Stacy Hollister

Space: A Profitable Frontier?

Richard Garriott, the video game pioneer and tireless proselytizer of private space flight, posits that old-fashioned entrepreneurialism will drive space exploration in the coming decades.

A Q&A With H. W. Brands

The author of The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream talks about peddling history and more.

Calling a Baseball Game

Milo Hamilton on calling a baseball game.

That Championship Season

Long before the BCS, long before anyone thought to publish insider newsletters for boosters, the Aggies were the best college football team in the nation—for the first and only time. The long-gone glory days remembered.

The Pro Life

Free advice for Devin Durant.

Are You Ready for Some …

Hoop dreams.

Ball Boy

A few swings at Andy Roddick.

Queens of the Court

Should the WNBA go away?

Any Given Saturday

Handicapping the Big 12.

Diamonds Are Forever

Nolan Ryan on the Rocket’s comeback.

Uptown, Fredericksburg.

A quickie guide. Fredericksburg without tourists.

All the Pretty Horses

Catherine Crier, the host of Court TV’s Catherine Crier Live, on growing up in Dallas, riding and showing horses, and moving away from Texas.

Mashed Potatoes

AustinCan mere mashed potatoes be bodacious? If so, the ones at Tony’s Southern Comfort qualify. Whipped to a fare-thee-well, they are anointed with a thinnish, mild cream gravy. The menu calls them “au gratin potatoes,” but the great cheesy, creamy, well-peppered spuds at Arkie’s Grill are more mashed than sliced;

Take Me to the Rivers

Six more watery adventures, from birding on the Trinity to tubing the Frio.

Hello to a River

Fourteen of them, actually. From kayaking the Colorado and rock climbing along the Pecos to tubing the Pedernales and birding on the Rio Grande, here are the most enjoyable and exciting things to do on some of our favorite Texas waterways.

Happy Trails

After a quick trip to Houston for a football game—and a visit to the Johnson Space Center—I’ve come up with a new mission.

10.30.2004

So what if Smarty Jones opted to spend the rest of his days at Three Chimneys Farm, near Midway, Kentucky, thereby forgoing an appearance at this month’s BREEDERS’ CUP WORLD THOROUGHBRED CHAMPIONSHIPS. Pleasantly Perfect, Birdstone, and Perfect Drift, along with dozens of other horses, will be competing at the event,

Chip, Chip, Hooray!

In 1943 Ignacio Anaya was working as the maître d’ at the Victory Club, in Piedras Negras—across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass—when a gaggle of officers’ wives from nearby Fort Duncan strolled into the place. With no chef in sight, the 49-year-old Anaya dashed to the kitchen, ingeniously piling

Happy Trails

Sight-seeing and a little bit of history made for a fine weekend in the Rio Grande Valley.

The Magnificent Seven

Meet a diver, a high-jumper, and five other Texas athletes who hope to put the pedal to the medal at the 2004 Olympics.

06.04.04

Dallas in the summertime has been called a lot of things—”heaven” has never been one of them. Of course, what isn’t written in stone may be disproved this month when guitar enthusiasts flock to Fair Park for the Crossroads Guitar Festival. The three-day, charity-benefiting rapture masterminded by Eric Clapton—go ahead,

Marfa

Technically, the masterminds behind Ballroom Marfa, a haven for contemporary art in West Texas, could have uncorked the celebratory grand-opening bubbly last fall, when they opened their spacious cultural center. But so much for technicalities. The official christening for this dance hall turned gallery begins with the April 23 opening

Happy Trails

From wildflowers to wine, a trip to Bryan-College Station made for a poetic journey.

Best Fests

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Spam Come April 3, Spam is taking over the capital of Texas. Austin’s Spamarama—a festival as infamous as the potted pork product that it celebrates—started 26 years ago as a joke and has grown over the years into a gonzo tribute to the gelatinous hunk of

SPORTS

PLAYTIMES It’s awesome April, baby—or so the colorfully alliterative Dick Vitale might say if he were to sum up this month’s sports lineup. Start in the Alamo City, which hosts this season’s marvelously maddening men’s NCAA Final Four. Sure, the semifinals on April 3 and the championship game on April

BLUES

BLUES CLUES Once in a blue moon, a blue-ribbon month like this comes along. And your true-blue friends at this magazine will talk till they’re blue in the face if that’s what it takes for you to notice. Sensing a theme? Yes, March is a blues-filled 31 days, so between

This Land is Your Land

With more than 600,000 acres of state parks, historic sites, and natural areas, Texas can be a perfect playground for every type of outdoor adventurer—if you know where to go. We do.

