Texas Highways Magazine May 2015

What We Did Last Summer There’s something about the onset of summer that summons my inner school kid—that twinge of anticipation, as if the last bell of the semester has rung and the carefree season has begun. Ahead lie those joys of summer, defined by chilly dips in swimming holes, sweet slurps of snow cones, the flap of flip-flops on hot pavement, and the call of the open road. On a nostalgic roll, I can’t help but think of summer trips in my family’s big green station wagon decades ago: warm breezes through our screened shelter at Garner State Park, hotdogs roasted over a campfire at Mustang Island, and the requisite stops at Stuckey’s for gas, souvenirs, and sweets (pecan log roll, anyone?) most everywhere we traveled. While my simple memories wouldn’t…

My favorite time of the year: springtime in the Texas Hill Country with fields of blue and orange! HILDE HUTCHINSON, Austin Bluebonnet Beat My mother always loved the bluebonnets. When we would cross the bridge into Texas, she would start singing, “Oh, beautiful, beautiful Texas, where the beautiful bluebonnets grow!” JANE ANN ROBERTS MALAKOSKY Lawton, Oklahoma Big Bend Bonding My 15-year-old son and I just returned from an epic spring break road trip to Big Bend. We made memories that will last a lifetime, and we’ll cherish them always. We hiked in the Chisos Mountains, canoed the Rio Grande, saw Santa Elena Canyon, dined in the Terlingua ghost town, and drove the scenic highway 170 between Lajitas and Presidio. Thank you for inspiring this trip, past trips, and trips yet to come. SAMMY AND CAMERON URTEAGA Fort Worth Sign…

If you’re on the island between April and August, you might catch Kemp’s ridley sea turtles nesting, one of nature’s most impressive spectacles. SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, on the southern tip of Texas, offers year-round fun. For details about accommodations, restaurants, and attractions on the island, call the South Padre Island Visitors Center, 800/767-2373;www.sopadre.com. IN A FAMILY_VACATION PHOTO TAKEN IN THE early 1900s, a family of seven poses at the edge of the surf at South Padre Island. The father wears a suit, tie, and hat; his wife and a friend pose cheerily in long dresses and hats. Only the teenage boy has taken o his shoes in anticipation of wading into the ocean. Much has changed since those early days on the island, but that wave of pleasure that washes over most of…

FIND MORE ONLINEMore bucket list ideas attexashighways.com/webextra. IN A FEW WEEKS, I’LL BECOME A FIRST_TIME grandmother when my daughter gives birth to a son, who will go by the name of Bowen. In 1833, his sixth-great-grandfather was born in Arkansas; but as they say, he got here as quickly as he could. And now, eight generations later, here my grandson will be. He doesn’t realize it yet, but that makes him a very lucky boy. Like me, my daughter is a proud Texan who loves revisiting favorite destinations in the state as well as discovering new ones. But since she’s the mom, she’ll have all the serious decision-making on her plate, while I get to ponder such fun diversions as future road trips. Here’s a bucket list to get us started: Dear…

PATTERN PATOIS For more on the oral history of Underground Railroad quilts, watch a video interview with Pleasant Hill quilter Flo Stevenson at texashighways.com/madeintx. LAJOYCE FLANAGAN IS SITTING IN THE LINDEN SCHOOL- house where she taught more than 50 years ago, recalling the tiny desks and chairs, the children who stayed late for sewing lessons, and the day the radio delivered news of President Kennedy’s assassination. These days, the two-classroom building tucked in the Piney Woods of northeast Texas no longer echoes with the chatter of schoolchildren. Instead you’ll hear the whir of sewing machines, the singing of spirituals, and the memories of Pleasant Hill, one of Texas’ oldest African-American communities. The Pleasant Hill School, built in 1925 to provide education for African-American children, closed in 1964. Although the building continued to…

Around town, bright orange benches feature an image of those now-famous glasses and proclaim Wink as “Home of Roy Orbison.” ROY ORBISON MUSEUM is at 205 E. Hendricks in Wink. Open by appointment, Tue-Sat. Call 432/527-3743. Free. IT’S NOT LIKELY THAT MANY PEOPLE STUMBLE ON WINK. THE tiny Permian Basin town (population 940) is indeed “the middle of nowhere, 500 miles from everywhere,” as Roy Orbison, Wink’s most famous son, once said. Despite its remote location approximately 60 miles northeast of Odessa, Wink draws visitors from as far a.eld as Egypt and Australia. They make the trek to Wink to honor Orbison, the black-clad crooner responsible for hits including “Oh, Pretty Woman” and “Only the Lonely.” Born in 1936 in Vernon, Orbison and his family moved west to Wink in 1946. As a…