Going to Texas

[happyscooter]

Need ideas for interesting sights and restaurants. 

Thanks.

[Regis]

All of it?  That's a big state, you know!  

[tcu2003]

May 16, 2013 7:24:40 GMT -5 Regis said:

All of it?  That's a big state, you know!  

Yeah, that. Which area and cities do you plan to visit?

[happyscooter]

Yep, ALL of it. 

[movingforward]

What type of things do you want to do? San Antonio is pretty great.

[HoneyBBQ]

Big Bend National Park
Austin - music
San Antonio river walk
Houston - Galleria and shopping and eating Tex Mex

Can you give us more of an idea of where/interests/time spent?

[sesfw]

Dodging tornadoes could get interesting.  LOL

Have a safe trip and take a lot of pictures.

[happyscooter]

So far we have cancelled plans to go because of 1. hurricane  2. floods and 3. wildfires.  I'm thinking the people might not want us to come since we seem to jinx the place.  We like fun stuff (baseball games-got our tickets), history (going to Dallas), interesting (GWBush library), those kinds of things.  Driving to Oklahoma to see the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.

[Bob Ross]

Go to some restaurant where if you eat a giant steak, you get it for free.

There's one on every corner.

[tcu2003]

The new Perot Museum in Dallas is supposed to be great - it's on our list to visit later this summer when we're actually at home some weekend. If Pi like art, I love the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Zoo is also fantastic (choose it over Dallas of you're interested in a zoo). The cattle drive in the FW Stockyards is fun to see. If you like plants, the Dallas Arboretum or the FW Botanical Gardens are both great.

Not a Jerry Jones/Cowboys fan here, but the tour of the new Cowboys stadium is pretty cool - there is some great engineering behind it.

I can give you a ton of FW restaurant recommendations and a few Dallas ones I you're interested.

As a pp mentioned, San Antonio is also fun. Sea World, the Riverwalk, and the Alamo are all worth seeing/visiting.

[toomuchreality]

I don't know anything about Texas, but I hope you have a fabulous time!

-ENJOY!

[happyscooter]

Yes definitely Riverwalk and the Alamo.  We have a rule that when we go on vacation, we have to frequent the local restaurants, no chains.  Unless we are on the highway and there is absolutely nothing else and we are starving and it is supper time and we need to eat and keep on driving.  Then we will stop at a McDonalds, Carls, whatever we see.

[tcu2003]

The Riverwalk has a ton of local restaurants. I really like Boudros - if you like guac, they prep it for you right at your table.

[happyscooter]

OK, keep the ideas coming.

[movingforward]

May 17, 2013 7:08:37 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

The Riverwalk has a ton of local restaurants. I really like Boudros - if you like guac, they prep it for you right at your table.

I love Boudros! 

[movingforward]

If you enjoy caves there is Natural Bridge Caverns in New Braunfels (right outside of San Antonio).  New Braunfels also has Schlitterbaun Water Park which is REALLY fun.  I am a huge child though so not sure if it is your thing or not.  It was voted the best water park in the country for several yrs. 

[The Captain]

May 16, 2013 9:40:48 GMT -5 movingforward said:

What type of things do you want to do? San Antonio is pretty great.

  The riverwalk is amazing.  If you can swing it stay at the Marriott Rivercenter which is right on the riverwalk.  There is an outdoor food court/ampitheatre area where (at least when I was there) this awesome group from latin america were playing traditional Andean music.  It was just about as perfect as it could get sitting outside on a clear summer dnight with a light breeze and craft beer just chillin and listening to them play.

I went for business and hope to go back for pleasure with the family someday.

[tcu2003]

We stayed at the Sheraton Gunter hotel by the Riverwalk and liked it - plus it's haunted. :-)

If you decide to go to Fort Worth, Riscky's barbecue is one of my all-time favorite barbecue restaurants. There is one downtown and one in the FW Stockyards. Also by the FW Stockyards is Joe T Garcia's, a FW establishment. I think their food is only okay, but the atmosphere is fabulous, as are the margaritas. For better Mexican food in FW, I prefer Los Vaqueros, also in the Stockyards, close to Billy Bob's Honkytonk.

[movingforward]

Sheraton Gunter is a cool hotel, as well as The Historic Crockett Hotel and Historic Menger Hotel.  Also, Gruene (right outside of San Antonio) if a pretty neat place.  They have a great restaurant, an old dance hall that is a lot of fun and antique shops.  There is actually a ton to do around San Antonio. 

