Keep Your Kids Entertained With These Texas Holiday Activities
November 22, 2023 | By Cynthia J. Drake
Winter break is fast approaching. Cue later bedtimes, mornings with hot cocoa by the fire, and, best of all, weeks of no homework.
November 22, 2023 | By Cynthia J. Drake
Winter break is fast approaching. Cue later bedtimes, mornings with hot cocoa by the fire, and, best of all, weeks of no homework.
November 21, 2023 | By John T. Davis
November 21, 2023 | By Traces of Texas
Thanks to the annual Newsboys’ Christmas Dinner in San Antonio, newsboy Gregorio Cortez was able to delight in a slice of pumpkin pie at the Alamo City’s Gunter Hotel on Dec.
May 31, 2023 | By Joe Nick Patoski
Set on the San Antonio River, where live oak, pecan, mesquite, and willow trees line the banks and create a shady, bucolic scene, Echo Bridge in San Antonio is the coolest music venue in Texas you’ve never heard of.
May 30, 2023 | By Marisa Charpentier
May 6, 2023 | By Cynthia J. Drake
March 27, 2023 | By Jen Hamilton Hernandez
On a rainy day in March, I drive to the Southside of San Antonio to Hot Wells of Bexar County park.
March 4, 2023 | By Cat Cardenas
In 1985, South Texas musician Steve Jordan sang “Soy de Tejas,” a love letter he wrote to the state and to his Chicano heritage that went on to become a Tejano classic.
February 7, 2023 | By Jacqueline Knox
When Starline Costumes, a cherished costume sales and rental shop in San Antonio, announced it would be closing last October, customers took to social media to express their sadness.
November 14, 2022 | By Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano
September 29, 2022 | By Cynthia J. Drake
July 9, 2022 | By Sarah Thurmond
The words “corpse” and “flower” are not commonly associated with one another, but the distinctive stench of the Indonesian rainforest plant Amorphophallus titanium is said to merit such a description.
June 30, 2022 | By Traces of Texas
Though small by Texas standards, the San Antonio River has played an outsized role in the state’s history.
June 30, 2022 | By Wes Ferguson
April 28, 2022 | By Clayton Maxwell
Upon entering Morgan’s Wonderland theme park in San Antonio, visitors are welcomed by a 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture of hands reaching skyward, releasing a butterfly.
December 3, 2021 | By John Nova Lomax
Before last Saturday’s thumping at the hands of the North Texas Mean Green, the University of Texas at San Antonio was having a fairy-tale season.
September 23, 2021 | By Cynthia J. Drake
May 27, 2021 | By Gene Fowler
From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to The Wild Bunch, the Hollywood Western has staked its claim as one of the most popular genres in the history of movie-making.
April 29, 2021 | By Joe Nick Patoski
Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez is San Antonio music royalty. Known as “El Rey de Texas” for his mastery of the accordion, the 82-year-old comes from a pioneering family of conjunto, the soul music of South Texas Mexican Americans.
March 25, 2021 | By Steven Lindsey
March 25, 2021 | By Jac Darsnek, Traces of Texas
March 12, 2021 | By Gene Fowler
Suburban London, 1956. Five-year-old Phil Collins—yes, that Phil Collins—stands in a snapshot dressed as Davy Crockett in a coonskin cap.
January 27, 2021 | By John Nova Lomax
On the list of dishes Texans love to eat and argue about, cheese enchiladas exist somewhere near the top, perhaps trailing only beef brisket and chili con carne.
January 12, 2021 | By Joe Nick Patoski
For 13 years, Leonardo Jimenez has been a constant by the side of his father, Leonardo Sr., better known to the world as Flaco Jimenez, the San Antonio conjunto accordion legend and multiple Grammy Award winner.
January 7, 2021 | By Traces of Texas
Jovita de la Rosa Ortiz, third from right, and her parents Magdaleno and Francisca behind the counter of their café, Café de la Rosa, in San Antonio, circa 1945.
