If you go from Paris, France to Warsaw, Poland; that would be like traveling from El Paso, Texas to Texarkana, Texas. Try guidelive.com for Dallas and mysanantonio.com for San Antonio. The NASA area between Houston and Corpus is very nice. Besides the Space Center, you have a nice Boardwalk in Kemah. There are lots of things to see and do in every place you mentioned. I must agree with you regarding flying to Big Bend. That is a long drive and flying will help with the hours. The Hill Country north of San Antonio (Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Gruene, etc.) show our German influence and is beautiful scenery. You might add a day in SA to go up there. Take the Willow City Loop out of Fredericksburg and on the way from SA go see LBJ's Texas White House. Have fun. We are friendly and Texas is "a whole other country"

Just have to add my .02

I agree - scratch Galveston from your itinerary. Nothing wrong with it but much more notable places to explore and experience. And IMHO, Texas isn't really known for its museums, not when you can spend your time exploring so MANY wonderful places!

Not to be missed:

Dallas - JFK 6th Floor Museum, Dealy Plaza etc.

San Antonio - The ALAMO & The Riverwalk - it ROCKS!

Houston - Space Center-Mission Control is AMAZING! This tour is MUCH better than Floridas!

College Station - George Bush's Museum & Library - one of the best of the Preseditial Museums in America!

Austin - one VERY CLASSY city!
Also home to Lyndon B. Johnson's Library and Museum. And nearby Johnson City offers tours of his Ranch. When we there in 1999, Lady Bird also happened to be there and waved to us!

Again, just my .02

That sure sounds like a big pain because of all the airport security now. Sometimes it takes less time to drive.

Dallas- shopping, food, line dancing and six flags

Austin - Music

Houston- drive down to the coast

I just reread my entry. Obviously, I meant the NASA area between Houston and Galveston. Guess I was thinking ahead about Corpus Christi and Padre Island (has bird santuary). Sorry.

I live in the Hill Country and work in Austin---because I like it best out of all of Texas.

There is so much to do here.

There are tons of night-clubs and live-music venues hopping every night in Austin. There are plenty of restaurants---although it ranks after Dallas & Houston on restaurants.

Water Sports-swimming Cold Springs at Barton Springs; swimming Waterfall fed pool surrounded by stalagmites and stalactites at Hamilton Pool; tubing along the Guadulupe River; skiing or sailing in Canyon Lake or Lake Travis; kayaking in Town Lake, Lake Austin or San Marcos river

Hiking/Mountain Biking-Perdenales Falls State Park, Barton Creek Greenbelt, Bull Creek/Forest Ridge, Wild Basin Preserve, McKinney Falls

Waterfalls-Hamilton Pool (the best), Pedernales Falls (great park-decent falls, Wild Basin Preserve (great park w/twin falls), Bull Creek, McKinney Falls (not so great)

Shopping/Tooling Around-take in some funky hippy culture on the drag or South Congress in Austin

What I don't hear people recommend is east Texas. It's completely different than the rest of the state. It's lush, green and covered in huge trees. IMO, by far the prettiest part of the state.

The problem is there is no "destination" city to suggest, just pretty countryside.

While East Texas is pretty, I still prefer the Hill country. Our flora is scrubbier and drier, but that gives it that Texas flavor---cactus & whatnot in some places.

I forgot to mention that we also have limestone caves. Natural Bridge Caverns in between Austin & San Antonio has a lot of formations. Hamilton Pool is sort of a hollowed out cave. Westcave preserve next to Hamilton Pool is small but scenic. There are a number of other caves as well, but I'm not sure whether they are as good.

If you are wanting to see cowboys, remember that you will have to visit a small town in the country. You might considering visiting a working ranch. There are some that have overnight stays. You can see a bunch of people dressed like cowboys at a country bar in town like Broken Spoke or Dallas (think Urban Cowboy)in Austin.

I'll add a little bit to Connie's comment about East Texas. I think that northeast Texas is an interesting place to visit. I don't like the southeast as much.

My husband and I particularly enjoyed a trip to Jefferson, an older town with historic buildings and nice B&Bs. We also liked canoeing on Caddo Lake. The lake looks like a spooky swamp in places, with Spanish moss hanging down from the trees. Nacogdoches is a beautiful old town.

This is an unusual area, worth a couple of days, and fairly convenient to Dallas.