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The GreatEscape
With so many people there—grandparents, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, and three uncles—there was always something going on. Always someone yelling. Always an uncle to wrestle with. Always another uncle who’d jam dirty socks in my mouth when I tried to sleep. That always made them laugh. “A DORMIR!”...
Gateway Bugs
Eli Halpern wandered the congested avenues of Bangkok with a growing hunger in his gut and a willingness to try anything. It was a humid night in 2012, and the visiting American martial artist traipsed between the mobile food peddlers and street stalls venting billowing clouds of wok smoke. Free from his lessons in Muay Thai, Halpern sidled up to one vendor and encountered his first edible creepy crawly. Served on a skewer, barbecued scorpion was mainly sold to gawking tourists as a gimmick-on-a-stick. Nonetheless, Halpern found the offering both delicious—he describes it as “a combination of fried chicken and a poached egg”—and full of promise.
A Historic Beyoncé Tour in Houston Digs Into Her Texas Roots
When Beyoncé announced in a commercial during this year’s Super Bowl that a new album was dropping March 29, the Beyhive buzzed with excitement. Excitement peaked at the end of the ad, when suddenly the scene showed what looked like a West Texas desert landscape. As an old yellow taxi pulled away, its wheels kicking up dust, a country-tinged tune started playing. Then a billboard appeared with the words “Texas! Hold ‘Em” emblazoned in black letters above a reclining, bikini-clad, cowboy hat and boots-wearing cartoon Beyoncé. “This ain’t Texas. Ain’t no hold ‘em,” she sang. “Lay your cards down, down, down, down.” Fans in one collective gasp asked: Is Queen Bey putting out a country album?
How Mesquite Became the Rodeo Capital of Texas
Growing up in Mesquite, Jennie Blackwood Turnell remembers the city’s annual Rodeo Parade as being “a big deal.” Schools would cancel classes for the parade and students would receive free tickets to the rodeo. “When we were kids, we were either going to the parade or we were in it,” she says, adding she marched as a member of Mesquite High School’s band.
Exploring the Cosmos at the Johnson Space Center
When in Houston, do as the astronauts do. That means investigate moon rocks, attend mission briefings, and see how you fill out a space suit. All that’s possible at the Johnson Space Center, which opened in November 1961 as the Manned Spacecraft Center and laid the groundwork for American space exploration. The campus in Clear Lake, built on 1,620 acres donated by Rice University, is a planet unto itself—its gravity pulls in more than 1.25 million visitors each year. While the astronauts are hard at work at this sprawling campus, visitors are invited to play: Trams run to the astronaut training facilities and Mission Control Center, where the launches for the Apollo mission and the International Space Station were coordinated. Space films are shown on one of the largest screens in Texas, and a new exhibit on Mars explores the next frontier. This previously unpublished photo by Texas Highways photographer Jack Lewis shows an awestruck youth getting an astronaut’s-eye view of the world. It’s a sight to behold—even from down here on planet Earth.
The Discovery Science Place Celebrates 30 Years
In the early 1990s, Nancy Wrenn drove her minivan around Tyler with the back seats pulled out to accommodate a 3D mock-up on a large plywood platform of what would eventually become the Discovery Science Place. The model demonstrated a vision for a place where children in the East Texas city could gain hands-on experience in the areas of science and math. This was more than 15 years before the Perot Museum of Nature and Science became a North Texas institution and nearly a decade before the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum was introduced on a national level. Wrenn took the prototype and her sales pitch to business owners and community leaders to secure funding for the building.
Fireflies Set Independence Creek Preserve Aglow
Photographer Kenny Braun was focused on shooting a different scene at The Nature Conservancy’s Independence Creek Preserve in May 2023 when he turned around and saw thousands of fireflies and stars over the creek. “It looked like some mystical scene out of a fairy tale,” he says. Located in Sheffield, the preserve is home to Independence Creek, which flows for 8 miles through the protected area and is typically open to visitors only one or two weekends a year. It likely won’t be open at all this summer due to a staff shortage, according to Dan Snodgrass, associate director of land conservation at The Nature Conservancy. But Texans should consider putting a visit to this preserve on their bucket list. As Snodgrass says, “The property boasts some of the most important cultural sites and aquatic and terrestrial habitat in West Texas.”
Editor’s Note: Trailblazers
Along with a cover story heralding “the beauty of autumn with colorful late bloomers across the state,” the issue featured stories on the wildlife of the Woodland Trails of East Texas, a how-to on collecting and preparing Gulf oysters, and the magazine’s first feature about dinosaur fossil sites. The latter covered notable finds by amateur collectors and advice on where and how to search for fossils.
Exploring the Sky Islands of the Trans-Pecos
I’m maybe 10 miles from Baldy Peak in the Davis Mountains of far West Texas, looking down at an undulating fog bank that completely obscures the valley below. It’s like a mysterious sea with a forest-blanketed peak to the rear on a landmass ascending out of it. I don’t know what’s below the gray waves. Whatever is down there, it’s a different place from up here. I’m on a sky island, another name for the Chisos, Davis, and Guadalupe mountains that rise out of the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert and have their own distinct ecosystems.
