Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i Texas Highways Magazine

IN A STATE AS BIG AND DIVERSE as Texas, the options for travel and must-see destinations can seem endless, in a good way. Our features this month aptly reflect the myriad choices as our writers pursue disparate activities from fishing and paddle boarding at restorative lakeside retreats, to bronc riding and chuckwagon cooking at the original ranch rodeo, to running the field and touring hallowed halls at football stadiums across the state. And because these pages can’t contain all of the must-do activities in August, we invite you to visit our website, tetreats, to bronc riding and chuckwagon cooking at the original ranch rodeo, to running the field and touring hallowed halls at football stadiums across the state. And because these pages can’t contain all of the must-do activities in…

WHEN PHOTOGRAPHER CAROLYN TRACY and I sign on to curate a guide to 100 of the best places to swim in the state, we know we are taking on a mighty task. Five months and 20,000 miles on the odometer later, we have hard proof. Starting out, we grapple with two questions: How do you organize the geography of a state as diverse as Texas? And how could two shy city-folk manage to cover so much ground in a single summer? We sit at Hard Luck Lounge in Austin, open maps and drop pins on the places we know we want to visit. For the rest, we use our common sense. We get on the road and follow the rivers. Being on the road every weekend for four months straight…

TRUE TEXAS FOOTBALL FANS WE ARE. We stand in lines, endure the swelter of early-season day games, and pay top dollar in donations and seat licenses to cheer our college and pro teams. We turn out to watch the local boys play under Friday-night lights, whether on six-man squads with bleachers set up next to pastures or suburban dynasties in multimillion-dollar stadiums. Texas’ two most storied teams—The University of Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies—draw 100,000-plus spectators to big homes games. And the state’s two NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, take the field in precedent-setting stadiums that push the boundaries of technology and fan experience. But the Longhorns, Aggies, Cowboys, and Texans each play only a relative handful of home games a year. Fortunately for super- fans—and…

AUGUST’S TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT: HILL COUNTRY > Marble Falls START YOUR ENGINES and head to Lake Marble Falls, whose calm, warm waters will once again transform into a veritable racetrack for the LakeFest Drag Boat Races, Aug. 11–13. More than a hundred boats will reach speeds of more than 260 mph as they race across this reservoir on a bend in the Colorado River for the 26th consecutive year. Meanwhile, the banks of the lake turn into a party, with a special treat for spectators beginning after dusk: a free concert at the Johnson Park Amphitheater. On Sunday, the winners drive away with more than $100,000 in prizes. marblefalls.org BIG BEND COUNTRY FORT DAVIS: Davis Mountains Hummingbird Celebration Aug. 24-26. fortdavis.com 432-426-3015 MARATHON: Grilling at the Gage Summer Series Aug. 19.…

GO, SEE, DO—TAKING IN TEXAS WHAT: THE MILKY WAY WHERE: MCDONALD OBSERVATORY WHEN: YEAR-ROUND, BUT TYPICALLY MORE VISIBLE IN LATE JULY THROUGH SEPTEMBER In one of the darkest corners of the country—and one of the most unpopulated parts of Texas— astronomers are focused in one direction: up. There’s plenty to look at, thanks to the world’s third-largest telescope and state legislation prohibiting light pollution in the area. The 10-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory completed a multiyear $40 million upgrade in April. “We increased its field of view, the amount of the sky it can see at once,” explains Dr. Taft Armandroff, the observatory’s director. The brighter parts of the Milky Way are most visible this time of year, and the observatory hosts Star Parties for crowds to gather…

EVEN THE QUALITY OF LIGHT LOOKS DIFFERENT here, I think, watching as my boys amble down from a rusty wagon, whooping and hollering among the horses, donkeys, and a lone pot-bellied pig at Rancho Cortez in Bandera. At sunset, the ranch is washed in golden light, sparkling on the green pastures and hay bales. Our ranch hand, Dakota Mayhall, has lit a campfire for us in a giant pit, and the task of s’mores-making is well under way. We have spent the day pretending to be cowboys, and soon it will be time to round up the kiddos and hunker down for the night. Rancho Cortez is a 250-acre guest ranch situated next to the 5,500-acre Hill Country State Natural Area. After spending time in Louisiana, East Texas, and California,…

