Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Texas Highways Magazine

Dive in 33º 00’ 29.25” N 94º 41’ 53.53” W SUMMER FUN AWAITS at Daingerfield State Park, located a couple of miles southeast of the city of Daingerfield in Northeast Texas. The 507-acre park offers plenty of classic summer diversions from camping to swimming, fishing, hiking, dancing, canoeing, kayaking, and pedal boating. The swimming platform—placed about 140 feet from the shore of the 80-acre lake—invites jumping, diving, and perfecting your cannonball. For more information, visit texasstateparks.org.…

COOK + TRAVEL + EAT ALTHOUGH IT PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE been a requirement, I can’t remember if I’d ever built a campfire before taking a job to cook on a guest ranch near Garner State Park. That was more than a decade ago, when my husband David Norman and I moved from Manhattan to a staggeringly beautiful property in the Hill Country. But what we lacked in frontier skills, we made up for in enthusiasm. So we drove our truck over the cattle guard and dove in. As we settled into the rhythm of ranch life, lighting fires became mostly David’s job—a charge that he relished. This was mainly because of how our duties were divided early on. I was typically in the kitchen, whisking vinaigrettes, shaking skillets, and juggling…

REAL TEXAS STORIES BORN AND BRED ON A CLEAR SATURDAY MORNING, I FIND myself perched in the glass nose cone of a World War II bomber, barreling through the sky at about 200 miles per hour. The roar of the engines fills my ears as the two pilots, seated behind me, guide the plane over my hometown of La Porte. From this vantage point, some 1,500 feet in the air, I gaze down upon a patchwork landscape of refineries divided by the sinuous path of the Houston Ship Channel. The plane banks to the left, revealing a familiar landmark: the limestone pillar of the San Jacinto Monument. As we pass over its crowning star, I catch a glimpse of the Battleship Texas, docked nearby. This incredible perspective comes courtesy of…

SAVVY TRAVELER + SOUVENIR + STAY + DETOUR + MADE IN TEXAS FLYING CAN BE STRESSFUL—NAVIgating a cavernous airport to squeeze into a cramped seat and sit closely confined with strangers in a long, winged tube that remains aloft for hours on end, well… “Flying is famously not an experience we look forward to,” notes Matt Evans of San Antonio International Airport. “But we’re working to reframe that narrative with art.” Across Texas, airports have turned to artwork to take the edge off of air travel with displays that entertain, educate, challenge, and soothe jangled nerves. “Art adds a humanizing element to the travel experience,” says Tommy Gregory, director and curator of the Houston Airport System’s Public Art Program. “It warms up a space and lets the passengers know they’re…

HANG 10, DUDE Whether you’re a beach bum who can’t wait to wax up your board or a curious beginner, catching waves makes your Texas summer all the more righteous. Some of the best surfing destinations in the state include Matagorda Bay, North Jetty on South Padre Island, Boca Chica Beach, Jamaica Beach in Galveston, and the neighboring towns of Quintana and Surfside Beach. Most of these towns have vendors offering gear and lessons for beginners. If you don’t want to work for your waves, NLand Surf Park in Austin offers hourly rates (as well as seasonal and annual memberships) for access to its lagoon, which features a wave-making machine that creates consistent surf at three levels of difficulty. The facility also offers lessons, an observation area, a sand beach,…

GAZE AT THE STARS It may still be warm when the sun goes down, but nighttime activities offer a welcome reprieve from the blazing sun. George Observatory in Needville, only open on Saturdays, has three telescopes for public use and a planetarium with educational exhibits. The University of Texas McDonald Observatory high up in the Davis Mountains offers daytime tours, solar viewings, and star parties. hmns.org/george-observatory; mcdonaldobservatory.org FLY A KITE ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND There’s something joyful about looking out across the Laguna Madre and seeing hundreds of kites soaring over the Gulf of Mexico. Pick out a colorful kite from the multitude available at B&S Kites or rent a kiteboard from a local vendor. In 2017, National Geographic named the island as one of the world’s 13 greatest kiteboarding spots.…

Driving along US 290 west to Fredericksburg from Johnson City, I’m struck by how much the roadside scenery has changed in two decades. In my mind’s eye, I can see those primitive stands selling local peaches, weathered signs promoting the upcoming county fair, and an occasional old farmhouse amidst vistas of wild-flowers. Back then, Fredericksburg’s renown rested on its beauty, B&Bs, German heritage, and shopping on Main Street. Today, there’s all that and more: Vineyards, winery tasting rooms, boutiques, restaurants, and shops have brought new energy to Fredericksburg. I think how much our early girlfriend getaways would have benefited from such luxuries; I clearly remember an old roomie of mine pining for a mocha latte and a spa day when we were here about 20 years ago, and I wish…

