Texas Vacation.....Help.

[.45colt]

Hello All, The Wife and I have made several trips to Arizona and seen a lot of it. Love the Southwest.
We are thinking of a trip to Texas this spring for about a week. I know it's not nearly long enough but what's the best area for a lot of history and to see some of the country in such short of a time.? Thanks Jim.

[TedH]

I've been to Texas several times, but never just for a vacation. One of these days I would like to get down there and see the Alamo.

[bdhold]

I have to agree that San Antonio has the best flavor (I lived in Austin for 15 years).
Nearby in the hill country, Fredericksburg is a great town
Cimmarron Arms is there, http://www.texasjacks.com/, and the Nimitz museum .
http://www.fbglodging.com/

really, Texas is a good drive-through vacation if you have a bit of time.
200 mi north of San Antonio on I-35 is Waco, with the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame
http://www.texasranger.org/history/BriefHistory1.htm

[Griff]

What he said. And right off the interchange of I30 & I35 in Dallas is Dealy Plaza with th School Depository building and the Kennedy assassination museum, answers & more questions in one site.

[.45colt]

Great information so far Guys, Thank You. .

[bdhold]

I can find history on a bike ride.
My town was on "the main drag" connecting three German settlements - Boerne, Annalt, New Braunfels.
At the Bulverde cemetery, there are German graves from the 19th century and, in particular, a half-dozen "unknown" in German graves dated 1872, that were almost certainly Comanche victims.
Every piece of limestone creek I fish was sacred, and somebody's gr-gr-grandfather had to fight the Comanches to live there.


the culinary approach
http://www.tourism-tools.com/texasbbq/Welcome.html



bring your knife or they'll know you're not from here

[FWiedner]

Holy cow.

One thing I'm sure you've noticed is that Texas is BIG.

You're gonna have to make several trips.

Shoot down the I-35 corridor. In Dallas, see Dealy Plaza and the 6th Floor Museum. In Waco, see the Texas Ranger Museum. In San Antonio see the Alamo. Lot of outstanding BBQ joints in the foothills around Austin. I recommend The Salt Lick.

If you get up around Amarillo, stop and have a steak for dinner and then get breakfast out on the rim of Palo Duro Canyon.

If you're way down south, spend a night up in the Chisos Mountains Lodge and make the drive thru Santa Elena Canyon from Terlingua to Presidio. You'll never regret it. Hope you speak Spanish, or are somewhat proficient in sign language.

If you get out into the Piney Woods in east Texas, bring a rifle and a cooler. There's a bunch of places to hunt hogs if you make a deal with an guide service in advance. Lot of hogs SE of San Antonio too. It's not expensive.

If you get down around Houston, the best thing you can see is the skyline in your rear-view mirror.

Enjoy Texas!

[Pete44ru]

If you get down around Houston, the best thing you can see is the skyline in your rear-view mirror.

Enjoy Texas!

ROTFLMAO ! ! .


.

[superchicken]

I currently live in TX, but am more of a New Mexico guy. Lived over there for more than a decade. If you are set on TX and like the SW, consider going down to Devils Creek SP, Big Bend NP, Big Bend Ranch SP, Terlingua, Alpine, Marfa, etc. Generally speaking, less water, fewer people, more like what you'd expect from the SW.

And the comment about Houston is classic.

[3leggedturtle]

I've been to Texas several times, but never just for a vacation. One of these days I would like to get down there and see the Alamo.

+1 Ted were you amazed at how small the Alamo actually is? Also the river walk is great especially all the lights during the holidays.

Also find a "mission" to take a tour of, there is one within 30 miles, but cannot remmeber what it is called.

[bdhold]

there is a paved bike path following the San Antonio River, south from Blue Star that connects all the Missions - it picks up as a continuation of the River Walk
The missions are now a National park
http://www.nps.gov/saan/index.htm

you can rent city bikes online and pick them up and return at kiosks all over downtown (north to the Zoo and south all the way to Mission Espada)
https://sanantonio.bcycle.com/

it's not really a tough outing to pedal from the Alamo to the other 4 missions, but it's a busy day to visit them all

If you rent a bike and get pedaled-out by the time you get to Mission Espada (or elsewhere), you can return your city bike at the kiosk there and take a bus back into town

here's the retalbo at Mission San Jose



before widespread groundwater drilling in San Antonio (c. 1880), San Pedro Springs, the source of the San Antonio River, was artesian springs spraying continuously 20' into the air. The Alamo is the oldest of the missions, founded in 1718. But after traveling across south Texas, the friars must have been amazed to find these springs and of course all 5 missions were founded along the river.
In 1903 the Alamo was saved from destruction for downtown renovation by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

[Sixgun]

I've never been to Texas, but I do have some solid advice.....stay away from Rockwall, Tx. There's an hombre down there who drives a big Kenworth and is known to rob unknowing people of their fine collectable firearms.-----6

[Lassiter]

Palo Duro canyon just south of Amarillo is deep in history, but then, there aren't many places in Texas that aren't.

