Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are the Romies. We are married To each other. Right, we are a touring musical duo.

Speaker 2: 0:11

And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

Speaker 1: 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

Speaker 2: 0:22

And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug. Hey, hey y'all. Welcome back to the Romy's Podcast, where we're all about the where, how and why of travel. I'm Alexa.

Speaker 1: 0:39

And I'm Rory, and today we're trading pavement for pedals, paddles and parks. See how I went all alliterative there.

Speaker 2: 0:47

You went pedals and pedals and parks. Pedals, paddles and parks yes, so it's the partons who are going to share Trade pavement for pedals, paddles and parks. You are so prolific.

Speaker 1: 1:01

I am Well okay.

Speaker 2: 1:09

All right. Well, we want to say a huge thank you to the Mineral Wells Convention and Visitors Bureau for sponsoring this episode and a huge thank you to Rose Jordan for taking us all around your fascinating town and sharing its history and stories and the wonderful outdoor escapes that make Mineral Wells such a gem.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Such a gem. Seriously, y'all this town is packed with natural beauty and charm. I love the old American downtowns. They got it going on, and today we're also going to dive into some outdoor adventures that nature lovers love. Yeah, love. Nature lovers love yeah, yeah Well, Nature lovers love.

Speaker 2: 1:45

Yeah, yeah. Well, we're going to kick off today's nature episode First sharing with you about our visit to the Clark Gardens Botanical Park. Oh my goodness, this place is magical. So here's how their website puts it. I'm just going to read to you guys the mission at Clark Gardens is to inspire and demonstrate the many rich horticulture and nature-based possibilities of North Texas to tourists and residents alike. From the first spring blossoms to the colorful fall, there is a sense of magic Wheelchair accessible pathways, wind through the gardens, waterfalls sparkle in the sunlight. Rory's doing this wonderful hand.

Speaker 2: 2:23

You can't hand gestures while I'm saying so.

Speaker 1: 2:25

It's very magical ponds and lakes shimmer with black and white swans, peacack peacocks strut their stuff, and blue herons and egrets soar through the skies true enough that's like a good description, you know yeah, yeah, it's true, it's really nice, beautiful, and it's also been featured on HGTV's Great American Gardens and earned recognition as an official best public garden in Texas. So they're kind of a big deal.

Speaker 2: 2:59

And Rose shared with us the background of the gardens. So here's what she had to say.

Speaker 3: 3:03

Max Clark and his wife built this just a little at a time over the years. Their house is actually on the back end of the property and Max still lives here. Billy died years ago, so Max has a house on the back of the property and his daughter, carol, and husband have a house on the back of the property, and so at one time this was their yard and then later they decided to make it available to the public.

Speaker 1: 3:27

So, yeah, they, just a little at a time, just over the years, built this whole garden this reminds me of some of the castles we go to, and they've got the gardens built out the back absolutely gorgeous there's actually we'll.

Speaker 3: 3:39

We'll see the the chapel here in a minute, but off the chapel there's a serpentine wall. That oh and so yeah, it's kind of a really big deal. I like the passes Wow.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Those are beautiful.

Speaker 2: 3:51

We were lucky enough to be there during their annual Grow Festival, which kicks off their spring season each March with a month-long celebration of art, wellness and all things nature. Super cool.

Speaker 1: 4:02

Yeah, it was.

Speaker 2: 4:03

The festival has theme weekends like Grow Wild, let's Grow Girls, grow Together, which includes Grow West, which celebrates Texas heritage. There's something for everyone Food, art, live music, animal encounters, hands-on classes and the very next day after we went they had a crawfish boil scheduled. Yeah, come on.

Speaker 1: 4:26

My goodness After my heart, but it was the next day. Thank you very little. You know, one of the most unique surprises for me was tucked inside the chapel there on site. Totally didn't expect this at a botanical garden, as you like to say.

Speaker 3: 4:40

Botanical.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Botanical we discovered the Quanah Parker One man, two Worlds Traveling Exhibit, and I love history. It was pretty amazing.

Speaker 2: 4:50

It tells the dramatic story of Cynthia Ann Parker and her son, Quanah Parker. They were two key figures in US frontier history. So Cynthia Ann, a white settler, was kidnapped by Comanches as a child Yep and raised as one of their own.

Speaker 1: 5:05

That's a really famous story and I didn't realize that it was right here. Yeah okay. Man.

Speaker 2: 5:12

She later gave birth to Quanah, who became the last Comanche chief and an incredible symbol of two cultures colliding and coexisting. The exhibit uses powerful photos and storytelling that captures this historical tension and the transformation.

