Pam LeBlanc’s mother and sister pose at the entrance of the Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. Pam LeBlanc photo

I busted my mom out of her assisted living facility and took her on a bit of a wild rumpus this week – an outing to see the new exhibit about illustrator Maurice Sendak at the Denver Art Museum.

You probably know Sendak’s most famous work, the leering, dancing monsters of “Where the Wild Things Are.” The children’s book tells the story of a boy named Max, who sails away to find the “wild things” after he’s sent to bed without dinner.

I knew all the pictures in that book by heart, but my subconscious was also familiar with other Sendak characters. There’s Rosie, who dresses up like a glamorous singer, and Pierre, who doesn’t care about anything until he meets a lion.

Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928 and spent much of his childhood watching the world go by outside the window of the room where he was bedridden. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland, and Sendak lost several members of his extended family to the Holocaust.

Read more: Explore the best preserved ghost town in Montana in Garnet

The Disney film Fantasia sparked his interest in illustration when he was 12. His professional career started when he was 20, and he created window displays for FAO Schwarz. He illustrated more than a hundred books during the next 60 years.

While my sister and I pushed my mom through a maze of more than 400 of Sendak’s original artworks at the exhibit, the biggest collection ever on public display, I got lost in a jungle of memories. It’s funny how those illustrations were so familiar to me, even though I hadn’t seen them for years.

The exhibit also includes video interviews with Sendak, information about his work as a theater set designer, and a piece of a Thanksgiving parade balloon shaped like one of the Wild Thing monsters.

Another highlight? An entire section devoted to his love for his dog Jennie, a scrappy white terrier named Jennie, who appears in most of the books he illustrated between 1954 and 1967. The dog takes a starring role in “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life,” a tribute to her just before her passing.

Sendak died in 2012. He was preceded in death by his long-time partner, Dr. Eugene Glynn, a psychiatrist and art critic.

The exhibit continues through Feb. 17. Tickets start at $27. Member tickets are $5. For more information go to https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/wild-things-art-of-maurice-sendak.

A hike along the Shoal Creek Trail, which leads through Pease Park in downtown Austin, is part of this year’s Oboz Trail Experience. Photo by Pam LeBlanc

Lace up your hiking boots, folks, and come join me for a walk. The Oboz Trail Experience is under way in Austin, and I’m leading a qualifying hike on Oct. 26.

This year marks the fourth year of the event in Austin, which rewards participants for completing a series of hikes around the city. The more you hike, the more chances you earn for winning cool prizes.

I’m in the thick of writing an urban hiking guide to Austin and have spent a lot of time this year exploring city trails. One of the oldest is the Shoal Creek Trail, which includes lots of hidden highlights, from a huge troll created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo to the site of an old Comanche camp and the location of a long-gone bath house.

At 11:30 a.m. Oct. 26, I’ll lead a short hike from Duncan Park, 900 West Ninth Street, to Whole Earth Provision Co., 1014 North Lamar Boulevard. It’s part of the Shoal Creek Social, which also includes a native plant tour at 9:30 a.m., a history tour at 10:30 a.m., and an infrastructure hike at 12:30 p.m.

Read more: Channel your inner cowgirl at Paws Up in Montana

Danish artist Thomas Dambo made this troll statue in Pease Park using mostly recycled wood. Pam LeBlanc photo

Even better, it counts as one of the official Oboz Trail Experience hikes. It’s the fourth year of the program in Austin, which encourages people to explore more than 100 miles of area hiking routes during October.

To participate, sign up (it’s free!) online at https://austin.oboztrailexperience.com/Welcome.

Once you’ve registered, you can see a list of mapped trails, form hiking groups, and chat with other participants. Trails can be completed in any order, and some are broken into segments. Participants must log all their hikes on either a GPS device or smartphone activity tracking app. Your progress will be posted on a leaderboard.

All hikes must be completed by Oct. 31.

A wrap party is planned for 5-7 p.m. Nov. 2 at Whole Earth Provisions, complete with drawings for Oboz boots, Whole Earth gift cards, and other more. The event is sponsored by Oboz Footwear, Whole Earth Provision Co. and the Hill Country Conservancy.

For more information go to https://austin.oboztrailexperience.com/FAQs.

Participants in the Cowgirl Roundup at Paws Up in Montana gather at a chuckwagon dinner. Pam LeBlanc photo

I returned from the Fall Cowgirl Roundup at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana with cow poop on my boots and a little swagger in my stride.

That’s what comes from four days spent horseback riding, fly fishing, whip cracking and more. The event is held each spring and fall at the luxury resort in Montana.

Without further ado, here are my 10 favorite things about this year’s Cowgirl Roundup…

1. Climbing aboard a gorgeous black horse named Raven and helping to herd a group of about 60 cattle along the Blackfoot River.

