderful things I see in Austin.   

More time in Austin means more time with my little baby.  That's a rawhide in her mouth.

Inspirational

I can't talk about the context of this photo or what small town it was taken in.  Instead, just appreciate it for what it is-inspiring interior design.  I call it institutional smorgasbord.

Who's Bob?

I'm not sure what's going on here, on the side of FM 2838 in Mexia.  But I will keep my eye on this situation.

Oh my goodness...

In case the pole is in your way, it says Church of Deliverance.  I am always reminded of Deliverance (the movie) while in Marlin.  If you'd like to attend worship, let me know and I'll give you directions.

The Official Mineral Water City of Texas

If you read the history of the Falls Hotel in Marlin, you'll see that the attraction was the natural mineral water.  The bath house burned down or something but there's still a fountain of the mineral water next to the chamber of commerce.  It's warm and smells like sulphur.

The Falls Hotel

 I've been to Marlin, TX several times for work and have always been very curious about this old creepy hotel.  My coworker and I were in the area and decided to go inside.  We found some men working on the ceilings and a nice little boy running around.  The little boy showed us the main floor and took us to his grandmother who owned a beauty salon inside the building.  She told us some ghost stories (something about lights going on and off by themselves during a Quinceañera)  and told us it was okay to look around.  I wish I had worn closed toed shoes, a respirator mask, and a hard hat.  But who cares about puncture wounds on my feet, mesothelioma, or head injuries.   This is what we saw:

The Lobby (sorry it's blurry)

The Lobby (sorry it's blurry)

An old phone booth

The Ballroom

The Mail/Message Center.
It was most likely located behind the front desk in the lobby but we found it on the second floor.

Close up of the Mail/Message Center.  Some of the room numbers are still attached.

Room 309.

I can't remember which room this is.

Original Furniture.

Room 305 with an original door knob.

The original climate control system.

A leftover Eureka vacuum. 

The trash and linen chute.

The elevators-3rd Floor.

Original carpet.

I wanted to take this home with me.

More original carpet.

Ok, so this doesn't look like anything but it's an EMS radio communication system that's on the 9th floor.  The Falls Hotel is the tallest building in Falls County so they put it up there for the best reception.

This is how it looked in its heyday.

 Check out this paranormal investigation that was done at the hotel.

Our trip to Old Fort Parker

So it took us about 6 hours to get from Austin to Mexia because of non-stop small town adventures!

If you grew up in Texas, you probably know the story of Cynthia Ann Parker.  A replica of Fort Parker, where Cynthia Ann Parker was taken, exists around the site of the original Fort Parker near Groesbeck, TX. 

Kinda creepy.

Canopied drive down Park Road 35

Go here to plan your trip: http://www.oldfortparker.org/