Best Place to Get Away from Cars

Step out of the city and into the Wild West. Down Cyprus Woods Road out in Humble is Cyprus Trails. You pull into the driveway, and the yard is filled with horses tethered to trees and roaming around. On your left is a pen filled with puppies and a potbellied pig. Kittens crawl through the haystack; there are more than 30 horses surrounding you. Inside the ranch house, battered western saddles hang from the ceiling beams. On the wall are spurs, horseshoes and paintings of horses. Darolyn Butler-Dial and her husband, Mark Dial, run the ranch. You can saddle up an Arabian for $25 trail rides, three times a day. These relaxing rides take you deep into woods surrounded by wildflowers and across cool creeks. There's one trail that leads across sandy white beaches on the way to Old Spring. (We didn't know there was white sand within 500 miles of Houston.)