January 4, 2021 | By Sallie Lewis
November 20, 2020 | By Joe Nick Patoski
October 20, 2020 | By Omar Gallaga
Where I grew up in South Texas, a small tiendita was within walking distance of my grandmother’s house.
August 21, 2020 | By Annette Bernhard Nevins
July 14, 2020 | By Sabrina LeBoeuf
In the beginning of the 20th century, the Hot Wells Hotel and Spa was the place to stay for anyone stopping in San Antonio.
July 9, 2020 | By Sabrina LeBoeuf
June 9, 2020 | By Babs Rodriguez
April 30, 2020 | By H. Drew Blackburn
April 30, 2020 | By Laurel Miller
April 24, 2020 | By Jill Coody Smits
“It’s not ideal to launch Rio Jade in a global pandemic,” says Emily Hoyle, Lone Star’s brand manager. “But if we can bring something positive to Texans and give them something to look forward to, then our day is made.”
March 26, 2020 | By Sallie Lewis
March 26, 2020 | By Cynthia J. Drake
March 10, 2020 | By Julia Jones
On the evening of March 26, the museum is hosting Bug Bites, an event where people can sample chef-crafted dishes featuring a variety of insects. With a menu that includes coffee-blackened grasshopper street tacos, grilled scorpion with pineapple mojo, roasted orange-ant mole, and cricket carrot cake, bugs might just become a welcome addition to culinary classics.
February 27, 2020 | By Joe Nick Patoski
February 14, 2020 | By Gene Fowler
When Texas revolutionaries first cried “Remember the Alamo!” during their fight for independence from Mexico, little could they have known the resilience of their rallying cry.
January 9, 2020 | By John Lumpkin
The initial phase of the Alamo’s comprehensive redevelopment is scheduled for completion this year, despite the recent discovery of long-ago burials in the hallowed landmark and ongoing disputes over the plan.
November 27, 2019 | By Paula Disbrowe
October 31, 2019 | By Dan Oko
B eneath a warm Caribbean sun, down a twisted road from the tattered colonial city Santiago de Cuba, an American soldier stands frozen in time.
It’s a statue, actually, in a small park that commemorates the derring-do of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, formally known as the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, who helped drive Spain out of Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
October 17, 2019 | By Clayton Maxwell
Late artist and philanthropist Linda Pace’s vision puts the Alamo City on the modern art map
October 15, 2019 | By Anna-Kay Reeves
Starting this week, the San Antonio’s Day of the Dead festivities range from museum exhibitions to a Catrinas on the River Parade. “Considering the city’s history and diversity, it makes sense that San Antonio is the national destination to celebrate this holiday,” says Dawn Robinette of Day of the Dead San Antonio.
September 24, 2019 | By Phil West
Root, root, rooting for the home team works up a mighty hunger. At some stadiums around the state, the snacks have become bigger, bolder, and more ridiculous—take for example the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Park in Arlington, which debuted a 2-pound chicken tender on its 2019 menu. But some arenas attempt to make their offerings ambitious in a different way, even scoring notable Texas chefs to create menu items.
August 15, 2019 | By Meara Isenberg
These five podcasts highlight unique stories from all corners of Texas
July 29, 2019 | By Asher Elbein
In the spirit room of Botanica La Caridad, a retail store in San Antonio, wooden statues of West African deities are crammed up against a bucket of sticks and machetes, garlanded with chicken’s feet and anchored by a cross. In the opposite corner stands a masked mannequin with rolled-up cash tucked discreetly beneath its long red dress and unopened bottles of wine.
June 25, 2019 | By Anthony Head
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.
June 18, 2019 | By Cary Clack
Texans are celebrating Juneteenth with events across the state this week, including today’s state government holiday.
June 14, 2019 | By Jacqueline Aguirre
Taking over 18,000-square-feet and two stories of Travis Park Plaza in the downtown area, Hopscotch features rooms that will house anything from light installations and adult playscapes to experimental architecture and gamified environments. It’s set to open late 2019/early 2020.
