westtexas

you have gotten some great info so far!!!

I would agree to skip the big cities.

please visit the state capitol in Austin.

Texas is big, do your research on driving times.

please try all of our "Texas" food.
Bar-b-que, Tex-Mex, chicken fried steak, and Dairy Queen ice cream.

I hope yall have a great time!!

westtexas

also, please check out the talk forum on tripadvisor.com there is a lot of "Texas Talk" on it, good info there also!

missypie

I received my new Texas Fodor's book (free becauase I was quoted) and since it's brand new, it's really up to date. I'd recommend that you buy a copy.

arjana

Thank you all for your advice. I appreciate it very much. Please keep it coming.

I was planning a day trip to Galvestone. However, after reading about Ike, I'm not so sure if this will be possible in January. I'm sorry for all those people there.

We'd certainly like to see the beaches of the Gulf and even go for a swim in January (?).

My boys are 17 and 14 and are into sports very much.

We all want to visit museums where we can find more about the history of Texas. The Alamo is a must.
We want to see a rodeo (but have to go home before January 12) and cowboys and eat local food. A dude ranch, maybe? Dairy Queen sounds great, what about Bluebell Icecream?

DH and I would like to dance in a salloon where everybody is cheerful and happy and wearing cowboy hats and boots, if you know what I mean, but I've seen it in the movies.

I can't possibly leave the States without outlet shopping.

We're open to suggestions.
arjana

missypie

When you are driving from San Antonio to Austin, you will pass two HUGE outlet malls in San Marcos.

dmlove

Someone above mentioned New Braunfels/Gruene (outside San Antonio). There is a place there called Gruene Hall, which is an old-fashioned dance hall. I don't know the hours, but I think they have live music. Also not sure of the dress code. Gruene is also fun for poking around - lots of little antiques stores and boutiques (hand-made jewelry and stuff).

mindibz

Hi, arjana. So glad you'll be coming to Texas! I live in the Panhandle, but have family in the DFW area and Austin area and previously lived in Houston. My suggestions:

Houston: Taste of Texas Restaurant--one of the best steaks I've ever had and lovely surroundings. http://www.tasteoftexas.com/ It is a little pricey though so might not fall within your budget. I would also skip NASA and Galveston. Outside of Houston is Old Town Spring which is a neat little community. http://www.oldtownspring.com/ Might give you a taste of "big Houston" and quaint towns outside of Houston.

San Antonio: You must have Mexican food and margaritas here--yum! I love the Alamo (it just never gets old to me). Contrary to what an earlier poster said, I do believe Fiesta Texas (large amusement park) is open from January 1-6. Your sons might enjoy this. Definitely walk around the River Walk.

Austin/Hill Country: I'm so glad you're adding this! It's wonderful! The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum is a must! They have an exhibit "Cowboys and Presidents" open until January 4. http://www.thestoryoftexas.com/ There are a lot of dives with great live music you'll want to visit(only some of which your sons will be able to get into so make sure and check). The capitol is wonderful as well. I'm guessing you'll drive from Houston to San Antonio, San Antonio to Austin, then to DFW. If you happen to venture out to the Fredericksburg area (and thought charming, I don't think I would, but if you do), it's not that much more of a drive to Llano, which is home of Cooper's BBQ, one of my all time favorite BBQ spots in Texas http://www.coopersbbq.com/.

DFW area: I'd go with Fort Worth as well. How about the Fort Worth stockyards? http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/

As previous posters mentioned, really study drive times and in all of these metro areas, be cautious of traffic and heavy traffic times. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

mindibz

Oops! Forgot---I definitely second the poster who mentioned the San Marcos outlet malls--the best in Texas IMHO. There are two: http://www.tangeroutlet.com/sanmarcos
and http://www.primeoutlets.com/cntrdefault.asp?cntrid=1042
You could hit these on your way to Austin from San Antonio.

Also, here is the information on Gruene hall: http://www.gruenehall.com/ It's the "oldest dance hall in Texas" and quite fun.

dmlove

Taste of Texas is more than "a little pricey" (but it is fabulous steak).

