I have lived in Texas all my life. You HAVE to visit Austin! The music, food, people, and the hill country around it is beautiful! I live in Houston and I would recommend staying in Midtown or Rice Village. Lots of cool bars, restaurants, people....whatever you do, DONT DO NASA! It's very over rated and very far!! I would check out the Galleria (in Dallas or Houston) lots of good shopping. If you do get a chance to come for rodeo you HAVE to go. It's a lot of fun and you can get a glimps of who Texans are. Good fun, good music, and lots of Beer! Be aware of 7-9am traffic and 430-6pm traffic. Wish you were coming during Baseball season (

UPDATE ON GALVESTON:

UPDATE ON GALVESTON:

As I promised in my earlier post I can now give you an update on the situation in Galveston, as I was just there yesterday.

As you may recall Hurricane Ike hit in mid-September. Galveston was devastated and declared uninhabitable for a time. Since Galveston re-opened there has been some healing but so much of the city is still closed. The historic Strand District was mostly empty, as well as Pier 22 where you will find the ship Elissa and many great seafood restaurants. There are so many repairs to be done around the city and it made me sad.

But here's the good news: The major hotels such as the Galvez and a few others along the seawall are open and anxious for your business. I saw people in the water yesterday enjoying thier day at the beach. The Bishop's Palace lost a window or 2 but it's still drop dead gorgeous. And the beautiful ship Elissa is open for tours.

I did not visit Moody Gardens yesterday but according to their web page it looks like they are open. Moody Gardens is well worth a visit.

http://www.moodygardens.com/

So to answer your question, YES please visit our beautiful seaside city of Galveston. You will be most welcome.

PS Sorry for the silly post above, I hit "Post my Reply" prematurely.

Welcome to Texas and thank you for coming.

Here are some other things to see and do in Dallas:

Dallas Visitors Center, downtown, corner of Main and Houston

Dallas Farmers Market, including one of a kind items in large indoor shed

McKinney Avenue Antique Trolley to West Village

Dallas Museum of Art

Nasher Sculpture Center

Crow Asian Art Museum

Latino Cultural Center

Ice Skating in hotel next to Pearl Street rail station

Holocaust Museum in West End

Dallas County Historical museum in West End

Dallas World Aquarium (indoor zoo) in West End

Historic graveyard and sculpture of entire cattle drive in Pioneer Park

Recreated village of Dallas in the 1870s in Old City Park

Spiral building with spiral stained glass ceiling in Thanksgiving Square

Frontiers of Flight indoor aircraft museum

Womens Museum, 2 science museums, aquarium, railroad museum, auditorium featuring Broadway Roadshows, in Art Deco Fair Park

Quaint shops in Bishop Arts District

Hiking trails in White Rock Lake

Katy trail for hiking, running and biking through Dallas' Uptown district

Reunion Tower (if open when you arrive). Stunning view of the city

Koreatown shopping district

Ride DART Rail to Dallas Zoo

Ride DART Rail to Dave and Busr=ters video game arcade at Walnut Hill station (good for teenagers)

It should be mentioned that the West Village area has a bicycle shop that will rent bicycles. You can then bike your way either up the Katy Trail toward the Knox-Henderson district, or down (south) thru Uptown and on to downtown Dallas.

The shop is on Blackburn street, just west of its intersection with Mckinney Avenue.

You can get to the West Village in one of three ways. The #21 bus will take you there. The DART rail system has a subway station on the edge of the West Village... take either the Red or Blue Lines. Finally, the McKinney Avenue Trolley (a charming ride in an antique trolley car) picks up from the Dallas Museum of Art's west side and takes you through Uptown to the West Village.

Incidentally, you might also want to visit the Mockingbird Station area from the West Village. The #21 bus also takes you there, but the Red and Blue DART rail lines also have a subway station, just 1 stop from the West Village station.

be sure to give us a trip report!

westtexas- I have been in touch with Arjana and, unfortunately, they had to postpone their trip.