GO, SEE, DO—TAKING IN TEXAS WHAT: KRAUSE SPRINGS WHERE: 404 KRAUSE SPRINGS ROAD, SPICEWOOD WHEN: YEAR-ROUND (TYPICALLY CLOSED DECEMBER-FEBRUARY) Rope swings dangling from centuries-old cypress trees, campgrounds, waterfalls, and manicured foliage surrounding grottos and natural swimming holes have attracted families to the idyllic waters of Krause Springs for generations. Since the 1950s, the Krause family has operated this 115-acre paradise in the Texas Hill Country—added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for its undisturbed Native American burial sites. Its 68-degree waters on Cypress Creek offer a cool respite from Texas summers. krausesprings.net…

We hope this issue inspires more Texans to get outside and check out some new places! THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OUR FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA OF THE MONTH I’m a high school teacher and Texas Highways magazine is always in my classroom. @EVERYTHING_ BETSY I graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University while living in Kilgore. This West Texas gal was blown away by the beauty of East Texas! The campus is amazing. NORENE BLOCKER, PFLUGERVILLE Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Coastal Jazz Your Texas music festivals story [March] forgot the Texas Jazz Festival in Corpus Christi. It began in 1959 and is the longest running free jazz festival in the country, held each year in October in Heritage Park amid the historic homes and oak trees. The festival encompasses…

TEXAS AND SPAIN HAVE JOINED FORCES IN an unexpected, four-legged way. For the first time since explorer Hernando de Soto did so back in 1539, the finest of Spanish ham, jamón ibérico de bellota, has been imported to the United States in its original form—as a pig. One hundred and fifty purebred black Iberian pigs, to be exact, which boarded a KLM flight in Spain for their new homes in Flatonia in 2013. Manuel Murga and Sergio Marsal, the Spanish porcine visionaries who founded Acornseekers brand pork, hatched this bold plan; they knew there was a better way for Americans to enjoy Spain’s most revered cured ham than smuggling it in their suitcases. Once flown over the Atlantic, there were no guarantees that the pigs would pass quarantine, but their…

“LOOK AT THAT MARBLING! THIS IS THE ROLLS-Royce of steaks!” a man sitting near me booms, caught in a carnivore’s bliss. We are burrowed at the bar at Peggy’s on the Green, the Boerne eatery that’s taken the town to a new culinary frontier, and he’d just cut into a prime rib about 2 inches thick, a steak for which Chef Mark Bohanan is renowned. “I feel like a Michelin-starred restaurant has come to Boerne!” he pretty much shouts to everyone in the room. While impressed by his enthusiasm, I am in my own state of reverie, just having sipped from my margarita. The fresh lime, top-shelf tequila, orange liqueur, and citrus-salt rim comingle deliciously. It’s easy to relax in this handsome barroom adjacent to the main dining room. Outfitted…

ENJOY THE MOUNTAIN BREEZES Situated along the southern reach of the Davis Mountains—one of the largest and wettest mountain ranges in the state—the 2,709-acre Davis Mountains State Park is a favorite summer getaway for heat-weary Texans because of its high elevation, low humidity, and frequent breezes. Established in the 1930s, the park’s CCC-built Indian Lodge will reopen in June after months of renovations. tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/indian-lodge HOP ABOARD THE IVORY BILL Experience East Texas’ Neches River on one of the Ivory Bill’s weekly guided tours of the Big Thicket National Preserve. The covered pontoon boat explores the diverse flora and fauna of the thicket’s swamps and forests, an outing that’s typically 10 degrees cooler than hiking the bottomlands on foot. nechesriveradventures.org CLIMB TO THE TOP OF TEXAS Hiking Guadalupe Mountains National Park is…

JOIN A PICKIN’ CIRCLE IN LUCKENBACH Pickin’ circles are a longstanding tradition in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, unincorporated town of Luckenbach. On Sunday through Thursday nights, musicians of all sorts and skill levels gather under the oak trees outside the Luckenbach Texas dance hall and general store for an acoustic jam session. If you’ve never strummed in public, don’t be shy; the town’s motto says it all: “Everybody’s Somebody in Luckenbach.” luckenbachtexas.com WATCH A MUSICAL IN THE NATION’S SECOND-LARGEST CANYON Every summer for more than five decades, Palo Duro Canyon has set the stage for TEXAS!, an outdoor musical chronicling the Native Americans who called this Panhandle wonder home and the pioneers who settled it. It’s theater for the people, but more than anything, it depicts the drama of frontier history in a…

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