May 31, 2019 | By Kimya Kavehkar
Diana Kennedy, widely considered to be the foremost authority on Mexican cooking, drove the 892 miles from her home in Michoacán, Mexico, to San Antonio in February (as chronicled by The New York Times) to drop off her collection of 19th-century Mexican cookbooks.
May 23, 2019 | By Kimya Kavehkar
All beer has four main ingredients: grain, hops, yeast, and water. Southerleigh, a restaurant and brewery in San Antonio’s Pearl entertainment district, has crafted a limited-edition beer with all those ingredients sourced from Texas. Now that the craft beer movement is here to stay, it seems like locavore beer is the next wave.
April 15, 2019 | By Asher Elbein
On summer nights in the Hill Country, rivers of Mexican free-tail bats stream out of caves and abandoned buildings, spiraling up to hunt in the skies. One colony of bats emerges from a strange, 30-foot-high structure that resembles a church steeple on stilts, with pyramidal shingles, and is visible from a public road in the Kendall County town of Comfort.
March 1, 2019 | By Jen Hamilton Hernández
A San Antonio spring break may conjure images of theme parks and a barge ride along the Paseo del Río, and certainly, those are a few options for family fun, but the city’s new attractions and hidden treasures offer alternative adventures worth exploring. Some are decidedly urban—museums and chef-driven restaurants—while others bring you right into a natural oasis just south of downtown. But all dot the banks of the San Antonio River, the city’s lifeblood for centuries.
March 1, 2019 | By
Say “spring break,” and most of us picture a tourist-packed beach, but there’s a world
of options away from the seashores. We’ve planned four under-the-radar trips for those
ready to seek out experiences beyond the norm … with or without kids in tow.
March 1, 2019 | By Matt Joyce
In over 30 years as a journalist, San Marcos writer and Texas Highways contributor Anthony Head has covered everything from high school basketball in Indiana to politics in Chicago to the culinary arts of Los Angeles, where he was an editor with Bon Appétit magazine.
February 28, 2019 | By Matt Joyce
Bruce Shackelford is one of those enviable characters who’s developed a notable career by pursuing his own particular interests. Once dubbed a “scholarly cowboy,” the 65-year-old parlayed his fascination with Native American art, Western history, and horsemanship into a job as the Texas history curator at The Witte Museum, San Antonio’s elegant and enlightening repository of Texas history and culture. He’s also one of only a handful of appraisers to have appeared on every season of PBS’ perennial reality show favorite, Antiques Roadshow. For 23 years, viewers have tuned in to watch Shackelford—who mans the Tribal Art table—and other experts as they appraise the significance and value of antiques and collectibles brought in by the public.
February 28, 2019 | By Gene Fowler
Dr. John Sutherland would have died in the Battle of the Alamo had William Travis not dispatched him as a messenger to Gonzales.
February 19, 2019 | By Robyn Ross
If the thought of vegan food conjures images of a giant plate of alfalfa sprouts, it’s time to revisit the concept. These days, vegan restaurants in Texas tend more toward soul food than rabbit food, and they use creative stand-ins for beef (protein-rich seitan, made from vital wheat gluten), cheese (soaked and pureed nuts), and pork (the shredded flesh of the giant Asian jackfruit) that can satisfy even die-hard carnivores. While Austin has long been considered the capital of Texas’ vegan scene, other cities now offer stiff competition in the way of veggie-forward, animal-free fare.
January 24, 2019 | By Kimya Kavehkar
For a sneak peek of up-and-coming culinary talent, make plans to visit Savor in San Antonio.
The restaurant opened Jan. 22 inside the Texas campus of the Culinary Institute of America at the Pearl entertainment district. Led by professional instructors, students working toward associate degrees prepare and serve local and seasonal, “modern American” food that draws from various cultures they’ve studied, from Asian to European cuisine.
December 27, 2018 | By Kimya Kavehkar
The Alpine brewery hopes the closing will be temporary. Texas beer lovers must bid adieu (for now) to “the beer from out here.”