I know she'll be back here for help when they are again in a position to travel to US.

too bad, thanks for letting me know!

Wow! I'm glad I clicked on this thread. We are considering visiting Texas in March for a couple of weeks, and this thread has so much great information.
Austin is high on our list - for the music if nothing else. I'm glad there is more to the area than that
I shall visit all the websites mentioned and may start a thread of my own when I know more about our trip.
I am sorry you didn't make your trip Arjana - I hope you get to make it soon.

Thank you all for your suggestions for this trip that had to be posponed, unfortunately. I hope there are travelers out there who will find this thread useful.
I'm still convinced that I, too, will be one of those to use the information above - we have only postponed our trip, not canceled it.
However, as we travel on standby and there are little or no chances to board a US-bound plane in the summer, we'll have to wait till winter and then embark on our much desired Texas adventure.
In the meantime, if you decide to visit Croatia, I'll be here to answer all your questions.
arjana

arjana - thanks for reporting back and hope the trip works out soon. And thanks for offer of info - Croatia is on our list!

Trip recommendations about Texas would not be complete without a mention of the high plains/panhandle region. Having been raised there, I thought it was the most boring place in the world. Flat, dusty, essentially treeless and waterless. Now after being away for 40 years, I find the Llano Estacado fascinating. Start with Amarillo and venture to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Next to Big Bend Nat. Park, it looks like a Texas movie stereotype.

Then get off of the interstate and drive the small roads through cotton country. The farms are pristine. The area around Lubbock, TX is the largest geographical region of the world in terms of cotton production. Catch the museum at Texas Tech University for a first rate early pioneer experience.

Then off to Abilene for views of the wide open spaces with mesas, dry wash gulley creeks, and oil fields. From Abilene head for Ft. Worth or San Antonio.

West Texas is a worthy of serious consideration.

arjana, Croatia is high on my list of places to visit too!! I hope I can benefit from your advice soon.

I'll be glad to share with you whatever I can about Croatia. You can also send me an email: [email protected]
I'm still dreaming about Texas and I'm sure my dream will come true next winter.
In the meantime we'll be travelling around Europe.

Interesting. We have to go to Houston for our grandaughters graduation, St. Agnes. We have to be close to the galleria and can't find up-to-date info on Hotels in that area that are nice. UNBELIEVABLE. even had to order a Frommer's travel book; there is non in the book stores. Does anyone know anything about the Houston Post Oak Hotel? we need fresh air for asthma; the Derek and St. Regis has no fresh air- It was reported on a travel site that the J.W.Marriot, Galleria, had bed bugs last year... Any info please. Thanks, Kathy

Kathy, I've never heard of the "Houston Post Oak Hotel." Do you mean Hilton? Or Houstonian? I'm not sure what you mean about "fresh air for asthma." Details, please.

Kathy, if you mean air conditioning I can promise you that every hotel in the city of Houston has it. But please clarify, I would like to help.

I've stayed at the Galleria Mariott and had no problems with bedbugs.

Kathy I just had another thought. If you called a hotel and asked if they have "fresh air for asthma" they probably had no idea what you were talking about. I am also asthmatic but I haven't a clue what you mean either. I can guarantee you that every hotel in Houston will have air conditioning and at least some non-smoking rooms. They just don't build anything in this part of the country without a/c.

Please do post back, I am very familiar with Houston and I want to help you.

There is a Hilton Hotel - Houston Post Oak located on Post Oak Boulevard, is that the one you are asking about?

Here is trip advisor's thread on it:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...ton_Texas.html

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what is meant by "fresh air for asthma" either.

Kathy, have you thought about staying somewhere like the Lovett Inn? It gets consistently good reviews. It looks like it would allow you to easily get outside to get fresh air or to open the windows since it's a B&B. The J.W. Marriott gets good reviews too. I can't imagine they would have a pervasive problem with bedbugs.