Red sand flies across the arena as ranch cowboys show off the skills of their horses, which have colorful names like Lorett a Lynn, Snake, Purr Cat, and Brandin’ Crew. Each cowboy rides his horse hard, then pulls back the reins to stop abruptly. Next, each rider backs up his horse, rides in one direction and then another, making the shape of a figure eight. In a final display of agility and versatility, each horse chases down a calf so the cowboy, still in the saddle, can rope it. Applause and shouts echo in the stands from the fans at Wichita Falls’ Multi-Purpose Event Center, many of whom are wearing cowboy hats themselves. This “top horse” competition tests American Quarter Horses and their riders on skills they’d need if they…

DESTINATION: SMITHVILLE CAN’T-MISS GETAWAYS STEVE SIMMONS AND HIS WIFE, AMY, THE Austin ice cream queen, bought a ranch in the Smithville area 10 years ago to get away from the hustle. But a Saturday in early 2014 inspired Steve to get to work instead. He and his family had dinner that night at the Back Door Café, Smithville’s fine dining establishment, then walked onto the Main Street of a ghost town. “We’d just had a great meal, and the downtown buildings looked beautiful against the sky,” Simmons recalls. “Where are all the people?” his 10-year-old son asked. It did seem strange to Simmons that there wasn’t anyone else on the streets that once bustled when the town was a railroad hub. “Dad, you could fix this,” were the words that…

WHEN BURNING UP THE HIGHWAY between Dallas and Austin, it’s easy to pass through Hillsboro and see nothing more than modern gas stations and frontage-road shopping. But those looking for a blast back in time should grab the nearest exit and get ready for a true small-town-Texas experience that feels like a trip to the “good ol’ days.” 9:30 A.M. I left the ruckus of I-35 in my rearview mirror and could feel time slow down as I approached the Hill County Square, with the Hill County Courthouse standing boldly in the center. While it may look 100 years old, it surprisingly only dates to 1999 when it was rebuilt after a fire with the help of local boy Willie Nelson. Dozens of buildings that look untouched by time surround…

IT’S NOT EVERY COMMUNITY THAT CAN FONDLY RECALL the good ol’ days when mermaids would swim and play in the local waters, but San Marcos can. And lately, the city has been doing more than just remembering its quirky history with these aquatic maidens. There is, once again, a thriving mermaid culture throughout San Marcos because, after a bit of an absence, the mermaids have returned. In September, San Marcos celebrates both the fairy tale history of mermaids and their modern resurgence as symbols of the city with the Mermaid SPLASH festival. With a series of family activities, social events, and educational forums on a variety of San Marcos topics, this second annual fete is as much a party for the beautiful San Marcos River as it is an affirmation…

AS A LIGHT RAIN FALLS, A CROWD IS GATHERING at Green’s Sausage House, a country café, meat market, and bakery in the tiny Czech community of Zabcikville, 10 miles east of Temple. Breakfast is over at Green’s, and it’s time for lunch. Green’s dates to 1946, when longtime Zabcikville residents Jerome and Della Green opened a grocery and mercantile to serve the farming communities in their part of the Blackland Prairie. The store soon became known for its delicious sausage, which Jerome made from a Czech recipe handed down from his family. In 1960, with business going strong, Green’s moved across the highway to its present location—a simple building with a long porch that today houses a café, bakery, meat market, and deer processing facility. Sons Charles and Marvin took…

When I was growing up in New York City, my father had a small farmhouse a couple of hours upstate from the Big Apple, where there was a rowboat and a pond rife with largemouth bass, yellow perch and pickerel, snapping turtles, bullfrogs, and the occasional muskrat. Until adolescence arrived and brought the twin distractions of girls and rock ’n’ roll music, that modest family waterfront—long since sold—struck me as a little slice of heaven. Decades later, finding myself a father now living in another gigantic city, Houston, with opportunities to own a waterfront weekend cabin of my own out of reach, summer still brings a nostalgia for the panacea and sense of discovery I enjoyed in my youth. And with my 10-yearold daughter edging into the treacherous middle-school territory,…