The passing of the Memorial Day weekend marked the start of the travel season and one Texas hotspot is gearing up for another busy summer. Voted America’s Dream Town in 2004, Glen Rose is one of the most popular travel destinations in Texas. In addition to being America’s Dream Town 2004, Glen Rose is also known as the Dinosaur Capitol of Texas due to the concentration of fossilized dinosaur tracks that were left all over the area.
Nature enthusiasts visiting Glen Rose will enjoy spending time at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (www.fossilrim.org). This 1800-acre world class, award-winning, conservation, research and education facility is home to over 1000 wild animals including 15 endangered species. Visitors can view the animals through the luxury of their own cars or take a guided tour bus through the park.
Another popular outdoor activity in Glen Rose is spending time on the two beautiful rivers, the Brazos and Paluxy. Both rivers offer crisp clear flowing water, which is best enjoyed from the comfort of a tube or canoe. Outfitters such as the Low Water Bridge Canoe Rentals offer trips for visitors. They will drop you in the river and pick you back up down stream. They even provide life jackets and paddles. Trips can be arranged in several different packages depending on the length of the float.
Glen Rose isn’t just for the outdoor adventuresome types. There are plenty of relaxing indoor activities to enjoy as well. Probably the most special attraction in Glen Rose is the annual showing of The Promise (www.thepromiseglenrose.com), which is a passion play depicting the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. People come from all over the country to see the play, which will be in its 17 season this year. The play runs on Friday and Saturday nights from June 3 through October 30 at the Texas Amphitheatre located behind the Best Western Dinosaur Valley Inn and Suites.
Travelers looking for a restful place to spend their evenings should look into the Dinosaur Valley Inn and Suites (www.dinosaurvalleyinn.com). Guests at the hotel can take advantage of the tranquil outdoor amenities, which include a large swimming pool, baby pool with waterfall (located under an expansive pergola), cool misters that drop the outdoor temperature 15-25 degrees, a calming goldfish pond and free use of the outdoor barbeque grills. While sitting back and relaxing, guests can also help themselves to the evening snacks, which include popcorn, nachos and the hotel tradition of navy beans and ham.
A couple that recently visited Glen Rose had this to say about their visit:
“What a delightful and unexpected surprise we had on our vacation to Glen Rose, Texas. This small Texas town, the home of the fossilized dinosaur tracks which were left over 100 million years ago in the limey mud in and near the Paluxy River (see www.tpwd.state.tx.us), is a multi-faceted vacation spot for not only geology and nature buffs, but also music aficionados of the Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph and Floyd Cramer type at the Warm Country Heart Theatre in downtown Glen Rose.
After enjoying a most delicious home-cooked dinner at Two Grannies, we walked down to the theater, where we were greeted enthusiastically by the members of the band and invited upstairs to the refurbished, old-fashioned theatre for an intensely lively and awesome performance. All five musicians in the group are high-caliber musicians and each member in the group has a highly respected background. For example, the drummer, Jack Greubel, performed with Floyd Cramer, Chet Atkins and Boots Randolph for 15 years in Nashville, while lead guitarist, Cecil White, and saxophonist, D.C. Barlow, were both Branson recording artists. All of the musicians, from the saxophonist to the keyboardist to the bass player to the lead guitarist to the drummer were extremely accomplished and very relaxed while electrifying with their performances! Their show was to be seen and heard to believe! We stayed at the extremely comfortable and very nice Best Western Dinosaur Valley Inn and Suite, which is about a block from the city park, with a wonderful walking/jogging trail. We loved every minute of our three-day stay and highly recommend a visit to this multi-faceted and very friendly town!” Jolene and Jerry of Carmine, Texas.
It is comments like these that make Glen Rose, Texas the popular vacation destination that it is. For more information on these and other attractions in Glen Rose, as well as lodging.
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