If you do eat there, counter it with BBQ at The Salt Lick outside Austin - inexpensive, delicious BBQ where you sit at picnic tables.

http://www.saltlickbbq.com/

missypie

They drain the river in San Antonio early every January. Lsat year, they drained it on Jan. 2 and the Mud Festival was Jan 10-13, so I assume the river was a canal of mud from Jan 2-13th. I can't find the dates for 2009, but you may want to email the city to see if you can find out when it is. It's worth going to San Antonio even if there's no water in the river, but you might want to check into it so you can plan accordingly.

Toucan2

I'm glad they've convinced you to include Austin and the Hill Country. Trying to get the flavor of all of Texas will of course be a challenge with the number of days you have and the distances you have to travel.

If part of what you want to experience is the sheer vastness of the state, here is an imaginary itinerary:

You fly in to Houston. Stay overnight and get over your jetlag, pick a few highlights for the day. If you are a little crazy and need some gumbo, you could take an hour drive east on I-10 to Al-T's in Winnie. (I had to say it, when I'm in the area on the other side I always take a side trip, I don't care that it's an hour). Sorry, I don't know Houston hotels so can't help you with that.

Then, drive to Austin. It'll be about 2 1/2 hours according to triptik. (it may be or less depending where you are leaving from in Houston. Houston is a huge sprawl with a ton of traffic) People who live in Austin can give better details than I, but there is a good music scene there, Barton Springs, and there used to be some freeway bridge where the bats roost (Austin-ites, is that still around? Is it seasonal?). You could stay there, or, an idea is to venture into the hill country and make that your base for a few days.

Several years back when visiting my dad in Wimberly we were able to rent a two bedroom cottage, fully furnished, full kitchen, fireplace, direct TV, the whole deal for a good price. There was a sleeper bed too so the whole family could stay. With something like that you really would be in the heart of Texas and it's a good jumpoff for day trips to Austin, Wimberley itself which is a cool little village, Luckenbach--the song from Willie Nelson Fame, Johnson City, Blanco, Gruene that is mentioned above, Fredericksburg--a very German town that is well-preservered, the sceneic route along Devil's Backbone, and more!

Let's say you stay three days there. Now head towards San Antonio. Stop in San Marcos on I-35 at the outlet malls. If this is really a big deal to you, you honestly could spend a whole day and there are many discount hotels right near there. You could pop over to San Marcos to eat at a steakhouse I think is called Red's and have some of the best steak ever. You could also visit the University there where the very sad event of the shooting took place.

Then it's on to San Antonio. No, you cannot miss the Alamo! I read a great trip report here not long ago on San Antonio with some things I hadn't thought of, I'll have to see if I can find it. Anyway, let's say you have now used up about 6 days of your time. If you want a beach, maybe you could go from San Antonio to Corpus Christi or Port Aransas. Maybe 3 hours.

But, if I really were doing this trip, I would get ready for a really long drive and get to know Texas. I would head for Big Bend. Yes, you will drive for hours and hours, with not much in sight. What better way to understand what a massive state it is? And then Big Bend will be completely unique for you. Maybe 7 hour drive from San Antonio. If you do this, you have now used maybe 7 days. Spend the next two to 3 days in Big Bend, hiking etc. Then either drive to Midland/Odessa and drop your car and take a Southwest flight back to Houstin to fly back home, or make a massive long haul drive back to Houston. Sometimes, the driving is everything that Texas is about.

Okay, that's very long, but it's an idea! If it is an idea you like, maybe we can all start giving you details on places to stay, places to eat, etc.

TxTravelPro

arjana, if you have a spare day, I would be happy to take your family to my sister's ranch in Bogata.
She has a 3000 acre beef ranch with lots to see and do...
You can email me at [email protected] if you are interested in getting to know me and my sister.
She has hundreds of photos of her life and farm on photobucket.com
I am a travel professional born and raised in Dallas. I live 5 minutes from Southfork, which is not a big deal but often something people from other countries want to see

Anyway, let me know if you are interested...

arjana

Thank you all,
I've read somewhere that people from Texas are very friendly and this is so true. And hospitable, as well. TxTravelPro, thanks for your offer, but I don't think we'd go that far as Bogata (Northeast of Texas, right?). By the way, bogata is a Croatian word meaning rich.

I have checked all the sites and places you've recommended and my plan is slowly shaping up. I'm thinking something along your lines, Toucan2.

I don't think we'll do Big Bend, though. We should leave something for next time. Then we'll have a reason to come again.

