I am a snob about which beaches I will grace with my bare feet. There, I said it. Give me Jetties Beach on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts or Zuma Beach in Malibu outside of Los Angeles any day. I have lived in this state for more than 30 years, but I’ve always thought the East and West Coast beaches were superior to the Texas coast. Now middle-aged, I am inspired to keep an open mind, so I reached out to seven trusted writers and asked them to hype their favorite Texas beaches. The result is the cover story “The Great Beach-Off,” dedicated to exploring the sand and surf along our expansive coastline. Don’t see your spot mentioned? Visit our Instagram, @texashighways, for a poll that allows you to weigh in.
The recreation continues in our annual Water Issue with the feature story “Crude Awakening,” an epic adventure about the sport of oil rig fishing. For writer and fisherman Paul Greenberg, a New York Times bestselling author and James Beard Award winner, this has long been a bucket-list goal. “This kind of assignment, first highlighted in Field & Stream, inspired his entire career—sending him as far as the Falkland Islands,” says Features Editor Chris Hughes. Greenberg’s story offers a great mix of ecology, sport, and industry, not to mention danger—like, shark fins appearing out of the water danger.
As we’ve come to learn in Texas, water isn’t always our friend. Last July, flash flooding from the Guadalupe River ravaged the Hill Country landscape and took 119 lives. With the one-year anniversary approaching, we felt it our duty to direct readers back to the area, where tourism is vital. For his feature story “Return to the River,” Senior Writer Ian Dille spent countless hours in Hunt, Ingram, and Kerrville talking with locals and helping where he could. “Ian did a wonderful job of exploring the grief and the hope in the community after such an unimaginable tragedy,” says Managing Editor Erin Quinn-Kong.
For a state bound so much to its land, water is our lifeblood. We hope this issue inspires you to soak it up.
