Best Place to Hike

Brazos Bend is only a 30-mile drive from downtown, but once you get there you'll feel hundreds of miles away. This peaceful, 4,900-acre state park is located where the Big Creek and Brazos River meet, and it offers up to 20 miles of easy walking trails. (There are no changes in elevation, so don't come expecting a tough workout.) You'll loop throughout marshlands and enormous oak trees draped in Spanish moss, and without much trying you'll spot alligators sunning themselves, as well as a variety of birds. The park also offers the Creekfield Lake Nature Trail, a half-mile loop developed specifically for the disabled; it includes tactile exhibits and an audio tour for the blind, as well as a boardwalk accessible for those in wheelchairs.