Archive for December, 2011

Holiday Trail of Lights in La Grange

Friday, December 2nd, 2011


This is Passport to Texas

Thousands of twinkling lights illuminate a quarter mile walking trail this holiday season at the Monument Hill and Kriesche Brewery State Historic Sites in La Grange.

24—The trail of lights is open to the public five nights during the first part of December. That’s December third, ninth, tenth, sixteenth and seventeenth, from 6 pm to 8 pm. And our park is decorated with lots of lights and different ornaments throughout the grounds. Kriesche house is open, it’s decorated for Christmas. We have entertainment, refreshments, and Santa Clause is there for children to tell their wishes to.

Dennis Smith is park manager.

12—[It’s] just a really pretty site here. We sit on a 200 foot bluff that overlooks the city of La Grange—and see the night lights of the city. It’s just a really spectacular opportunity for people to come out and enjoy a great Christmas celebration.

Smith says the trail of lights is the perfect family activity for the holiday season.

20—Every year we have comments from families that say we’ve been coming out here for the last 20 years. Families that come from Houston, Austin, San Antonio—just to come back to the trail of lights each year. We see more and more of that as we go by, and are just really glad to see these families keep coming back with more generations of their families to help celebrate the season.

Find complete details about the tail of lights at Monument Hill and Kriesche Brewery SHS in La Grange, including entrance fees at www.texasstateparks.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

State Park Ornament

Thursday, December 1st, 2011


This is Passport to Texas

Trim your tree with Texas pride; it’s easy with a State Park Christmas Ornament. Bryan Frazier explains.

Every year we do a commemorative state park Christmas ornament. They’re very popular, and people buy lots of them.

This year is a little bit special: it’s the tenth anniversary of state parks issuing a commemorative ornament. And this one is different in the way it looks, too. The other ones are a nice shiny brass; this one is color. And it has little icons of various things that are legendary to Texas.

There’s the San Jacinto Monument, there’s the Goliad Mission Espirito Santo… So there’s things that are really treasured about Texas that are featured in this ornament. And it’s for $8.95, plus shipping and tax.

If a person buys a state park gift card for a hundred dollars or more they’ll get a free commemorative ornament. If you buy a state park gift card for fifty dollars or more, you’ll get a 20% discount on the ornament.

You can buy the ornament separate, You can buy the gift card separate, but if you buy those amounts, then you get either a free or a discounted ornament. And all of this can only be done through our customer service center in State Parks by calling 512.389.8900.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.