[movingforward]

May 17, 2013 12:09:20 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

We stayed at the Sheraton Gunter hotel by the Riverwalk and liked it - plus it's haunted. :-)

If you decide to go to Fort Worth, Riscky's barbecue is one of my all-time favorite barbecue restaurants. There is one downtown and one in the FW Stockyards. Also by the FW Stockyards is Joe T Garcia's, a FW establishment. I think their food is only okay, but the atmosphere is fabulous, as are the margaritas. For better Mexican food in FW, I prefer Los Vaqueros, also in the Stockyards, close to Billy Bob's Honkytonk.

I love downtown Ft. Worth.  It has a great feel to it...  I am not a fan of Dallas at all (in fact I hate going there) and I find it amazing how different Ft. Worth feels to me and it is only a few miles from Dallas. 

[movingforward]

If you are fan of the TV show Dallas you can visit South Fork Ranch in Plano

[movingforward]

If you are planning to go to any theme parks I would suggest checking out They offer discount tickets to most of the parks and the savings can be quite significant (sometimes up to 1/2 off). 

[tcu2003]

May 17, 2013 12:25:39 GMT -5 movingforward said:

If you are fan of the TV show Dallas you can visit South Fork Ranch in Plano

My mom and MIL did that when they were visiting us last summer and both loved it. DH's 15-year old niece that want with them, not so much.

And I totally agree with you about FW, almost40. I loved living in FW. I hate living in a north Dallas suburb. Such a huge difference between the 2 cities.

[needanewjob]

Fort Hood, you can come and see the 1st Cavalry Division Museum.  And every so often see an Apache fly overhead. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

May 17, 2013 12:21:59 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Sheraton Gunter is a cool hotel, as well as The Historic Crockett Hotel and Historic Menger Hotel.  Also, Gruene (right outside of San Antonio) if a pretty neat place.  They have a great restaurant, an old dance hall that is a lot of fun and antique shops.  There is actually a ton to do around San Antonio. 

The restaurant is called The Grist Mill.  Some of the best chicken fried steak I ever had.  The dance hall adjacent to it gets some really good acts there, if you can find their schedule.  We used to hit this place regularly after a day of tubing on the Guadaloupe.

if you go about 10 miles west of SA off of i10, there is a little crossing called Leon Springs.  There are several very good restaurants, and it was the site of the first Macaroni Grill (before the franchise wrecked it.  The barbecue place called Rudy's is there, and it is quite excellent.  Try to get there before they run out of the cobbler.

Other restaurants off I10, same direction but not so far out is Chester's.  some of the best burgers and hand cut fries ever.  They have a rather substantial beer selection and usually have a special of the day.  On the same side is Alamo Cafe, a Tex-Mex place.  Tortillas are made as you walk in (and you can buy them to go).  One of the better Tex-Mex places that the locals hang at.

if you were going to TX in April, there is Fiesta.  It is almost a month long series of festivities that start with a strawberry festival and St Mary's oyster bake and finish up with NIOSA (Night in Old SA).  There are some smaller events in between.

Most of these were near where I used to live, so they were some of my favorite haunts.

if you go up towards Austin, make sure you check out The Salt Lick.  Waaaay off the beaten track, but the best barbecue I've ever had.  Not sure if it is the same since Food Network and Bobby Flay found it though......

[Malarky]

DD and I just went to Texas for 10 days to visit friends in April.

We saw the Dallas Arboretum, the Fort Worth Zoo, went to San Antonio and did the Riverwalk and all the missions.  We also went to the No Name Cave and explored that, popped into Fredericksburg for an afternoon. 

There's so much more that we didn't get to.  Luckily we can go back again. 

[happyscooter]

Great ideas guys!  Thanks!

[happyscooter]

I guess we jinxed it.  Tornadoes AND floods. 

[goldensam]

May 17, 2013 12:21:59 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Sheraton Gunter is a cool hotel, as well as The Historic Crockett Hotel and Historic Menger Hotel.  Also, Gruene (right outside of San Antonio) if a pretty neat place.  They have a great restaurant, an old dance hall that is a lot of fun and antique shops.  There is actually a ton to do around San Antonio. 

We love the Menger Hotel. We upgraded to one of the suites (can't remember the name) and it was great. Such a cool place, and a great location.

[Abby Normal]

San Antonio Riverwalk is excellent and a ton of fun.

Dallas area- head up towards Grapevine and go to the Gaylord Resort.  I was down for business and my sister met me there for lunch. Pretty fun and they have a spa if you're into that.

Houston-  Nasa was fun when I went with DS and DH. They are big into space and had a blast.  I enjoyed it to though not as geeked out as them.   There is a little town named Kemah which is WAY cute to visit.