Texas Highways Magazine April 2023

This morning, before I sat down to write this, a flock of wild turkeys wandered into our backyard in the Driftwood area. We bought our home in the Hill Country six years ago, and it still offers delightful surprises on a regular basis. The feeling of living in a natural playground is why we chose to settle here when we moved to the Austin area from inner-loop Houston. My husband and I wanted our kids—part of an unprecedentedly wired generation—to grow up close to nature and have a chance at a more free-range childhood. Even in our idyllic surroundings, it’s a daily struggle to limit screen time and coax our kids outside. I can’t think of another topic that comes up more often when I’m talking with fellow parents. Having been…

Searching for crawling and slithering creatures isn’t most people’s idea of a good time, but Asher Elbein, whose love of reptiles and amphibians led him to write “Herp To It” (Page 50), found the activity fascinating. “When I was a kid, my family moved to Dallas from Georgia, and suddenly there were lizards everywhere, and snakes and turtles living in creeks,” Elbein says. “Pretty soon I was interested in reptiles not just as dinosaur stand-ins but for their own sake.” Even when witnessing a venomous copperhead or rattlesnake on the side of the road, he didn’t feel at risk. “The most dangerous thing was being by the road while cars flashed by,” the Austin-based writer says. “Uncautious drivers kill a lot more people than reptiles do.” Elbein has a pet…

Mary Beth Gahan Gahan enjoys diving into historical documents and shedding light on Texans who lived before her. She wrote “Where the Cattalo Roamed” (Page 70) about Charles Goodnight’s herd of bison. “Digging through interview notes from the 1920s and typewritten pages with first-person accounts from Charles Goodnight at the Haley Museum was like embarking on a treasure hunt,” says the writer based in Dallas-Fort Worth. Gahan has been a beat reporter and covered breaking news for national outlets. Ricardo J. Rivera Reflecting on his freshman year in college, Rivera wrote about traveling Texas highways in search of meaning after his father’s cancer diagnosis. “I wanted to write about that time of youth where everything seems possible and everything seems hopeless,” the Houston-based writer says. “For me, that time was spent on the…

Stunning pictures! I am not Catholic, but San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio once brought me great comfort when I needed it.Janet Oyler, Leander Grün We retired in New Braunfels and love to ride our motorcycles to Gruene [“The Daytripper,” February]. As a native German, I cringe at how the locals pronounce “Gruene,” though. Anita Reid, New Braunfels Tastemakers Many years ago when I lived in Pennsylvania, my care packages from home were Pace picante sauce and Ro-Tel tomatoes [“Canned Goods,” February]. How do you eat well without them? Sheri Yates Gallo, San Angelo Remembering Columbia I was asleep in Whitehouse when it happened, and the explosion woke me up [“Searching for Stars,” February]. At first I thought it was thunder, but I noticed the sunshine through my curtains. Later, I learned what had happened. Sarah Bell Branscomb, Kerrville Stargazing I…

Restored in 2020, the art deco Hall of State at Dallas’ Fair Park boasts 76-foot-tall limestone pillars, colorful tiles, and Allie Victoria Tennant’s gilded Tejas Warrior statue among its decorative elements. “I love the architecture at Fair Park and often take my camera and look for odd angles, the play of the light off of the curves, and thoughtful details on the buildings,” says photographer Sean Fitzgerald, who lives nearby and enjoys walking and bicycling around the park. Fitzgerald favors the Hall of State, which conveys the story of Texas’ first 100 years of independence through its architecture and artworks and was a centerpiece of the buildings created for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. “My favorite view is looking straight up at the shape of the building and the big…

Ten years ago, on the evening of April 17, 2013, a fertilizer plant in the Central Texas town of West exploded. The blast and fire at the West Fertilizer Co.’s storage facility destroyed the town’s northside neighborhood, a nursing home, an assisted living center, an apartment building, and two public schools. Fifteen people died, including 12 first responders; another 200 people were injured. Since then, the community has rebuilt, and in 2019, West dedicated the Fallen Heroes Memorial featuring a reflecting pool and a plaque for each of the 15 victims. Located 100 yards from the explosion site, the memorial is a somber reminder for West—an agricultural town known for its kolache bakeries, sausage shops, and Czech heritage. The latter is celebrated annually on Labor Day weekend at Westfest. David…