[Grizz]

Have a son living in TX, we visit as often as possible.

My only input is STAY OFF OF THE INTERSTATES if you want to see Texas and meet Texans.

The secondarys are posted 75 mph, are among the best highways in America, go where the freeway doesn't, and aren't crowded except going thru the towns. The higher speed driving empties the roads and it's generally clear sailing. I am basing this on my last trip there where I crossed to Austin and back on the secondarys, far from the interstates. Because I can go diagonally and pretty much straight to Austin, and don't encounter the highway crunches, I think I made as good time as possible and it was stress free.

[Griff]

I've never been to Texas, but I do have some solid advice.....stay away from Rockwall, Tx. There's an hombre down there who drives a big Kenworth and is known to rob unknowing people of their fine collectable firearms.-----6

Read that as; "pay exorbitantly high prices for broken, cheap knock-offs!"

[Sixgun]

I knew you would like that.

[C. Cash]

My wife and I just spent our 20th anniversary in the Hill Country. We stayed in Boerne....very neat little town in its own right and close to Fredricksburg, Bandera, Enchanted Rock(a neat little hike). Boerne is to the North West of San Antonio. Problem with Boerne is that your waaaaay down there and if you want to see Austin and points North it is a good long drive. I really wanted to see the Ranger Museum but it was too much to get up there. Alamo, yes! Firearms and old mission are fantastic. BBQ: must go to Coopers In Llano, a drive but worth it. The Salt Lick near Austin is really good too and a Cabelas nearby. Hit these places on weekdays if you hate crowds. Love Texas and the people are simply fantastic.

[williamranks]

I've been to Texas several times, but never just for a vacation. One of these days I would like to get down there and see the Alamo.

+1 Ted were you amazed at how small the Alamo actually is? Also the river walk is great especially all the lights during the holidays.

Also find a "mission" to take a tour of, there is one within 30 miles, but cannot remmeber what it is called.

What you see now is a small part of what it was in 1836. It surprised me too.

http://www.thealamo.org/plan-a-visit/in ... index.html

[MrMurphy]

Agreed.

The "Alamo" you see now is the very smallest bit. It's like riding It's A Small World and proclaiming you've seen all of Disneyland.

While it's still important, seeing it doesn't take long. While you're there, walk across the street (from the Alamo facing out, diagonal to your left one street) to the Menger Hotel. Walk upstairs to the bar. Even if you're not a drinker, have a shot of whiskey at the bar and say hi to Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Rider's ghosts........its' where he recruited most of them.

It's also a long-time Texas Ranger unofficial hangout.

Fredericksburg......eh. Wasn't so impressed, but it is typical of small town Texas.

The Ranger museum: If you want to see the world's collection of fancy saddles, Peacemakers and 1911s in one spot, this is it. Lot of interesting history, a good couple hours worth, and it's cheap to get in. There's also the Dr. Pepper museum about 8 blocks away across I-35 in one of their original bottling plants. You can have a real (Dublin) Dr. Pepper and/or a Dr. Pepper float there, which you can't get anywhere else outside Texas. They taste different.


Dallas-Dealey Plaza as mentioned.


And yes, Texas is BIG. Driving from Dallas to Austin can take you four or five hours.....and that's not even halfway across the state vertically. Austin to San Antonio, another 1.5-2 hours (it can take an hour to CROSS either city).....and San Antonio to the southern border of Texas (McAllen/Brownsville) is easily another 5 hours.

[.45colt]

Thanks To All, lots to digest. it took us three trips to Arizona to see the highlights and would probably take more than that to see the best parts of Texas. Jim.

[bdhold]

what's left of the Alamo is the chapel and the long barracks which was part of the rear stockade.
There's a gift shop in a house that would have been outside the walls, from when the Alamo was owned by a mercantile in the 1870s. The rest of the walls would have been surrounding Alamo Plaza and through the storefronts across W. Alamo St. from the chapel
http://thealamo.org/plan-a-visit/intera ... index.html
Shilo's Deli is a great lunch spot since 1917 with micro-brewed root beer and blackberry cobbler.
The first IMAX theater was part of the '68 world's fair, and they built Rivercenter Mall around it.
San Antonio has more to offer, including the Botanical Gardens and McNay Art Museum.

