The Rest of Texas





There is so much do to in the great state of Texas.
If you like colorful festivities, you'll love the Paseo del Rio (Riverwalk
in San Antonio) shown here during Fiesta....but at all times of the year,
there are shops and live music and the heavenly aromas of lunch or dinner
wafting through the area. If you'd rather stay away from the crowds
and just get back to nature, try a trip into Hill Country, and a rafting,
boating, canoeing or tubing trip down the Guadalupe River, shown
above, or the Blanco, Frio, San Marcos Rivers or their tributaries.


Speaking of water, you can go white water rafting on the Rio Grande, before it
slows down and is caught in a number of dams, where it forms great reservoirs
providing drinking and irrigation waters for the fast growing cities of the Rio
Grande Valley. One such reservoir is the Amistad Reservoir, a cold deep reservoir
north of the Falcon Lake Reservoir. During the recent dry spell, the shallow waters
of Falcon Lake have dropped so far as to bring into view the city of Old Guerrero,
which was flooded during the building of the reservoirs and its inhabitants were
moved to a new Guerrero.


Looking for something educational, try visiting the McDonald Observatory
at Mount Locke or the dinosaur footprints at Glen Rose.


You can ride the Highland Lakes Riverboat or watch the sun rise over the Gulf.


Another great place from Texas history is where she won
her independence in 1836, at San Jacinto, near Houston. The
570-foot San Jacinto Monument, built in 1936, stands in the
Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest monument column
in the world. At the right, is the Tower of the Americas in San
Antonio, one of the tallest freestanding structures in the
Western Hemisphere, (750 feet to the top of the antenna). Completed
in 1968, it is an 80-ton reminder of HemisFair,Texas' World's
Fair. The Tower is 87 feet higher than the Seattle Space Needle,
67 feet higher than the Washington Monument and 52 feet higher
than the San Jacinto Monument. Dinner in the revolving restaurant
just below the observation deck will not soon be forgotten.

Travel anywhere in the world and ask what people know about Texas, and they'll
probably say "cowboys", or "cattle", or "oil". And to preserve that heritage,
there is a Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, shown above. Or visit the store
and visitors center, take a tour, stay for a few days and learn about the world-
famous King Ranch, a working ranch which is bigger than the
state of Rhode Island.


And after you've eaten the dust watching a cattle drive at the YO Ranch, don't
forget to stop by the Blue Bell Ice Cream place in Brenham and get a taste of the
unofficial State Ice Cream of Texas....(psst...also found in Texas grocery stores).





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