Spend a 3-Day Weekend in Revitalized Brownwood
Bringing Back Brownwood A downtown resurgence reinvigorates a World War II-era military town by Paul BrownPhotos ... Read More »
Beyond Oktoberfest: Meet Fredericksburg’s Lesser-Known Traditions
This month, the city of Fredericksburg kicks off its 175th anniversary with a yearlong celebration culminating ... Read More »
Expert Tips for Camping With Your Family, Backpack, or RV in Texas
The first time I seriously considered buying an RV was in the aftermath of a family tent camping trip to Kerrville-Schreiner Park ... Read More »
A Guide To the Historic Bridges of Texas
From Austin’s Congress Avenue Bridge to the Pecos High Bridge, Texas has bridges that span different landscapes and marvels of engineering. Read More »
There’s a lot to Cheer About in Corsicana
Corsicana has gotten a lot of attention in recent months due to the hit Netflix docuseries Cheer, which ... Read More »
My Favorite Texas Trip: Two Couples Blaze Through Big Bend Country
In the fall of 2018, my wife, Eileen, and I invited two friends to the outer reaches of West Texas for our annual couples’ trip. Our pals, Terry and Anne Marie, live in Philadelphia—I came to know Terry when we were roommates at the University of Virginia in the 1960s. While Terry spent some of his high school years in Houston, it had been many years since he’d returned to Texas. While Eileen and I had been to Big Bend twice before (and to other parts of West Texas too many times to count), Terry and Anne Marie had never been. Read More »
Kendall County Proves Parts of the Hill Country Are Still Wild
Kendall County—about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio—is growing fast, thanks to urban sprawl. Luckily, it’s ... Read More »
Winter Getaway: New Energy and Classic Cowtown Converge in Fort Worth
Fort Worth has long been a hub for Western heritage and art. Cowboys, honky-tonk enthusiasts, and culture ... Read More »
Fall Weekend Getaway: Post Oak Savannah
The southern span of the Post Oak Savannah in East Texas evolved out of ancient woodlands of oak and hickory that once stretched from Canada to Central America. Read More »
Fall Getaway: Follow the Butterfly Trail in the Valley
The Texas Butterfly Festival promises visitors “the best butterflying in America.” It might seem like hyperbole were the claim not backed up by the fact that the Rio Grande Valley contains a greater diversity of butterflies than anywhere else in the country—more than 300 species and counting, or roughly 40 percent of the butterflies in North America. You can see a great deal of them at the festival, which takes place the first week of November at the National Butterfly Center in Mission. All of those butterflies—condensed within a region that’s easy to traverse over a weekend—make a fall tour of the Valley a must-do on any Texas bucket list Read More »
Historical Treasures Await on This Rarely Traveled Stretch of Big Bend’s River Road
Drive west along Farm-to-Market Road 170 from the border town of Presidio, leaving all convenience stores and gas stations behind, and you’ll travel two slim lanes of humped, serpentine blacktop, its edges collapsing like desert crust. The road’s convolutions mirror the Rio Grande to the left but after just a few miles, the river’s water diminishes, occasionally disappearing altogether. In its place, dense mesquite thickets and catclaw thrive along its dry bed, a thorny border wall of its own making. Read More »
Getaway: A Weekend in Lubbock
Lubbock may not be the first city that comes to mind when considering the arts in Texas, but maybe it should be. The High Plains town that nurtured many of Texas’ most exalted musicians—Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Joe Ely, Terry Allen, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore to name a few—must have some creative fairy dust blowing through its Caprock winds. The visual arts are now finding fertile soil here, too. Just walk through the galleries and workshops of the Lubbock Cultural District, and you’ll get a whiff of the artistic freedom inspired by the city’s wide-open spaces and 265 days of sunshine a year—a freedom that also comes from a cost-of-living low enough that artists don’t sweat the rent. Like the wildly spinning wind turbines you pass on the drive into town, the “Hub City” is generating energy worthy of attention. If you are one of those travelers who buzzes through Lubbock on your way to New Mexico or Colorado, consider staying for the weekend to see what you’re missing. Read More »