2. Hanging out with past National Cowgirl Hall of Fame honorees Sharon Camarillo, a champion barrel racer and horsemanship clinician; Donna Howell-Sickles, who portrays cowgirls in her colorful artwork; and master engraver Diane Scalese.

Western artist Donna Howell-Sickles cracks a bull whip at the Cowgirl Roundup in Montana. Pam LeBlanc photo

3. Trying to learn how to crack a bullwhip. I never quite mastered the skill, but now I’m determined. Guess what’s now at the top of my Christmas list?

Read more: In Garnet, Montana, visit one of the best-preserved ghost towns in America

4. Listening to Courtenay Dehoff, part owner of the pro bucking bull Top Dollar (who I just watched send a cowboy airborne at a PBR event in Austin) talk about what it means to have cowgirl courage.

5. Riding a horse through stands of towering pine trees.

6. Looking for wildlife. I admired a bald eagle perched in a tree top and saw a coyote dash across a field during a long walk one morning.

Montene Trimback fly fishes the Blackfoot River in Montana. Pam LeBlanc photo

7. Honing my inner angler. If you’re going to learn how to fly fish, you might as well do it on the Blackfoot River, which inspired Norman McLean’s novel “A River Runs Through It.”

8. Watching the stars pop out as I soaked in the hot tub behind my cabin in the woods every night.

9. Meeting and interviewing Colleen Tuohy, founder of the women’s clothing brand Wyatt Outdoors, and her bird dog Patsy Cline.

10. Making new friends. I attended the roundup solo, which made me a little nervous. Most folks were there with friends or family members. But people invited me to sit with them and made me feel welcome and comfortable.

Garnet, Montana, is considered one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the American West. Pam LeBlanc photo

​Remember that episode of “The Brady Bunch,” when our favorite blended family stumbled into a perfectly preserved ghost town and met a crotchety prospector wearing a crumpled felt hat?

I felt kind of like that this week, when I detoured to the skeletal remains of the town of Garnet, about 30 miles east of Missoula, Montana.

More than twenty wooden buildings, including old log cabins, a three-story hotel and a dry goods store, still stand in the old town. I spent a few hours trying to imagine what it was like to live there during the mining boom of the late 1890s.

The town sprung up after an enterprising businessman built a mill to extract the precious metal from rocks excavated from the nearby hills. In its heyday, it included seven hotels, three livery stables, 13 saloons, four stores, a school, a doctor’s office, a drugstore, a union hall, two barber shops and – hooray! – a candy shop.

The boom didn’t last. The gold veins mostly ran out by 1900, and by 1905 most folks had abandoned their cabins. The population shrunk from about 1,000 to just 150. Then, in 1912, a fire raced through the community, destroying many of the structures. World War II drove most of the remaining residents out.

Read more: From wildlife to wildfires, 10 memorable moments from rafting the Snake River in Idaho

Miners lived in log cabins tucked on hillsides in Garnet, Montana. Pam LeBlanc photo

When gold prices jumped in 1934, the town experienced a bit of a rebirth. New buildings went up, the mines reopened, and town briefly bustled once again. But the advent of World War II ended that boom, too. People moved away, but left their homes, and much of the furniture inside them, behind.

Looters hauled off many of the artifacts in the following years, but today the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Garnet Preservation Association protect and preserve the site, considered one of Montana’s most intact ghost towns.

I didn’t find any old prospectors during my visit, but I did find plenty of other treasures.

A old sewing machine sits inside a hotel in the ghost town of Garnet, Montana. Pam LeBlacn photo

Highlights? Finding an old bicycle and lots of old household products inside the main downtown store. Climbing a set of creaky stairs to explore the pint-sized rooms of the old hotel. Chatting with a ranger at the visitor’s center, who showed me a collection of old bottles and cans and explained that miners didn’t eat many fruits or vegetables and relied on bitters to stay regular.

For more information about Garnet, go here.

This bench delivers the best sunset view at Inks Lake State Park. Pam LeBlanc photo

I first camped at Inks Lake State Park in the 1970s, when my dad pitched a giant blue canvas tent and set up bunkbed cots inside for me and my sisters.

That tent disintegrated long ago, but my fondness for the park, located an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Austin, has stuck around.

I’ve made four overnight trips this summer alone. After all this time, I still discovered something new – the Devils Backbone Nature Trail.

The trail starts near the Devils Waterhole, where people launch themselves off 30-foot granite cliffs into Inks Lake.

The Devils Backbone Trail leads past interesting granite formations. Chris LeBlanc photo

It’s a bit of a scramble to get up and over the rock formations at the start of the trail. Just follow the small paint markings strategically located along the route, which weaves through patches of prickly pear and ash around some cool granite towers. The trail curves down and leads toward Spring Creek, crossing the dry creek bed just before Park Road 4. From there it curves back toward the lake and into the woods.

Our destination? A wooden bench high on a ridge that we’d spotted from the other side of the cove. We finally found the overlook at about the 1-mile point.

