The Buena Vida Podcast

Lacy walks and talks with Texas State Parks Director Rodney Franklin, who oversees 88 state parks, encompassing 640,000+ acres of natural beauty. Dir. Franklin shares why more doctors are prescribing time in nature and where to find the often-overlooked natural spaces near you. With limited options during the pandemic, more people discovered state parks and new ways to experience the outdoors -- f...

Lacy talks to Mike Harper, supervisor of the Fitness & Wellness Unit at the Texas Department of Public Safety, as he walks his East Austin neighborhood in between rain storms. Having lost his father to an early heart attack, Mike motivates us to engage with our own health and to make an annual wellness visit to the doctor. He shares the surprising reasons men are more reluctant than women to g...

In this 23-minute Walk & Talk, Lacy talks to Baker Harrell as he walks up hills in his Austin neighborhood. Growing up with obesity in rural Mississippi in the 1980s, Baker describes a pivotal childhood moment in a department store dressing room that not only changed his life, but also the lives of his family members. His experience ultimately led him to found an organization empowering Texans...

In this 26-minute Walk & Talk, Lacy talks to Megan Humphrey, a mental health counselor with the Texas Department of Public Safety, while Megan walks along a trail near her Austin home. Megan de-codes loneliness as a biological hunger to connect with each other, what it means to have meaningful connections, how social media fails us in this department. She also shares her strategies for recogni...

In this 27-minute Walk & Talk, Dr. Janet Mitchell talks to Lacy from her treadmill on a very windy day in Lubbock, Texas. A former personal physician to Laura Bush and spouse to the Texas Tech University Chancellor Ted Mitchell, Dr. Mitchell shares her passion for women’s health and how prioritizing her own health made her a better parent. Dr. Mitchell describes the dawn of both “aerobic” exer...

In this 20-minute Walk & Talk, Lacy walks in her Pflugerville neighborhood while talking with one of her mentors, recently retired DPS Director Gary Albus in Lubbock, Texas. Through his trademark storytelling, Director Albus shares his simple routine for staying fit – both physically and emotionally -- in retirement and in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Learn the wisdom he found in “Rul...

Welcome to the ERS Walk and Talk Podcast!