Fredericksburg is a town with neat history - the German ranchers kept city houses for weekend socializing and these are now B&B. It's a great wife-treat and you might be able to find enough around to stay entertained. One of the best restaurants in Texas is in Doss, 9 miles outside of town - reservations required. http://hilltopcafe.com/ There are plenty of good restaurant choices in town, including traditional German food and Mamacita's (first rate Tex-Mex). Opa's is a decent meat market for jerky and dried sausage. (Dodge Hondo's, though, it's a greasy burger joint that took over the haunt of a great traditional family restaurant that finally retired.)
There are many great driving destinations from here, Becker vineyards (Viognier is Texas' best wine) , LBJ boyhood home and ranch, Enchanted Rock SP. Texas wildflower farm and Sauer-Beckman Farm. Pick your own ripe peaches. Plus shops, restaurants and the museum inside the city.

Also agree that US 281 is the best drive south from Ft. Worth to see Texas - every small town has a rodeo - plus, you can stop in Lampasas and visit Steve's Guns. In the spring, hundreds of miles of bluebonnets. Both E-W and N-S, it's 900 miles across Texas.
Cooper's BBQ is good, rearranged to be understandable, but Luling and Lockhart BBQ markets are uncompromising Texas.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/lists/50-be ... ints-world

I live 20 miles east of Boerne, and I don't think you're in Texas 'till you get here. Driving on S. to Corpus, I can find plenty of things to do - visit the hanging tree in Oakville and Van's BBQ (great brisket) - also the only worthwhile stop between San Antonio and Corpus. Corpus has a great aquarium and the USS Lexington, and a nice art deco section of town along Shoreline Dr. Of course great seafood, (the walnut salad dressing at Water Street Oyster bar is a food group), great Thai food, the best breakfast tacos on the planet and a strong Greek culture. I can stay busy up and down the coast.
The hill country west from San Antonio - even better, west from Bandera - breathtaking drives to Utopia and Rock Springs.

Of course, every place I go, the goal is water, kayak, fish, or cool off in a cypress tunnel - OK, and eat


before you start planning, get one of these - they're free
http://www.traveltex.com/travel-guide/

[TedH]

I've never been to Texas, but I do have some solid advice.....stay away from Rockwall, Tx. There's an hombre down there who drives a big Kenworth and is known to rob unknowing people of their fine collectable firearms.-----6

Nah, that feller ain't the reason to steer clear of Rockwall.

[bdhold]

nice article from the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/trave ... .html?_r=0

[Charles]

I am a life long Texan (72 years), and my family has been here for 6 generations back to the days of the Republic of Texas. Texas is a very large, geological and culturally diverse place. There just isn't one Texas, but several, all unified by a common history as a country first and then a state. We fought our own war of independence and have our own battlefields, hero's and shrines. We had our own frontier, fought our own brand of Indians to keep what we had and have a 800 mile long border with another country and culture. Texas is a unique place, unlike any other in this great land.

I hope you enjoy your trip but it will take a very long time to see it all and understand it a little bit. Many folks come here from other parts and live here for years and never truly understand the place. It take several generations to really get Texas down in your soul. Texas is as much a state of mind as it is a place on the map. Folks without long history here, do not understand that.

[bdhold]

there are 5 Texas-es and everybody is particular about theirs, West, North, East, Central and South.

South of Lampasas on US 281 is Burnet (burn-it). Go left for a few miles to Tow (rhymes wth cow). There is Fall Creek Vineyards, worth a sup, and a river cruise up Texas' Colorado
http://www.vtrc.com/

south from there, Longnorn cavern, which is a state park, was a Confederate munitions store, and a classy underground speakeasy during prohibition.

Charles, one of my standard bike trails is Salado Creek, which was a battlefield for the second invasion by Mexico in 1842 (San Antonio had been captured and was liberated here)

[natedontgo]

Not a lot to add to what Charles & Bulldog said here....But,some may ot be aware that Jack O'Conners' first college teaching job was at Sul Ross State, Alpine ,Tx.. Always enjoyed that place while ferrying My wife (a native Texan ) to and fro from her High school reunions..Pharr-San Juan Alamo ( I think we heard that 5 high schools presently replace the consolidated district of that era) In growing up she also lived in Amarillo, Hunt, Kerrvile ,and Baytown...So also have visited all those places,and Wheeler,where we buried her parents in her dads family plot (goes back to 1912) Nate

[dsmith512]

Check out The Day Tripper http://thedaytripper.com/. I have lived in Texas my whole life and Ole Chet Gardner has found more interesting stuff to see in Texas than I ever thought was possible.