December 21, 2018 | By John Lumpkin
“EVERYTHING’S BIGGER IN TEXAS”
How often have you heard that? The New-York Tribune is said to have coined the phrase more than a century ago. Though not quite everything in the Lone Star State qualifies as the world’s largest, tallest, longest, or widest, plenty do. Hitting the road to find them is a gargantuan trip in itself.
December 19, 2018 | By E. Dan Klepper
Aseemingly incongruous site greets Saturday afternoon visitors at the Presnall-Watson Homestead, a rambling 19th-century farmhouse along the Medina River in south San Antonio. Kids on bicycles kick out tricks as horseback riders in cowboy regalia round the corner, creating a surprising mash-up of three centuries crammed into one.
December 19, 2018 | By Cary Clack
Wearing a red apron and blue “Retired Air Force” cap, William Garner walks out of the kitchen of Mr. & Mrs. G’s Home Cooking and Pastries in San Antonio. It’s the lunch rush, and the phone is ringing as the 81-year-old takes his usual seat behind the cashier. “Hello,” he answers. “Pot roast? Yes, we do.”
December 19, 2018 | By Kimya Kavehkar
Dust off your favorite pair of cowboy boots because the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is back Feb. 7-24. The event, which was established in 1949 and brings 2 million visitors to the AT&T Center every year, has released a live music lineup packed with country music stars and other national entertainers.
December 16, 2018 | By
Chinese New Year traditions include releasing a wishing lantern into the air or casting it into the water to bring good luck or release worries. The latter is celebrated annually at the San Antonio River Walk, which holds its Confucius Wishing Lanterns event Feb. 9. The ceremony of floating gold-rimmed lanterns
November 19, 2018 | By Kimya Kavehkar
While most of us might be too old to sit on Santa’s lap, that doesn’t mean we’ve outgrown holiday merriment. For a warm glow within and without, make plans to stop by Miracle, a pop-up concept coming to five Texas bars this season. Miracle transforms watering holes in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Galveston into full-blown holiday wonderlands with nostalgic, kitschy décor and themed specialty cocktails Nov. 23 through Dec. 29. The concept debuted in New York City in 2014 and now has 80 locations internationally.
November 1, 2018 | By Jen Hamilton Hernández
Visits to Italy in 1994 and Spain in ’99 inspired
Winokur to recreate that Mediterranean setting in her home state, just south of San Antonio. After living in Manhattan for 14 years, taking art classes and illustrating children’s books, she had returned to Texas to help take care of family. “I’m a sixth-generation Texan, and most of my folks ranched, so certainly I wanted to have cattle, but I also wanted to do something else,” she says. “It seemed to me that olives could be a good crop for Texas.
September 20, 2018 | By
Before the first railroad line reached San Antonio in 1877, the villa was known as “the city of adobes,” according to an 1887 article in the San Antonio Daily Express. Along with rock, adobe was cited as the most common construction material. Another report in the Express noted that local adobe buildings would “endure forever almost.”
August 15, 2018 | By Julia Jones
San Antonio’s River Walk has a new anthem: Singer-songwriter Jefferson Clay just debuted his music video for the song “Riverwalkin’,” a tribute to one of his hometown’s quintessential attractions.
July 23, 2018 | By Julia Jones
Humans of San Antonio features images of people from all walks of life—including street dancers, homeless men and women, and artists—and includes quotes that tell deeply personal stories. Michael Cirlos, the photographer behind the project as well as the book’s author, writes in the introduction that he always started the conversation with a simple question: “What is one memory you never want to forget?”
June 27, 2018 | By Gene Fowler
The “Buckarita” at San Antonio’s Buckhorn Saloon serves up the kick you’d expect from a mix of Cuervo 1800 Tequila, Grand Gala, and prickly pear juice.
June 11, 2018 | By Julia Jones
The Department of the Interior has named 19 new national recreation trails, and Texas is home to two of them: the Guadalupe Ridge Trail that runs across the Texas-New Mexico border and the Salado Creek Greenway in San Antonio.
