Notes from the Road— Central Texas Travel

Driving from West Texas to Central Texas was sad—I miss the dry desert and the amazing landscape, not to mention the small town atmosphere, and having the highways to myself. West Texas really exceeded my expectations. I hadn’t spent much time in West Texas whilst growing up in Houston, so I wasn’t entirely sure what we’d gotten ourselves in to. We were both pleasantly surprised with how many things there are to see and do in West Texas—and we look forward to returning to experience all the things we missed out on. West Texas will forever feel like a dream. Seeing my dad in his own town was pretty surreal, too.

We spent a night in a small German town—Fredericksberg, which is an hour away from San Antonio. It is basically one street of lovely shops, old store-fronts, cafés and a fantastic National Museum on the Pacific War. I was really looking forward to our time in San Antonio—I’d had such good memories of visiting there to go to Sea World, Fiesta Texas (Six Flags Amusement Park) and the Alamo, and thought that we’d have a great time. Unfortunately, San Antonio was a disappointment. I really didn’t like the River Walk and didn’t get a good vibe from the city. There are two amazing museums there that we checked out, though, and the missions (above picture) were interesting. The city is just too humid and hot, and I couldn’t stand walking around when there really wasn’t much to see or do (unless you count Ripley’s Believe it or Not or wax museums), since we were on a tight budget, and didn’t want to spend any of it going to those attractions (umm….make that very expensive attractions) that I’d been to as a child.

Austin was another story. I immediately got a great vibe from Austin. Maybe it’s because downtown parking was easy to find, blocks from the state Capitol and the warehouse district where there’s amazing coffee. Parking was only $1 an hour, too! Amazing! There are so many lively areas of Austin, especially in the evening with the historic 6th Ave area. I love how the buildings are preserved, not torn down like they are in Vancouver.

Both Dallas and Ft. Worth have great museums and galleries, friendly people and good restaurants. I could see myself coming back to Austin and Dallas in the future. Next time, I’ll definitely need to spend some more time in the state—I’d love to check out Lubbock and that area of Texas, plus Houston and Galveston. Next: Orlando for a few days!