Wildlife Photography from Around the World

 Tiger in Ranthambore National Park, India

One of my favorite things to do while traveling, wherever I'm at in the world, is to visit national parks/nature reserves to view, and hopefully photograph, wildlife (big cats are my favorite, though I just like wildlife in general).  I will say, though, that it's not just about the wildlife; it's just as much about the setting, inside the world's greatest treasures, the national parks.  After the break, I'll share my 15 favorite wildlife photos to date, in no particular order or geographic location.

Weekend Getaways - San Antonio

Remember the Alamo

Every now and then, I get the urge for a quick weekend getaway, just to get out of the house for a couple of days.  Fortunately, if you live in the Dallas area, we have a couple of great options that don't even require flying - Austin and San Antonio.  I'll cover a weekend in Austin in a future post, but today, I'll hit up the Alamo City, and highlight some things you can see and do in a typical weekend.

NOTE:  you can theoretically do San Antonio as a day trip from Dallas, but I don't recommend it.  It's 270 miles, which means a 4 1/2 hour drive assuming you DON'T get stuck in a traffic jam on IH-35, which isn't an assumption you want to make.  Stay for an entire weekend, and you'll have a much better, more relaxed time anyway.

Downtown Dallas Tex-Mex - Restaurant Reviews

The Metroplex has a very good food scene, which is good news if you're a visitor to the area.  Not as good as Houston's in my opinion, but still, whatever kind of food you happen to be in the mood for, you can probably find it somewhere in Dallas or the suburbs.  As you might expect anywhere in Texas, Tex-Mex is a staple of the local scene, with no less than a billion restaurants to choose from in the area.  After the jump, I'll review five plus one restaurants that fit the bill if you feel the need for an enchilada fix while you're downtown visiting the Sixth Floor Museum or the Arts District.

NOTE:  This is NOT intended to be an all-inclusive list of Mexican restaurants downtown.  I haven't tried to figure out how many there are, and probably never will visit them all.  This review also does not cover national chain restaurants.  You really are wasting your time if you come to North Texas to eat Tex-Mex at a chain place.  Since I'm reviewing several restaurants in this post, I'm doing so on a highly abbreviated schedule, with a standard order (most of the time) of enchiladas (chicken or cheese), chips and salsa or queso, and rice and beans (though since I hate rice, I never actually eat it).  And as a reminder, here is my double-secret proprietary restaurant rating system:

5 - I Would Walk 500 Miles (And I Would Walk 500 More) to visit this place
4 - Worth a visit when in town
3 - Meh; I won't object if a friend suggests it, but I wouldn't recommend it on my own
2 - Only if nothing else is open
1 - Run, Sriram, Run!

And with that, off we go!  First up...

No Post This Week

Sorry to disappoint regular readers of this blog, but there will be no post this week.  I had a death in the family last weekend, and just don't have it in my to write something today.  I plan to resume posts next Saturday at noon, as scheduled.  Until then, happy trails!