April 24, 2018 | By
This issue marks the 44th anniversary of the travel magazine of Texas. It’s also the last issue for Senior Editor Lori Moffatt, who is retiring after an esteemed 27 years with the publication. As a staff, we’re going to miss her irreplaceable knowledge of Texas’ history and culture, insightful edits and sharp eye for details, but even more so the passion and vitality she’s brought to these pages and the office over the years. Before her departure, I asked her to share some of her insights with the readers she’s served so well for more than 300 issues.
February 15, 2018 | By
The exhibit, which opened Feb. 15 and runs through Sept. 17, features artifacts ranging from an original 1701 map of Frenchmen Sieur de La Salle’s ill-fated 1685 expedition along the Texas coast to a 1968 Rand McNally & Co. map showing routes to San Antonio for the HemisFair World’s Fair. In between are dozens of vintage maps depicting such historical chapters as early 19th century Native American trails; frontier military trails and forts; German immigrant Hill Country maps of the 1840s; new railroads stretching westward into Texas in the 1850s; and cattle drive trails of the 1880s.
February 14, 2018 | By Michael Corcoran
The big, expensive festivals touting electronic dance music, Radiohead, and Jay-Z get most of the media attention, but a number of more intimate Texas festivals have thrived without the hype.
February 6, 2018 | By
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, the Texas Highways editors wanted to know: What are the most romantic places in the state?
January 15, 2018 | By Gene Fowler
URBAN-15’s Carnaval de San Anto troupe performs during Día de los Muertos at Hemisfair park in San Antonio.
December 28, 2017 | By Clayton Maxwell
From El Paso to Galveston, uncover our top 18 travel must-dos for 2018.
December 15, 2017 | By
The best destination cities give travelers a distinct feeling that can only be experienced by walking their streets.
December 14, 2017 | By Jane Kellogg Murray
The city’s modern-day story is only just beginning, but the same could have been said 300 years ago.
December 14, 2017 | By
Highlights of nearly 700 Tricentennial-sanctioned partner events planned for 2018 in San Antonio.
December 14, 2017 | By Greg Disch
San Antonio’s Japanese Tea Garden—once an abandoned rock quarry—stands today as a lush landscape with limestone bridges, ponds filled with Japanese koi, a Japanese pagoda-style pavilion, a café, and a 60-foot waterfall.
December 13, 2017 | By Jane Kellogg Murray
Three hundred years ago—before Davy Crockett became a household name, before the Chili Queens served hearty bowls of red on San Antonio’s Military Plaza, and long before Fiesta San Antonio became an annual 11-day party attracting some 3.5 million visitors to the Alamo City—Spanish missionaries founded Mission San Antonio de Valero, best known these days as the Alamo.
December 11, 2017 | By
With a slight chance of snow flurries in the Texas forecast this week, we decided to look back at photos from last December’s snowstorm.
November 14, 2017 | By
For five days in January, in the recuperative lull between New Year’s and Valentine’s Day, San Antonio hosts a smashing soiree that both raises money for children’s charities and celebrates the craft cocktail movement.
November 9, 2017 | By Cynthia J. Drake
Around this time of year (and only this time of year), I start to miss the snow.
August 8, 2017 | By Chet Garner
If you follow my travels you know that I spend most of my time off the beaten path.
July 18, 2017 | By Lindsey Austin
Observing bats emerge from their roosts is one of the most exciting encounters that nature has to offer.
June 14, 2017 | By E. Dan Klepper
After crossing Alazan Creek via Guadalupe Street on San Antonio’s West Side, you’ll traverse a neighborhood characterized by locally run shops known as tienditas, pretty Catholic churches, 1920s shotgun homes, and the occasional turn-of-the-century Queen Anne ornamentation.
March 30, 2017 | By
The oldest and largest of its kind in the nation, the Tejano Conjunto Festival celebrates the style of this unique Mexican dance music.
March 30, 2017 | By
It’s like Mardi Gras if you substitute the beads and king cake with baile folklórico and mariachi music.