Spring break is fast approaching and since lazy/lost-in-my-own-world-me didn’t book tickets ahead of time for a long overdue CA vacation, am now looking at alternatives and after pouring over the US map on our walls for hours together and exhausting all northern possibilities, came up with Texas!
So any folks who live there, vacation there or are self-proclaimed touristers, please give me the lowdown? Any and all pointers appreciated. I know I know, am doing my research, but nothing like hearing it from people who’ve been there and done that.
Thanks a bunch fellas 🙂
O.k….first the bad news-Texas isn’t really much of a tourister’s paradise! now the good news..if you are coming in march or even early April- you did atleast pick the right time, since the weather is gorgeous.
Now, I am assuming that you picked San Antonio..because of all the Texan cities, this still gets my vote for tourism. You will get all info online about San Antonio, so I won’t go much into what to see and do…however try and see if you can stay at a hotel on the riverwalk itself (has that slight european touch), i mean overlooking the riverwalk, that should be fun. Seaworld should be fun for the kids.
You wan’t to do something off beat ? then drive to some of the smaller towns within a 50 mile radius of San Antonio like Fredericksburg, Gruene, Tx or even Wimberly–all goood enough to give you a wonderful experience of small town Americana with quaint little antique shops and nice eateries (again…only if you want to do something different).
Ofcourse, drive down to Austin from San Antonio– it’s really an overiszed Univeristy town but if you are the party kinds…then 6th street is a must visit. Ofcourse, with the kids it could be hard 🙂 You can shop at the outlet stores in San Marcos in between San Antonio and Austin.
If you are planning to go to Houston, then I wouldn’t be of much help…I only go there to visit friends not as a tourist.
And ofcourse, if you are planning to come to Dallas..you can always visit me 🙂 it’s a metrpolitan city..with some of the finest in dining-name the cuisine and you will find it, a very happening place for Indians as well- if it interests you check out the Mehfil the lebanese dance floor at Al Amir! Fortworth has a fantastic zoo which the kids might enjoy, check out Fossil Rim online and also the stock yards in Fortworth.
Hope that was helpful :), ask if you have more questions
Hey, where did my other comment disappear??…anyway, i remembered reading a post by a fellow blogger (Vaish of apercevoir) who wrote about holidaying in Texas sometime back. Her’s is entirely a tourists perspective and should help some more. SO, I don’t have to do that post you requested anymore, right ?? :0
http://apercevoir.blogspot.com/2006/12/thanksgiving-in-texas.html
haha, thanks Orchid. That surely helps, will send u a comment once I do my basic research, but you surely have given me a starting point. If am in Dallas, then you are teh 2nd person I’d def want to meet. Have a friend from school who lives there, gotta track her down 1st of crse!!
hi rads,
dropped by from orchid’s space… aside from everything that she’s already briefed u on… u cud also go camping near the outskirts of austin. u cud rent log cabins (there’s one near buchanan dam). we’d done that arnd thanksgiving and was awesome!
if u’re planning on houston, there aint much. a couple of museums, NASA (of course!), khema is nice… (it’s kind of a riverwalk), u cud go partying in downtown – it’s really kewl! and u cud do galveston – has the moody gardens (i quite liked them), BEACH, and some good sea food (try the restaurant in downtown galveston, d one near the harbour. name of course, i’ve forgotten!)
hope u enjoy texas!
– rayshma.
Tex Mex rocks! That’s about all I know of Texas.
And oh, take loads of pics. 🙂
Houston has NASA(if thats your cup of tea, or the kids’) and the Meenakshi temple. You can drive to the beaches of Galveston from there as well.
I liked San Antonio the best and I’m sure you’ll find a lot of touristy stuff to do and information aplenty.
Austin : agree about small university town bit.
Dallas: of course good food and interesting twin downtowns
Hope this helps
Enjoy
–altoid
Thanks everyone! It sure was helpful. San Antonio seems to be the place. Will keep u posted on our travel. 🙂
well, if u find gud results frm ur research n proceed on the vacation, plz put up a travelogue for me :p I hav never been to Texas…. I cud use tat 🙂
guess u have enough on the list already..
If I cud confuse u…herz some mre
Austin – lake adjacent the university, and the natural bridge caverns..6 st aint for family vacations:-)
San Antonio – tower of america and river walk, Alamo,
Houston – naza, Galveston beach, meenakshi temple
Corpus christi – King Ranch
not sure about dallas..
I live in Dallas. San Antonio is the only place that has anything to see. You could consider Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX near Houston but it isn’t anything great.
San Antonio has Sea World and River walk going for it.
whoa, thanks guys. That was a nice overview of what I can look forward to 🙂
KC – will do 🙂
Gingko – planning a trip for the family is one heck of a maze to wade thru’ – it’s all good eventually 🙂
dilip – you’re new, thanks for your tips 🙂
What!? No CA? Damn, I was getting all ready to meet you!
BTW, if you don’t mind my asking, why is it that Google blogger blogs don’t have any RSS/ATOM feeds to subscribe to? I normally subscribe via Google Reader and read the blogs from there. Failing that do people browse to your site everday to see if there has been any new content?
I am sure I must be missing something here.
Uh sorry! I forgot Fort Worth Zoo (if Zoo is your thing that is — I just admire myself in the mirror usually) and Fossil Rim (Glenrose, TX – a poor man’s African safari)
You can get creative by driving to Arkansas. The Ozark mountains are amazing at this time of the year and its only a 6 hour drive from Dallas.
dna – more like prepping yourself to “hide” under that mad face. :-p Figured I’d give you some more time!
Dilip – you know, I am supposed to be knowing the answer to your question, yet I don’t. Ive done all what I am supposed to according to templates, yet it doesn’t show up. It isn’t Blogger, it’s me. 🙂
Am sure one of the techy dudes will help me out, and all will be well soon. 🙂
Arkansas has mountains? US is huge isn’t it?
dilip – it should work now. check?
One of my comments got eaten by blogger. So long as I am using Google Reader to read blogs, it seems to autodiscover the atom feeds if you just paste the URL of your blog. That is those blogs that seem to run under the Blogger umbrella (blogspot.com).
If I don’t use Google Reader I probably will need the ‘Subscribe?’ link you just put out.
In other words, forget about it. I figured out how to subscribe to your blog 🙂 apologies for the false alarm.
You bet. Ozark mountains are quite famous (nothing to do that Ozarka bottled water thingy) in Arkansas. Couple of years ago we booked a log cabin there bang in the middle of nowhere (a jungle to be exact). It was quite an experience. We went hiking, horse riding stuff like that. We stayed in a place called Deer that had a grand total of 12 as its population (and I am sure 2 of its denizens were/are dogs).
lol@Deer – but it’s quite believable when you really think about US and the expanse of land it covers. Once I drove through Iowa and completely lost my way, and nota soul around to ask for directions back to the college. Ugh!
Regd Feeds – ah well, I can’t imagine folks subscribing to me, but figured I’d indulge myself and learn the how-to anyways 😉
Rads@feeds:
Even if I subscribe to your blog there is another problem. You don’t have any separate feed for your comments section 🙂 Which means I will have to browse to your blog anyway every now & then to see if you have responded to my ramblings.
LOL. ok, will fix that as well.. arghhh 🙂
At the end of this, for all that you putting me thru, you better enjoy or pretend to enjoy some posts at least 😛
Don’t worry. I am here for good. Once I subscribe I normally never unsubscribe from blogs even if there has been no posts for a decade.
However I really apologize. I didn’t mean to give you extra work for no appreciable benefits. I am sorry I put you through all that crap. I promise to be around as long as you have this blog (not that you care :-)).
Cheers!