Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i Texas Highways Magazine

With its Spanish moss-draped cypress trees and wide array of wildlife, Caddo Lake State Park has a mystical quality to it. Add fog to the mix, and it’s almost otherworldly. “It’s truly unlike anywhere else in Texas,” says Austin-based photographer Erin Newman-Mitchell, who took this shot in March 2021. “This particular morning had begun enveloped in a dense fog, which dissipated as the sun rose to reveal the many silhouettes of cypress trees. The weather conditions were like none I’d experienced before: so serene and beautiful.” To explore the park’s swampy mix of bayous, lakes, ponds, and sloughs—and stay safe from the alligators—it’s best to hire a professional, such as Ron Hollomon, a retired firefighter from Longview who owns Captain Ron’s Swamp Tours. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for…

The sun has barely risen above the mesquite trees and carrizo cane on the high, red banks of the Arroyo Colorado when J.R. Garcia feels an aggressive tug on his line. The fight is quick as the Harlingen-based fishing guide sets the hook hard, turning the long, silver fish toward the boat. Once he hauls it aboard, Garcia carefully runs a stringer through the reptilian-looking creature’s mouth. Holdovers from the early Cretaceous period, alligator gar regularly surpass 6 feet in length and 100 pounds in weight, and this one is no different. As Garcia circles the behemoth’s thrashing 5-foot frame, he has to dodge its sharp overlapping scales and needle-like teeth. After subduing his prey, Garcia posts a photo on his Facebook page, and almost immediately, celebratory comments start rolling…

To receive free travel information from the following destinations, simply circle the number on the attached reply card that corresponds to your selection, fill in your name and address, and drop it in the mail. To find our advertiser information online, go to texashighways.ai-dsg.com. 1 Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau  2 Addison, Texas  3 Bandera County Convention & Visitors Bureau 4 Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau 5 Blanco Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau 6 Bullock Texas State History Museum 7 Cedar Park Tourism 8 City of Denison 9 City of Grand Prairie 10 City of Harlingen Convention & Visitors Bureau 11 City of Huntsville 12 City of Portland  13 Cleburne Chamber of Commerce 14 Corsicana Convention & Visitors Center 15 Destination Bryan 16 Discover Temple 17 Dripping Springs Visitors Bureau…

The weirdest and most wonderful water park Texas has ever seen opened on Spring Lake in San Marcos in 1950. At Aquarena Springs, gondolas rode in the sky, never deigning to touch water. “Aquamaids” picnicked and performed ballet in daily shows that were staged underwater. There was a swimming clown named Grupo, and a swimming pig named Ralph; there was also a chicken that played tic-tac-toe, though swimming was not in its repertoire. The park featured a fleet of glass-bottom boats that gave visitors a glimpse of eels, catfish, turtles, and other aquatic critters. From below, springs bubbled up from limestone rock formations, giving the impression of being “inside the world’s biggest Alka Seltzer,” as one park announcer put it in a 1970 Texas Highways story. This photo was taken…

Joe Nick Patoski has spent decades reporting on the state’s scenic rivers and refreshing swimming holes. For this year’s water feature, the Wimberley-based writer instead covered human-made aquatic attractions for “Making Waves” (Page 56). “Pivoting from rivers to ‘cement ponds’ was easier than anticipated,” Patoski says. “With innovations like standing waves to surf and new forms of disinfection that render chlorine eyes obsolete, the pool has evolved into a combination theme park and white water rapid.” Visiting these family-friendly water parks, Patoski knew it would be a bit more chaotic than an isolated swimming hole. “I was expecting crowds, which go with the territory at the most popular attractions,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting to have so much fun.” JASON BUCH Over a decade ago, Buch witnessed anglers pulling alligator…

Three major rivers define the shape of Texas: the Red, the Sabine, and the Rio Grande. But our state has a dozen other major rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and in the heat of summer, there is nothing finer than a plunge into your favorite swimming hole. But these rivers offer more than relief. They are a place of personal pilgrimage, with many families returning to the same streams year after year to spend time together in the great outdoors. Here are four retreats on four rivers to consider-visiting. Whether you prefer kayaking in the misty dawn or are more apt to rope swing off a limestone bluff, it’s time to start making memories on the river. 1 Rio Bella Resort RIO FRIO True to its name, the…

Somewhere in Texas the moon is shining, but not tonight, not in South Padre. A pitch-black night has engulfed the barrier island, blurring the Gulf Coast surf, sand, and sky into a shapeless void. The floodlights from high-rise resorts lining the beachfront offer only the suggestion of a great blue heron standing one-legged in the water, still as a sentry, angling for a midnight snack. An early December breeze carries the smell of salt and the sound of crashing waves. This is a time of rest and recuperation for the folks who call this tourist town home. In just a few months, these dark, deserted beaches will be cluttered with spring break partiers. So, as the locals hunker down for winter, the cloaked moon works double-time, turning the tide shoreward and…

WAKEBOARD and SURF PARKS WACO SURF WACO Water parks are fun, but there’s a constituency craving something edgier when it comes to aqua thrills, like surfing (see next page) and wakeboarding. Waco Surf has both. The 2.5-acre lagoon has done what no other human-made water enterprise in Texas has accomplished: It produces real swelling, curling, barreling waves that are consistent and fully formed. “It stands out as a training tool for mid and top-level surfers looking to use the machine consistency to take the variable of wave quality out of the equation,” says pro surfer Morgan Faulkner, the director of Texas Surf Camps in Port Aransas. Surfing gets top billing at Waco Surf, but the cable park—with ramps, jumps, and rails—is just as popular. There’s also a water park and…

The conditions must be perfect: It has to take place during the hottest part of the year, the moon needs to be full to aid with visibility, and, most importantly, it cannot be a weekday. When all of these circumstances are met, then, and only then, do the residents of Marfa rally to shoulder the burdensome task of bringing sushi to their small West Texas town. To be more specific, it’s not exactly sushi—it’s sashimi. And if we’re nitpicking, it’s not even in Marfa proper. It’s precisely 31.07 miles outside the city center. For Marfa’s annual Full Moon Sushi Ride, which typically takes place during the first weekend of July, bluefin tuna is over-nighted via FedEx from a company based out of Baja, California. A flash-frozen product—what sushi chefs actually…

“The play’s the thing,” Hamlet famously uttered, and Kilgore College agreed. In 1986, as Texas marked its sesquicentennial, the college asked Raymond Caldwell, the director of its Fine Arts Division who went on to serve 25 years as chairman of the theater department, to produce a play as part of the celebrations going on around the state. Caldwell directed the new play The Daisy Bradford 3, about the 1930s-era well in East Texas that triggered an oil boom, and added two Shakespeare plays to the program. A hit with audiences, what was supposed to be a one-time event turned into the annual Texas Shakespeare Festival, and on June 27, the East Texas cultural gem opens its 39th season. The festival touts itself as the only professional theater company in East…

Filmmaking brothers David and Nathan Zellner have been obsessed with Bigfoot since childhood, when the elusive woodland creature entered their imaginations. Their lifelong infatuation inspired them to create Sasquatch Sunset, a 90-minute, dialogue-free movie about a family of sasquatches living in a Pacific Northwest forest. The cast is played by Golden Globe-nominated Riley Keough, Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, and Nathan (both brothers act, but David isn’t in this movie). The characters emote and grunt under heavy prosthetic makeup and fur-covered body suits in a mundane yet curious portrayal of everyday life. The Zellners were born in Colorado but moved to Texas as kids. As adults, they joined forces in Austin, where they immersed themselves in movies. “The Austin Film Society screenings exposed us to so many formative experiences. Now…