Most vacations in Texas mean filling up the gas tank and logging long hours on the highway. Yet whether it’s a classic buddy trip or a full-blown family vacation, the charms of the open road remain. May it always be so.
In Port Aransas, idleness is next to godliness for those on vacation. In this unpretentious village on the northern tip of Mustang Island your most exacting task—picking out the perfect spot on the beach—will also be the most rewarding. Who cares if the sand isn’t pristine (this is Texas,
When it comes to choosing a getaway, the Hill Country doesn’t have to campaign hard for our affections. Its lush expanses of bounding green hills and serpentine rivers stretch over some 25 of the most idyllic counties in the state. And those picturesque towns that cling proudly to their
When the surf’s good, Texas (yes, Texas) surfers drop what they’re doing and head for the water.
The Laguna Madre, near Corpus Christi’s Padre Island National Seashore, is known as one of the nation’s best windsurfing sites because of its shallow waters and consistent breeze. It’s also a perfect spot for beginners, says Angela Hurley, an instructor for Worldwinds, a local windsurf shop. “With good instruction, the
What's missing from all the bureaucratic back and forth over permits and mining and dredging is a sense of the importance of the river itself.
Where does the Pecos River originate? How long is the Devils River? What river in Texas is used to cool nuclear reactors? Everything you wanted to know about some of our state's waterways.
Where people do crazy things in the jet stream.
Watch out for sunken logs and fallen trees, which rest in the river like sleeping monsters in tangle of smaller deadwood.
Throw a canoe on the roof or a tube in the trunk and head for the Llano, the Brazos, the Pecos, the Trinity, the Guadalupe, or any of the other rivers on this list of the twenty best trips to take on Texas waterways this summer.
Some things never change, like the irrepressible desire to float a Hill Country river on a 100-degree day—with, most naturally, a cooler of beer. And while the basic art of loading one’s booze boat also remains the same (use a separate inner tube with a bottom, pump it with extra
Applegate was raised near El Paso. He is a full-time predator-control trapper on ranches in Big Bend. For the past ten years, he has served as the president of the Texas Trappers and Fur Hunters Association. He lives in Marfa.When I was eight years old, I was in my grandpa’s
Grab your towel, your sunscreen, and go! Presenting our 25 favorite swimming holes: Barton Springs, Blue Hole, Balmorhea, and other iconic places to lower your core temperature. At least for a couple of hours.
Hutchison, standing, owns Hill Country Flyfishers and is the fly-fishing manager at Sportsman’s Finest, in Austin, where he has lived for twenty-plus years. He guides more than one hundred trips a year, helping clients catch a variety of bass, trout, and perch.Fly-fishing in Texas is underappreciated. When people think of
Fifty years after the mythical trip on the Brazos that was the basis for John Graves’s classic book, I followed in his wake. Literally.
From kayaking on Town Lake to mountain biking around Joe Pool Lake, from bass fishing on Lake Fork to horseback riding on the shores of Lake Whitney, here are some of our favorite things to do in, on, and around Texas lakes.
At the Houston Museum of Natural Science, butterflies are free (sort of).
To hear John Poindexter tell it, he’s one of the good guys—a faithful steward of his West Texas land and therefore a worthy bidder for 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park. But sometimes having your heart in the right place simply isn’t enough.
Contributing photographer Wyatt McSpadden, who shot this month’s feature “Tour de Texas,” describes how a plum assignment became a poignant father-son journey.
These ten bike routes, some easy and some hard, will help you channel your inner Lance.
How I learned to stop worrying and love “blood sport”—or at least understand its appeal.
What to do if you're bitten by fire ants, lost in the wilderness, sprayed by a skunk, attacked by a shark, stuck in a lightning storm, swept away by a riptide, or caught in any of eleven other worst-case scenarios.
What to do in ten more worst-case scenarios, from getting bitten by a brown recluse to getting caught in a dust storm.
As Natural Bridge Caverns celebrates forty years since its dedication, its patron family looks back on three generations of cave life.
Suzy Banks, Stacy Hollister, and Charlie Llewellin discuss this month's cover story, "This Land Is Your Land."
Seven images and captionsfrom the campsite to the view from the rimshow how executive editor S. C. "Sam" Gwynne spent seven days alone on the Solitario.
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.
To experience the majesty and peril of the desert on my own terms, I spent a week alone in the Solitario, the most remote area of Big Bend Ranch State Park. I confronted my darkest fears—and made small talk with an insect.
The flat-as-a-mouse-pad landscape bordering the Laguna Madre contains one of the greatest wildlife-viewing regions in North America—and that's not all.
Every year, at least two hundred sea mammals get stranded on Texas beaches. This is the story of one of them, a 199-pound dolphin with a neurological disorder, a sardonic grin, and a willingness to swim with yours truly.
Riding a camel across the West Texas sand dunes, I got in touch with my inner O'Toole and left the modern world far behind.
When I was growing up in Arlington, the upper Trinity River was a dirty jokeand it still is. But the lower Trinity? You've got to see it to believe it.
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.
Surf report: The waves are up. Get to the Texas Gulf Coast.
Kenny Braun talks about waves, waterproof cameras, and the perfect picture.
Photographer Kenny Braun has been surfing the Gulf Coast for about thirty years. So naturally, when the water's just right, he grabs his . . . camera.
Beck Weathers' life (and wife) after Everest.
A friendly bar in Johnson City, a grand old opry in Mason, a cabin with a view of the Sabinal Canyon, and 22 other things I love about the Hill Country.
To the long list of reasons to visit Fort Worth these days, add this: outstanding bike trails.
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Photographer Artie Limmer talks about the challenges of shooting the mighty Rio Grande.
There are rivers in Texassome of the most beautiful places on earthwhere the fly-fishing is great and you don't have to battle the crowds. Now, tell me again why I should vacation in Montana?
An interview with Wyman Meinzer, author of Canyons of the Texas High Plains and Texas Rivers.
On the trail of Texas' unhappy hunting grounds.
When you fall in love with a piece of land in Texas, you quickly learn that it changes. And it changes you.
They’ve Got It CoveredFive songs played by marching bands this year: • “1999” • “Livin’ La Vida Loca” • “Theme from Wild Wild West” • “American Woman” • “Jump Jive An’ Wail”He’s With the BandIn 24 years as the band director at 2A Canadian, Fred Pankratz has mounted halftime tributes
Coach CoutureCoaches still prefer shorts from time to time, but long pants are suddenly in fashion. The 10,600 coaches who attended this year’s coaching convention in Fort Worth were all dressed in polo shirts of varying hues, khaki, and loafers (tassels optional).What Every Coach Wants for ChristmasEnd-zone cameras and digital
What’s the deal with the UIL?Headquartered in Austin and operated under the auspices of the University of Texas, the University Interscholastic League is the governing body that oversees 64 extracurricular activities in Texas public schools, including football, which it has been regulating since 1920. UIL officials follow the National Collegiate
You might be bunking in a room that would give Martha Stewart seizures, but at these eleven guest ranches you can saddle up and get in touch with your inner buckaroo.
RICHARD SPEEDY wasn’t planning on working last January when he took his fifth trip to Mexico’s Copper Canyon, but he happened to be on the same trek as senior editor Joe Nick Patoski, who needed someone to document his crossing of the vast and brutal expanse (see “Let’s Get
