I may travel around the great state of Texas for a living, but that doesn’t mean I’m immune to bouts of wanderlust. If anything, I’m more prone to feeling a little twinge of envy whenever I’m scrolling through Instagram and catch sight of some picturesque pocket that I’ve never been to or some arresting vista that I’m longing to see again. Once you’ve started to explore Texas it’s hard to stop. As the saying goes, I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list. Here, a few of the Instagram accounts that inspire my own travels.
@texasvibes_ // who’s behind the lens: Brooke and Taylor, “two old souls rambling around the state,” whom I first came across via their ode to Texas on Hipcamp. (See also, their stunning website, texasvibes.com.)
@visittexas // who’s behind the lens: An assortment of professional photographers and amateur shutterbugs around the state. (Tag your own shots with #VisitTexas or email visittexasig@gmail.com to have your own images featured.)
@txparksccc // who’s behind the lens: Texas Parks and Wildlife staffers who mine the archives to find delightful throwback photos of the more than fifty state parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the thirties. (How cool would it have been to ride this lift over Palo Duro Canyon?!)
@etxtraveler // who’s behind the lens: The folks behind the Texas Forest Trail Region, one of the Texas Historical Commission’s designated heritage regions, which encompasses 35 of the state’s easternmost counties, from the Oklahoma-Arkansas border down to the Gulf of Mexico.
@texas.wild // who’s behind the lens: West Texas A&M wildlife biologists Dr. Ray Matlack and Jessie Story, who traverse the state in search of critters for their PBS show Texas Wild, which aims “to bring the wildlife and wild places of Texas to everyone.” (If you’d like to give ’em a little gas money, check out their crowdfunding site.)
p.s. Would love to know which Instagram accounts inspire your own Texas wanderings. Let me know in the comments!