Speaker 1: 5:26

You're stepping into a moment of time that shaped Texas, and America for that matter, in big ways. It's very cool. I was fascinated by how many photos there were of Quanah. People back then weren't taking pictures of themselves every other moment like we do now with our phones, so it was amazing that they had such so much pictorial history. So it's amazing that so much pictorial history still exists of him.

Speaker 2: 5:51

Yeah, Now, as we continue to wander through the gardens, we left the chapel, kept going through the gardens.

Speaker 1: 5:56

There's a serpentine walls which is like this curvy wall super cool, Like my walls, I like my women.

Speaker 2: 6:04

Oh, all righty. So we continue to wander the gardens and there was an art exhibit called Field of Beauty, the Iris Monotypes, so that was up and displayed so you could go see an art exhibit by.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Forrest Moses. And then we walked to another section of the garden that featured an entire exhibit of model trains, nestled among model cities of mineral wells and surrounding towns. The model trains were running through the garden displays, you know. It was huge. It was, yeah. I've never seen anything like it. It was really really something amazing to see, yeah. So whether you're into flowers, history or just need a quiet moment of, beauty.

Speaker 1: 6:44

It was really really something amazing to see, yeah. So whether you're into flowers, history or just need a quiet moment of beauty, clark Gardens is definitely worth the visit. I'd like to go back when we have more time to spend there. It was kind of a quick trip through and, oh, I just wanted to hang out. So make sure you check their calendar also, because they have lots of events throughout the year, but coming every spring, you'll catch the Grove Festival, where every weekend in March offers something different and awesome.

Speaker 2: 7:12

There was another area of the park that we walked to and you know this was really cool because you know how you can go to a lake or something like that and there might be ducks and so then you can feed the ducks. I'm always asking where I like if we start to have some stale bread or something I'm like where are the? Ducks. I'm always asking him. So right, when you go feed the ducks, they all flock to you. Now I've also seen this with fish, right.

Speaker 2: 7:39

So sometimes in certain lakes probably in louisiana is where I've seen most, but like you can go to just different places right, and so when the fish are regularly fed by tourists or by their owners or whatever, you go and you start dropping some food into the lake and you start to see the fish appear. Okay, so that happened at Clark Gardens, in this little beautiful lake area that we were in. But you know what I have never seen until?

Speaker 1: 8:06

then? Well, it sort of happened. There was no fish food but we just walked out on a pier and the very vibrations of us being out there.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:13

You could see what Turtles.

Speaker 2: 8:17

Turtles from everywhere. Herd of turtles kept coming.

Speaker 1: 8:21

My dad likes to say off like a herd of turtles. And there was a herd of turtles.

Speaker 2: 8:24

There was a herd of turtles and they kept coming and there were cute little baby ones. I have never seen turtles flock Like when I go paddle boarding here in Waco, where we're recording right now. When I go paddle boarding I might see turtles off in the distance, but they're just going to jump in the water and run from you, like you know, dive away from you when you're in the lake with them and like these were coming to us and they just kept coming. It was super amazing and just like super fun.

Speaker 1: 8:56

And I couldn't help but think of my brother-in-law, because there was a lot of food there Turtle soup, and you know.

Speaker 2: 9:02

Rory, we're going to be talking about Cajun stuff in a further future episode, Rory.

Speaker 3: 9:08

So hold on for that.

Speaker 2: 9:09

Okay, All right. All right Now. Not only did we get to enjoy the Clark Gardens, but Rose and her husband, Brandon, reside at Lake Mineral Wells State Park.

Speaker 4: 9:24

And so they are experts and took us on a beautiful hike, and Brandon had some history to share with us. Lake was built it was the water source for mineral wells, okay, because they didn't want people bathing in that water they had, sure, yeah, so they built a reservoir for people to everyday drink and bathe and that kind of thing. So when they started to grow, they moved the reservoir over to Lake Palapino, okay, and then when the military came in, they raised it up six feet where it is now, and then that was their, the base's supply.

Speaker 4: 9:59

Yeah it is now and then that was their the basis supply. Yeah, and when the base left, you know it. Just it turned it over. In 1980 it became the uh lake mineral state park. The lake was built in 1922. Okay, so they dug this no no it was

Speaker 4: 10:13

they dammed up the creek and they put in all a whole bunch of everything down here. You see, in rock was built in 1922, core core project. Yeah, because it was a local, it was a texas program and before it was adapted into the federal the good new deal thing so you said they raised it six feet, meaning they just like let more water out than they had been. No, no no, once, you once, when we go over the dam here a little bit, you'll see that, you'll see where they put like five foot pillars.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Oh, you mean, they made pillars taller, so it could hold more water. Yes, okay, okay, my brain went the opposite. Yeah, like they raised the bottom of the lake. No, way.

