Trip Guide: Galveston
Neither shifting sands nor fluctuating fortunes can erode this island town’s indomitable spirit.
The Wanderer
The Wanderer
November 14, 2013
InstaTexas: Looks Like Fall
It's officially leaf-peeping season. Here's where to catch the spectacular spoils of fall.
The Wanderer
July 19, 2013
Ask the Wanderer: South Congress And Beyond
Jordan, Hey. I’m heading to Austin at the end of July and—having worked at Philadelphia magazine for a few years—I figured reaching out to you would be the best way to figure out what to do. A few college friends and I will be visiting a buddy
The Wanderer
April 5, 2013
The Texas To-Do List: Take a Glass-Bottom Boat Tour of Aquarena Springs
From the bustling cities to the Piney Woods and West Texas deserts, no state has as much to offer travelers as Texas. I keep an ever-growing Texas To-Do list; here’s one of my many entries.Last May, cranes lifted a 480-ton theater out of the San Marcos River. It was
The Wanderer
April 4, 2013
Ask the Wanderer: Best Texas Town to Live In? (The Votes Are In!)
Last week, I asked for a little help answering a California reader’s query about where in Texas he and his family should relocate. I was very happy to read all of your thoughtful comments, as well as the responses on Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps
The Wanderer
March 21, 2013
Ask The Wanderer: Best Texas Town to Live In?
Help some poor Californians out (figuratively and literally).
The Wanderer
March 20, 2013
The Texas To-Do List: Visit the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center
Spring is here, and with it another entry for the Texas To-Do List: meet one of Texas's oldest living things, a 1,230 year-old cypress tree growing in Orange.
The Wanderer
March 13, 2013
Ask The Wanderer: Weekend in San Antonio
I'm always fielding questions from my friends and family about the best things to do and see in Texas. (There's a lot.) So, I thought, why not share some of these exchanges with you? This week: a weekend in San Antonio.
The Wanderer
March 6, 2013
Ask The Wanderer: Hill Country Antiquing & BBQ
Coming to Austin and want a break from SXSW's landscape of rock shows and long lines? Here are a few small towns, just a stone's throw away, offering some of the state's best barbecue and most charming pieces of the past.
The Wanderer
February 27, 2013
Ask The Wanderer: What To Do In McKinney
I'm always fielding questions from my friends and family about the best things to do and see in Texas. (There's a lot.) So, I thought, why not share some of these exchanges with you? First up: McKinney.
The Wanderer
February 25, 2013
The Texas To-Do List: Ride Horseback Through Palo Duro Canyon
From the bustling cities to the Piney Woods and West Texas deserts, no state has as much to offer travelers as Texas. I keep an ever-growing Texas To-Do list; here's one of my many entries.
The Wanderer
February 19, 2013
Sneak Peek: In March, The Wanderer Goes To . . .
Sometimes the best vacations are staycations. Though I didn’t have to travel very far to get to my March destination—East Austin—it was a welcome change of scenery. There are far too many shops, restaurants, bars, and other discoveries in the neighborhood to hit them all in a three-day
The Wanderer
January 30, 2013
Calling All Weekend Wanderers
In Texas Monthly’s inaugural issue (forty years ago this month, in February 1973), writer Richard West exhorted “weekend wanderers” to pack up and embrace the three-day vacation. “With a little imagination, planning, and a basic Texas road map,” he wrote, “a very real quality of leisure and
The Wanderer
December 13, 2012
Sneak Peek: The Wanderer Goes To…
While the first issue of 2013 is en route to newsstands and your mailbox (because you are a Texas Monthly subscriber, right?), here's a little preview of some of the sights, sounds, and tastes I discovered while on assignment in...can you guess which Texas town? (Click through
The Wanderer
November 7, 2012
Bookmark This: Two Great Texas (Life)Style Blogs
Meet Texas Style & Substance and The Diego Files.
The Wanderer
October 19, 2012
Travel + Leisure’s 101 Places Every Traveler Should Know: Which Texas Destination(s) Made the Cut?
In the November 2012 issue of Travel + Leisure, the magazine's editors have compiled a list of 101 places around the world that they say "define the traveler's core curriculum right now." One Texas destination has made the list. Can you guess what it is? Click
The Wanderer
October 13, 2012
The State Fair of Texas: Football + Fried Food
This time last year, I was leaving the Cotton Bowl along with thousands of football fans who'd made the annual pilgrimage to watch the 106th Red River Rivalry, one of the highlights of the State Fair of Texas. While throngs of UT
Where To Stay Now
October 12, 2012
Where To Stay Now 2012: The Ten Best New (Or Improved!) Texas Hotels
As a recent study of hotel booking trends pointed out, us Texans prefer to vacation in Texas. Since our last roundup of the state's most notable lodgings was in 2004, I thought it was high time to revisit the subject. So
The Wanderer
October 11, 2012
Coming Soon: Where To Stay Now 2012
So I’ve been MIA from the blog lately, but I think I have a pretty good excuse, as I’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on a Texas travel feature for our November issue. For the latest installment of “Where To Stay Now,” I
The Wanderer
September 17, 2012
Sneak Peek: The Wanderer Goes To . . .
For the October installment of the Wanderer, I spent three days exploring a Houston hood with a colorful history (a 1973 Texas Monthly article called it “the strangest neighborhood in Texas”) and a colorful array of shops, restaurants, and watering holes. Can you guess
The Wanderer
September 17, 2012
Spotted in Bandera
For my first official outing as the Wanderer, I got to play cowgirl for a few days in Bandera, the (self-proclaimed) Cowboy Capital of the World. As I was busy riding horses, two-stepping, and eating fried delicacies, I managed to take nearly
The Wanderer
September 6, 2012
Choose Your Own Texas Adventure
The first column I wrote for Texas Monthly appeared in the March 2000 issue. The article was titled “Voting Rites,” and I argued that the Voting Rights Act, which Lyndon Johnson had proposed to a joint session of Congress 35 years earlier, was the greatest accomplishment of his
The Wanderer
August 29, 2012
Houston: James Turrell’s Skyspace
During a recent trip to Houston, I decided to make an early-bird dinner reservation so I could get over to the Rice University campus in time for the evening viewing of James Turrell’s Light Epiphany. Open since June, the site-specific “skyspace” was commissioned to mark the
The Wanderer
August 27, 2012
Marathon: Get Outta Town
For many travelers, this far West Texas town is a last-chance pit stop before heading south to brave the wilds of Big Bend National Park. But, this past spring, after driving 407 miles (that’s roughly 7 hours and 143 country songs) from Austin to
The Wanderer
August 27, 2012
Marfa: Trans-Pecos Gathering of Music + Love
In one of my favorite descriptions of Marfa, writer David McDannald points out that sometimes it’s “a shadow of a town” and sometimes it’s “a desert Mardi Gras.” At the end of this month, West Texas’s buzziest destination will be lit up like Bourbon Street on
The Wanderer
August 22, 2012
Roadside Attraction: Wild Boar Farms
WHAT: Wild Boar Farms, a roadside farm stand worth pulling over for. WHERE: Stonewall, at the northeast corner of Hwy 290 and Luckenbach Road. WHY: For starters, the head farmer’s name is Daniel Bacon. That’s as good a reason as any to patronize this long, wood-paneled structure, which
The Wanderer
August 22, 2012
Wandering Around the Great State of Texas
If you’ve already picked up your copy of Texas Monthly‘s September issue, you’ve noticed that the magazine has undergone a top-to-bottom redesign. In the new Touts section, you’ll find the debut of my Texas travel column, the Wanderer (or, as my colleagues like to call