Tyler, Texas

[RestedTraveler]

Here are a few photos from Downtown Tyler, Texas, mostly taken around the town squre:

A banner greets visitors to Downtown Tyler:

The Tyler Town Center:

The Plaza Tower:

Tye Tyler Town Center and (part of) the Plaza Tower:

The Plaza Tower:

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception:

The entrance to the Caldwell Zoo:

[dimebag1980]

Awesome photos, man!

I see you captured at least one distant shot showing the Plaza Tower in its entirety as the Mini Sears Tower.

Hope you enjoyed the zoo! Keep in mind that, up until about 2 years ago, admission was free! What's it now, about $3? I haven't been since they started charging admission, though it's not due to that but rather we just haven't thought about going over there in a while.

[RestedTraveler]

Heheh. I got a few of the Plaza Tower, but none seemed to turn out well enough to post.

The Caldwell Zoo was awesome! We've got a nice zoo in Greenville, SC, but it's nothing like this one. Admission was $6 for adults (13 and over) and $3.50 for kids (3-12), but you could see that they were making an effort to really make the place something special, so it was well worth it. We have a reciprocal agreement with our Greenville Zoo membership which got us in for free though.

[FromCityToRural]

Heheh. I got a few of the Plaza Tower, but none seemed to turn out well enough to post.

The Caldwell Zoo was awesome! We've got a nice zoo in Greenville, SC, but it's nothing like this one. Admission was $6 for adults (13 and over) and $3.50 for kids (3-12), but you could see that they were making an effort to really make the place something special, so it was well worth it. We have a reciprocal agreement with our Greenville Zoo membership which got us in for free though.

You're in Chandler?! Dude, you're right down the street from us...we do some of our shopping at the Brookshires out there. It's just a short drive out 2661 and a left turn on 31 away from us. 6.6 miles to the Brookshires from our house, I think.

Thanks for the pics, too. I'd have posted some, but this dial up is too slow for me to ever mess with pics.

[RestedTraveler]

You're in Chandler?! Dude, you're right down the street from us...we do some of our shopping at the Brookshires out there. It's just a short drive out 2661 and a left turn on 31 away from us. 6.6 miles to the Brookshires from our house, I think.

Thanks for the pics, too. I'd have posted some, but this dial up is too slow for me to ever mess with pics.

Whoa. It's a small world. We stopped in that Brookshires just this evening for a few things. We're visiting some folks out FM 315 on the West Bank of Lake Palestine.

[dimebag1980]

Let's all 3 have coffee!

Just kidding.

But it is nice having another forumer in this general region, even if you are only visiting. I was happy to see FromCityToRural come onboard since he lives in this region.

[RestedTraveler]

Maybe not this trip, but I'll definitely be back. We may even retire here some day, for that matter. I'm diggin' it.

I may have to buy myself a Ford F-150 and a Stetson, though.

[dimebag1980]

Maybe not this trip, but I'll definitely be back. We may even retire here some day, for that matter. I'm diggin' it.

I may have to buy myself a Ford F-150 and a Stetson, though.

You don't even see many cowboy hats over here in Shreveport. Well, except when people drive in from east Texas to shop, dine, or gamble. East Texas is definitely a different kind of place in that respect. It's laid-back as hell over there.

[FromCityToRural]

Yeah it is pretty laid back in SBC, I liked there. In fact, I remembered thinking how easygoing folks were there.

And of course, East Texas is subtley different from West Texas where my Dad grew up, too.

[dimebag1980]

Yeah it is pretty laid back in SBC, I liked there. In fact, I remembered thinking how easygoing folks were there.

And of course, East Texas is subtley different from West Texas where my Dad grew up, too.

Yeah, it's pretty laid back here and even more so in east Texas. There are a lof of folks here who aren't easygoing, but as long as you stay out of the ghettos, you're okay. Of course coming from a larger city, I'm sure you're well aware of that.

One small east Texas town which, surprisingly, has a high crime rate, is Marshall. It's amazing how often I hear of major crimes occurring in that small town. That's really sad, because Marshall is a nice little town. A lot of its crime, like Bossier City's crime, is attributed to Shreveport's thugs.

[Aporkalypse]

I've been to that zoo, it's quite nice. It's nicer than the ones at much larger cities.

[RestedTraveler]

I agree, good doctor, it is a very nice zoo for a city of this size. I was quite impressed. We've got a nice zoo back in Greenville, SC, too; however, it doesn't even begin to compare to the Caldwell Zoo.

As you can see, it was founded in 1937 as the Caldwell Children's Zoo, so it is very well established:

Here are some more photos from the Caldwell Zoo:

Spoonbill:

Scarlet Ibis:

Wild Turkey:

Bald Eagle:

Jaguar:

American Kestrel:

One of the parakeets from the Wild Bird Walkabout:

A couple of the cockatiels from the Wild Bird Walkabout:

American Bison:

White-tailed Deer:

American Alligator:

Lazy Leopard:

Zebras:

African Black-Footed Penguin:

East African Crowned Crane:

Reticulated Giraffe:

Got Hay? An African Elephant:

Flamingos of a Lesser God:

Green-Winged Macaws:

Military Macaws:

Tomorrow....the roses of Tyler.

[dimebag1980]

Awesome photos from the zoo, man!

By the way, I've never been to the rose garden in Tyler but have heard they are known for it.

Not to take anything from Tyler, but if you ever have a chance to stop off I-20 in Greenwood, LA (west Shreveport suburb just across the Texas line) you should stop into the American Rose Center, which is home to the American Rose Society and is the nation's largest park dedicated to roses. It truly is a sight to see... I should get out there soon and take some pictures myself.

A little info:

http://www.ars.org/

http://www.ars.org/ARC/gardens_open.htm

But since this topic is dedicated to Tyler, I'll not take it hostage. I'm looking forward to your "rose" photos!

