Featuring portraits of more than 100 people, “American Dream” was the idea of Jorge Cortez—the son of Mi Tierra founders Pedro “Pete” and Cruz Cortez. “I wanted to honor my father and mother, who came to the U.S. as immigrants,” Cortez says of the mural.
Each summer, 10 to 12 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost in this cave, making it the second-largest single-mammal colony in the world. The bats spend their winters in Mexico, and each spring, they migrate to Texas to establish “maternity” colonies. The females stay from about March through October and give birth to their babies in mid-June.
The Henry family of New Braunfels has agreed to sell its Schlitterbahn waterparks in New Braunfels and Galveston, more than 50 years after the business started as a small tourist camp on the banks of the Comal River. The San Antonio Express News and Houston Chronicle report Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts announced Thursday that it will sell the two parks to Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which is based in Ohio. The Henrys will keep the Schlitterbahn waterpark and resort in South Padre, but it will be rebranded.
Space Center Houston will celebrate the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission this July with events to give visitors a taste of the thrill Americans experienced 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon. From July 16 to July 24—the dates of Apollo’s take-off and splashdown in 1969—the official visitor center of the Johnson Space Center will offer a galaxy of stellar events and activities inspired by NASA’s triumph.
With its relaxed charm, Rockport tends to wow first-time visitors with the feeling they’ve stumbled upon a hidden gem on Texas’ coast. But it’s hard to make the argument that Rockport is any kind of secret considering its recent No. 2 ranking on the USA Today Readers’ Choice list of “Best Coastal Small Towns.”
The Airstream legend began when a California camping enthusiast named Wally Byam mounted a tent on a Ford Model T in 1929. In recent years, the silver bullets have popped up in parks and on short-term rental sites, offering an Airstream experience without the hassle of hauling one around.
Psychedelic rock legend Roky Erickson, former lead singer of the 13th Floor Elevators, has passed away at age 71. He didn’t play a single concert from 1986 until 2005, but in the last 14 years, Erickson toured the world, rocking as hard and singing as introspectively as ever before.
The Houston Chronicle reports that Battleship Texas will move from its home on the Houston Ship Channel near La Porte as part of a plan to preserve the historic ship and draw more visitors. While still awaiting the governor’s signature, recent legislation calls for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to become the ship’s caretaker and for the ship to be repaired.
The Kilgore Improvement and Beautiful Association built the garden in 1996. It contains more than 30 species of flowers, shrubs, trees, and other flora referenced in William Shakespeare’s works.
The Big Bend Conservancy has started a fundraising effort to help reestablish visitor services in the Castolon Historic District of Big Bend National Park after a wildfire last week burned La Harmonia Store and Castolon Visitor Center. The Castolon Fire had burned more than 1,200 acres but was largely contained as of Monday, according to Big Bend National Park.
A wildfire in Mexico jumped the Rio Grande River into Big Bend National Park and burned down a camp store set in a historic U.S. Army barracks in Castolon on Wednesday night, the national park reported. The fire started from unknown causes on Tuesday or Wednesday, sending a plume of smoke into the sky. Wednesday afternoon, when temperatures were over 100 degrees, heavy winds blew burning embers into the riverside mesquite forest in the national park.
The young Franciscan nun in the cobalt-colored cloak was, quite literally, a vision in blue to the Jumano Indians of the Desert Southwest. Though she never left her convent 5,000 miles away in Spain, Sor Maria de Jesus de Agreda mysteriously appeared before the indigenous people of what is now the San Angelo area, delivering an evangelistic message. They called her the “Lady in Blue.”
Hired by Bob Wills in 1958, Leon Rausch was the voice of the Texas Playboys for six decades, so his death Tuesday in Fort Worth at age 91 marks the end of an era.
Size matters—not only in the jungle but in the civilized world and the medium of wildlife sculpture—a truth amply manifested by sculptor Kent Ullberg’s new exhibition at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.
Published monthly by the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Highways, the official travel magazine of Texas, encourages travel to and within the Lone Star State and tells the Texas story to readers around the world.
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