Speaker 4: 10:53

That doesn't make sense. They, I mean, I suppose that's possible, but yeah, not likely. Check that out.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Yeah, how cool to live in a park, right, that'd be awesome, man, yeah, peaceful how do you get that gig? I'm saying, whether you're into hiking, camping, biking or rock climbing yeah, you heard it right Rock climbing this park's got you covered. The lake itself is gorgeous. It makes a perfect spot for fishing, kayaking or just chilling on the shoreline with a good book or a picnic. There were people fishing there. It was just, yeah, really idyllic. Nice and nice.

Speaker 2: 11:31

Now, if you're a hiker or biker, this park connects to the trailway, which is a 20-mile trail that runs along an old railroad line, and you can walk it, bike it or even horseback ride it.

Speaker 1: 11:44

Nice.

Speaker 2: 11:45

So it links Mineral Wells and Weatherford, Texas, and takes you through some seriously scenic stretches of North Texas countryside. Now, we didn't hike this trailway.

Speaker 1: 11:54

We didn't hike the trailway.

Speaker 2: 11:55

But at Lake Mineral Wells State Park we did hike into Penitentiary Hollow, which has trails, and it also has a natural rock climbing area inside the park and it's one of the few places in Texas where you can actually climb on a for reals rock.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Yeah, and you notice I laughed. What a cool name Penitentiary Hollow. I was like we're going to where?

Speaker 2: 12:19

As soon as we pulled up.

Speaker 1: 12:20

I saw the sign and I was like Penitentiary Hollow.

Speaker 2: 12:21

I was like we're going to where, as soon as we pulled up, I saw the sign and I was like Penitentiary Hollow.

Speaker 1: 12:25

I immediately thought of the Hall of the Three Hills and the witches and all of that. So, anyway, it wasn't that. So don't worry, there's no actual prison there, that's good.

Speaker 1: 12:36

Just towering sandstone cliffs, shaded nooks and little caves you can explore. Really cool. Whether you're an experienced climber or just want to scramble around and pretend you are like us, it's a fun spot. I mean, I'm definitely more of a scrambler. I mean there are no rocks in South Louisiana where I grew up, but you do learn to scramble pretty well. Walking through a swamp you scramble from big spiders, scramble from big snakes, big alligators just scramble, scramble scramble.

Speaker 2: 13:05

You eat scrambled eggs.

Speaker 1: 13:12

Yeah, sam, I am. And by the way, just so you know, there are no alligators in Penitentiary Hollow, so the scrambling is just for pure fun. Okay, gotcha Purely fun scrambling and not scrambling for your life, from something like an alligator or a big cottonmouth snake chasing you All this Cajun stuff in here, I'm telling you, of course.

Speaker 2: 13:26

Come on. So we went from our little hike over to the folks at Spartan Adventure and Rentals and they got us set up for some kayaking and sup Stand-up paddleboarding.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Yeah, now I got gotta say one thing they have a really cool place they work out of. It's the former, uh, what do you call it? Uh, lodge. It's like old, very cool. So if you get a chance, you got to go there to see their lodge.

Speaker 2: 13:54

In addition, to and it's got like a little market and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Totally. It's really cool, it's cute. So, in addition to their stand-up paddle boarding, or, as we like to call it now, stand-up splash boarding, one of us stayed dry mostly well, yeah, yeah see, I was okay, y'all.

Speaker 2: 14:13

I was trying to show off my new shirt because my mother in law got me this shirt that I wanted to wear for paddleboarding and I got it for christmas, and so this was my first time paddling this year. So I was trying out the new shirt and seeing, you know, and I just decided to turn around and model the shirt for everybody.

Speaker 1: 14:31

So I'm standing up on my paddleboard and I, like, stepped to the back and like, which was really good and to the side, like she's on her own way, not a paddle board, I know right.

Speaker 2: 14:39

And so and it was dumb to do that anyway, because it's not like I mean, I was already standing up, they could see my shirt anyway.

Speaker 3: 14:45

Like. It's not like I needed to model it you know, and so being dumb anyway.

Speaker 2: 14:55

But like it start, I started to teeter a bit and I just decided that I wouldn't just fall off and jump in. And so there went my hair for the whole day.

Speaker 1: 15:00

She just spent money to have her hair blown out there went.