Making Cascarones, a Longtime Texas Tradition
How To Texas is a recurring column offering step-by-step instructions on how to be Texan. We’ll guide you through the cultural traditions, customs, eccentricities, lifestyles, and activities you’ll find on your travels that make the state uniquely Texan. On Thursdays, the decorating committee of the Conservation Society of...
Experience Harlingen in the Rio Grande Valley Like a Local
Over the past four decades that Connie Lovell has visited the Texas coast from her home in Harlingen, about an hour west of South Padre Island, she noticed more and more trash washing up on the shore. At first, she considered just not going to the beach anymore. But the...
Meet Spike, the Toughest Tortoise in Texas
Spike had been in trouble before, but this time it was serious. It was December 2013, and he was scuttling down State Highway 495, a five-laner, in broad daylight—a dangerous course of action for anyone, much less a 10-year-old African spurred tortoise. Traffic on the freeway slowed to a slithering pace, prompting motorists to report the reptile roadblock to officials in the city of Mission. By now the scene was familiar enough in this Rio Grande Valley community of 86,000 people: Once again Spike had absconded from the residential backyard where he was kept as a pet and was finning his way through town, oblivious to all but the instinct to mate. On this occasion, animal control officers scooped Spike up from the roadway and detained him for the third time in one year. What do you do with a tortoise who’s determined to live life in the fast lane?
A Weekend Getaway in Port Isabel Brims with Seaside Treasures
Located on the tip of South Texas, the quiet town of Port Isabel has long charmed visitors looking for a relaxing seaside getaway. With a population under 6,000, the community is ideal for anyone looking for a change of pace from the touristy bustle of its neighbor across the Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge, South Padre Island. Incorporated in 1928, the city is still dotted with signs of a history that dates to Spanish explorers, pirate treasure, and the Mexican-American War. Though the town stays lively most of the year as travelers make their way to SPI, the busiest time for the region is August, when anglers come in for some of the best fishing in the country during the annual Texas International Fishing Tournament. Decompress while visiting seaside shops and eateries and enjoy a friendly community that underscores just how nice it is to unwind and take it easy.
A New Book Details the Life of Terry Allen and His ‘Truckload of Art’
Maybe you’ve seen Terry Allen’s work. His sculpture Caw Caw Blues, which contains the ashes of his friend Guy Clark, stands sentinel at the entrance of The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos. Countree Music, a 25-foot bronze cast of an oak tree and a map on the terrazzo floor depicting Houston as the center of the world, accompanied by music, is planted in Terminal A near Gate 17 of Bush International Airport in Houston. Passengers entering security gate D30 in Terminal D at DFW International pass under a 30-foot bronze wishbone titled Wish. A life-size statue of CB Stubblefield of Stubb’s BBQ fame stands on the site of his first restaurant on East Broadway in Lubbock. Nestled in the palmetto palm thicket outside The Contemporary Austin-Laguna Gloria on the banks of Lake Austin is Road Angel, a bronze cast of a 1953 Chevy coupe, the car Allen drove as a teenager, accompanied by more than a hundred audio soundbites (including one of mine), that was permanently installed in 2016.
Spring Dreams
Theresa DiMenno became enamored with photography when she bought her first 35 mm camera in 1977. An avid outdoorswoman with a conservationist’s heart, DiMenno specializes in nature and wildlife photography. She started by taking pictures of the plants inside a greenhouse set up by her boyfriend (now husband) in 2001. She got the hang of it quickly and later that decade began supplying Houston Methodist Hospital with abstract floral prints and Texas wildflower art. She has contributed to Texas Highways since 2013, and the photos featured here are a snapshot of her diligent work over the past decade.
Where to Stay Among the Texas Wildflowers
The only downside to wildflower wandering is leaving the blooms behind. Why not build some overnights into your springtime jaunt and hunker down into cozy digs amid seas of bluebonnets, Indian blankets, and Mexican hats? These cabins and guesthouses in wildflower country provide temporary homes near bounties of seasonal color. Each is far from city life, so it’s just you and the flowers, with a big night sky to keep you company after dark.
Texas Highways Is Hiring 2024 Summer Editorial Interns
Are you a college undergraduate or graduate student with a passion for journalism and a love for all things Texas? If so, Texas Highways magazine invites you to apply for our summer internship program. As an editorial intern, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside our staff, gaining hands-on experience with our print and digital products. This summer, students will also have the unique opportunity to witness the redesign process for our publication and join us in celebrating our 50th year of the magazine.
Preserving Texas German in Its Final Days
Toward the end of a long drive from California to Austin in 2001 to start a new job as a German linguistics professor, Hans Boas stopped at a Fredericksburg café for a meal. As he sat in the restaurant, he overheard a group of older gentlemen speaking German. “It...
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Texas Highways is the Official Travel Magazine of Texas, and your ultimate guide for exploring the Lone Star State's people, places, & wide-open spaces.
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