[FromCityToRural]

Marshall's where a lot of the Amtrak trains get held up, too. I have also heard that Marshall's supposed to be something of a ghetto town.

Anyway, I think SBC folks are a different kind of laid back from the folks here in E. Texas. Here, they're very easygoing about some things and yet so morally uptight - Green Acres Baptist here in town is the driving force behind the dry laws here in the county, and I heard they also singlehandedly blocked a Hooters from being built here a few years back. It's a strange dichotomy. I didn't get that in SBC, which was nice.

Hmm...that reminds me of Hooters in the boardwalk...a mighty fine place...

[RestedTraveler]

Potos from the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden and Museum:

[RestedTraveler]

Sunrise this morning on Lake Palestine:

[dimebag1980]

^Great roses and amazing sunrise. You da man!

[FromCityToRural]

I wish they had high-speed internet out here...I'd love to see the pictures but I'm far too impatient to wait the ~10 minutes it would take to load them...

[dimebag1980]

I wish they had high-speed internet out here...I'd love to see the pictures but I'm far too impatient to wait the ~10 minutes it would take to load them...

They have no high-speed at all? The town I live in, outside of Bossier City, has cable available, but DSL has a waiting list. That's okay, though, because I've been very happy with my cable internet connection out there.

By the way, I feel your pain. Until I bought my new computer a few weeks ago, I had a crappy old computer and dial-up.

[stephen247]

I live in the Gladewater area, which is about 22 miles from Tyler. Tyler is by far (sorry Longview, Lufkin

@ Texarkana) "the city" of East Texas. It has more shopping and eating establishments than any other city

in the region. It also has a UT-Tyler campus, three medical centers, an excellent small zoo and a first-rate

junior college. However, It is a socially ultra-conservative city and a part of the religious

fundamentalist "Bible Belt". Other than that It seems to be a great smaller Texas city.

[FromCityToRural]

They have no high-speed at all? The town I live in, outside of Bossier City, has cable available, but DSL has a waiting list. That's okay, though, because I've been very happy with my cable internet connection out there.

By the way, I feel your pain. Until I bought my new computer a few weeks ago, I had a crappy old computer and dial-up.

Nope, nothing out here. It's available in town, we're just too far out. We have a Tyler address, but we're about 6 miles from Tyler proper, over by Noonday and Lake Palestine for those of you who know the area. We live next door to the guy that runs the Cox Communications office in Tyler, and he can't even get cable or high speed at his house. The closest you can get is satellite, and he says it's not much of an improvement, either, and not worth it for $110/month. And here's the kicker: even the dial up sucks. Most of the time it runs at 26.4k, and on a good day you might even see 28.8! But I figure that's the price you pay for a nice, relaxing place out in the country.

I live in the Gladewater area, which is about 22 miles from Tyler. Tyler is by far (sorry Longview, Lufkin

@ Texarkana) "the city" of East Texas. It has more shopping and eating establishments than any other city

in the region. It also has a UT-Tyler campus, three medical centers, an excellent small zoo and a first-rate

junior college. However, It is a socially ultra-conservative city and a part of the religious

fundamentalist "Bible Belt". Other than that It seems to be a great smaller Texas city.

That pretty much sums up my feelings about the town. I wish they would be a little less socially uptight about everything, relax, and have fun. Longview ain't bad though - at least there you don't have to drive out to the next county to get booze!

[dimebag1980]

Nope, nothing out here. It's available in town, we're just too far out. We have a Tyler address, but we're about 6 miles from Tyler proper, over by Noonday and Lake Palestine for those of you who know the area. We live next door to the guy that runs the Cox Communications office in Tyler, and he can't even get cable or high speed at his house. The closest you can get is satellite, and he says it's not much of an improvement, either, and not worth it for $110/month. And here's the kicker: even the dial up sucks. Most of the time it runs at 26.4k, and on a good day you might even see 28.8! But I figure that's the price you pay for a nice, relaxing place out in the country.

Wow, man, that really stinks, even the Cox Communications manager can't have access to his product!! Cox is who my cable internet is through.

I understand what you mean about "the price you pay" to live in the country. My subdivision is suburban, but it's surrounded by "country" and is quite removed from the city. This time of year, with the added strain of air conditioners running constantly, my power goes out left and right. I hate that, but I guess that falls along that "price you pay" adage.

And by the way, I'm pretty familiar with the area you live in.. but I still had no idea access was so limited out there. Wow.

[RestedTraveler]

I'm probably directly across Lake Palestine from you over off of Big Eddy Bay and they have Sprint/Embarq DSL over here (THANK GOD). Otherwise, I may have been uploading all of these photos once I got back to Travelers Rest, SC. I'm surprised that high speed is so limited over on that side of the lake, especially considering that's the Tyler side.

I've got a few other photos from around town today and will be posting them shortly.

[RestedTraveler]

Just a couple of photos from the University of Texas at Tyler:

[FromCityToRural]

Just a couple of photos from the University of Texas at Tyler:

Yay! My future school, I start there spring '07 if all goes on track. Go Patriots (never thought I'd say that thanks to the New England Pats)!

Anyway, I can't believe y'all get high speed on the other side of the lake!!!! GRRRRRR!! My Dad asked on every house he looked at if it had high speed internet access...except this one. And we bought it. Just our luck, eh?

SBC, our power goes out pretty regularly, too. It was off at least a half dozen times last summer, although it's only happened twice this summer, very briefly, and once last winter. But it's not too much worse than where we used to live...PG+E never maintained our power poles, etc., and as a result in summer '04 the power went out twice - once all night while they mounted a new transformer. Had to throw a few things away in the fridge, which we thus far haven't had to do here...*knocks on wood*