Happy Trails

Gruene prides itself on keeping things the way they've always been. That suits us just fine.

A GREAT WEEKEND IN AUSTIN

AUSTIN POWER Let me set you a scene, one I’ve participated in often during many a pleasantry-exchanging encounter: “So where are you from?” inquires a new acquaintance. “Austin,” I reply, with a smile on my face. “Oh, you must love it. Austin’s a great city.” Time and time again, I’ve

On The Road

Eat! They Said In the game of Where To Eat When on the Road, the surprises behind doors 1, 2, and 3 really aren’t surprises at all. There’s your standard please-drive-forward-and-pick-up-at-the-window hamburger, your country-kitchen chicken-fried steak (which is sometimes simply shoe leather slopped with gravy), and your Italian bread salad

ON STAGE

PLAY DATE The last time I went to the theater? Well, that would have been for a production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—four years ago. I can hear the collective rolling over of dead playwrights in their graves upon an admission of such neglect. So, in the spirit

A GREAT WEEKEND IN DALLAS

‘TIS THE SEASON Don your gay apparel and fa-la-la-la-la your way to Dallas December 4-7 for a long weekend sure to make you jolly. On Thursday evening the Dallas Mavericks (yes, good things come in big packages too) take on the superstar-studded Los Angeles Lakers at the American Airlines Center.

WORD OF MOUTH

BOWS TO HOLLEY Mark Holley confesses that interviews make him nervous. But the 44-year-old executive chef of Pesce, a seafood restaurant in Houston, is going to have to get used to the attention, especially if the accolades keep rolling in: My Table, the Bayou City’s foodie magazine, recently named

BOOKS

NUMBER ONE FAN Some favor the celebrities of the big screen, others bow at the altars of superstar athletes. We, however, prefer master wordsmiths. Luckily for us, this month offers plenty of reasons to break out the Sharpie. Former first couple George and Barbara Bush host heavyweights Michael Beschloss, Christopher

Happy Trails

We spent a lovely fall afternoon in Boerne, shopping at antiques stores and picking out the perfect pumpkin.

A GREAT WEEKEND IN BIG BEND

ARE WE THERE YET? If ever there was a time to go to Big Bend, the weekend of October 10-12 is it. Period. (Let us clarify: For the purposes of our conversation, “Big Bend” means the Marfa-Alpine-Marathon corridor.) On Friday, head to Marfa, and before you retire for the night,

Happy Trails

Until I went biking at Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway, I had never heard of the little town of Quitaque, where life is slow and people like it that way.

Word of Mouth

A GOOD SIGN After preparing for an academic career, Houston native Scott Tycer decided instead to do what he loved: cook. He set his sights on owning his own restaurant by age thirty, a feat he accomplished by thirty and a half. Three years later, Aries is thriving in Houston,

A Great Weekend In Houston

CRASH COURSE True Renaissance men (or perhaps today we should say “Renaissance people”) spend years mastering their broad-ranging interests. But for us wannabes, the Bayou City offers a shortcut to enlightenment the weekend of September 19-21. Well-roundedness 101 starts on Friday with a lesson in art. The Blaffer Gallery examines

Around the State

Restaurant Guide

Word of Mouth

NO BULLFood & Wine recently named David Bull, the 28-year-old executive chef at Austin’s Driskill Hotel, one of its ten best new American chefs of 2003. (Next month we’ll talk to Scott Tycer, of Aries in Houston, the other Texas chef to make the list.)Was there ever a moment when

Western

COWBOY JUNKIESIf you’re anything like the city slicker I am, then the closest you’ve come to experiencing the West is through books and movies —not all of us have that urge to visit a working ranch à la Billy Crystal. But this month we can get even closer to rough-ridin’

Get Out

THE WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS With the boys of summer going strong long into the fall, you’ll have plenty of time to grab a hot dog and a beer, sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during a seventh-inning stretch, and strive to catch a foul ball. So forgo

Around the State

Restaurant Guide

Happy Trails

I had only 24 hours in Galveston, but that was plenty of time to see the famous Strand, eat some good seafood, and play a little bingo.

Restaurant Guide

A Great Family Weekend in Dallas

PLAY DATES Looking forward to the lazy days of summer, when hours meander and agendas consist of sipping lemonade beside a cool body of water while soaking up the sun’s bronzing rays? Sure, that sounds nice—until boredom sets in. For a change of pace, head to the Dallas area June