Who Knew?

I don't know what the fastest growing city in the country is -- but I'd be willing to bet that Frisco, Texas, is high on that list. Next door to McKinney and closer to Denton than downtown Dallas, Frisco has grown from approximately 32,000 in 2000 to about 102,000 today. Where all those people live, I don't know because Frisco has a real open, small-town feel with some big amenities. Like sports -- you'll have to look hard to find a prettier minor league baseball park, Dr. Pepper Park. Also, the home of Dallas' major league soccer team -- and enough playing fields to keep a soccer mom confused. Big stars like Jimmy Buffet have appeared in the soccer stadium -- Pizza Hut Park. Did you notice that even the sponsors are family friendly? Art -- lots of public art and a beautiful private sculpture collection scattered throughout a spacious business park. Favorite Friday night stop -- the Double Dip for ice cream. One of the coolest educational venues for kids, Safety Town. Yeah, I know, I thought that sounded boring, too. But it isn't. The little buildings in Safety Town are so beautiful, I could live there! As you can see from the top picture -- Teddy liked it, too. Shopping -- they're missing the biggie Nieman's and Saks but everything else is here. I did the Sam Moon marathon! Frisco will feature in my column in the Edmond Sun on November 15 -- God willin' and the crick don't rise. Catch the complete story there at http://www.edmondsun.com/.

Teddy Takes a Holiday

Teddy's been on vacation while I've been working. Okay, so working and Rosemary Beach are oxymoronic! My work consisted of living like the other half -- more like the other one per cent! Rosemary Beach is elegant and expensive and oh, so relaxing. My apartment was a in carriage house -- upstairs over a garage with a loft bedroom. The chauffer never had it so good! Teddy didn't enjoy the beach as much as I did. He wasn't fond of sand in his fur. But he did like stretching out in a beach chair and, later, doing the same by the pool. Now we're back home and Teddy is getting acquainted with his Edmond digs. My daughter Zoe is visiting from England and Teddy's been a bit on his own. He's resting up for his next trip -- to Frisco, Texas -- so we'll be writing more then.

Travelin' Teddies

SATW (Society of American Travel Writers) Central States Chapter, with Build-a-Bear Workshop, has an educational program called Travelin' Teddies. There are three dozen bears, each associated with an elementary classroom, traveling around the country with SATW members. Mrs. Kysar's class named their bear Teddy and he went with me to New Mexico. While he was there, he met Oso, the official New Mexico Adventure Bear. And, thanks to Oso's creator, Jill Lane, Oso now lives in Oklahoma. The photos of Oso and Teddy were taken at Jill's place, Elkhorn Lodge, near Chama. Oso will hold down the fort in Edmond while Teddy goes to Florida with me. It's going to be a tight squeeze because we're flying on one of those airlines that charges for the first checked bag. I'm trying to get everything in a backpack and a small carry-on. We'll see how that works but I think I'm going to hear some serious growling from Teddy.