Road Trip!

Driving Texas is all a matter of perspective. Anyone who’s ever
rolled across the state with purely pragmatic intentions knows the pain
of realizing that, after hours in a near-featureless wasteland, you’re
still hours outside of the middle of nowhere (rough Spanish
translation: “El Paso”).

But things improve when you ditch the superhighway for the back road
and set out to explore some of the travel destinations Texas has to
offer. Most folks know about South Padre’s beautiful beaches, Big
Bend’s stunning natural beauty and Austin’s nightlife. We’ve skipped
those more obvious attractions in favor of a few lesser-known Lone Star
spots that won’t blow your budget.

Way out west

The austere beauty of West Texas makes it an ideal destination for
those who want to get away from the city. For a western destination,
consider Alpine. The small town, located southwest of Fort
Stockton, is one of the last outposts before sprawling Big Bend
National Park. Like its better-known neighbor Marfa, it’s not all
rustic — Alpine features numerous art galleries, shopping and
well-preserved frontier history. Unlike Marfa, here it’s easy to find a
relatively cheap motel and a bite to eat.

Couples in Alpine have the option of exploring the scenic city
through “His and Hers Day,” which offers a day of separate
gender-themed activities — including shopping, golf, beer
drinking and spa treatments — that reunites couples for lunch and
a sunset dinner. The legendary Marfa lights are a short drive away and
provide for an interesting night for both skeptics and believers. (Keep
it legal — cops are strict in these parts.) Big events include
the Fiesta Del Sol (June 19 and 20), a street fair for local merchants,
and the Big Bend Ranch Rodeo (August 7 and 8), where hungry riders
compete to qualify for Amarillo’s larger rodeo. Bring a camera —
the Alpine area boasts hundreds of miles of scenic highways, and the
weather is cooler and drier than on the coast. For information, see
visitorcenter.alpinetexas.com.

Not too far north you’ll find some serious scientific equipment in
the desert at McDonald Observatory. It’s impressive in its own
right, but the nightly star parties (9:30 p.m., $10) make it worth the
trip. Visitors will tour space through the observatory’s powerful
telescopes and get an up-close view of Saturn or Jupiter, depending on
the time of summer. Make sure to dress in warm clothes and arrange
accommodations beforehand — the facility is somewhat remote. For
information, visit mcdonaldobservatory.org.

Less than ten miles from the observatory is Davis Mountains State
Park ($5 day, 432-426-3337). The park offers awesome hiking
on several trails of varying difficulty and accommodations at the
multilevel Indian Lodge hotel (starting at $90 per night, book as far
in advance as possible: 432-426-3254). Follow that up by
relaxing at one of the state’s best swimming holes, located at
Balmorhea State Park ($7 per day, 432-375-2370), a few
miles south of I-10. The 77,053-square-foot pool there is spring-fed,
crystal-clear and always around 74 degrees. Scuba diving is available,
as are rooms at the retro-looking, Spanish-style San Solomon Courts
(starting at $60 per night), located right on the spring.

Wine central

The Texas wine country is coming up fast — Orbitz
ranked it the second-fastest growing wine region in the country two
years ago — but it still retains the friendly charm befitting a
Texas travel destination. A number of wineries dot the scenic Hill
Country landscape around Fredericksburg — the useful interactive
map at www.texaswinetrail.com supplies
users with contact information and hours for 24 locations. If you’d
rather leave the driving to someone else, call 877-TEX-WINE to arrange
a tour of five wineries in a plush minibus (starting at
$65/person).

Either way, be sure you stop by Becker Vineyards, which boasts lush
lavender fields, a genuine 18th-century bar from a former San Antonio
saloon and a fantastic tasting room where you can sample the notable
European-style reds. For information, visit www.beckervineyards.com.

Lodging in the area isn’t a challenge — Fredericksburg is
lousy with bed and breakfasts. (If quaint were a drug, this part of
Texas would be causing overdoses left and right.) One standout is the
Full Moon Inn (starts at $125 per night), which claims the highest
return visit rate in the area. It’s larger than most B&Bs, but the
facilities are duly charming, and you’ll never be short of advice on
what to see and do. For information, visit www.fullmooninn.com or call
800-997-1124. Visit www.fredericksburg-texas.com for other options.

If you get your fill of sipping, strike out for Enchanted Rock
State Natural Area ($6 per day). There’s mostly relaxed hiking and
potentially less relaxed rock climbing at the second-largest granite
outcropping in North America. Listen for the ghost sounds the Tonkawa
Indians heard at the top — there’s a geological explanation, but
we won’t ruin it for you. For information, call 830-685-3636.
After working up an appetite, swing south to O.S.T. (305 Main St.,
830-796-3836) in Bandera for some country cooking — it’s
out of the way, but the chicken-fried steak is worth the drive.

A noteworthy winery a little closer to home is Messina Hof in
Bryan. A number of carefully crafted wines are available to sample ($5
per person for the public tour and tasting); they also appear in every
dish at Messina Hof’s upscale Vintage House restaurant (reservations
recommended, call 979-778-9463). A series of harvest events begins in
July and gives guests the chance to participate in the wine-making.
(Yes, you’ll get to stomp grapes.) For a schedule, visit www.messinahof.com. As for
accommodations at Messina Hof, the Villa offers luxurious rooms and a
spa on a 100-acre estate (includes a wine tour and tasting, call
979-778-9463 for rates and reservations).

Eastbound

If the morbid side of history grabs your interest, then no trip from
Houston to East Texas is complete without a stop at the Huntsville
Prison Museum ($4). Its extensive collection of artifacts —
from contraband to guards’ guns to a replica of an electric chair
— isn’t exactly cheery, but the stories it tells are fascinating.
And, of course, there’s a small gift shop with no shortage of kitsch.
For information, visit www.txprisonmuseum.org.

Deeper in the region — about 250 miles northeast of Houston on
the Louisiana border — you’ll find the best of what East Texas
offers near the town of Uncertain on Caddo Lake. Photographic
opportunities abound on this eerily beautiful body of water dotted with
cypress trees and draped in Spanish moss. Lodging isn’t anything fancy,
but you won’t exactly be roughing it, either — the cool little
cabins of Moonglow Lodge, for instance, feature full kitchens and wi-fi
access. (We’re not sure if the latter is a good thing.) The best way to
explore the sprawling lake is on the Graceful Ghost, an “authentic
re-creation of an old-time paddlewheel steamboat” ($20 per person, with
discounts for seniors and kids, 903-472-1081). Or launch a canoe and
head out on your own — just make sure to keep your bearings. If
you find things getting a bit too still, the bars and casinos of
Shreveport are less than an hour to the east. For information, a list
of other places to stay and additional recommended activities, visit
www.cityofuncertain.com.

What the hell?

File this one under “only if you’re already in the area”: The
Creationist Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, about 50 miles southwest
of Fort Worth. There’s only one thing you need to know about the
museum: It contains proof that man and dinosaurs walked the Earth as
contemporaries. Bring $2 a person for admission and leave everything
you thought you knew about science at the door. For information, visit
www.creationevidence.org.