Way back in 2006, when I was in my last semester of library graduate school at the University of North Texas, Spring Break was the week of March 13-17 - so it really started Saturday, March 11. That morning, Mark and I went to Clark Gardens, which is between Mineral Wells and Weatherford, Texas. Weatherford is about 25 miles north of Granbury, where Mark was living at the time.
Here are some photos from that day. Mine were taken with a simple autofocus camera that used print film; Mark's with a digital Canon PowerShot S50 he'd gotten at least a year and a half earlier, which he is holding/using in the two photos below. I still hadn't succeeded in getting a good photo of Mark.
Above and below: Mark Gresham at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006. Photos by Amanda Pape
It wasn't quite spring in North Texas yet, and there was very little in bloom other than some potted azaleas like those Mark is photographing above. Probably the most interesting thing we saw in the gardens were a small flock of guineafowl, pictured below.
Above: Guineafowl at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Mark Gresham / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Below: Part of the G-scale model trains at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Mark Gresham / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
We spent the most time viewing the three G-scale model trains that run "on 700 feet of track that meander through a landscape of natural vegetation, trestles and small streams. Paths weave under seven foot high willow trestles next to a six foot waterfall and over little bridges in the Garden Train area."
Above and below: G-scale model trains at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Amanda Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
You can see the waterfall in the background of the photo below.
Above and below: G-scale model trains at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Amanda Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The trains surround "Clark Station," an octagonal building that, according to the Clark Gardens website, houses "incredible towns of scaled-down building[s] made of plant materials such as poppy seeds, acorns, grapevine tendrils, cinnamon sticks and pinecone scales."
Signs inside and outside indicate the towns inside Clark Station represent nearby Mineral Wells and Weatherford, but there's also a representation of Garner, an unincorporated community between the two that is close to Clark Gardens.
Visible below in the Mineral Wells station are the famous Baker Hotel (the tall building at the left), and the Hexagon Hotel (the white building just to the right of the Baker Hotel).
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Above and below: Models in the Mineral Wells station inside Clark Station at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Mark Gresham / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The image above appears to be of "The Beach" in Mineral Wells, as it looked in 1910 and 1911. Sanborn maps for Mineral Wells show a "Beach Hotel" that was a two-story frame structure across from the Hexagon Hotel on the 1907 and 1912 maps, but not on the 1904 or 1921 maps.
Above: Models in the Garner station inside Clark Station at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Mark Gresham / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Below: Model of the Parker County Courthouse at the Weatherford station inside Clark Station at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Mark Gresham / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Clark Gardens also has a number of rental facilities, including a lovely little chapel (seats 80) with this beautiful rose window over the altar. I'll never forget Mark grabbing my hands inside here and requesting me to "say I do." I did. I guess we were married at that point. - we'd been soulmates for a long time.
Above: Rose Window in the Chapel at Clark Gardens, Texas, 11 March 2006 / Mark Gresham / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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