Texas Highways Magazine August 2015

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. On September 2, 1945—just a few months after Axis forces surrendered in Europe—Japan formally surrendered to the Allied powers, bringing an end to the hostilities in the Pacific. We lucky Texans have one of the nation’s premier military museums: The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, which bills itself as “the only institution in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to telling the story of the Pacific and Asiatic Theaters in World War II.” What started in 1968 with the Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Museum to honor the heroic local now spreads across a six-acre campus in the heart of town, crowned by the state-of-the-art, 33,000-square-foot George H.W. Bush Gallery. With hundreds of photographs and artifacts on…

GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? OUR FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA OF THE MONTH... Next spring, I’m touring Route 66, come hell or high water. I’ve put it off too long. Dave Craft, San Antonio It is perfectly normal for a Texan to actually believe there is NO PLACE ELSE on the entire planet where you can see a big sky. Mary Sariti Comerford, Elgin Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram TEXAS Fun If you have a bucket list of “must-see” activities or children wanting to remember a fantastic family outing, we just saw TEXAS [July] on the opening night. Think: the backdrop of a canyon wall, the sunset, a cool breeze, lasers, pyrotechnics, equestrians, and, of course, a musical drama performed under the stars with dance. Simply outstanding and family friendly. The flag presentation with fireworks overhead…

30º 00’ 12.09” N 99º 22’ 55.80” W Heading six miles southwest along Texas 39 from Hunt, travelers encounter a barbed-wire fence with wooden posts capped by upsidedown cowboy boots and other footwear. Most of the boots run along a roughly eighth-of-a-mile section on the west side, but a few pop up along the fence on the east side. Country lore holds that folks would put their boots on a fence to prevent rain from rotting the posts, honor the passing of a person or horse, or (before telephones) indicate that a rancher is home. For more information on nearby attractions, visit the Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau,kerrvilletexascvb.com.…

JUST TWO MILES FROM SEYMOUR, A handful of paleontologists and volunteers meticulously scrape and brush flecks of red and gray dirt away from their latest discovery: a fossilized Dimetrodon that they’ve named Mary. The jumble of bones might confuse the untrained eye, but the excavators know exactly what they’re looking for as they prepare the skeleton for the short move to the Whiteside Museum of Natural History. At the museum in Seymour, located 50 miles southwest of Wichita Falls, staff members and volunteers will clean Mary’s fossilized bones, cast replicas, and study them for clues into Mary’s life and times—all the while demonstrating the process and their findings to museum visitors. Opened in June 2014, the Whiteside Museum is dedicated to exploring and interpreting the paleontological treasures of Baylor County and the…

SOMETHING ABOUT THE BOXY SHAPE of the building first catches the eye. It’s broader and taller than the 1960s-era Texarkana shopping center that surrounds it. A modest sign over the entrance reads: Oaklawn Opry, Country Music Theater. It looks like something past its time, an old civic auditorium, maybe, where Elvis once gyrated. But this is no relic. There will be a show tonight. Inside, the lobby retains some faded splendor of the singlescreen cinema it once was; an arched mirror on the staircase wall catches the glow of a chandelier. The concession stand is still in place, selling snacks like popcorn, hot dogs, and nachos to the patrons who socialize in clusters as they wait for the weekly Saturday night show to begin. The friendly and casual atmosphere recalls country music’s…

IN THE CLOSING DECADES OF THE 19TH Century—and especially after the arrival of the railroad in 1877—many travelers were drawn to San Antonio by the allure of the fabled young women known as Chili Queens, who served chili con carne, tamales, enchiladas, and other fiery fare at makeshift restaurants on the centuries-old city plazas. According to most accounts, the lantern-lit tables of the chili stands appeared at dusk and served customers until dawn. The Chili Queens’ food was cooked or reheated on portable stoves. Chaperones kept watchful eyes lest patrons got too fresh. Though the Chili Queens also operated al fresco diners on Alamo Plaza and Main Plaza, they are most often associated with Military Plaza, also known as Plaza de Armas. By day, Military Plaza bustled with an open-air market and…