At the end of January Darrell and I drove down to Roundrock Texas, just north of Austin, for the WEIRD Open tournament. (I asked why it was the WEIRD open and the answer was Keep Austin Weird) He's a member of the Cymbrogi school of Western martial arts and they practice Historical European Martial Arts or HEMA for short. I don't know much about the sport but it's a lot of fun to watch. Plus, how often do you get to see guys whack each other with swords?

On the way down we found the house from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. It's kind of an underground attraction (Goonies house in Astoria anyone?) and there's a security camera and gate to prevent the curious from getting too close. But it's a pretty area surrounded by farmland and grazing cattle and not creepy at all under a big blue sky at noon.

After the all day tournament on Saturday we took a detour on Sunday and headed for Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose Texas. You can't be in the vicinity of dinosaur tracks and not see them. Or walk in them. It should be a law. The tracks were under water when we were there but it was absolutely worth the frozen toes for a quick shot of me standing in one. Plus we got a couple of badass photos of Darrell in a field with his sword.

Our final stop was The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, opened in 1926 it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and is now boarded up and derelict. It was strange to come around a curve in the road and see this huge hotel in the distance, so out of place in the landscape, and right in the middle of town. It's been abandoned for years though a quick google search shows a stalled renovation plan. A sign on the sidewalk advertised ghost tours and while we were there several other people stopped to take photos as well.

The next time we're in Austin my goals include Little Lucy's Mini Donuts (I can't express the heartbreak when I realized they didn't open until 3pm on weekends) and watching the bats come out from under the Congress Avenue bridge in the evening. Anyone else have a must see to add to the list?