Texas Highways Magazine February 2016

In 1916, World War I raged on, John D. Rockefeller reportedly became the first billionaire, newsman Walter Cronkite was born, and Charlie Chaplin signed a contract with Mutual Film Corporation. And in August of that year, the Woodrow Wilson Administration established the National Park Service to protect America’s 35 national parks and monuments to date, and others yet to come. Texas’ first national park—Big Bend—came into being some 30 years later. Fast forward to 2016, and the NPS now oversees 14 sites and two trails in the state, including national parks, historic sites, recreation areas, a wild and scenic river, and a national seashore. This month, we salute the NPS centennial and that bounty of national treasures, from the Big Bend and the Big Thicket, to Alibates flint quarries and Waco…

I’ve gotten every issue of Texas Highways since 2001— can’t wait for the mail to come here in Indiana. WANDA SUE HILLENBURG, Shoals, Indiana OUR FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA OF THE MONTH... We went to the Monahans Sandhills to fly kites and would get on a tall hill where there were no wires to worry about and the wind was always blowing. What fun it was! Jennie Fore Waco [Waco novelist] Madison Cooper Jr. was my friend Golda’s grandmother’s brother! Marian Grabsky Irving Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Park People I spent my 60th birthday climbing Guadalupe Peak. We were the slowest people on the mountain, and the last ones to the peak that day, but we didn’t care. We made it. SUZY STEWART BRAZEEL Facebook We went to the Guadalupe Mountains and stayed in Dog Canyon one Spring…

Gulf Coast From Corpus Christi, take Texas 358, cross the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway onto Padre Island and Park Road 22 to reach the 70 miles of undeveloped beaches and natural habitat that comprise Padre Island National Seashore. This photo was taken near the Malaquite Visitor Center at the southern end of Park Road 22. Visitors can see a program at the visitor center, beachcomb, bike (bring your own), swim, fish, camp, and, from mid-June through August, observe the release of sea turtle hatchlings. For more information on Padre Island National Seashore, visit www.nps.gov/pais. To order a print of this photograph, call 866/962-1191, or visit www.texashighwaysprints.com.…

IN THE SPAN OF ROUGHLY ONE YEAR, documentary filmmaker Lynn Boswell has hiked the Guadalupe Mountains carrying a camera tripod, rung the historic church bell at Mission Concepción, shed a tear at the moving spectacle of sea-turtle hatchlings scurrying into the surf at Padre Island, explored Big Thicket mushrooms, and boated Lake Amistad in search of prehistoric pictographs. These and other far-flung adventures are all part of Boswell’s work as producer, writer, and director of The National Parks of Texas: In Contact With Beauty, a Texas PBS documentary celebrating the National Park Service’s centennial year. The documentary covers each of the 16 Park Service sites across the state. We tagged along for a November trek to the missions in San Antonio (where Boswell grew up) to learn more. THE NATIONAL PARKS…

To order a print of this photograph, call 866/962-1191, or visit www.texashighwaysprints.com. WHEN SOME LONG-OVERDUE RAIN LAST July relieved drought conditions in the Austin area, my thoughts turned to Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, a 227-acre expanse of woodlands west of downtown. I visit the park frequently to photograph wildflowers and other nature subjects, and I was curious if the preserve’s waterfall had begun to flow again. A short trail—less than a mile-and-a-half, round-trip—leads down past limestone outcroppings and stands of Ashe juniper to the place where Bee Creek, which flows from west to east across the property, descends over a wide incline of rock into a pool below. To my relief, I found the creek again rushing down that slope and into a natural pool ringed with newly green ferns within…

THESE DAYS, MARFA GETS ALL THE attention as an arts destination in West Texas. While the reputation is well-deserved, with the Chinati Foundation and globally recognized galleries calling Marfa home, there is also a thriving arts community in nearby Alpine. Art is everywhere in this town—the banks, cafés, motels, and on the street with murals depicting slices of Texas culture nearly everywhere you turn. Alpine is home to more than 15 art galleries, and I discovered two on Holland Avenue—Gallery on the Square and next door, CatchLight Art Gallery—that showcase diverse, attainable artworks in an accessible setting. These galleries keep consistent hours and offer a broad spectrum of art from realism to abstract at prices that fit most budgets. Both galleries operate as co-ops, meaning that the artists whose works are…