Read more: Leap into a spring-fed river at Pedernales Falls State Park

Front row for the sunset

Take my word: It’s the best spot in the park to take in the sunset. And even though the campground was full the day we made the hike, we didn’t encounter a single other person.

Inks Lake State Park is one of the most popular parks in the Texas State Park system, drawing nearly 230,000 visitors in 2023.

The State Parks Board first acquired 1,200 acres along the Colorado River in 1940. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which had just completed work on nearby Longhorn Cavern State Park, went to work turning the plot into a public park shortly thereafter. Funding dried up in 1942, though, and work was temporarily abandoned. The State Parks Board finally completed the project, and Inks Lake State Park opened in 1950. 

Today, the park offers ample opportunities for hiking, birding, camping, picnicking, boating, fishing and swimming. It’s spliced with “islands” of pink granite-like rock called “gneiss” (sounds like “nice”), and visitors go for family reunions, camping, nature watching and recreating on the lake.  

I love it as a swimming destination. It’s got a huge no-wake zone, and I can swim alongside my husband as he paddles his standup paddleboard around the zigzagging shoreline.

Inks Lake State Park recently opened new restroom and shower faciltiies. Pam LeBlanc photo

Another reason to love the park? New infrastructure. The park opened four new restroom facilities in the last few years and will unveil a new headquarters building in the next few months.

Visit the Alamo at night to see it illuminated under soft white lights. Pam LeBlanc photo

​Now and then, it’s fun to play tourist in your home state. I zipped down to San Antonio last week with my husband for an overnight stay on the Riverwalk.

Touristy? Sure. But also, enjoyable. From Austin, it takes less than two hours to get to San Antonio.

The Westin Riverwalk is located on a quiet stretch of the San Antonio Riverwalk. Pam LeBlanc photo

We checked into a sweet corner suite at the Westin Riverwalk San Antonio that overlooked a quiet stretch of the river, flung down our bags and headed out to reacquaint ourselves with the Alamo City.

Visit the Riverwalk

A tour boat putters along the San Antonio Riverwalk. Pam LeBlanc photo

Sure, you can walk the Riverwalk – and you should. Some of the original stone bridges that arch over the river date to 1941, and people have been eating Mexican food beneath umbrellas and floating the waterway in colorful tour boats for decades. But on weekends, you can also kayak the passage with Mission Adventure Tours. I tried it a few years ago (read more here) and loved the new perspective.

Read more: Snorkeling with sharks at the Texas State Aquarium

Vendors sell aguas frescas at Historic Market Square in San Antonio. Pam LeBlanc

Stroll the market

From the Westin Riverwalk, it takes about 15 minutes to walk to Historic Market Square, where venders sell everything from glassware to trinkets and musicians perform on indoor and outdoor stages. Twenty years ago, I bought a hand-made nativity scene that I still display every Christmas.

Grab a margarita

Mi Tierra, 218 Produce Row, first swung open its doors to serve workers and farmers at the San Antonio Mercado back in 1941. I love sipping margaritas in the bar, where mariachis serenade couples beneath twinkling lights, then lining up in front of the pastry case in the adjoining bakery to pick out pig-shaped cinnamon cookies and coconut bars in the colors of a Mexican flag.

Read more: Craving cold? ICE! Debuts at JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country this winter

Walk to Alamo

Visitors stroll Historic Market Square in San Antonio. Pam LeBlanc photo

We skipped the guided tour ($45 adults, $35 children) and self-guided audio tour ($20 adults, $18 children), but still wanted to visit the iconic site. You can walk through the church for free (but book a ticket online here to make sure you get in) during the day, or drop by at night like we did to see it from the outside, glowing in white lights. 

Shop at La Villita

Just above the main Riverwalk, you can visit higher-end boutiques in La Villita Historic Arts Village, 418 Villita Street. The “Little Village” is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and markers provide information about the history of its buildings.

Check out the Briscoe Western Art Museum

Don’t miss the Briscoe Western Art Museum, located a 3-minute walk from the Westin. Exhibits at the museum, housed in what once served as the city’s original public library, include a replica of a Wells Fargo stagecoach, a life-size metal sculpture depicting John Wayne as Marshall Rooster Cogburn, and a collection of saddles, bridles and spurs.

Try Italian for dinner

We know San Antonio is know for Tex-Mex, but we opted for Italian at the Westin’s in-house eatery, Zocca Cuisine D’Italia. One highlight? The antipasti tray, featuring a beautiful array of sliced meats and cheese. The braised mushroom ravioli hit the spot, too, as did the lemon ricotta cake – and you can watch people stroll past outside as you dine.

Sleep in

We headed back to our suite, with a king bed and a separate sitting room, and sacked out. The next morning, we put on robes and tiptoed out onto the balcony for breakfast – leftovers from the antipasti tray, plus coffee and tea, all consumed while watching the Riverwalk come alive.