Crafting for Recovery at Farley Boat Works
Hurricane Harvey’s Category 4 winds, along with a 6-foot storm surge, met their match in the backyard of Farley Boat Works. While countless boats across the island were strewn far from their moorings by the hurricane or sunk in waterways, a 60-foot schooner named Lydia Ann moved less than a foot in its construction cradle, its hull, deck and “doghouse” cabin largely intact. Read More »
Tacos and Happiness at La Playa Mexican Grille
La Playa’s roof collapsed during Harvey and had to be removed. “Our restaurant was like a convertible,” recalls Villasana. Rain and wind pounded the interior, but the cinderblock walls held, as did the restaurant’s striking 4-by-6-foot painting of a man and woman by the late local artist Tiddle Caylor. Read More »
New Photography Book Captures the Sweeping Natural Beauty of Texas
Austin photographer Kenny Braun’s first book was a sumptuous portrait of surfer culture on the Texas coast. Published in 2014, it was aptly titled Surf Texas. So when Braun decided his next project would travel farther inland to explore the spectacular scenery of the state—from Big Bend to Caddo Lake and high-plains panoramas then back to his beloved ocean horizons—he figured the book could be called Turf Texas. Read More »
Order Your Free Copy of the 2018 Texas State Travel Guide
Whether you enjoy communing with nature in a state park or perusing cultural artifacts in a museum, the 2018 State Travel Guide can help you plan a top-notch Texas trip. Order a free copy of the guide today to get ideas on how and where to experience our beautiful Lone Star State and have the best summer ever. Read More »
When You Just Can’t Take That Texas Heat Anymore, Take a Dip in This Private Oasis in the Texas Hill Country
Since the 1950s, the Krause family has operated this 115-acre paradise in the Texas Hill Country—added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for its undisturbed Native American burial sites. Its 68-degree waters on Cypress Creek offer a cool respite from Texas summers. Read More »
Dive into Classic Summer Activities at Daingerfield State Park
Summer fun awaits at Daingerfield State Park, located a couple of miles southeast of the city of Daingerfield in Northeast Texas. The 507-acre park offers plenty of classic summer diversions from camping to swimming, fishing, hiking, dancing, canoeing, kayaking, and pedal boating. Read More »
Here’s Why You’ll Go Nuts—like Our Daytripper—for San Saba
Nestled in the northern reaches of the Texas Hill Country is the laid-back town of San Saba, also known as the “Pecan Capital of the World.” Read More »
As They Open a New B&B, the Junk Gypsy Sisters Talk Round Top and Their Passion for Junk
As preteens in East Texas, they plucked the relic from a pile of discarded furniture and repurposed it in their tree house. Now the duo, popularly known as the Junk Gypsies, have made a very successful pursuit out of turning other people’s trash into treasure, or “junking.” The sisters’ brand includes the Junk Gypsy Company retail store in Round Top, a self-titled book, merchandise ranging from fringed cowgirl boots to ruffled bedding, and a TV show. Read More »
Take Flight in a Vintage Military Aircraft at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston
The roar of the engines fills my ears as the two pilots, seated behind me, guide the plane over my hometown of La Porte. From this vantage point, some 1,500 feet in the air, I gaze down upon a patchwork landscape of refineries divided by the sinuous path of the Houston Ship Channel. The plane banks to the left, revealing a familiar landmark: the limestone pillar of the San Jacinto Monument. As we pass over its crowning star, I catch a glimpse of the Battleship Texas, docked nearby. Read More »
A Visit to Marfa Brings Stylish, Otherworldly Experiences in the Tumbleweeds of West Texas
That’s what attracted renowned Manhattan artist Donald Judd to Marfa in the ’70s. His large-scale installations, which meld sculpture and nature on an old Army base renamed The Chinati Foundation, made this far West Texas town a destination for the international art crowd. But in recent years, “The Capital of Quirkiness” (as CBS’ 60 Minutes dubbed it in 2013) has broadened its appeal to “bucket list” millennials and tourists who might think Donald Judd was Wynonna’s pop. A fascination for Hollywood in recent years, Marfa also enjoys frequent coverage in The New York Times—which ran at least eight stories with a Marfa dateline in the past two years (including four in the paper’s fashion supplement). All this attention has helped convert this tiny town with its own NPR station into the San Francisco of the Texas desert. Read More »
Sure, You Know the Wine in Fredericksburg, but There’s More to This Place Than Just Great Vino
Just as I enter the city limits, I note the beautiful Hill Country University Center, where Texas Tech University offers viticulture and winemaking education. Soon I’m marveling at the proliferation of new and old buildings housing bistros, coffee bars, art galleries, and herb apothecaries. I spy the occasional shop offering T-shirts, fudge, and German beer steins, but altogether I find a more sophisticated Fredericksburg. What really matters, though, is this: While the town is most famous for its rich German heritage, it has grown into an invigorating destination for all of the pleasures found in the heart of the Hill Country, whether I’m visiting with my mom and sisters, closest pals, or my husband. Read More »
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