Do dance halls let kids in? They're 17 and 14 year old boys.

arjana

missypie

Once you get your itinerary set, check back in and we can recommend restaurants and hotels.

Toucan2

The dance hall mentioned, at Gruene (and there is actually one at Luckenbach) can often be very family oriented. It's not like a honky tonk bar. Depending on the event you'll pretty much see all ages (and I do mean all!) at them. Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will teach you the Texas two-step!

BTW, here's another link with a lot of good information around Gruene.

http://www.touringtexas.com/gruene/

jill_h

Fort Worth - Cowtown Rodeo in the Stockyards will be going on the early part of January. Visit this website for more detail.
www.cowtowncoliseum.com/news.asp

Billy Bob's or the White Elephant Saloon (both in the Stockyards) will have dancing.

Also, if you visit the Austin/Hill Country area, visit Enchanted Rock - a large granite rock your kids would LOVE to climb. It is near the Fredricksburg / New Braunfels area.

Check out this small B&B in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth called Etta's Place. It has ties to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
www.ettas-place.com/

Enjoy your visit to Texas - it's a GREAT State!!

P_M

There's so much good advice here I don't have much to add but here goes:

It's hard to say if Galveston will be ready for visitors yet even in January. As a plan B you might look at Port Aransas. Please check back with us about Galveston when the time gets closer. I will be in Houston in November and we might take a drive to Galveston so I might be able to answer that question by then.

I think the biggest "don't miss" in Texas is the San Antonio Riverwalk, but unfortunately they drain it for cleaning in January. This year it will be drained from Jan 2-9 so if you can be there outside those dates try to plan that. Here's a bit more info and a great pic of the Riverwalk at night:

http://www.sanantonio.gov/dtops/rive...=1152&ver=true

Aside from the Riverwalk there are many more attractions in San Antonio:

http://www.sanantoniotourism.com/

I live in Austin which is the capitol of TX and also worth a visit. I am sorry to say this, but if time is limited I must recommend San Antonio over Austin, especially when kids are involved.

I think you are in for a lot of surprises, Texas is not what you see in the movies. You mentioned getting a feel for the real Texas, but what some people don't realize is that Texas is a very large and diverse place and each part can be very different.

Thank you for your interest in Texas and welcome to our state. I sincerely hope you enjoy your visit and take home many great memories.

loneybrood

You've been offered ALOT of great suggestions for Texas, but there is always something to do. If you fly into Houston,there are several "unusual" museums your boys might like:the art car museum (http://www.artcarmuseum.com), the houston fire museum (www.houstonfiremuseum.org), and the funeral museum (www.nmfh.org). Also could catch a professional sporting event here as well. San Antonio is about 3 hours away. If you like driving off the beaten path, you can go from Houston to San Antonio through Brenham, where they make Blue Bell ice cream. There you can take a tour of the creamery and sample new flavors. Just outside Brenham is a small town called Independence, where the Texas declaration of independence was signed. There is a small museum and lots of bed and breakfast homes-some on ranches-where you could stay. Texas really is a friendly place, stop at any small town store and ask the clerk where to go and you might want to change your plans and follow their suggestions. Austin is great, and in their own words "weird". Tour the capital for sure. Around San Antonio are some great old missions if you've got time for those too. Its a lot of territory to cover in a short amount of time, but come back often, we're always happy to see you!!

westtexas

FYI- outlet malls, I agree that San Marcos is the best, but Just if you need another option, there is Grapevine Mills, In Grapevine, Texas ( which is Dallas) and in Hillsboro, which is south of dallas/Ft. Worth. let us know your itenerary!

arjana

Thank you all - your advice is greatly appreciated.

We still don't know when we're coming - the reason being that DH is an airline employee, so we travel when there are open seats, on stand-by. This means that planning our vacation is always a bit more challenging, but we don't complain.

Most of the things we want to visit can fit easily in our itinerary, no matter when we come or where we fly into (Dallas or Houston). However, there are two exceptions:
We must be in San Antonio before they drain the Riverwalk, Jan 2 (thanks P_M) and we should be in the Dallas area on a rodeo day, Fridays and Saturdays, plus New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
(thanks jill-h).

We are free to leave after Christmas and have to be back home on Jan 11, the latest.

arjana