Speaker 2: 15:02

All of the instagram photos. Uh, my phone, thank god, was around my neck, so I did not lose my phone and my driver's license and all that. It did get wet, but thankfully it has. You know, I've got a good case and a good phone, so everything's still working, and we had just decided to wrap up and get back to shore. So it was like the worst timing ever because we were like done but anyway.

Speaker 1: 15:24

So, yeah, it was super cold, like paddling back all day and I thought you looked better with your wet shirt.

Speaker 2: 15:29

anyway, that's just me, we'll see. You're so sweet, rory. Yeah, so y'all. But being out on the lake with the sun and the ducks and the geese paddling around and the herons lumbering gracefully by, so fun to watch fly peaceful lap of the water. It's just, it's therapy. It's such a great way to slow down. You get a little workout and you soak in natural beauty and just see all of the scenery from a totally different view that you didn't even comment on my water lapping sounds. There's probably a reason Okay.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Okay, okay. And if standing's not your thing, like obviously was not your thing that day- Well, maybe modeling, maybe runway modeling.

Speaker 2: 16:09

I mean I do like Pilates and yoga and weights on my paddleboard, Like I should be able to like model a shirt.

Speaker 1: 16:14

I just say we and yoga and weights on my paddleboard, I should be able to model a shirt. I just say we didn't get it on video. I know it's so sad, but in case you're, not a paddleboard stand-up paddleboard challenged. They have kayaks and pedal boats too, so Spartan Adventure makes it super easy and beginner friendly.

Speaker 2: 16:29

And they have your life preservers and oars and all that stuff, all the stuff you need.

Speaker 1: 16:33

They're right there at the lake at the launch and they even have a kayak roller launch. That's cool, it's super easy to get in the water without actually getting into the water. I've had my jeans and my shoes on and everything. I sat in the middle of the kayak, pushed myself into the water. I didn't get wet except the water.

Speaker 3: 16:52

I sat in Right, so you know.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Not in the water. Well, I mean you, can they actually have a swimming area? People were swimming there.

Speaker 2: 17:01

You can jump off your paddleboard should you choose.

Speaker 1: 17:04

You can of course, yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:05

Or your kayak.

Speaker 1: 17:06

You're welcome to do that?

Speaker 2: 17:06

Nobody chooses, that All right. Well, if you're looking to reconnect with nature, challenge your body a little bit or just float your cares away, lake Mineral Wells State Park and Paddle Session with Spartan Adventure is your go-to combo Def. So you want to visit Lake Mineral Wells State Park when you visit Mineral Wells, and it just reminds you why you know. It reminded us why we look for places like this where you can breathe a little easier, deeper reconnect and be reminded that beauty doesn't always come with a passport stamp.

Speaker 1: 17:39

Yeah, might be right next door. Nature definitely has a way of helping us hit the reset button.

Speaker 2: 17:45

So if you're looking for a place that offers everything from rock walls to wildflowers and peaceful gardens to kayaking and paddleboarding, Mineral Wells is calling and we say answer the call.

Speaker 1: 17:55

Come, come. That probably doesn't sound like that.

Speaker 3: 18:01

That was more like ghostly.

Speaker 2: 18:01

That was kind of weird. Come on, man doesn't sound like that.

Speaker 1: 18:03

That was more like ghostly. That was kind of weird. Come on man, maybe, more like come on y'all, maybe no, yeah, maybe that's a little more Texas accent.

Speaker 2: 18:09

Anyway, yeah, I'm not, y'all just kind of keep listening.

Speaker 1: 18:12

Just answer the call Okay. So start planning. Just answer the call Okay and start planning your trip now by heading to visitmineralwellsorg. You'll find everything you need to plan your perfect nature getaway at visitmineralwellsorg V-I-S-I-T-M-I-N-E-R-A-L-W-E-L-L-S dot org. Or-g.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Y'all thanks so much for joining us in our nature-filled journey, and we are looking forward to hearing about yours. We will catch you in our next episode, where we're going to feature mineral wells, and the foodies in us will emerge.

Speaker 1: 18:56

Yes, they will, and until then keep roaming.

Speaker 2: 19:03

We hope we've inspired you this episode, so join us next time. Please subscribe to rate and share our podcast with your friends or you know whomever? And please like and follow us on Instagram, youtube and Facebook.

Speaker 1: 19:14

We are also on X and on all social platforms. We are at the Roamies, that's T-H-E-R-O-a-m-i-e-s, and our main hub is our website at wwwtheromiescom, that's right, that's t-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom.

Speaker 2: 19:34

We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening. Bye.