[bdhold]

here's a fun article
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bucket-list
(the Fort Worth cemeteries sounds like a great idea)

here's the oldest Live Oak on planet Earth, at Goose Island SP


guarding Lady Lex


Malacquite Beach, Padre Island Nat'l Seashore


If you've ever thought about paddling a kayak in a coastal estuary, look up Slow Ride in Aransas Pass, and take a tour of Lighthouse Lakes
http://www.slowrideguide.com/#!our-shop/ccbt
(not exactly what we did below, we have our own boats and maps and this is a destination for us)



might even be enticed to get out of the boat



If you make it to Rockport/Fulton, Captain Benny's, owned by the mayor of Fulton and run by her grandkids, really does have the best fried seafood you've ever had. Only open Wednesday to Saturday, they don't have a liquor license, but they have glasses if want to bring a bottle of wine - or you can bring in your cooler. They did start taking credit cards. That's grandad shucking the oysters.

[horsesoldier03]

The George H.W. Bush Museum is worth your time too. There are several museums and exhibits in the Dallas area that make nice stops as well.

[bigbore442001]

There is a lot of good information on this posting. In two weeks my wife and I will head to Florida for a vacation and a convention for her business. After that we should have two weeks left on our time off. I was thinking of heading north through Florida the cross westward through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and East Texas to San Antonio and the Hill Country.

It has been more than a decade since I have been to the SA area. I know of the River Walk and the Alamo but I'd like to take her on something like a wildlife tour in the Hill Country or something like it.

I know you could spend years traveling Texas on a daily basis and never see it all.

[bdhold]

The courthouse of Judge Roy Bean in the General Store is now flat on the ground, and there is nothing but a green highway sign to let you know this is Vinegarone ("roon"), even more odd, the official population has been 0 since 1949.
But this is west Texas scrub - everything here bites, stings and spits poison at you - plants and animals both

unfortunately, TPWD didn't renew their lease at the former Devil's River SNA., and the only way to get here now is to float in on a 3-day guide trip, but this is the Devil's River



so what happens when I make this remote trip - my friend Alan is already there in the water (he was at the Anchorage airport, too)

the 3-day Devils River float trip, though, is supposed to be the fish-catchingest adventure on the planet
https://guidesoftexas.com/project/devils-river-fishing/
I can recommend a guide, my friend Kevin Stubbs
http://expedition-outfitters.net/id7.html

[bigbore442001]

Nice river images.

[bdhold]

been taking vacations in Texas all my life and pretty much grew up on the highland lakes - used to sail on Lake Travis and learned to fish on Lake LBJ.

Most of our camping is fall and spring, but one nice summer destination is Inks Lake SP.
New twist to car camping, they have air-conditioned cabins that are concrete slabs with 4 bunks and a table inside - and an air conditioner - I said that, right?
It's still camping and cooking meals outdoors, but Inks Lake is the best lake in the state to take a kayak.








it's also driving distance to Tow and Burnet, and rock-throwing distance to Longhorn Cavern, which is always 56-degrees inside (a vacation on its own at 2pm). (this is why we like our caves so much in Texas - Natural Bridge Cavern is a very nice one near my house)


another frequent escape for us to beat the summer heat is the CO/NM border (Chama, Farmington) - 50-degree July mornings are also a summer vacation in themselves.

But it's a day to drive out of Texas in any direction from here. We make a point to not drive more than 500 miles a day, forcing us to find a nice landing in Texas. We've made Palo Duro before, but Caprock Canyons SP near Sweetwater is equally nice.



this is the only place I have ever seen tame roadrunners

[Charles]

Tell me about that little table top stove with the yellow tea kettle in front of the pop up camper. That is cool!

[bdhold]

we get surrounded by people at every campsite because of that stove.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camping/ ... 715086.uts
runs off butane
it's good, it doesn't bake as well as a dutch oven, but it's really handy, esp for overnight stops on the road; and if you rotate your baking halfway, it cooks pretty well -
keeping food warm when you're making pancakes, easy for morning biscuits or Pillsbury rolls, etc.
also helps if you have a piece of pizza stone to stick in the bottom (not that it's a good pizza oven - not hot enough for that).
works great for making pizza bread, heating garlic bread
it will definitely hold 400oF

very handy at a campsite on a cold morning

here was a great meal in Chama on a cold windy night, Italian sausage, spaghetti, stir-fried snow-peas, jalapeno-cheese bread

[RKrodle]

I currently live in TX, but am more of a New Mexico guy. Lived over there for more than a decade. If you are set on TX and like the SW, consider going down to Devils Creek SP, Big Bend NP, Big Bend Ranch SP, Terlingua, Alpine, Marfa, etc. Generally speaking, less water, fewer people, more like what you'd expect from the SW.

And the comment about Houston is classic.

Being a life long Texan I have to agree on the aera superchicken recommends. Beautiful country but you will add another couple of days of drive time.

[octagon]

Don't forget to visit lovely and scenic Odessa, you can smell the fragrant meadows 15 miles before you get there

[bigbore442001]

I wish I could get my wife back into camping. When we were first together we camped quite a bit. Now it is motel-hotel. Roughing it means no WIFI.